Buckeye Draft Recap

We previewed the NFL Draft in historical terms late last week. With the 2008 version of the NFL Draft in the books we can briefly describe what transpired over the last two days.

Most impartial observers expected three, possibly four, former Buckeyes to be drafted this weekend. Gholston was a Top 10 lock, Barton was a certain second-day pick, and Larry Grant was likely to get picked up late in the proceedings. Even Dionte Johnson had some, albeit small, hope of being drafted. Here is how the two days unfolded for the former Buckeyes.

Starting at the top, Gholston went 6th overall to the New York Jets. Several mock drafts had predicted the Patriots would snatch Gholston up at No. 7. As it turned out, Mangini and the Jets had designs on the Ohio State sack leader. Despite being ranked as the 3rd best DE by ESPN, many speculate that Gholston will project as an OLB in the Jets 3-4 scheme.

An incidental benefit of the Jets pick? You may get to see more photos like the one above if Chad Henne wins the job in Miami. Only in different colors. Sweet, huh?

So far, so good. Right?

Not if you were Kirk Barton. The scouts at the Worldwide Leader had ranked Barton as the 15th best offensive tackle. That should have landed Barton in the late 5th round or early 6th round. Yet, Kirk was still waiting for a phone call with 6 picks to go. Adding to the intrigue was the run on tackles in the first round (7 were drafted in the first 26 picks), which seemed to bode well for Barton’s chances to be drafted higher up the board. Then a funny thing happened; 13 other tackles were drafted between picks 33 through 246. The Chicago Bears ultimately drafted Barton (their sixth Buckeye since 1990) with the 40th pick in the Seventh Round (247 overall) six picks shy of Mr. Irrelevant.

In the meantime, Larry Grant was drafted by San Francisco (the 49ers second Buckeye since 1990) at the beginning of the Seventh Round (214 overall). In fact, if you are going by the ESPN position rankings (and I know how you all love the gang from Bristol) Grant actually moved up. He was projected as the 19th best OLB and actually was the 17th drafted.

Dionte Johnson went undrafted. Johnson will most likely be signed as a free agent and given the chance to make a roster. Given the decreasing role of fullbacks and Johnson’s uneven performance during ’07, it seems like a long shot for him to make a 53 man roster.