The NFL is always looking for ways to increase the entertainment value of its events, and last night's first round of the draft was no different. It's funny, though, because while Thursday's opening round was chock-full of drama, the suspense of the evening had nothing to do with the league's latest effort to add intrigue to its product.

Last night's first round was dramatic because of the record-breaking 19 trades, six of which affected the first seven picks. It was dramatic because we saw four quarterbacks fly off the board and a running back was taken in the No. 3 spot. 

It was dramatic in spite of the fact that the NFL's attempt to eliminate pick spoiling went to hell. 

If you aren't familiar with pick spoiling, you've never watched the draft. Every year, the broadcasting networks would subtly or not-so-subtly tip the vast majority of first-round picks by either dropping cheesy verbal hints (Berman, Chris) or showing soon-to-be-drafted players on their cellphones in the green room. 

That was supposed to change this year. And while the networks generally avoided the shots of sobbing prospects taking calls in the green room and Berman and NFL Network pilot Rich Eisen generally avoided giving picks away before throwing to commissioner Roger Goodell for the official announcement, the majority of viewers were, unfortunately, already well aware of who was going to be chosen.

There were probably only about five occasions Thursday night where I wasn't 99.9 or 100 percent sure whose name was about to be called. The problem is that the NFL introduced this mandate about half a decade too late. Nowadays, what with the Twitter and all, there's no preventing the public from discovering the picks -- whether they want to or not -- ahead of time.

Unless they completely avoid Twitter for the night, but that would just be absurd. 

To truly be surprised by a draft pick nowadays, you have to shut down the laptop and mute the TV between selections. There's really no other way. At some points Thursday, Twitter was three whole picks ahead of ESPN and NFL Network.

I do believe the networks made a conscious effort to abide by the league's request, but by the time the Browns were set to draft Brandon Weeden at 22, they'd pretty much given up. They showed Weeden in one of those clichéd family-room shots, spoiling nothing for anybody because Twitter had already been shouting the pick at us for 120 seconds. By the time the Buccaneers were on the clock with the 31st pick, ESPN's Adam Schefter was flat-out telling us that Boise St. running back Doug Martin was the selection.

As ESPN's Rachel Nichols pointed out on Twitter during the broadcast, the league was only able to mandate that no official TV broadcasts or team employees could tip, but that nothing else was regulated. So technically, Schefter breached that rule by tweeting out pretty much every selection ahead of time. And if Seahawks owner Paul Allen counts as a "team employee" he pissed all over said mandate by preemptively tweeting the first 15 picks and several trades.

But it's tough to ask Schefter, who is paid to break news, to abstain from doing his job, and even if you muzzle Allen -- and that might have happened -- there'll be others who will emerge to reveal the gifts before Christmas morning. 
It's 2012, man. There's no such thing as a secret anymore. Just ask the Saints.

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It's supposed to be the moment of a football player's life: Getting his name called as a high selection in the NFL draft. Except, for certain players, that dream has turned into a nightmare as they are booed mercilessly by fans who think their franchise has made an enormous mistake.

And that's especially true if it's a pick from the embattled New York Jets, who have had their fair share of draft blunders over the years. So what’s the point…the arm chair GM’s more often than not do not know what they are talking about and sometimes getting booed may not be a bad thing for a career.

Take a look at two of the most “booed” picks of the NFL Draft.

Mario Williams (2006)

Williams was taken with the first overall pick in the 2006 NFL Draft after most believed that Reggie Bush and Vince Young were the most-talented players in the draft.

But Williams of NC State shot to the top of Houston's draft board after reportedly nailing pre-draft interviews and convincing Houston that he could be the franchise's first game-changing player on the defensive side of the ball. That didn't stop fans in New York from booing and chanting "Over - rated!" as Williams walked across the stage while fans jeered at the team's own draft party in Houston.

