Donald Brown:  U. Conn – Indy (1st Round)  I got a chance to watch numerous University of Connecticut games this past season as they just seemed to be on TV when I had nothing else to do.  Let me tell you Donald Brown is just a stud. I said it during the college season and before the draft.  When we look back at this draft he will be the best running back from it.  I am even more convinced now [...]

A strong and stirring division that didn’t contain a single team with a losing record in 2008, the NFC South was an offensive juggernaut and divisional force in the NFL last year. The division contained three of the top ten offenses in both points and yards and boasted four of the top eleven passing games in the league. While defense seemed to be an underdeveloped afterthought in the division except in Tampa Bay, the NFC South still managed to light [...]

Beyond the glam and glitz of sparkling neon lights, past the impressive displays of towering artificial monuments, through the swirling suggestions of dancers and skin, drinks and tourists, the heart of Las Vegas lies largely unchanged:  Gambling. On the eve of the NFL Draft, a day when we celebrate the width and breadth of professional football’s hopes and dreams, and watch the bright futures and dark pasts of talented, young players coalesce into a mega media event, Vegas lies slyly [...]

Long ruled by perennial contender Indianapolis, the AFC South sustained a shake-up in 2008 which saw the Tennessee Titans emerge as Division winners, the Jacksonville Jaguars devolve into basement dwellers, and the Houston Texans start to make legitimate strides toward respectability and contention. With key losses and shake-ups suffered by the top two teams this off-season and the potential progression of their divisional rivals, however, the AFC South is one of the most up-for-grabs divisions in the NFL heading into [...]

Now that free agency has tapered off a bit it’s time to shift our focus to April’s NFL Draft in New York, and in this edition of NFL Pecking Order JoJo The Wonder Chicken breaks down how he believes the first 32 selections will play out. “With the first pick in the 2009 NFL Draft the Detroit Lions select…” 1 Matthew Stafford – QB, Georgia Definition of a one-shot deal…Detroit at the top of the Pecking Order. The smart play [...]

In what will be an extremely deep TE class this year I do not recommend going after any of last year’s top performers, or what are considered the top-tier players. The value simply won’t be there when you should be able to find matching production 3-5 rounds later. I believe you will see these 5 tight ends drafted first: Gates, Witten, Clark, Gonzo, and Winslow. Unless one of those five falls pretty far the next tier of options could out-produce [...]

Video Game giant EA Sports recently released a list of four potential suitors for the highly desirable showcase spot known as the Madden Cover.  The four finalists they named are Super Bowl winning Pittsburgh Quarterback Ben Rothelisburger, New York Giants behemoth Running Back Brandon Jacobs, Minnesota uber-stud Running Back Adrian Peterson, and Balitmore shut-down Safety Ed Reed. Along with those four noteworthy and worthwhile stars are five yet to be released players that are also still in contention for the cover.  EA [...]

Much like the stock market in today’s volatile economy the values of players in fantasy football can rise and fall wildly as the result of injury, arrest, the "Plaxiduo" of injury and arrest, or in the case of the subject of this edition of The Dow JoJo Index, a blockbuster trade. Before I delve into the fantasy winners and losers from the Cutler megadeal and it’s fallout I’d like to take a moment to say, that personally I found it [...]

Welcome to the first annual Pigskin Paparazzi April’s Fools list, where we present some of the biggest screw-ups, dumba$$es, and self-defeating entities that the NFL has to offer: 1. Josh McDaniels: Belichick’s young protege is well on his way to completely dismantling the current Denver Broncos squad and he’s only been Head Coach for a little less than three months.  He’s taken a team whose only strength lied in its young, explosive passing game and effectively removed the most integral part [...]

Questions of racism, profiling, misuse of power and overextension of authority have all arisen recently in response to Houston Texans back-up running back Ryan Moats’ unfortunate run-in with the Dallas Police Department on the night of March 18th.  These issues stem from ex-Officer Robert Powell denying Moats the opportunity to be with his dying mother-in-law while detaining and threatening him in the parking lot of the hospital for a traffic violation. Usually when NFL players and their incidents involving the law come to our [...]