Casserly, Billick Talk NFL Draft

NFL Network's Charley Casserly and Brian Billick talked to the media today about the upcoming NFL Draft. Choicest nuggets below.

On the news that B.J. Raji didn't fail a drug test as reported by SI.com and NFLDraftBible.com...
Brian Billick: "This is of great concern to me, as I think it is to the league and a number of different people. The vetting process that these rookies go through, particularly at the combine, and to have the misconception, or the rumors or the innuendo about some of these young people ... it sounds like there has been some misinformation put out there.

And that's a terrible thing for this young man if indeed he has not tested positive... There's no way to regulate it short of the league coming out, and the testing people coming out and saying 'we are going to publish the names of those that failed to protect those that didn't.' And that's never going to happen. This isn't fair to this young man and I don't think there's any question it will affect his draft status..."

On why is Tyson Jackson making a late surge up draft boards...
Charley Casserly: "Players don't get any better, they are what they are, okay? And team's draft boards aren't set until these last 10 days or so. No one knows if a guy is rising or not ... but to further answer your question: there aren't many defensive linemen in this draft. You have more teams going to the 3-4. When you get past B.J. Raji and Tyson Jackson, these are your only two run-stuffer defensive linemen that can sit in there and play a two-gap and be physical. ... [Jackson's] name has come up as a fallback guy, as high as the top 10. Which I think is interesting because I think he's more of a 12-20[th pick]-type ability guy. But if you're in the 3-4 the guy should line up and play for you."

On the drop-off in success rates from rounds 1-2 to the rest of the draft...
Casserly: "If you define success rate as a 'starter after four years' to give the player time to develop ... in the first round we found it was 75 percent success -- this was all positions -- second round is 50, third round was 30, fourth round was 25, fifth round was 20 and the sixth and seventh were ... we'll call it 10 percent ... I think the key to success to those rounds: having good evaluators ... Take the best player on the board. You're guessing in the first round in the first place, you're definitely guessing in the sixth and seventh. Even though you've done all this work, you still realize there's an element of chance involved..."

On what it means to draft a quarterback coming out as a junior or a senior...
Billick: "As you see Mark Sanchez go up and down the board, and move up the board because people seem to think he's pretty good. That fact that he -- on the flip side of that -- has had the one year. The Akili Smith analogy, I think that's got a lot of people concerned. Obviously, whether he comes out as a senior or as a junior, if you have at least two full years and that much tape to evaluate ... that's kind of a bonus. So I think that extra year -- having two full seasons -- is a substantial difference. ... A lot of people who like Sanchez are a little nervous because of the one year."

On Malcolm Jenkins' prospects as an NFL cornerback...
Casserly: "I think what this guy is is a Cover 2 corner. I don't think he's an off-cover corner. In other words, if you're going to back him off and have him playing man-to-man coverage, I don't think he'll be very successful there. I think his hips are off, his change of direction is off, his sudden quickness is off, and his speed is off. Now, that being said, if you're in a Cover 2 I think the guy would be terrific. I think the guy's highest value on the draft board is actually at safety.

I went back and looked at some junior tape on the guy and when you break him down, I don't know what he's missing as a safety because he has range, it appeared he had instincts. It appeared he had some ball skills, it appeared he was a good hitter. He had a presence you kind of want in a safety. I think this guy ... is a better safety prospect, but if you're in a Cover 2 system he's fine."

Billick: "I agree with Charley 100 percent ... but there is value in having that safety, particularly given the emergence of tight ends in this league. To have a safety that can now drop down and have that type of cover skills, I think there's value there. From a pure corner standpoint, the minute I hear a guy ... can play corner or safety, that tells me, 'then how good is he really at corner?' That's a red flag to me."