2006 NFL Draft Order Released

Now that the playoffs for the 2005 season are set the NFL has released the selection order for the upcoming 2006 NFL Draft. The NFL Draft will be help on April 29-30, 2006.

Draft Order:

1. Houston Texans
2. New Orleans Saints
3. Tennessee Titans
4. New York Jets
5. Green Bay Packers
6. Oakland Raiders**
7. San Francisco 49ers**
8. Buffalo Bills
9. Detroit Lions
10. Arizona Cardinals
11. St Louis Rams
12. Cleveland Browns
13. Baltimore Ravens
14. Philadelphia Eagles
15. Atlanta Falcons
16. Miami Dolphins
17. Minnesota Vikings
18. Dallas Cowboys
19. San Diego Chargers
20. Kansas City Chiefs
21. New England Patriots
22. Washington Redskins
23. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
24. Cincinnati Bengals
25. New York Giants
26. Chicago Bears
27. Carolina Panthers
28. Jacksonville Jaguars
29. Denver Broncos
30. Indianapolis Colts
31. Pittsburgh Steelers*
32. Seattle Seahawks*

Note: The order for picks 6 and 7 will be determined by a coin flip between the Oakland Raiders and the San Francisco 49ers because both teams had the same record and equal strength of schedule calculations. Also, the order for picks 31 and 32 will be determined on February 5th, with the winner of the Superbowl between Pittsburgh and Seattle taking the last pick in the draft.

Jets and Heimerdinger Part Ways

On Wednesday January 25th the New York Jets announced that Offensive Coordinator Mike Heimerdinger would be released from his contract making way for new Head Coach Eric Mangini to begin selecting the next head honcho for his offense. With Heimerdinger not being happy with the outcome of his interview for the head coach position with the Jets it looks like this was the right move for both the Jets and Heimerdinger.

Speculation is that Heimerdinger is now headed to Denver to reunite with his former college roommate Head Coach Mike Shanahan to run the Broncos Offense but no word yet on whether the rumors will prove to be true.

Now the Jets will be focusing on filling the coordinator spots and speculation is already pointing to two possible candidates. First, the former offensive coordinator from the Saints Mike Shepherd who Mangini has some background with as they both worked together in Baltimore and Cleveland. The other candidate is Chris Palmer who was the Houston Texans' Offensive Coordinator since the team's inception until he was fired back in September 2005 after the team suffered a few losses with little offensive production. Palmer had joined the Texans after being fired as coach of the Cleveland Browns for one season so there is experience there....albeit short.

For the Jets offense this will be the third offensive coordinator in three years so it appears the Jets are headed back to the classroom to learn a new offense. This should be nothing new to this team that's seen more coaches come through their locker room in the last few years than other teams have seen in their entire history. Mangini certainly has his hands full. But on the positive side a fresh start is probably what the Jets need.

Who will win Superbowl XL?

Steelers versus Seahawks? Who would have thought this would be the matchup for Superbowl XL? If you would have asked me a month or two ago I would have said definitely the Seahawks as they are the class team of the National Football Conference. But the Steelers? No way. It was definitely going to be the Colts as they were on a run until they hit that bye week in the playoffs. Next think you know the Steelers are ripping through teams like Freddy Kreuger and now find themselves at the big show on February 5th.

Now I've had time to think about the matchup for a few days and now I'm actually happier to see the Steelers in the game. I actually think they will give the Seahawks a run for their money, and some in Vegas are seeing the Steelers as the clear cut choice to win the game! I see this as a hugely competitive game with two pretty darn good defenses going at it. Let me break down the game and tell you who I think will end up winning.

Compare the QB's, Hasselbeck versus Roethlisberger. I don't think either of these guys is better on the field then the other. They both have a couple of go-to WR's but nobody that will break the game wide open. Ben is in his 2nd year.....his second AFC title game.....and his first Superbowl. Not too shabby. Matt has been around a bit longer, has studied the game as backup to Brett Favre in Green Bay, and is coached by argueably one of the best coaches in the NFL in Mike Holmgren. I think this will be a wash as they both will probably play well.

Compare the RB's. The Steelers will go with the Parker/Bettis tandem and that's not such a bad thing. However, the Seahawks will put the number one RB in the NFL on the field in Shaun Alexander. The guy has had a phenominal year putting up some of the best numbers to date. I don't think the Steelers will be able to stop him as so far no one has. However, I do think you can stop at least one of the Steeler RB's in Wes Parker. I think the 'hawks defense will get to Parker and shut him down leaving the Steelers to throw the ball more often. Clearly the edge in the running game goes to the Seahawks.

Defense? It's a wash. I think they will both get shots on the opposing QB's and will make this a tight game.

Coaching? Both coaches have been to the Superbowl before. Mike Holmgren has been their three times and is 1-1 as head coach, winning with the Packers. Bill Cowher is 0-1 with his only trip being a loss to the Cowboys in Superbowl XXX. So when it comes to experience I would say both have a lot of it and will get their teams ready to play.

So who will win this game? In my humble opinion I think the Pittsburgh Steelers will end up winning this game, but by a slim margin. When two teams are so evenly matched I always look for who has the bigger story and I think it's the Steelers this year. Jerome Bettis is probably playing in his final year and he's heading back to his hometown of Detroit for the Superbowl and his team will want to win this for him. Also, the Steelers defense is on fire lately and I think they will definitely get a few turnovers and possibly score a TD. And when it comes to coaching I just think this will finally be Bill Cowher's year. In the AFC Championship game on Sunday I remember seeing Bill hug the Steelers owner Dan Rooney and I read his lips when he told Dan "one more game." Bill will finally win one after 10-years of waiting to get back to the big game.

My prediction?

Pittsburgh 27
Seattle 21