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1.8 Sherman Shawwa, LCB (41/69 pre-camp) - Sherman had the best combine of any defensive back in the draft and has shown superb abilities in zone defense, interceptions, and run defense throughout his college career. He also has a motor that just won't quit and a hell of a man-to-man game. For his size he also packs a "Whallup!" that can jar the ball loose from unsuspecting defenders. As a guideline we don't like top 10 picks but had Sherman #1 on our draft board overall so we had to take him when he was still available at #8. Interestingly, due to the sheer strength of the position we made a call to the LA franchise to move up to 1.5 to select QB Orlando Surratt. As time went on and the call unanswered we reconsidered and when it was time to pull the trigger we were undecided so chose to go with our draft board rather than a last second change in plans.
1.24 Adrian Atwood, SS (28/62 pre-camp) - At the start of the draft it looked as though we might be in position to nab as many as 4 high quality DBs before all was said and done. Very quickly it was obvious that other GMs saw what we saw and weren't gonna let that happen so we made a costly trade with arch-rival Newark to move up 5 spots for a 3rd and 6th round pick. There we selected Adrian with pick #24. The upside is that so far in his college career he's been very balanced in coverage areas. The downside, other than gambling a 1st round pick on what might be 2nd round talent, is that he hasn't been known to cause many fumbles nor pull in INTs and tends to tire out early in games/seasons. His combine's not bad. He possesses a winning attitude. And we hope he'll improve with training from our qualified staff.
3.9 Roman Farrell, WLB (23/45 pre-camp) - Predicted to be taken by us at 1.29 in the IFL mock draft we felt pretty good about gambling on Roman when he was still there in the 3rd round. He had a good combine and while the Phantoms aren't known for blitzing, we'll have to use him to his strengths and if his college skills translate to the pros it looks like that will be his main role here with us. While we hope for his coverage skills to improve, we pull our WLB on most passing plays so a run-blitzing WLB fits in just fine with our philosophy.
3.16 Bryant Willis, RDE (20/45 pre-camp) - Lead Scout A.J. Patterson would not have let us leave the draft war room less than bloody had we not selected Bryant here. There doesn't appear to be much, if anything, special about him but we hire scouts for a reason and had to throw A.J. a bone here.
4.30 Donny Williamson, RG (24/51 pre-camp) - Donny had a good combine and has shown balance throughout his college career. LG was a need for our team and in this low stakes game we call the 4th round one has to be willing to put some chips behind a gamble like this. We're simply hoping that Donny can follow in Everett LaRue's footsteps and be a great back-up/fill-in for many seasons to come.
5.3 Darnell Price, QB (12/60 pre-camp) - The Phantoms have never had a need at the QB position yet I've probably drafted more QBs than any other GM in the IFL. Is it a sickness? Maybe. But fact remains that it's the most important position on the field and it's hard for me to go an entire draft without selecting one... compounded by the fact that there's a lottery aspect to this whole thing and when the 5th round comes around there's undoubtedly always a QB ticket worth spending $1 on. Price has reasonable combine #'s and has displayed reasonable talent at the college level. We believe if we draft 15 just like him at least one will hit big and I'll trade fifteen 5th rounders for a quality QB anyday.
1.24 Adrian Atwood, SS (28/62 pre-camp) - At the start of the draft it looked as though we might be in position to nab as many as 4 high quality DBs before all was said and done. Very quickly it was obvious that other GMs saw what we saw and weren't gonna let that happen so we made a costly trade with arch-rival Newark to move up 5 spots for a 3rd and 6th round pick. There we selected Adrian with pick #24. The upside is that so far in his college career he's been very balanced in coverage areas. The downside, other than gambling a 1st round pick on what might be 2nd round talent, is that he hasn't been known to cause many fumbles nor pull in INTs and tends to tire out early in games/seasons. His combine's not bad. He possesses a winning attitude. And we hope he'll improve with training from our qualified staff.
3.9 Roman Farrell, WLB (23/45 pre-camp) - Predicted to be taken by us at 1.29 in the IFL mock draft we felt pretty good about gambling on Roman when he was still there in the 3rd round. He had a good combine and while the Phantoms aren't known for blitzing, we'll have to use him to his strengths and if his college skills translate to the pros it looks like that will be his main role here with us. While we hope for his coverage skills to improve, we pull our WLB on most passing plays so a run-blitzing WLB fits in just fine with our philosophy.
3.16 Bryant Willis, RDE (20/45 pre-camp) - Lead Scout A.J. Patterson would not have let us leave the draft war room less than bloody had we not selected Bryant here. There doesn't appear to be much, if anything, special about him but we hire scouts for a reason and had to throw A.J. a bone here.
4.30 Donny Williamson, RG (24/51 pre-camp) - Donny had a good combine and has shown balance throughout his college career. LG was a need for our team and in this low stakes game we call the 4th round one has to be willing to put some chips behind a gamble like this. We're simply hoping that Donny can follow in Everett LaRue's footsteps and be a great back-up/fill-in for many seasons to come.
5.3 Darnell Price, QB (12/60 pre-camp) - The Phantoms have never had a need at the QB position yet I've probably drafted more QBs than any other GM in the IFL. Is it a sickness? Maybe. But fact remains that it's the most important position on the field and it's hard for me to go an entire draft without selecting one... compounded by the fact that there's a lottery aspect to this whole thing and when the 5th round comes around there's undoubtedly always a QB ticket worth spending $1 on. Price has reasonable combine #'s and has displayed reasonable talent at the college level. We believe if we draft 15 just like him at least one will hit big and I'll trade fifteen 5th rounders for a quality QB anyday.
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