Thirty things I've seen, heard, pondered or just went ahead and decided while spending the week at the Senior Bowl, all finely packaged into one random list. Accessories sold separately...
1. Some team is going to draft Oklahoma State quarterback Brandon Weeden before the Browns pick at No. 36 early in the second round.
2. Whether Weeden fits or interests the Browns, I don't know. Nobody knows. Same for the issue of would the Browns give up their second first-rounder (and more) to move up and draft Robert Griffin III at No. 2 overall. Strictly guesswork at this point.
3. How Texas A&M quarterback Ryan Tannehill fits into this equation also remains to be seen since he got hurt training and had to drop out of the Senior Bowl. I know teams are tantalized by Tannehill's potential. I don't know how good he is, but I do know that Jake Locker and Christian Ponder going in the top 12 of last year's draft is a sign that quarterbacks make drafters positively loony. When teams want quarterbacks -- and lots of them do this year -- they just go get them.
4. I haven't been to a Senior Bowl in a few years, but a few people who get paid to come here every year seem convinced the talent pool in this one is on the high end, by comparison. Considering 83 Senior Bowlers got drafted last year -- including two top-10 guys and 12 first-rounders altogether -- that's a high compliment.
5. Browns General Manager Tom Heckert is not here. Browns President Mike Holmgren is not here.
6. Browns Head Coach Pat Shurmur is here, but he wouldn't comment on the team's offensive coordinator search or what the decision-makers identified as the team's most glaring need in their post-2011 evaluation.
7. I asked three scouts, none who work for the Browns, about Robert Griffin III. The common denominator in their answers was "he's very good." One of the replies even included III verys. What the Browns' interest level might be -- or whether some team will have to trade up to No. 2 to get Griffin -- remains a mystery.
8. Heckert and Holmgren, presumably, will be at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis next month. Here's a guess they'll get more than III Griffin questions then.
9. The Senior Bowl is unique. To me (and for my job), it's 30 times better and more valuable than the Combine because it involves helmets, shoulder pads and actual football-playing activities. Nobody asks me -- and the Combine still serves a purpose -- but this is a week like no other in terms of evaluation, access and impressions. It's probably the one event on the entire NFL calendar that includes coaches, GMs, scouts, players, media and fans and doesn't involve a bunch of barriers and restrictions.
10. Nick Saban came to South practice Monday in an SUV driven by a police officer. People went absolutely crazy, clapping and chasing him around the stadium.
11. People are crazy.
12. I'm no scout, but the best small-school prospect here has to be Furman cornerback Ryan Steed. He measured at 5'10, 190, but he looks and plays bigger and has been able to turn and run with a bunch of really good South receivers this week.
13. The practices are more important than the actual Senior Bowl game on Saturday, though the eyes of the NFL will eventually evaluate the game tape as well. I can't imagine the North receivers getting open very often against the fast and aggressive South cornerbacks in the game.
14. I can't imagine the North team scoring very many points, period.
15. I'm not right very often, so tune in anyway.
16. South cornerback Janoris Jenkins, who played for Urban Meyer at Florida before getting booted and having to go play for Terry Bowden at North Alabama, is making a case that he's still a first-round talent. The key for Jenkins, and a lot of other guys is here, to follow up the right things they see this week with the right actions. And make sure interested teams make their follow-up calls to the right people.
17. The best South receivers have been Joe Adams of Arkansas in the Speed-Burner Division and Juron Criner of Arizona in the Big-Beast-Who-Makes-One-Handed-Catches Division. Both the Browns and Bengals have been watching.
18. South tight end DeAngelo Peterson of LSU is a load (6'3, 230) and a matchup problem as well.
19. It's very possible that when the 2012 NFL Draft is said and done, the college program with the most players drafted could be - you guessed it - Boise State. Running back Doug Martin will be gone by the second round. Defensive end Shea McClellin will be a high pick as well.
20. National Signing Day for high school recruits is next week. It's become a national holiday and cause for excessive celebration in some parts of the country. In 2007, the year Boise State signed Kellen Moore, Martin, Titus Young, Austin Pettis, Billy Winn and McClellin -- all were drafted last year or will be this year -- Scout.com rated Boise's 2007 haul as the 57th best recruiting class nationally. Celebrate cautiously next Wednesday. Certainly hire a designated driver.
21. No NFL team is taking a 5'10 quarterback in the first two rounds -- and quite possibly in the first four -- but somebody is going to draft Russell Wilson, probably a West Coast-type team, and give him a chance to learn and eventually work his way into the lineup. Wilson makes great reads, makes some pretty good throws, is mobile and has handled himself like a pro this week.
22. More bothersome to the eyes of the NFL in regard to Kellen Moore than his height (5'11) is his inability to move out of the pocket. He's like a short statue, and against these super-fast NFL defensive ends that's not good. Moore is still smart and accurate enough that he'll be drafted, but not before Saturday afternoon.
23. I wish Baylor receiver Kendall Wright wouldn't have been a last-minute scratch.
24. I think the Bengals will seriously consider both Janoris Jenkins and Doug Martin with their second first-round pick. They might take Jenkins with their first.
25. I also think the Bengals will explore signing both Peyton Hillis and Braylon Edwards in free agency. That's something I thought before the Senior Bowl, but I just wanted to share.
26. Boom Herron had some explaining to do this week, but he didn't have a ton of proving to do. He's not a first or second day pick, but Herron is a solid player with a track record of productivity and a running style that indicates he can move the chains in the NFL. He's the type of person who can help himself in interviews with NFL decision-makers, and he's the type of back who can be ready if called upon next fall. He might never be a 1,000-yard rusher, but he'll have a career.
27. Alabama DE/OLB Courtney Upshaw is a player -- a big-time, probably-gone-before-pick-22 player. He's a bit of a "tweener" by NFL standards at 6'1, 273, but he can play the run, rush the passer and do whatever it takes. A bunch of media types were grilling him with questions about being able to learn multiple positions in the NFL after Wednesday's practice when he started chuckling and basically answered the question before it was even fully asked: "I played for Nick Saban."
28. Funniest thing a scout said to me: "Did Urban Meyer get a commitment from Josh Cribbs' young son yet? Dude is doing scorched earth. He should run for General."
29. When The Creator got done creating all that other less-essential stuff and started creating defensive ends, he created ones that looked a lot like North Carolina's Quentin Coples.
30. NFL teams pay big bucks to scouts because lots of guys who look the part don't play the part. On the flip side, this makes two Super Bowls in four years for a Giants team that employs a lot of well-chiseled, extremely-athletic defensive ends.
Teams come to the Senior Bowl because they want to get to the Super Bowl.
I mostly come for the seafood.
