MidValleySports.Com

Draft Day: Tuesday, February 9th 2010

The Mid Valley Draft is an exercise where staff/readers adopt NFL teams and then proceed to meet their personnel needs by drafting local players out of the Mid-Valley & Southeast divisions.

Over the course of the next few weeks Mid Valley Sports will analyze positions and players to see who fits best where, who has first round potential, and who may have value in the later rounds.

At the bottom of this page is a listing of those who have already adopted a team. If you would like to pick one of the remaining NFL teams and be part of this process add it to the comment box below. Be sure to have correct/legit contact information because you will be sending us your picks on the night of the draft.

The Running Backs

We broke down who we believe are definite first rounders, second round draftables, fullbacks, utility guys who have value but might not be a feature back. Also we created a short list of players that can be drafted but may be too soon to pull the trigger on.

The following is a list of NFL teams with needs at the running back position. Keep in mind how the NFL has changed. Most teams are playing with two. The Steelers won last year without an elite back. The Colts and Saints are going to the Super Bowl next week without an elite back. Your job is to assess the value a running back adds to your team and at what price.

NFL teams in Running Back Market: St. Louis Rams, Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers, Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New Orleans Saints, Detroit Lions, New England Patriots, Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals, Indianapolis Colts, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, San Diego Chargers, Oakland Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs…Or, because of the shelf life of a running back, just about the entire league.

First Round Consideration

Terris Jones (California)

Adam Muema (Charter Oak)

Geoffrey Vaughns (South Hills)

Kendrec McDade (Azusa)

Amari Staten (Diamond Ranch)

Max Ruckle (Temple City)

Ulises Ochoa (Burbank)

Garrett Fulbright (Whittier Christian)

Taj Teague (Pomona)

Nick Escoe (Pasadena)

Notes: Some may try to say Jones is too small, but he’s proven he can hold up and do just about anything on the field. Muema could be the safest pick as a pure RB. The rest on this list can run, catch, return kicks. Escoe is the darkhorse here, if the team drafting him gets him to come to play, run north and south, then they’ve got stud for a long time.

Next Level

Ryan Kohler (San Dimas)

Dalton Williams (Burroughs)

Josh Onovughe (Rowland)

Mike Vasquez (Arroyo)

Nick Castillo (Schurr)

Joe Marron (Montebello)

De’Shawn Ramirez (Monrovia)

Kalin Bradford (Workman)

Harry Pessy (Crescenta Valley)

Eddie Tripp (Muir)

Notes: Kohler and Williams could turn into fullbacks at the next level, but are such talented runners they needed to be kept with the backs. Onovughe doesn’t get enough attention. Vasquez after another year easily could be a top five pick. Same with Ramirez, but his talent forces us to bump him up.

Fullbacks

Leonard Rhodes (Walnut)

Jesse Ili (West Covina)

Benny Hung (San Marino)

Jesus Vargas (La Puente)

Leo Rodas (Burbank)

Andrew Varela (Bassett)

Michael Ray (L.A. Baptist)

Derrick Johnson (Monrovia)

Notes: Bruisers and Brutes. Rodas and Rhodes can catch the ball well. Johnson, an underclassmen, will be considered at linebacker as well.

Utility Backs

Ricky Johnson (West Covina)

Jose Perez (La Puente)

Daleep Sandhu (La Canada)

Rene Flores (South El Monte)

Notes: You’re not going to give these guys the ball 25 times, but they can catch, line up in the slot, return kicks, spot a starter.

Too Soon

Chris Solomon (West Covina)

Matt Fregoso (Rosemead)

Fabian Amaro (San Gabriel)

Rosevelt Davis (Paraclete)

Amjed Aboul-hosn (Village Christian)

Notes: Not questioning the talent, just the timing of taking them in the draft right now.

Best of the Rest

Milan King (Walnut), Alex Gonzalez (Whittier), William Bomer (Santa Fe), Art Franco (El Rancho), Tony Botello (Pioneer), Eric Espinoza (Montebello), Steve Ibarra (Bell Gardens), Alejandro Chavez (South Pasadena), Nathan Carrillo (Sierra Vista), Kameron Germany (Northview), Jesse Moran (Baldwin Park), Sebastian Duran (Covina), Trevor Rodriguez (Valley Christian), Kyle Kurian (Valley Christian), Ivan Tello (Hoover)

Final Note: Of course we understand this all requires suspension of disbelief, but we also feel it will give us great insight to what fandom thinks about these players. And it is always fun to talk about excellent players.

Final Note Part Two: We will judge each team’s draft and see if the picks were made according to need or emotional—because you really liked a certain player—and determine a winner.

Final Note Part Three: Draft underclassmen at your own risk…we will be hard when it comes to evaluating them

So far we have;

Joe Torosian: St. Louis Rams

Martin “Knight” Lopez: Green Bay Packers

Blue State: Cleveland Browns

Arroyo Knight: New Orleans Saints

Bonita Alum: San Diego Chargers

Andy Villanueva: Cincinnati Bengals

Josh O: Tennessee Titans

Tim Peterson: Washington Redskins

Corn Dawg: Atlanta Falcons

Duane Barker: Detroit Lions

Juan Carlos: San Francisco 49ers

MannsJeff: Arizona Cardinals

MVL Guru: Dallas Cowboys

Zeke Prado: New York Jets

Bobby Madrid: Seattle Seahawks

CatsFan: Minnesota Vikings