Before this year, I had been an avid follower of the draft, but had never covered it.

So, how do I feel after all of the craziness has died down?

Well, relieved, for starters. Now that the draft is over, we’ll be diving into college football and NFL coverage, because those two seasons will be here before we know it. Believe it or not, I’ll actually be starting up college football season previews in the next few weeks.

I’m not nearly as frustrated as I could be due to my mock draft not turning out too well, thanks to all of the trades, and a few ‘interesting’ picks, but that’s due to the fact that there weren’t a lot of people whose mock drafts really turned out rosy. I knew there were going to be trades, but not that many.

I came in tied for 44th in The Huddle Report’s mock draft scoring. A big shoutout to FFToolbox colleagues Ricky Dimon, who tied for first, and Randall Weida, who tied for 4th.

I could have come in better had I gone with what I figured was going to happen and put Matt Ryan at #3, Darren McFadden at #4, and Vernon Gholston at #6, but hey, I did pretty well all things considered.

Not having a single wide receiver taken in the first round messed me up a little, since I had four taken then (DeSean Jackson, James Hardy, Devin Thomas, and Limas Sweed), but I came out okay, thanks in part to guys like Branden Albert and Quentin Groves going to the teams I thought they would, just not in the spots I had them in.

Where did ‘experts’ like Todd McShay, Mike Mayock, and Pete Prisco come in? Tied for 59th, tied for 75th, and tied for 75th, respectively. Mel Kiper, Jr., the draft guru king, finished tied for 29th, and so did Jay Glazer. Not poking fun in the least, because mock drafts are just as fun as they are serious, but it’s interesting to see how these guys did.

You can check out the complete results here - FFToolbox is definitely well represented.

Will I be applying for any general manager posts or ESPN jobs anytime soon? I certainly could do just as good (or bad) of a job as some of the guys currently in those positions. I digress though…

I’m not doing draft grades, but you can check out Walt’s draft grades, and Pete Prisco’s as well. I did winners, but I didn’t do losers, but that’s it.

Besides the draft coverage that I did on The Red Zone Report and on FFToolbox, I had a couple of radio spots last Tuesday, one on Tuesday with an ESPN affiliate in Louisville, then one on Friday with an ESPN affiliate in Las Vegas. It was the first time that I’ve done radio, so naturally there were some nerves, but I think I did well overall. If you caught me on either of those, shoot me an e-mail.

On Sunday, I was on Fantasy Sports Group’s NFL Draft webcast for a few segments, and in case you didn’t hear it live, you can catch the archived cast. Thanks to Greg Kellogg for having me on, and I look forward to being on more webcasts in the future.

Overall, it was pretty interesting following the draft as more than just a football fan, and it was great that the proceedings were much shorter than in previous years. Good on Goodell for ushering in those changes.

I’m already looking forward to actually going to the draft in the next couple of years. Now that will be an experience! I wonder what Mel Kiper, Jr.’s hair looks like in person…

Before I go off on another tangent - speaking of audio-related things, expect to see a regular podcast starting in the next few weeks. Don’t worry, you won’t have to listen to me drone on and on by myself - I plan to have guests, from fellow bloggers and football writers to interviews with coaches and players.

Also, if you haven’t seen the poll on the front page, check it out - that will also become a regular feature. As for my opinion on the current poll, I was pretty surprised that Dan Connor fell to the third round, because while he wasn’t a first-round lock anymore, I didn’t think he’d fall that far.

Besides podcasts and polls, I have a lot more planned for the site in the near future, including getting a site store up and running soon as well, where you can buy everything from t-shirts to caps, and maybe for those of you who live in cold weather, hoodies.

Anyhow, for those who read the site regularly, thanks for doing so, and I hope you continue to. And for those who are new to the site, I hope you keep coming back. The Red Zone Report has grown quite a bit in its first four months, and I think it’s just the beginning.

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