PA Season Ticket Holder
02-23-2003, 11:58 AM
INDIANAPOLIS -- Commissioner Paul Tagliabue's announcement at The Theatre at Madison Square Garden, naming the top pick in the NFL Draft, is still two months away. But the race to be the first name to roll off his lips truly has begun this week in Indianapolis.
Three hundred twenty-three college hopefuls inundate the Hoosier city for a week and try to outmuscle, outrun and out-interview their brethren to increase their chances at improving their first pro contract.
Some personnel types wonder if Byron Leftwich is mobile enough to play in the NFL. (Getty Images)
But the first slot is the spot that garners the most attention, and in most years, it's reserved for the position with all the glory -- quarterback.
Why should this year be any different?
So as Southern California's Carson Palmer and Marshall's Byron Leftwich arrive in Indy to wrestle for the top slot, two questions arise: Which man is rated higher, and is either one ranked better than last year's top QB pair of David Carr and Joey Harrington? The comparison provides a solid measuring stick of how the league's personnel decision-makers view these two gunslingers.
Plus, nothing gets a football man's blood boiling like a good ol' hypothetical. So why not hit them with it?
SportsLine.com polled 10 men at the combine (two head coaches, two general managers, two directors of college scouting, three personnel directors and one assistant head coach/offensive coordinator) and posed the following question: If Palmer, Leftwich, Carr and Harrington were all in the same draft, in what order would you rate them? (The panel was asked to make its evaluations based on the grades they gave Carr and Harrington before last year's draft, not their performances in their first NFL seasons.)
The result? Neither of this year's quarterbacks would have been a top two pick if they had to go up against Carr and Harrington.
MORE (http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/story/6203210)
Three hundred twenty-three college hopefuls inundate the Hoosier city for a week and try to outmuscle, outrun and out-interview their brethren to increase their chances at improving their first pro contract.
Some personnel types wonder if Byron Leftwich is mobile enough to play in the NFL. (Getty Images)
But the first slot is the spot that garners the most attention, and in most years, it's reserved for the position with all the glory -- quarterback.
Why should this year be any different?
So as Southern California's Carson Palmer and Marshall's Byron Leftwich arrive in Indy to wrestle for the top slot, two questions arise: Which man is rated higher, and is either one ranked better than last year's top QB pair of David Carr and Joey Harrington? The comparison provides a solid measuring stick of how the league's personnel decision-makers view these two gunslingers.
Plus, nothing gets a football man's blood boiling like a good ol' hypothetical. So why not hit them with it?
SportsLine.com polled 10 men at the combine (two head coaches, two general managers, two directors of college scouting, three personnel directors and one assistant head coach/offensive coordinator) and posed the following question: If Palmer, Leftwich, Carr and Harrington were all in the same draft, in what order would you rate them? (The panel was asked to make its evaluations based on the grades they gave Carr and Harrington before last year's draft, not their performances in their first NFL seasons.)
The result? Neither of this year's quarterbacks would have been a top two pick if they had to go up against Carr and Harrington.
MORE (http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/story/6203210)