It turned out that the Texans were right. Williams was a consistent force up front for Houston, where he was selected to the Pro Bowl twice and registered 53 sacks in six seasons while Bush and Young both disappointed.

It earned Williams a lucrative contract with the Buffalo Bills this offseason - enough money to make him feel better about the boos.

Donovan McNabb (1999)

You didn't think we would forget about our unruly friends in Philly, did you?

Their reaction to the selection of Syracuse QB Donovan McNabb, the second overall pick in the 1999 draft, was a precursor to his career in Philly - filled with controversy. But had the fans known that he would be perhaps the best quarterback in franchise history, they probably would have toned down their act. Eagles fans wanted the team to draft Texas RB Ricky Williams, for whom Mike Ditka traded his whole draft for the right to pick three slots later.

Eagles fans booed mercilessly when the selection instead was McNabb, who forced a smile as a mini-riot took place in front of him. A man dressed like a member of WWE tag team "Legion of Doom" gritted his teeth; another man looked ready to charge the stage. But McNabb, as everyone knows, led the Eagles to five NFC Championship Games and one Super Bowl appearances despite his ups and downs with the fanbase.

Either way, it was the gold standard for unruly NFL draft reactions - one prospects that will be picked on Thursday hope to steer clear of.

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The St. Louis Rams kicked off the draft season when they made the blockbuster Robert Griffin III trade with the Washington Redskins. Now the NFL eyes will soon be on the struggling franchise once again.

A potential football dynasty fondly remembered as "The Greatest Show on Turf" was wrecked by a startling count of draft-day busts that ranged from Trung Canidate to Tye Hill, with the occasional Eric Crouch and Dominique Byrd thrown in.

For too many years now, Rams Park has been the place where premium NFL draft picks go to die.

Since GM Charley Armey was phased out in a power grab by Mike Martz in 2000, a sequence of Rams' personnel wizards have displayed less skill in finding the target than a bunch of dizzy, blind-folded, fruit-punch-chugging, hyperactive kids staggering around in a game of pin the tail on the donkey.

Where have you gone, Eric Crouch?

Over their past 12 drafts, the Rams have had only one pick, running back Steven Jackson, turn into a Pro Bowl selection.

Hours away from the start of the 2012 NFL draft, new bosses are in charge of player procurement. It virtually is impossible for GM Les Snead and coach Jeff Fisher to do worse than their procession of failed predecessors.

That said, we've been burned more times than former Rams third-round draft choice Jonathan Wade. So we shouldn't automatically assume that we'll be treated to draft-day brilliance from Snead and Fisher.

There was widespread speculation last year when the new CBA was signed that it would facilitate an increased number of draft day trades. I don't know whether that will pan out over the entire draft or not, but it does almost guarantee that teams will be more willing to trade up into the top 10 or 15 to get a player they really want.

We've already seen one blockbuster move by the Redskins to move from the 6th overall pick to the 2nd overall pick, presumably to draft QB prospect Robert Griffin III. That's not the only trade I expect to have occurred by the end of the first tonight's first round of the draft.

Taking a quick cruise around the internet, I see that there are rumors that the Bills may be looking to trade up to take Matt Kalil per NFL.com, the Eagles may be looking to move up for Fletcher Cox according to Todd McShay, the Broncos have reportedly contacted the Jaguars about trading up to take Stephon Gilmore according to Shawn Zobel, and as you may or may not have known the Jaguars have been very public about saying that they may want to move down in the draft.

So, why is there a sudden movement at the top of the draft order for teams to move around? Well, it's all about the new CBA. In previous years (before last season), teams could pay rookies pretty much whatever they wanted. Now, teams have to keep there rookie wages under a set amount. Essentially that means that the top drafted players, those drafted in the top 10, won't be making the kind of money that players like Jamarcus Russell and Sam Bradford have seen.

