The AJC is reporting that Mel Kiper thinks the Falcons will be moving on up. This by itself is not that bad, but Kiper and his infuriating hair had to go and remind us all that there ain't no half steppin':
Kiper believes Johnson, a wide receiver he has rated as the top player in the draft, would help quarterback Michael Vick and the Falcons' offense.
"Michael Vick on third down, he's errant with his throws or he has throws dropped," Kiper said. "Either way, it's a drive-killer. ... If they had Calvin Johnson, a big target with the hands and the skill level, all of sudden that would help out that offense dramatically for [coach] Bobby Petrino."
See, this is the problem with pundits who only watch the parts of games where Michael Vick is throwing. The Falcons were 29th against the pass in 2006, Mel Kiper. We just got through signing Joe Horn, who is no longer completely an impact guy but is both an improvement and a mentor for our younger guys. So let's just go ahead and piss away a whole bunch of draft picks we could use to improve our piss poor defense or our smallish offensive line and spend them on another wide receiver, huh?
ARRRGH!
Look, I know how talented Calvin Johnson is/ could be. I'm not demeaning the kid as a talent. And Kiper does go on to say the Falcons might be moving up to grab Landry, instead. But I'm both confused and angered by the fact that everyone keeps drumming the CJ bongo even though it's fairly clear we have a ton of other needs. I realize safety and offensive line aren't necessarily sexy positions, but while putting CJ, Horn, Jenkins and Crumpler all on the same field would be exciting for the fans....I'm not seeing it doing that much unless Vick can control his scampering tendencies. I would rather Kiper kept his meticulous coif out of this one and the Falcons listened to the only pundit that matters: common sense. And that doesn't mean drafting Landry by any means necessary so much as it means wisely spending those draft picks to improve the team.
I think we can all agree on that, right?