If you're HBO, it's hard to think of a team you'd rather have on "Hard Knocks" more than the Cincinnati Bengals. You're guaranteed to have at least one Chad Ocho Cinco meltdown, it might explain what Mike Brown does, or doesn't do, for his general manager's bonus and with this roster there's likely to be some Andre Smith man-boob action. And that doesn't even count the possibility of a Bengals' arrest--which is always a pretty good possibility.
But it's hard to figure out why the Bengals would want to get the Hard Knocks treatment, because you're guaranteed at least one Ocho Cinco meltdown, it might explain what Mike Brown does, or doesn't do, for his general manager's bonus and with this roster there's likely to be some Andre Smith man-boob action. And that doesn't even count the possibility of a Bengals' arrest--which is always a pretty good possibility.
The plan was for Joe Flacco to spend his rookie season -- the first part of it, anyway -- on the sidelines. The Ravens' 2008 first-round pick came to Baltimore by way of Delaware, a Division I-AA school. And while he had the physical tools -- size, elusiveness, arguably the strongest arm in the league -- there's a huge difference between pummeling Monmouth on Saturdays and trying to slow down the Steelers on Monday night.
But training camp injuries to Kyle Boller and Troy Smith forced Flacco onto the field. In 2003, Brian Billick named then-rookie Boller the starter, and five years later, he was fighting for a roster spot (and Billick was out of a job).
Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 2009 Draft Grades.
Jonathan Ogden retired last summer, leaving the Ravens with a young but deep group of offensive linemen to protect rookie quarterback Joe Flacco. Not surprisingly, Ogden's replacement, Jared Gaither (a former supplementary draft pick) was inconsistent, but occasionally flashed glimpses of big-play potential.
In "Rough Draft," lawyer-turned-writer-turned-football-player Clay Travis recounts his experience training for the 2008 NFL draft alongside some future pros. The following is Part 10 of 10 (read Chapter 9 here) installments that FanHouse will roll out every weekday leading up to the 2009 NFL Draft on April 25.
At 6:35 in the morning, gray mist encircles the stone barracks of West Point. First-year cadets stand in the hallways counting down the minutes until formation, Cadet Caleb Campbell tucks in the corner of his bed, the green cover tight and without wrinkles. He adjusts his hat and steps outside of Eisenhower Barracks room E313. It's 6:39 in the morning. Look quickly across the timeless cadet procession standing in the courtyard, past the parade ground bleachers that say Beat Navy, and it could be any year, any time, but only one place: West Point at morning.
Everyone makes mistakes. But when those mistakes are magnified by intense scrutiny of the NFL draft, well, they become much more embarrassing than, say, my typical Friday morning, mustard-stain-on-khakis incident.
Which is why the NFL FanHouse braintrust got together to determine who is the biggest bust for each NFL team. They're not listed in terms of stupidity -- they're all stupid relative to a team's total draft performance. Meaning, of course, some teams "bust" is much different than another organization's; we did it this way to avoid just linking you to DetroitLions.com.
Instead, we're putting it in current draft order, sans trades, and allowing this list to serve as a reminder of each's team's ability to properly execute a fail. The "bust factor" was based primarily on three things: statistical production (or lack thereof), position in the draft and other available options during that year's draft.
SI.com's Peter King, the distinguished longtime football writer and recent defector from the great state of New Jersey, does us the favor of emptying out his pre-draft notebook on this dreary Monday here in the northeast.
I, a short-time football writer and New Jersey loyalist, hereby do you the favor of picking through Peter's notes and offering my own thoughts on them, for what those thoughts are worth. (Insert nasty crack here.)
Peter introduces his notes "in no particular order," so we'll go ahead and do the same:
NFL Network's Charley Casserly and Brian Billick talked to the media today about the upcoming NFL Draft. Choicest nuggets below. On the news that B.J. Raji didn't fail a drug test as reported by SI.com and NFLDraftBible.com... Brian Billick: "This is of great concern to me, as I think it is to the league and a number of different people. The vetting process that these rookies go through, particularly at the combine, and to have the misconception, or the rumors or the innuendo about some of these young people ... it sounds like there has been some misinformation put out there.
In 2001, Jim Fassel led the Giants to the Super Bowl. He was fired three years later, eventually found his way to Baltimore, and served as the Ravens' offensive coordinator until Brian Billick canned him during the team's bye week.
That was two seasons ago. Fassel has been out of football since, though not from lack of effort. He was in the running for the 'Skins job last spring, and even sent Al Davis a handwritten letter about the Raiders' gig. Oh, and he also blamed bloggers for his plight. But that, as they say, is all water under the bridge.
The 2008 Ravens exceeded everybody's expectations, including their own, I'd imagine. After winning just five times a year ago, Brian Billick was canned, and the front office wasted little time in their search for the next franchise quarterback. Hello, Joe Flacco.
So while the offense -- for the first time since coming to Baltimore last decade -- is headed in the right direction, the defense could be totally revamped next season. And that's a disconcerting thought since they're the unit primarily responsible for this organization's success.
It usually takes weeks or months to find out the real reason why a player gets traded or a coach gets fired. Sure, some PR hack will undoubtedly trot out some version of "Player X was looking for a change," or "Coach Y wanted to spend time with his family," but nobody actually believes such statements, no matter how vehemently they're delivered.
With Jon Gruden, it only took a few hours to find out why the Glazers decided to, as they say, go in another direction: everybody hated him. It was that simple, apparently. And in the new, touchy-feely world of the NFL, there isn't much room for and in-your-face, coach-doesn't-have-to-respect-his-players approach.
Guys just don't respond to the Bill Parcells-types like they once did. That's not an indictment of Gruden so much as it highlights the fact that, like most things, coaching styles are forever evolving.
If you're HBO, it's hard to think of a team you'd rather have on "Hard Knocks" more than the Cincinnati Bengals. You're guaranteed to have at least one Chad Ocho Cinco meltdown, it might explain what Mike Brown does, or doesn't do, for his general manager's bonus and with this roster there's likely to be some Andre Smith man-boob action. And that doesn't even count the possibility of a Bengals' arrest--which is always a pretty good possibility.
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Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 
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The 2008 Ravens exceeded everybody's expectations, including their own, I'd imagine. After winning just five times a year ago, 
It usually takes weeks or months to find out the real reason why a player gets traded or a coach gets fired. Sure, some PR hack will undoubtedly trot out some version of "Player X was looking for a change," or "Coach Y wanted to spend time with his family," but nobody actually believes such statements, no matter how vehemently they're delivered. 