There's really no guarantee that teams will fly up and down the draft board with every GM's whim, but it does seem clear that the new CBA will produce far more trades in the top 10. We even saw it last year when Atlanta moved up 21 picks (27th to 6th) to draft Julio Jones. It was a blockbuster deal for both the Falcons and the Browns, but it was also a sign of things to come.

No one knows what trades may come to pass tonight, not even the GMs themselves, but I can guarantee that there will be movement at the top of the draft order. Don't be late to your respective draft night parties. You could just miss one of the trades of the decade.

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Breath easy Panthers fans, Cam Newton will not be on the cover this year’s Madden.

The same cannot be said for Lions fans and Calvin Johnson fantasy football dynasty owners. The infamous Madden cover curse has hit Megatron this year. While it is hard to believe that Calvin won’t dominate cornerbacks like he did all last year, there is NO beating the Madden curse.

Whether it was Eddie George, Culpepper, Faulk, Lewis, Alexander, Vick or last year’s cover Peyton Hillis, year after year elite and all-star players have suffered at the hands of the Madden curse.

Fantasy football owners here is the ultimate word of caution, hold back from drafting Megatron, at least until the 2^nd round.

While Calvin didn’t ease through the tournament like Cam Newton, it was Calvin who took down Newton in the finals. Calvin is only the 2^nd WR to be on the Madden cover.

For Lions fans who still have hope, read this tweet:

C'mon people, Calvin survived getting drafted by Matt Millen, HE CAN BEAT THE MADDEN CURSE!

— ACC Sports (@ACCSports) April 25, 2012

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If you're still debating whether to watch the NFL Network's coverage of tomorrow's draft or ESPN's coverage (why you're considering ESPN if the NFLN is an option is beyond me), maybe the following will help you make your final decision.

An NFL Network spokesman told Pro Football Talk Deion Sanders will still appear on Thursday’s NFL Network draft telecast as scheduled despite being cited for a misdemeanor assault charge.

As you may or may not have read, Deion Sanders took to Twitter following an alleged incident between Sanders and his soon-to-be ex-wife.

Pray for me and my kids now! They just witnessed their mother and a friend jump me in my room. She's going to jail n I'm pressing charges!

— DeionSanders (@DeionSanders) April 23, 2012

While any incidents of assault involving former or current NFL players is always noteworthy, the lack of clarity in the situation is somewhat numbing. Yesterday, after Sanders had very publicly claimed he was assaulted by his wife and one of her friends, reports trickled out that Sanders had also been cited for misdemeanor assault.

Let's be perfectly honest here. All the pre-draft coverage can be somewhat boring and monotonous before the picks actually start rolling in. So, at the very least, Deion Sanders' appearance on the NFL Network should provide us some awkward, tense moments when he is first introduced. Don't let that convince you that the entire telecast will be that way though. It's more likely that the broadcast will completely ignore the entire event altogether. On the other hand, if Deion Sanders brings it up on air, we could get one of the most awkward 30 second clips of the entire season.

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Over the past few weeks, there have been a handful of mock drafts around the internet that have projected wide receiver Justin Blackmon to slide out of the top 10. I'm here to tell you that won't be happening.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are the centerpiece team in terms of drafting Blackmon, and they're the reason that he cannot fall out of the top 10. Yesterday, Gene Frenette of the Florida Times-Union said, "The Jaguars have sent a lot of their scouts to the OSU campus to interview Monken about everything related to Blackmon." That combined with Jaguars.com senior writer, John Oehser's continued insistance that the Jaguars would draft Blackmon if he's still available at 7th overall seem to indicate that Blackmon is a sure top 10 pick.

The Jaguars aren't the only team that may be interested in drafting Blackmon, however. The Vikings, Browns, Rams, and the Bills all seem to be legitimate potential landing places for Blackmon inside the top 10 in the NFL draft.

