When the draft ends, the NFL door has not been blown shut: the best front offices do more than draft well—they find college free agents who can help their teams

Sporting News, The, May 13, 2005 by Dan Pompei

INSIDE DISH

The Bucs have been sending out mixed messages regarding third-year QB Chris Simms, perhaps because they have mixed feelings about him. Coach Jen Gruden has expressed very little confidence in Simms publicly. For a while, it appeared they were interested in moving up in the draft to take QB Alex Smith, Shortly before the draft, they told QB Aaron Redgers they planned to take him with the fifth pick. Yet the Bucs had trade offers for Simms and said they were not interested in moving him. * Don't be surprised if Bengals players whose contracts are about to expire start taking up yoga. Why? Last offseason, RB Rudi Johnson and WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh embraced the alternative form of conditioning, and both continued yoga exercises on Friday afternoons during the season. Johnson and Houshmandzadeh had injury issues in 2003, but both were healthy all last year. Each also had the best season of his career. When their contracts came up earlier this year, the Bengals rewarded both players with lucrative long-term deals. * Trading a 2005 first-round pick for the Redskins' 2005 third-round pick, a 2006 first-round pick and a 2006 fourth-round pick was a great move for the Broncos. In addition to getting much more than they gave, the Broncos also set themselves up to restock when they will need it most. Next season, the Broncos will have to deal with CB Lenny Walls being a free agent, possibly having to cut DE Trevor Pryce because of a big cap number and perhaps having to replace three aging players--WR Rod Smith, C Tom Nalen and S John Lynch. * Why would Redskins coach Joe Gibbs trade away a future first-round pick? One school of thought is that Gibbs doesn't plan on staying around long enough for it to matter. It's difficult to envision Gibbs, 64, leading the Redskins to championships with first-rounder Jason Campbell at quarterback. Another school of thought is the Redskins never have a long-range plan on anything, so why should management of draft picks be any different? * Chances are good the 49ers will ask Mike Rumph to switch positions. New coach Mike Nolan wants to get his four best defensive backs on the field, and three of those players-Rumph, Ahmed Plummer and Shawntae Spencer--play cornerback. Rumph is the obvious candidate to move to safety because of his size (6-2,205). In fact, some think he's not fluid enough for corner anyway. Nolan wanted to let Rumph compete at corner first, but Rumph is sidelined for the foreseeable future after having surgery on his forearm. Nolan does not want to ask a player to switch positions well into training camp, so the move could be made sooner rather than later.

The Eagles were interested in moving up from the 31st pick in the first round, but it was not because they wanted to take WR Matt Jones, as had been reported. The Eagles didn't rate Jones for first-round consideration. They also were not interested in moving up for a defensive end, as had been speculated. The object of the Eagles' desire was WR Mark Clayton, who went to the Ravens with the 22nd pick.