2011 East-West Shrine Game: Pre-Game Primer

We’ve finished up our practice reports for the week of East-West Shrine Game practice. But, I know some of you like the more generalized overview. Here we’ll compare positions, declare advantages, predict a winner, and give you a list of 10 prospects to watch and why you should watch them.

2011 East-West Shrine Game: Alen’s West Wrap-Up (Day Four)

Today was the final day of practices for the East-Week Shrine Game week and it has been a pleasure viewing the NFL prospects. Lets start and end this week’s thoughts with a run down on some players that I noticed today.

2011 East-West Shrine Game: CK’s West Wrap-Up (Days Three & Four)

We’ve reached the end of our road with the East-West Shrine Week. There have been plenty of ups and downs, vomit and flat tires, Hooters wings, touchdowns and Tebow-Messiah stories, but all good things must come to an end. As I look back on the week of practice I keep reminding myself of one sad fact: most of these guys aren’t going to make it. You’re really looking at only a handful of guys that will get to the next level and make an impact. In speaking with ESPN’s Charlie Bernstein about the dominance of DT Marvin Austin during the week, he reminded me of this reality when he quipped sarcastically, “One thing we learned about Marvin is he can really beat up on some 6th rounders, I mean he can really dominate the trash of the Draft for sure.” Ouch. Sad, but very true. Last year, precisely 55% of the East-West Shrine roster went undrafted. Only 6 players from it were drafted in the top 100, and off the top of my head the only superlative rookie contribution came from St. Louis Left Tackle Rodger Saffold. I believe that the talent in this year’s roster is stronger than a year ago, although I’m not sure Marvin Austin will be the kind of player Saffold is, but even so that means most of these guys will be irrelevant within three years.

2011 East-West Shrine Game: CK’s East Wrap-Up (Days Three & Four)

We’ve reached the end of our road with the East-West Shrine Week. There have been plenty of ups and downs, vomit and flat tires, Hooters wings, touchdowns and Tebow-Messiah stories, but all good things must come to an end. As I look back on the week of practice I keep reminding myself of one sad fact: most of these guys aren’t going to make it. You’re really looking at only a handful of guys that will get to the next level and make an impact. In speaking with ESPN’s Charlie Bernstein about the dominance of DT Marvin Austin during the week, he reminded me of this reality when he quipped sarcastically, “One thing we learned about Marvin is he can really beat up on some 6th rounders, I mean he can really dominate the trash of the Draft for sure.” Ouch. Sad, but very true. Last year, precisely 55% of the East-West Shrine roster went undrafted. Only 6 players from it were drafted in the top 100, and off the top of my head the only superlative rookie contribution came from St. Louis Left Tackle Rodger Saffold. I believe that the talent in this year’s roster is stronger than a year ago, although I’m not sure Marvin Austin will be the kind of player Saffold is, but even so that means most of these guys will be irrelevant within three years.

2011 East-West Shrine Game: West Practice (Day Three)

Day three kicked off today and I managed to beat the NFL Scouts to the sidelines this time. It was a pleasure watching players practice today, albeit it was not a great practice. Let’s kick the third day report off with the West quarterbacks once again.

2011 East-West Shrine Game: West Practice (Day Two)

Day two of the East-West Shrine practices kicked off today and as I entered the practice field, I was greeted by Arizona OT Adam Grant, who happened to throw up right next to me. It wasn’t bad except that it was the longest and loudest throw up I’d ever witnessed. I said to myself, “welcome to the pros, young lad”.

Shrine Practice Report – Thursday Notes & Game Preview

Let me first offer my regretful condolences to Richard Lines (Con), our beloved fellow draftnik here at Universal Draft, who was flagged by airport security as an armed and extremely dangerous terrorist just as he tried to board a simple flight from a random Caribbean island to Orlando in order to fulfill his lifelong dream of seeing an East-West Shrine practice up close.

Shrine Practice Report – Wednesday

Well, for all intents and purposes, Shrine week is over. Most of the scouts and media typically pack their bags and skip town after the Wednesday practice. They don’t even stick around to watch the game itself. Tomorrow, the players will be back in shorts and jerseys.

Shrine Practice Report – Tuesday

Despite best efforts by the man (‘the man’ = Florida Highway Patrol) to keep me away from Shrine practice today, I arrived only 10 minutes late, wearing a green shirt. I wore the green because I had a premonition that Bill Parcells would also be wearing green, and I want to be him. Not just ‘like him’, I’m talking the full Single White Female obsession.