Draft sites worth looking at

[PonyExpress]

I've started looking at nfldraftcountdown, mainly the forums. The forum participants often seem more up to date than the site itself, and there are alot of college fans who know college football and have interesting, if prejudiced, perspectives on their own prospects. I occasionally look at draftdaddy.com. Alot of minutiae on 3rd tier prospects, but nice links. Other than that, nfldraftscout.com is a data mine. My sense is that the rest of the draft sites are drek and not worth bothering over, especially ESPN (I ended my subscription after that good vs evil crap). Occasionally I glance at Frank Coyle's work at rivals.com as well.

As far as draft magazines go, the bible is the profootballweekly draft preview booklet. Nawrocki has an eye for the best players on the draft. He knew Peterson was the top player last season, and liked Vice Young as well, despite all the criticism of VY at the time, and VY has had a better start to his career than either Leinart or Cutler IMO. The other draft magazines IMO are garbage. Any other opinions?

[BelichickFan]

I like to look at footballsfuture's fourm :

http://www.footballsfuture.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=1

It's very active and generally has good participants. They also have team specific forums, the Pats' seems very active although I get all I need here so I don't really look there.

Sometime I want to go back and look at Russ Lande Jr.'s success rate, his ratings for his own site (gmjr.com) and TSN are unique, to say the least. They were last year anyway, I haven't seen this year's. I don't mind different opinions if there's a track record.

[PonyExpress]

I used to follow TSN, but about 2 years ago they slashed their budget, and the war room became a sham. I bought their predraft mag and it was full of old recycled information that hadn't been updated since before the combine. Then they added Lande last year, who at least has a face and isn't disguised by a "war room" style moniker. Lande is out there and has weird opinions. I've found one has to be very cautious with him, because he's as close to a coin flip on these prospects as anyone. His most amusing act was writing for NFL.com 2 years ago, when every prospect profile began with "I was extremely frustrated watching this player on tape..." I'll give him a shot this year based on your recommendation.

[BelichickFan]

Originally Posted by PonyExpress

I'll give him a shot this year based on your recommendation.

Well, I didn't exactly recommend him

I usually get the magazine, though, just for a different opinion. I wish I still had last year's to go back and look at it now. He's gone away from his book this year to sending out a PDF file for $10+shipping. His site's mock is very old, though, which doesn't help matters. He has us taking Malcolm Jenkins who is staying at Ohio State.

[JR4]

Who is that guy from a Texas Newspaper that has a pretty
reputation for his mock drafts? Anyone know?

[Dom]

Originally Posted by JR4

Who is that guy from a Texas Newspaper that has a pretty
reputation for his mock drafts? Anyone know?

I think you mean Rick Gosselin, of the Dallas Morning News.

[JR4]

Originally Posted by Dom

I think you mean Rick Gosselin, of the Dallas Morning News.

Yes I think that is the guy .... thanks.

[Seneschal2]

Originally Posted by Dom

I think you mean Rick Gosselin, of the Dallas Morning News.

We'll have to wait for April when he posts his very accurate top 100 -- and sometimes accurate mocks.

[PonyExpress]

Gosselin doesn't evaluate players. He has the best league sources and knows who will be picked when. That's a very important and interesting tool for which he deserves credit, but IMO the greater skill is accurately projecting which players will become good pros, not just where and when they will come off the board. I believe Nawrocki is the best at that.