FanHouse Nfl Draft Interviews

Update (4/28/09): Johnson was invited by the Green Bay Packers to participate in their rookie mini-camp. Best of luck to you, Brian.

NEW YORK -- The NFL draft isn't a whirlwind of celebration for everyone. Some players just feel blessed to be a part of the experience, and everything else is just gravy.

Enter Brian Johnson, the quarterback who led Utah to a perfect 13-0 regular-season record and threw for 27 touchdowns, but might not even hear his name called in the seventh round.

NEW YORK -- It's not everyday you see three players from the same school taken in the first round of the NFL draft. Three linebackers? That's unprecedented territory.

The magnitude of the occasion isn't lost on Brian Cushing, who should be one of three rough-and-ready USC linebackers selected in the first round on Saturday. But that doesn't mean he's ready to concede a higher draft slot to former teammates Rey Maualuga and Clay Matthews.

NEW YORK -- The whispers are that the deal could be done tonight, or already is done, but for some i-dotting and t-crossing. Peter King tells us to take it to the bank: Matthew Stafford is "going to be a Detroit Lion."

It's been an open secret for days that Stafford, the former Georgia quarterback, is in serious negotiations with the Lions and is very likely to be the No. 1 pick in Saturday's NFL draft. Mark Sanchez is telling anybody who'll listen that Stafford-to-Detroit is a done deal. Aaron Curry, while still hoping it will be him, seems resigned to Stafford as the No. 1 pick.

The only one who's pretending not to know anything about all of this is Stafford, who told us with a straight face this afternoon that he hasn't been paying it any attention.

NEW YORK -- Brian Orakpo doesn't just have hands. They're more like slabs of granite disguised in layers of taut skin.

When I greeted the defensive end Thursday night at the premiere party for EA Sports' NCAA Football 10, the first thing I could manage to say to him was: "Wow, I feel really small right about now."

I'm sure he gets that all the time. At 6-foot-3 and over 260 pounds, the workout warrior out of Texas is intimidating in stature alone. Then he goes ahead and blows away onlookers in linebacker drills.

But there's another position that Orakpo always wanted to try -- wide receiver. Check out what he had to say to FanHouse about his positional change fantasy, the challenge of maintaining his physique, and the chance to get some payback on former teammate Vince Young.

NEW YORK -- He doesn't want to talk about his foot, really. He's been asked about it so much that he can feel the question coming, and he heads it off with a tsk, a shake of the head and a practiced response.

"I've got a brand-new set of wheels, man," Michael Crabtree said Thursday night. "That's the way I look at it."

The Texas Tech receiver, a likely top-10 pick in this weekend's NFL draft, was making the interview rounds at the premiere party for EA Sports' NCAA Football 10 video game. (He's on the cover of the Xbox 360 version.) He's looking forward to finally finding out which team he's going to, and the stress fracture in his foot is healed, thank you very much, and he's not real keen on talking about it.

What he does like talking about is college football. Which is something he's going to miss.

NEW YORK -- They gave Aaron Curry his line and he couldn't believe it -- couldn't wait to deliver it. Clutching a microphone in his hand, he looked into the camera and belted it out.

"This is Aaron Curry for EA Sports," he said. "It's in the game!"

Actually pumped his fist when it was done.

"I love that!" he said. "Always wanted to say that."

It was a swanky party Thursday night at Providence in midtown Manhattan -- the premiere event for EA Sports' NCAA Football 10 video game. The room was buzzing with questions and lights and cameras and an endless supply of free sushi, and nobody was having a better time than Curry. Nobody's making more of the days leading up to the NFL draft.

NEW YORK -- Having aced out his friend for a video game cover, Mark Sanchez said Thursday night that it's fine by him if Matthew Stafford gets picked before him in this weekend's NFL draft. Sanchez has come to grips with the idea that he'll almost certainly be the second quarterback taken.

"It sounds like Stafford's got a deal worked out with Detroit, and that's fine," Sanchez said in an interview during the premiere party for EA Sports' NCAA Football 10 game. "It's going to be great for him and I'm happy for him. He's a good friend of mine."

Sanchez, who will grace the cover of the PSP edition of the game, said he and Stafford became friends when both served as counselors at the 2008 "Elite 11" quarterback camp in Orange County, Calif. In recent weeks, he said, they've talked every day to compare notes about the insane pre-draft process.

NEW YORK -- Some of the biggest NFL Draft prospects attended Thursday night's EA Sports NCAA Football 10 Draft Night Premiere IV party in New York City. Everyone from Mark Sanchez to Michael Crabtree celebrated the release of the game.

Just 48 hours before the biggest day of their young careers, I was able to pick some of the players' brains and talk shop with the likes of ESPN's Trey Wingo and Fox Sports' Jay Glazer. A video chronicling my exciting night can be found after the jump.

NEW YORK -- Any sportscaster would love to be featured in a video game. Erin Andrews is getting to fulfill her virtual dream by being featured in EA Sports' NCAA Football 10.

My dream? Heck, it was to interview Erin Andrews! Sadly, though, things took an unexpected turn at EA's Draft Night Premiere IV in New York City when Andrews left me out of her dream. Confused by all this dream talk? Check out the interview below.

NEW YORK -- A story broke Wednesday night that the Detroit Lions, who have the No. 1 pick in this weekend's NFL draft, have worked out a contract with Wake Forest linebacker Aaron Curry in case they can't get a deal done with Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford before the draft begins.

But in an interview Thursday night at the premiere party for EA Sports' NCAA Football 10 video game, Curry said that's not exactly the case.