The 2008 NFL draft is roughly a month away, and I don’t know about you, but I already have my miniature pennant with "Yay, Personnel Acquisition!" silkscreened on it sitting on the coffee table and ready to go.

Meantime, we here at moosedenied are proud to remind you yet again that… well.. quite frankly, we’re big shots. We know people, we hear things. We share with Lou Dobbs an affinity for $250 ties, not once has Aaron Brooks ever screened us straight to voice mail, and we have a standing biweekly date to split an 18 inch Chicago Deep Dish with Dulymus and other various notables.

That being the case, we’ve received some rock-solid inside infomation about what we Saints fans should be expecting to go down with regard to our team during draft weekend. We’ve been holding off on reporting this information until we could confirm it with another inside source. Just this morning we received that confirmation, and so we’re ready to go public with what we’ve heard. This is the kind of stuff you just can’t get from esteemed legitimate media sources like Pete Finney or Kenny Wilkerson. Hell, Ed Staton won’t even copy and paste it and imply that he wrote it. But we’re pretty sure you can take this to the bank…

• Two seconds after the Saints’ first pick is announced, cries of DOOOM will fill the internet.
• Approximately 99.72% of those cries will be improperly capitalized and punctuated, and contain (a) myriad (of) misspelled words. [Hint for future reference: Never, ever get me started on the word "myriad" and its current status in the popular lexicon. Might want to steer clear of "It is what it is" too.]
• Approximately 86.3% will contain strings of text which don’t seem to even resemble any discernable actual word whatsoever.
• Half the people who have been advocating the selection of the (wait for it….) "BPA regardless of position" will suddenly be disappointed that the Saints didn’t address a position of greater need.
• The other half of the BPA crowd will insist that while the Saints may have been trying to select the BPA, they failed, and instead "reached" because a player they like better remains on the board. And they’ll probably attempt to support that by citing Mel Kiper or Mike Mayock or one of those other guys who otherwise are "idiots" (except when they agree.)
• Of the approximately 3.6% of Saints fans who support the selection, approximately 100% of them will claim to have "CALLED IT!!!" in their Mock Draft Version 6.8 (of 17.1 total)

Now let’s just make one thing perfectly clear, moosedenied will not reveal the inside source of this information. So don’t even bother flooding our Inbox with "Come on, just between you and me" requests. Not gonna happen. Hell, he’s already pissed at me for pointing out that every time he’s in a picture with Rita, you can clearly see him checking out her ass from behind the huge head piece of his dog costume. So don’t even try it, because we’re not telling.

Now you’re probably thinking that, between the hissy fits and the gloating, the whole draft weekend experience seems like it would send you into a fit of murderous rage. There is no word in the English language to adequately express just how right you are. But the wonders of technology always come at a price. In the case of draft weekend on these here internets, price-gouging in the form of the legions of reactionaries binging on a mile-long all-you-can-eat bitch & moan buffet is just part of the deal.

Until then, let’s take a look at the various factions that will be engaging in the aforementioned kneejerk douchebaggery, and what it is that’s gonna set them off. We’ll start today with the corners, then move on to other positions if and when we damn well feel like it.

Why the Saints should pick a corner

• 24.2 points per game allowed, 62.4% opposing completion percentage, 245 yards passing allowed per game, 32 passing TDs allowed, 13 INTs, 54 passes allowed of 20 yards +, 15 of 40+… please kill me.
• Jason David
• Mike McKenzie may or may not be ready for the start of the season. And even if he is, he could be a shell of his former self.
• You’re not all that excited about Randall Gay and/or Usama Young. Jason Craft? Who the fuck is that?
• Jason David
• There’s a decent chance that at 10, no corners will have gone off the board. You’d have your pick of any of ‘em, which implies that if you take the right one, you’ll get the best one in the draft.
• There’s a decent chance that you could still get one of the top corners even after trading down, if that appeals to you.
• A corner could give you added value if he returns kicks and/or punts.
• Jason David

On the other hand, for the most part, there are only two things rookie corners are good at: riding the pine and playing the role of Tina to vet wideouts’ Ike. Inserting a rookie corner is more likely to weaken the pass defense than it is to improve it, at least short term. If you’re already strong enough to contend without immediate improvement, or you’re not going to contend regardless, then you can take that corner and either let him take his lumps or redshirt him for a year. Neither seems to apply to the Saints. They can contend, but they need immediate help from this draft, particularly in round 1.

Furthermore, say what you will about the asstacularness of the Saints’ defensive backfield, but one thing it does have going for it is youth. A common trap fans fall into, especially at this time of year, is that they tend to assume that the only way to fix a problem is by changing the personnel. They also tend to give up on players way too early. They tend to disregard the potential for any improvement from year to year. Question marks become exclamation points. But as long as youth is a factor, they remain question marks, and question marks work both ways.

