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Thanks to the great people at Draft Breakdown , I've been able to watch cutups of a lot of draft prospects over the last two years. One thing that has always bothered me is having to trust rankings and player opinions of other people. I don't regularly watch college football, but even if I did, I couldn't possible watch enough to evaluate draft prospects. A guy might jump off the screen, but otherwise you are missing a lot. There is also a big difference between focusing on a single player and watching a game—different things matter. Here is a list of guys I liked a lot last year: Star Lotulelei - My favorite player in the draft. The whole package. Barkevious Mingo - My favorite pass-rusher. Flexibility with room to improve. Sheldon Richardson - Liked him almost as much as Lotulelei. Impact player on every down in college. D.J. Hayden - Didn't get to watch him until late like most people, but he and Xavier Rhodes were 1A/1B at the cornerback position to me. Don'...

  Disclaimer Some strength of schedule models calculate strength of schedule based on the opponents the team has faced to date.  My model calculates strength of schedule based on all the opponents on a team's schedule.  The reason for this is because it reduces weekly fluctuations. For example, when a team plays their Week 17 game, in the traditional model their strength of schedule would change by 31 games...their Week 17 opponent's 16 games plus the additional game played by each of their prior 15 opponents.  In my model, when a team plays their Week 17 game their strength of schedule will only change by 15 games...one additional game for each of the opponents on their schedule.

The Raiders aren't making much noise in free agency and will attempt to build through the draft. Missing are five of their original seven draft selections and in their place are five players that may contribute in 2012. A couple more selections may be awarded as compensatory selections, but that is yet to be determined. What is the best case and worse case scenarios for the Raiders' 2012 draft? Not only does it depend on the players they draft, but how many they draft and how the players perform they obtained for those picks.   1st Round: Carson Palmer Hue Jackson orchestrated a trade that brought Palmer to Oakland. It was too much to give up, but what's done is done. The Raiders have their franchise quarterback, right? That's the hope. The new regime is hitching their wagon to Palmer and putting a new offense around him. There wasn't many other options for the Raiders. Best Case:  Palmer, with an offseason with the receivers and studying the offense, turns in a pro...

Huge action from Hue Jackson. Aaron Curry last week. Carson Palmer today. The Raiders gave up a lot for Palmer, but he's a better quarterback than Jason  Campbell. The Raiders lost Campbell for a significant period of time and were faced with starting Kyle Boller for the rest of the season if they didn't make a move for a quarterback. The time is now for the Raiders and Hue Jackson pushed all his chips into the middle by bringing in Carson Palmer. The Raiders have only two picks left in the 2012 draft and with the Carson Palmer trade started dealing 2013 draft selections. This trade and the moves of the past two seasons setup the Raiders for success going forward. Allow us to examine position-by-position and pick-by-pick and what the future may hold for this team and why the move for Carson Palmer was still a good one. If the Raiders go far in the playoffs under Palmer those draft picks become low in each round and with most of the young players on the roster locked up for the ...