NEWS

In Defense of Kellen Winslow

Chris Davidson, Legendary Owner


September 09, 2004


Let me just say a lot of thought process went into this pick and also possible trade options. But in my mind, none of the options seemed that great. The Eaters had their eye on Steven Jackson from the start, hoping that one of the top teams (neither of which had a starting quarterback) would take Manning. About a week before the draft, I realized that the top two running backs were going to be off the board when it came my turn to pick. So instead of picking Julius Jones because I got burned by his brother Thomas or Larry Fitzgerald because I feel I have decent wide receivers, and I knew could get one in the second round (Michael Jenkins...a great pick by the way), or Eli Manning because lets be honest, the Boys needed him more and I knew he would fall, I decided to go with the best rookie in this entire class. Yeah, I said it - best rookie in this entire class. Bob, you should know how valuable a tight end is in this league, since you traded for all-world tight end Tony Gonzalez, someone who can dominate his position. Winslow is already ranked 4th at his position - is anybody else in this entire draft rated that high? I doubt it. The upside with Winslow is incredible; by the end of this year he will pass Shockey and Heap and will be a close second to Gonzalez. Plus, he plays for a crappy team and is the best option the team has. Why not pick this guy - I felt like it was a no brainer.

I guess the "not being a good drafter" comments are warranted with picks like Michael Bennett, Thomas Jones etc. But if you look closely at the last two years, The Eaters have gone from pretender to contender. In two years they have added two good QB's in Hasselbeck and Harrington, and also two good young running backs in Westbrook and Brown, both late in the draft. Last year all 4 picks were great - nobody had a better draft (Matt Hasselbeck, Chris Brown, Billy Miller, and Josh Brown). So if you want to hate, go ahead - maybe you are jealous that Winslow didn't fall. Whatever the reason may be, no one should doubt my knowledge of this sport and no one should doubt the Eaters this year.