Knowshon In Early Mock Drafts

Knowshon Moreno’s decision to forgo his college eligibility has NFL teams drooling at the possibility of adding this young talent to their roster.  Unlike many past years, there is not as big of a demand for running backs which leaves the two top rated running backs,  Chris “Beanie” Wells and Knowhon Moreno, predicted to be selected by most draft experts to be selected in the mid first round.

Here is where two of the top draft experts have Knowshon Moreno and Beanie Wells predicted to go in their 2009 NFL mock drafts:

Walterfootball.com
Knowshon Moreno -  19th pick to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

“When Cadillac Williams went down with yet another injury, I immediately thought of giving the Buccaneers a running back at No. 19. With Earnest Graham coming off injury, Warrick Dunn turning 34 and Cadillac a virtual unknown, Tampa Bay really needs help at running back.

Knowshon Moreno is a steal here. He and Chris Wells would be top-10 prospects if the need for running backs hadn’t diminished.”

Beanie Wells – 16th pick to the San Diego Chargers

“It’s amazing how much can change in half a year. In August, LaDainian Tomlinson was going first in nine out of 10 fantasy football drafts. Now, there’s speculation that Tomlinson could be let go. RotoWorld, meanwhile, reported that several NFL executives don’t believe LT2 is even worth a Day 1 selection at this point.

With Darren Sproles also hitting free agency, the Chargers need to secure a top-tier running back in April’s draft.”

Draftking.com
Knowshon Moreno – 17th pick to the New York Jets

“In some ways I question the idea of the Jets not trying to stretch one more year out of the combo of Thomas Jones and Leon Washington, but the chance to land Wells might be too tempting to pass up. The Jets might be tempted to trade up to get Wells if they fear that San Diego might take him at #16, but if not then Moreno would also be an excellent addition to the Jets.”

Beanie Wells – 16th pick to the San Diego Chargers

“LaDainian Tomlinson turns 30 later this year, and while he has had a tremendous career, San Diego has to plan for the future — particularly with Darren Sproles likely to depart via free agency in March. At 6′1″ 235, Wells has Jamal Lewis like size and amazing speed to go with it.”

Georgia Bulldogs Lose Another Star To The Draft

The Georgia Bulldog’s football program lost junior cornerback Asher Allen to the NFL as he declared that he will pass up his senior season to be eligable for the 2009 NFL draft.  Asher is the a third player to opt for the NFL early.

Asher  Allen cited that his reasoning, “My family — we got together and decided we thought it would be best for me to leave Georgia and enter the NFL draft,” . He said that the decision was, “Probably the hardest decision I’ve ever made in my life.”

The other two Bulldogs to leave early are running back, Knowshon Moreno and quarterback, Matthew Stafford.

The 5-foot-10-inch, 198-pound Allen was an anchor in the secondary as a two year starter.  In 2008 he had no interceptions after having three in 2007.  He had 53 tackles which ranked third for his team.

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Knowshon’s soul Searching

The decision to put a college degree on hold for Knowshin Moreno and head to the NFL instead of the classroom and Bulldog team must not have been easy.

With team goals like an SEC title and a national championship still unfulfilled, and individual recognition in the form of a Heisman Trophy and a college degree there for the taking, Steve Edelson of the Asbury Park Press says Knowshon Moreno had a good bit of soul-searching to do after Georgia’s Capital One Bowl win over Michigan State.

Here’s his report.

Moreno teammate on tap for Lions pick

Knowshon Moreno’s college teammate, Matthew Stafford is thought by many to be the first pick in the 2009 NFL draft by the Detroit Lions.

The Lions have just finished the worst season in NFL history, 0-16.

Here’s the info.

Help in starting your Fantasy Football Team

Ready to try your hand at fantasy football? It’s one of the fastest growing passtimes in sports crazy America. We can help.

It’s easy to start an online fantasy football leauge.  You are allowed to easily set the rules you like and allow you to manage every aspect of fantasy football online.

Head over to this site on ESPN for details.

Fantasy Football Fans scout the draft

The top 2009 running back prospects available for the 2009 NFL Draftare the objects of all sorts of speculation by the fantasy football community.

Knowshon Moreno is at the top of everybody’s list. Over at WaltersFootball.com, he’s rated #2. Click here for the reasons.

Raj, over at FFJungle.com, says Moreo has a lot going for him, including the facs that he is a “Great competitor. Has that tremendous ability to make cuts on a dime without losing speed. Great vision and instincts. Played behind an average offensive line, and still put up good numbers.”

Read Raj’s report here.

The rules of the NFL Draft

The NFL Draft is an annual sports draft in which National Football League teams select newly-eligible players for their rosters. It is used to determine which newly eligible players will play for which NFL teams.

The draft has taken place in New York City since 1965 and has had to move into larger venues as the event has gained in popularity, drawing fans from across the country. The 2006 draft was held at Radio City Music Hall, the first time this venue has hosted the gala, and it has been held there ever since. Madison Square Garden had hosted the event for a number of years, but the NFL moved it to the Javits Convention Center in 2005 following a dispute with the Cablevision-owned arena, who were opposing a new New York Jets/2012 Olympic Stadium which would compete with the Garden for events.

