FanHouse JakeLong

I get that first-rounders, particularly those taken in the top 15 picks, would threaten to hold out if it meant more leverage during contract negotiations. In recent years, however, both players and organizations have made efforts to get deals done before training camp because holdouts, in the long run, don't benefit anybody.

Rookies, already playing catch-up in a new system with new players, can least afford to miss practice. And the teams, who invest a lot of coin in developing players, often don't see a return in the first year. JaMarcus Russell and Brady Quinn might be farther along if not for protracted training camp holdouts. On the other hand, the 2008 first-overall pick, Jake Long, was signed prior to the draft, started every game and had a productive rookie season.

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Look, the NFL offseason is freaking boring. I know, I know, if you're reading this, you're a die-hard and you can't get enough NFL news, even in June. But the fact is there's little-to-nothing going on this time of year. Which is why you've got to love Jets coach Rex Ryan and Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder for spicing things up the way they have the past couple of days.

Ryan and Crowder have been hooked up in a little war of words for the past week. And their dispute, rooted in Ryan's tough talk about not being intimidated by anybody else in the AFC East and Crowder's hurt feelings on behalf of a division-champion team that he feels isn't being given enough credit for its 2008 accomplishment, continued today.

On Thursday, Mark Sanchez told FanHouse's Ariel Helwani (as well as everybody else he talked to the last week or so) that he was all but certain quarterback Matthew Stafford would go to the Lions with the first overall pick.

Looks like he was right.

A week ago, the team reportedly opened negotiations with Stafford, offensive tackle Jason Smith and linebacker Aaron Curry, presumably in an effort to guarantee that they had somebody under contract come Saturday at 4PM ET.

With the draft approaching, we ignore projections and identify the dream scenario for each team in a series we call The Perfect Draft.

A year ago, the Dolphins were coming off a 1-15 record and had locked up Jake Long with the first-overall pick a week before the 2008 draft. Now, one year into Bill Parcells' Reclamation Project, Miami is 11-5, defending AFC East champs, and hold the 25th selection in Saturday's draft.

The Lions have the first overall pick of the 2009 Draft. This is the reward for going 0-16. Perhaps former team president Matt Millen's biggest accomplishment is that never during his misguided eight-year tenure did Detroit have the first selection. It seems almost impossible in retrospect.

On three occasions the Lions chose second (Joey Harrington in 2002; Charles Rogers in '03; Calvin Johnson in '07), but by the time Millen finally got it right with Johnson it was too late, the team was too far gone.

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The Miami Dolphins opted not to use their franchise tag on offensive tackle Vernon Carey, and as it turns out, they didn't need to. The team has signed the 27-year-old offensive tackle to a multi-year contract extension, as reported by Edgar Thompson of the Palm Beach Post.

Terms of the deal have not been disclosed at this point, but with Carey locked up long-term, the Dolphins will have a more-than-formidable duo on their offensive line with he and Jake Long, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2008 NFL draft.

A recent trend in the NFL is teams picking first overall in the draft signing their pick before the actual draft day. Most recently, the Texans did it with Mario Williams, then the Dolphins with Jake Long.

It's a move that makes sense, since you don't want to be stuck watching your top draft pick holding out. That's pretty embarrassing for an organization. Apparently, even the Detroit Lions are smart enough to avoid such embarrassment.

When it was announced that Bills left tackle Jason Peters made the Pro Bowl despite a season that could only be described as incredibly disappointing, it was yet again a sign that Pro Bowl voting is still not what it needs to be.

So when Peters announced yesterday that he was skipping the game because of a knee injury, there was some justice in his announcement. But when the NFL got around to naming his replacement, it once again dropped the ball.

Every Play Counts is Michael David Smith's weekly look at one specific player or one aspect of a team on every single play of the previous game.

The Miami Dolphins selected offensive tackle Jake Long with the first pick in this year's NFL draft. The St. Louis Rams selected defensive end Chris Long with the second pick. On Sunday, they did battle at the Edward Jones Dome.

The Dolphins won the game, but who won the individual battle? I explore in this week's edition of Every Play Counts.

The Rams were a significantly better team on Sunday than they had been the past three games. That team was easily worse than the Detroit Lions, but it seemed like Steven Jackson being back changed the complexion of everything, including the defense and special teams. Well, everything except the man taking snaps.

Jackson ran the ball 21 times and gained 94 yards. Josh Brown and Donnie Jones were excellent kicking and punting, and the defense held the Miami Dolphins to only 16 points. Alas, it still wasn't enough for a Rams victory. Marc Bulger -- despite good run support from Jackson and Antonio Pittman -- was simply dreadful. He connected on less than half his pass attempts and was intercepted three times -- including a game-ender on their last-gasp attempt, when he badly overthrew Derek Stanley.

A head-to-head battle between the top two draft picks was also of interest. Jake Long was squaring off against Chris Long. Considering Chris didn't record a single stat, it would appear Jake got the best of Howie's kid. It was a close matchup, though, as Chris wasn't severely abused by any means. Both have worlds of potential in this league moving forward.