Ok so my draft news boycott lasted about 24 hours but I couldn’t help myself when I saw this column on Yahoo! Sports by Charles Robinson. The article is rare for a couple reasons:

1. It’s not AP. Almost everything that lands on my news reader from Yahoo! Sports is AP and not written by staff.

2. It is the first column I’ve seen that has used the word “bad” in connection with anything that JaMarcus Russell has done.

I don’t disagree with Robinson though. I think that Russell is not a slam dunk as many have hailed him as being but I think the Raiders don’t want to be the organization that passed on JaMarcus Russell. Taking Calvin Johnson is a great pick, if not a considerably safer pick, but it won’t sit too well with the members of the Black Hole that know that their teams most pressing need (besides a new owner) is quarterback. I think what the Raiders are hoping is that the Dolphins will pull the trigger on the Trent Green deal and cut Daunte Culpepper but I doubt that will happen before Saturday.

While Russell looked impressive against Notre Dame, let’s remember — THEY WERE PLAYING NOTRE DAME and it’s laughably bad defense. I’ve heard LSU fans on sports talk radio shows talking about how good Russell looked against bad defenses and how he struggled in the big games against the likes of Florida and Tennessee.

When a team drafts JaMarcus Russell, whoever that team is and I’m pretty sure it will still be Oakland, they are drafting completely on upside. They are drafting that rocket arm and seemingly effortless throwing motion, they are not drafting his complete body of work at LSU.

The Worldwide Leader.com’s Todd McShay is reporting that USC wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett had a less than spectacular outing at USC’s pro day last week.

McShay said the 6′4″ Jarrett ran a 4.61 and 4.66 in his two 40 attempts. The same range as — guess who — former USC phenom and current, until the Lions can cut him, Detroit Lions wide receiver Mike Williams.

The comparisons between Jarrett and Williams will be drawn for any number of reasons. They’re both roughly the same size, they both went to Southern Cal and they both, at certain points during their career, looked like can’t-miss NFL prospects.

But to me, there’s one major difference between where Jarrett is going into April’s draft and where Williams was before the ‘05 draft, when the Lions inexplicably took him with the 10th pick in the first round — Jarrett played last year and Williams sat out the season prior to the 2005 draft because he was declared ineligible by the NCAA after his challenge of the NFL’s age policy failed.

I watched USC on a handful of occasions last year and while his 40 time may have been less than, a lot less than impressive. I still think Jarrett’s an absolute beast and will help whatever team takes him in April. Will he be an elite receiver? Probably not. But he will be a quality posession receiver and dangerous in the slot.

Here’s where various NFL draft experts think Jarrett will come off the board on the 28th:

Pat Kirwan - NFL.com - 19th pick - Tennessee Titans

NFLdraftcountdown.com - 30th pick - San Diego Chargers

Mel Kiper - ESPN - 11th pick - San Fransisco 49ers

Todd McShay - NFL.com - 23rd pick - Kansas City Chiefs

Don Banks - SI.com - 19th pick - Tennessee Titans

Consensus Draft Services - 23rd pick - Kansas City Chiefs

Draftking.com - 19th pick - Tennesee Tians

Nice try.

The Worldwide Leader’s resident college football scout (not Mel Kiper, he’s the Worldwide Leader’s draft guru — different qualifications, different paygrade) was arguing, probably rightly so, that Stanton was probably looking at late 2nd, early 3rd round. Not so said Rosenhausen.

The agent claims to have been told that Stanton is projecting in the late first round or the early second. I think Stanton, who’s currently rated by NFL.com’s Vic Carruci as the fifth best quarterback in the draft behind Quinn, Russell, BYU’s John Beck and Houston’s Kevin Kolb, could go anywhere between the 2nd and 3rd round but certainly not the first. When you look at who’s picking at the end of the first, the need of those teams for a young quarterback, a young quarterback who’s going to want first round money regardless of whether or not he plays, just isn’t there. Teams like Baltimore, Chicago, New York Jets or Kansas City have quarterback depth issues but are not at all likely to fill those needs in the first round.

Sorry, Drew. Nice try, though.

And despite all the talk about JaMarcus Russell, Brady Quinn, Joe Thomas and Calvin Johnson, there is one player in this draft that in my opinion is an absolute can’t-miss.

Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson is an absolute beast. For three years, Peterson has been the soul source of offense on an OU team that’s been pretty darn good. Quite simply put, the guy’s a freak. I don’t put much, if any, stock in combine workout numbers. Peterson ran a pretty impressive 4.4 and broad jumped 10′7″. But the best measure of just how good Peterson is has been his performance on the field. He’s rebounded from two serious injuries and any team would be nuts not to take him.

*WARNING! MEANINGLESS DRAFT SPECULATION AHEAD!*

I don’t think Peterson will go number 1 overall, especially not in light of the Raiders releasing starting QB Aaron Brooks and I don’t think they intend to start Andrew Walter. They’ll likely take a QB.  The Lions won’t take him at the 2 spot, they have Kevin Jones and I think there’s a fair chance Matt Millen will be run out of D-Town on a rail if he takes another skill position player. The first shot for Peterson to go will be Cleveland with the third pick and unless they trade down to get some picks later on in the draft, they’d be nuts not to take. They would have the nucleus for a very good, young, exciting offense team with Charlie Frye, Braylon Edwards and Adrian Peterson and maybe even Kellen Winslow, Jr.

But when you look at Peterson’s body of work (he was a legitimate Heisman trophy candidate his freshman year) , it’s hard to disagree with Mel Kiper Jr., when he says that not drafting Peterson is something teams could “live to regret.”