By Woodrow Carroll
The 2000 National Football League (NFL) draft was well along when the St. Louis Rams selected Matt Bowen of the University of Iowa in the sixth round. Shortly later, the New Orleans Saints picked Sherrod Gidean from Southern Mississippi University. Bowen was the 198th player selected and Gideon was No. 200. Neither Bowen, nor Gideon, established a career in the NFL, however, a guy named Tom Brady of the University of Michigan was chosen No. 199 between Bowen and Gideon . Brady did, and is still doing, more than fairly well in the NFL
Brady is the last player still standing from the 2000 NFL draft. The Chicago Bears made Brian Urlacher the No. 9 pick overall in 2000, and, the talented Urlacher played 13 seasons prior to retiring following the 2012 season. He was elected to the NFL’s Hall of Fame.
The NFL draft, as well as the selection process for other pro sports, is far from exact, but, fun to follow, analyze, and criticize.
Touching upon Brady and his career is a segway to bring up last week’s NFL draft is fertile grounds for the fans of teams to make comments.
By completing a trade with the New York Giants, the Bears worked their way up to the No. 11 pick and went with Ohio State University quarterback Justin Fields.
The choice of Fields took some of the pressure off the Bears’ organization, at least for the time being. Quarterbacking for the Bears in most of the last 70 years has been an area of concern and criticism, to say the least.
Fields guided Ohio State into the National championship game with Alabama and fell, 52-24. Five players from Alabama were first round picks in the last week’s draft with two more selected in the second round.
Fields was the fourth quarterback drafted. The selection of Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence by the Jacksonville Jaguars as the top pick was a forgone conclusion early on. Then came Zach Wilson of BYU was taken by the New York Jets. The first real surprise was the San Francisco 49ers’ choice of Trey Lance of North Dakota State as the third selection.
In a way, Trey Lance is following in the footsteps of Carson Wentz who played at North Dakota State, a recognized small-school power. Wentz was tabbed by the Philadelphia Eagles as the second choice in 2016 NFL draft. Wentz compiled impressive statistics and was part of the 2017 Super Bowl LII champion Eagles, however, he was injured at the time and it was Nick Foles who guided the Eagles to a 41-33 victory over New England.
Wentz’s five-year stay with the Eagles came to an end March 17 when he was traded to the Indianapolis Colts.
The fifth quarterback taken in the first round of the draft last week was Alabama’s Mac Jones. There were those who thought Jones would be taken prior to Lance and Fields. There were few who doubted Jones’ talent, however, many, had the sense that Jones was surrounded by such a wealth of talent at Alabama that he was sure to compile impressive statistics. Jones was taken by New England at No. 15. His task in the short run is to rekindle memories of Brady, no easy task!
Northwestern was the first Big Ten Conference team to have two players selected in the draft when offensive tackle Rashawn Slater was taken No. 13 by the Los Angeles Chargers, then cornerback Greg Newsome was No. 26 by the Cleveland Browns.
Illinois’ Kendrick Green was the team’s first selection. Green, an offensive guard from Peoria Central High, was the 87th pick in the third round taken by the Pittsburgh Steelers.