Tickets to the NFL Draft are free and made available to fans on a first-come first-served basis. The tickets are distributed at the box office the morning of the draft, one ticket per person.[1] Long waits in line can be expected for fans hoping to get a live glimpse of their team’s high-profile picks, or to express their displeasure at their team picking the “wrong” guy. Fans must arrive early in order to attend the draft.[citation needed]

Since its first broadcast on ESPN in 1980 the draft has gained a cult-like following. The term draftnik was coined to describe these fanatics.

The draft is the first chance teams gets to make contract negotiations with players who have been out of high school for three years. Most drafted players come directly out of College Football programs as seniors or juniors, while some players are selected from other professional leagues like the Arena Football League. A player who is drafted but does not sign a contract can sit out that season, which is referred to as a “holdout”, and can re-enter the draft the following year unless they were told differently by the NFL commissioner.

Rules for determining draft order

The draft order is determined by first generating the order for the first round. That order is based generally on each team’s regular season record, except as noted below:

1. The winners of the Super Bowl are given the last selection, and the losers the second to last selection.[2]
2. Remaining teams are sorted by regular season record, with worse records picking first, regardless of playoff status; teams that make the playoffs can pick before teams that do not.
3. For teams with the same record, teams that fail to make the playoffs always pick before teams that earned playoff berths.
4. For teams that make the playoffs, ties are broken by the order in which teams lost in the playoffs.
5. Remaining ties are broken by strength of schedule. For draft order, a lower strength of schedule results in an earlier pick. If strength of schedule does not resolve a tie, division and/or conference tiebreakers may be used. If the tie still cannot be broken, a coin toss at the NFL Combine is used to determine draft order. (Note: Strength of schedule is the combined records of a team’s 16 opponents, including games played against the team in question, and counting divisional opponents twice. Because of this, each team’s opponents’ combined wins and losses—counting a tie as a half-win, half-loss—will add up to 256, so a team whose opponents had more combined wins has a better strength of schedule.)

Once the order for the first round is determined, teams with the same record “cycle” picks in each subsequent round, regardless of playoff status or any other factor (except that the Super Bowl teams will always pick last in every round). For example, in the 2008 draft, Arizona, Minnesota, Houston, and Philadelphia all finished 8-8, and picked in that order in the first round. In the second round, the order became Minnesota, Houston, Philadelphia, and Arizona. That cycling continues through all seven rounds.

eams may negotiate with one another both before and during the draft for the right to pick an additional player in a given round. For example, a team may include draft picks in future drafts in order to acquire a player during a trading period. Teams may also make negotiations during the draft relinquishing the right to pick in a given round for the right to have an additional pick in a later round. Thus teams may have no picks or multiple picks in a given round.

The draft currently takes place over two days, with rounds one and two on Day 1 and rounds three through seven on Day 2. Enthusiasts who stay through the end of day 2 will receive VIP passes to skip the lines and get preferred seating to the following year’s draft.[citation needed]

The first overall pick generally gets the richest contract, but other contracts rely on a number of variables. While they generally are based on the previous year’s second overall pick, third overall, etc., each player’s position also is taken into account. Quarterbacks, for example, usually command more money than defensive linemen, which can skew those dollar figures slightly.[citation needed]

Each team has its representatives attend the draft. During the draft, one team is always “on the clock.” In Round 1, teams have 10 minutes to make their choice (previously 15). The decision time drops to 7 minutes (previously 10) in the second round and 5 minutes in Rounds 3-7. If a team doesn’t make a decision within its allotted time, the team still can submit its selection at any time after its time is up, but the next team can pick before it, thus possibly stealing a player the later team may have been eyeing. This occurred in the 2003 draft, when the Minnesota Vikings, with the 7th overall pick, were late with their selection. The Jacksonville Jaguars drafted quarterback Byron Leftwich and the Carolina Panthers drafted offensive tackle Jordan Gross before the Vikings were able to submit their selection of defensive tackle Kevin Williams.

For more info, check the deialed post from  Wikipedia

Knowshon’s NFL Prospects

Knowshon Moreno made himself eligible for this April’s NFL Draft. Moreno is currently projected as a mid-first round pick, according to most of the the NFL draft experts and commentators.

Moreno, at 5-11 and 207-pounds, this native of Belford, N.J., averaged 107.7 yards per game and amasssed a 1,400-yard season last year.

Knowshon was just the second player in Bulldog history to have more than 1,000 yards in consecutive seasons (Herschel Walker, 1980-82). Moreno scored 18 touchdowns during the 2008 season, which is the most for a Bulldog since Garrison Hearst tallied 21 in 1992.

Knowshon Moreno powers through another TD

Knowshon Moreno runs to the endzone for a second touchdown in the first quarter in a game against the University of Hawai’i in New Orleans, La., on Monday, January 01, 2008. The University of Georgia won 41-10.

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