What if the light over Bullocks’ and Harper’s heads finally come on? What if they hypnotize Jason David and convince him that he’s actually Dre Bly? What if Benny Hinn lays hands on McKenzie and he’s running a 4.3 40 in August? What if Grant and Smith get their fat asses in gear? All of a sudden a perceived weakness in April becomes a bonafide stength, or at least rises to the level of serviceable. And before you know it your first round corner is turning "pulling a Meachem" into a full-blown annual Saints tradition.

"But you can never have too many good corners." In one way, that’s true. But in another, more accurate way, it’s bullshit. When you make an investment, you not only have to consider the return on that investment directly, you also have to take into account how those resources might have otherwise been spent. If you make 50 grand off of a stock buy, you’ll dance a pantsless jig in your driveway, but if you could have bought another stock instead and made a million, you still got punked. Doesn’t mean you can’t still be happy with what you got, but the fact remains that you jobbed yourself.

First Round Candidates

• Leodis McKelvin (Troy)
  • Pros: Leodis is an absolutely bitchin’ name. McKelvin starts with "Mc" and OMG EVERYBODY THE SAINTS GET WITH "Mc" IN THEIR NAME IS GREAT! Allows the Saints front office to get the whole small-school thing out of their system early, making it less likely that they’ll take some dude from Milsaps or Nicholls State later on. By the way, if I ever find myself with enough money to underwrite the founding of a university, it will be called Phil. Or possibly Antoine. Leodis also returns punts.
  • Cons: Not the tallest or fastest guy. Only 4 INTs in 48 college games. Stoutest competition he has ever faced was Central Connecticut A&I, whose QB is blind and has no arms. His name just begs for incessant misspelling on Saints message boards far and wide.
• Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (Tennessee State)
  • Pros: The tallest, fastest and most athletically gifted of the bunch. Returns kicks. 11 INTs in 44 collegiate games… nice. Another small-school guy who could keep Loomis and crew from dipping into the talent pool of such juggernauts as Alaska Tech and Saskatchewan Community College. Is related in some way to Chargers’ CB Antonio Cromartie, who kicks ass, therefore clearly this guy will also kick ass. Or something. Projections vary regarding how significant a factor his sharing a last name with former Montreal Expos outfielder Warren Cromartie will be, but it couldn’t hurt, right?
  • Cons: Will retire from football long before people start spelling his name correctly on message boards. I mean, come on… a D in Rodgers? Hyphenated? The whole I-E thing? Since when is "eek" spelled I-Q-U-E? What is that, French? But they hate America! Reports are that he is skinny and weak. Once painted his fingernails in team colors, raising questions about whether or not he might be a poofster.
• Mike Jenkins (South Florida)
  • Pros: Name can be spelled correctly by a monkey with minimal training. Has been tested against far stiffer competition than either of the guys above. Has played safety too, offering nice versatility if it turns out that the Saints decide later on that their corners will do, but they’ve gotta do something at safety pronto.
  • Cons: Florida is America’s wang. Questions as to whether or not he might be a sissy. Born in Germany, probably listens to Kraftwerk, furthering the suspicion that he may in fact be a funboy. Was arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting (without violence) a police officer, which we’re ordinarily inclined to put in the "Pros" category, but we’re pretty sure it was part of a PeTA protest, so… well, you know.
• Aqib Talib (Kansas)
  • Pros: Accumulated a metric shitload of INTs (13 in only 34 games) in college. Looks kinda like Snoop Dogg. Has a name that’s fun to say. Could lead to an eventual CB tag team of Aqib and Usama, which could cause the heads of legions of Toby Keith-loving Saints fans to explode, and that couldn’t possibly be a bad thing.
  • Cons: Comparatively slow. Got beat by some real chumps in college. Has spent lots of time around Mark Mangino, leading to questions about what kinds of eating habits he may have picked up. First name contains a Q which is not followed by a U, which… well… that’s just wrong.

We’ll do defensive tackles next. Meantime, want a corner in the first? If so, who ya got? And why?

moosedenied’s official position is that we won’t pitch a fit if the Saints go with a corner, but we don’t think it’s the best bang for the buck either. Sure it’ll suck if the Saints’ defensive backfield in 2008 is as bad or worse than it was in 2007. But we also don’t think it’s likely that any of these guys are going to make any significant impact to that end right from the start, and our eyes are focused squarely on the present. We also think that the defensive backfield holds more potential to improve on its own and crowd out a first-rounder than defensive tackle or linebacker do, even considering Vilma and Morgan. There are other areas where the first round resources can be more effectively used.