Tuesday with Mel Kiper Jr.

Mel works overtime to bring you the latest news from the NFL draft

Originally Published: April 7, 2009
ESPN Insider

In this week's roundup of his draft analysis on all ESPN platforms, Mel Kiper makes sense of the fallout from the Cutler trade. Also, he tells us Denver is sure to hunt for a quarterback late in the draft, a la Tom Brady.

Quarterback musical chairs

Welcome to quarterback musical chairs with Mel Kiper. With Jay Cutler taking the quarterback seat in Chicago, Kiper tells us what chairs that leaves open for prospective NFL signal-callers.

Matthew Stafford, Jr., Georgia: Because the Lions did not trade for Cutler, they will likely draft Stafford with the No. 1 overall pick, Kiper said. In fact, at this point, they have to.

Mark Sanchez, Jr., USC: With a solid pro-day workout, Sanchez is hot property -- "He's kind of the buzz right now," Kiper said. Either St. Louis (No. 2) or Seattle (4) could go for him, but there is concern that he has only 16 starts under his belt. This rise up draft boards is surprising because, a month and a half ago, some people had him dropping to the Jets at 17. "But at this point, that's not happening," Kiper said.

Josh Freeman, Jr., Kansas State: Kiper said Freeman will likely go at 19 to Tampa Bay. But the valuable thing about Freeman is that, once he's off the board, Kiper said there is a huge drop off in talent. "The next quarterback goes in round four or round five," he said. So will a team reach to grab the last elite QB on the board?

Will the next Tom Brady land in Denver?

The rest of Mel's thoughts are for ESPN Insiders. Insider

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