I am excited to be back with another offseason look at the results of last year’s IFL rookie draft. I can’t wait to see who knows what they are doing and who has no clue. Before the IFL rookie draft, Jason had a boat load of draft picks. He traded them away for studs in an attempt to win now. He made it all the way to the Championship game and lost. He did keep 4 draft picks. Lets take a look at how he did:

1.01 Clyde Edwards Helaire – Chiefs – RB – 257 points

Jason’s Comments: CEH is Lev Bell ( the Pittsburgh years )

I am really conflicted by this evaluation. On one hand 257 points is a solid rookie season for anyone. However, do we expect the 1.01 to be a can’t miss pick? It became apparent after the first game that CEH was not a goal line back. He ran 184 times and only had 4 touchdowns. CEH proved to be shifty in the open field but really struggled between the tackles and struggled in short yardage situations. CEH achieved points because he was in the Chiefs backfield. He reminded me more of Giovani Bernard than he did of Leveon Bell in the Pittsburgh years. If Jason had the choice of this pick over, he probably would have taken Taylor, Akers, and maybe Swift instead of CEH. Remember Damien Williams returns next year. Williams looked more explosive than CEH did this year. CEH will never be a bust, but I don’t think he ever achieves the status of a true 1.01. In defense of Jason, everyone had CEH as the 1.01. At the time of the draft, this was the correct pick. It just didn’t turn out to be the best pick.

5.01 Mykal Walker – Falcons – LB – 88.5 points

Jason’s Comments: None

For a 5th round draft selection, Walker contributed to a poor Falcons defense. He started 6 games and had 45 tackles. He struggled in pass protection but he was a pretty solid tackler. Overall, the 88.5 points achieved was much better than several of the LBs that were taken a round ahead of him. The veteran Falcon LBs still have one or two years left on their contracts. Walker could slide in the permanent LB starting lineup within one year provided the Falcons don’t draft better LB talent. Overall, this was a nice pick.

5.02 Antonio Gandy Golden -Washington – WR – 4.4 points

Jason’s Comments: None

Golden landed in a good spot and did nothing with it. He played a total of 124 snaps on the year and caught one pass before being placed on IR with a hamstring injury. McLauren is the true #1. Sims finished the year strong and should hold down that spot. Washington will draft another receiver at some point in the draft. Because of the lack of depth, Golden should still have a chance to prove himself with a full training camp next year. You can’t call a player who went on IR a bust. He deserves one more year to evaluate. At this point, however, you can say that this wasn’t a good pick.

5.16 Alex Highsmith – Steelers – LB – 89.8 points

Jason’s Comments: None

When Highsmith was drafted nobody thought he would get much playing time. Devin Bush went down. Then Bud Dupree went down. All of a sudden Highsmith gets a chance. On the year he made 24 tackles and showed life at the end of the season. He was a 3rd round pick so the Steelers must have had a plan for him. I think this really comes down to what the Steelers do with Dupree. After the Steelers devastating loss to the soon to be Super Bowl Champion Browns, it is possible that Pittsburgh parts ways with some of their high priced defensive talent and goes young. Overall for the 5.16, this was a good pick.

Overall, I thought Jason did a nice job with his draft. I do give him the middle finger for not doing a better job with his comments. He needs CEH to be the main guy and he has to hope that one of his 2 rookie LBs take a step forward. When you put it all together, not bad.