Frankly, I don't know how Blackmon ever fell out of any top 10 predictions. Blackmon stands at just 6'1", but as ESPN's Sports Science shows below, Blackmon is extrememly athletic. Blackmon has a greater standing range than Plaxico Burress, who is 6'5", and Blackmon can catch a ball thrown within a range that is about the sive of a two-car garage. It's for those reasons that I firmly believe Justin Blackmon will stay in the top 10 on Thursday, but we already knew that didn't we?

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As ESPN dropped another bombshell on the New Orleans Saints Monday with their report that GM Mickey Loomis had a secret listening device installed at the Superdome from 2002-2004 to spy on opposing coaches, it was met with immediate pushback from a wide variety of sources.  That pushback and the gravity of ESPN's report is of massive importance.  Regardless of any possible competitive advantage, we're talking wiretapping here, which is prompting the feds to get involved in checking out the allegations.

As I said when I wrote about the media coverage of BountyGate over at Awful Announcing, I have a real bias as a Saints fan to fully disclose.  Honestly, I've watched Super Bowl XLIV about six times in the past month to try to cope with the events of this offseason.  But this article isn't going to make a judgment on the true or false nature of Barr's report.  It's not going to attack or defend Mickey Loomis or even guess about the possible competitive edge that a GM wiretapping opposing playcalls could make.  None of that would be fair or reasonable.

Rather, what we have to address is the high stakes game of chicken between the New Orleans Saints and ESPN.  The intensity and volume of denials coming from the Saints organization and those close to the Saints organization immediately put the initial Outside the Lines report from John Barr under an even more powerful microscope.  In simple terms, either all the people below are lying... or Barr's report is false.  There's no middle ground.  Before we get to what is at stake for both sides, here's a rundown of the reaction to the ESPN piece.

Mickey Loomis spoke to Jay Glazer of Fox Sports and called the report "absolutely false":

"This report on ESPN is absolutely false," Loomis wrote in an email. "I have a monitor in front of me in my booth that provides the league-issued stats for the game. I have a small TV with the network broadcast and I have an earpiece to listen to the WWL-AM radio (flagship broadcaster) game broadcast.

"To think I am sitting in there listening and actually and/or doing something with the offensive and defensive play calls of the opposing teams makes this story and the unnamed sources that provided the false information that much less credible. It just didn’t happen."

In the same article, Saints spokesman Greg Bensel called it "1,000 percent false" and even went as far to say that ESPN refused to show the team evidence of the wiretapping system in place:

“This report is 1000 percent false,” said Greg Bensel, the Saints vice president of communications. “Completely inaccurate. We asked ESPN to provide us evidence to support their allegations and they refused. The team and Mickey are seeking all legal recourse regarding these false allegations.”

Former Saints coach Jim Haslett, Bill Polian, Cortez Kennedy, and even the guy that wired the WWL audio in the SuperDome have come out and publicly reputed or questioned ESPN's report amongst others.

But perhaps most interesting, WWL Legal Analyst Donald Foret was concerned when John Barr called him looking to dig up information about the franchise:

On Tuesday, Colts GM Ryan Grigson told us what we've known since around Thanksgiving of 2011. The Colts will be taking Andrew Luck with the first pick of the 2012 NFL draft.

The announcement is no surprise to anyone who's been following the Colts since Peyton Manning was unable to play at the beginning of the 2011 season. For better or for worse, the Colts seemed to fall in love with Luck, and it didn't appear as if they ever really considered taking Robert Griffin III.

Colts fans have been spoiled by Peyton Manning and company for over a decade. Fans will be expecting Luck to come in and deliver almost immediately, but those expectations may need to be toned down for the sake of Luck's development. Although Andrew Luck is considered by many the best prospect at quarterback since Peyton Manning entered the league, quarterbacks in the NFL are anything but a sure bet, and even if Luck is great, it seems doubtful that he could hope to fully live up to Peyton Manning's legacy in Indianapolis.

The announcement almost certainly locks the Redskins into Robert Griffin III with the second overall pick. Although they can't make any official announcement until Luck is actually taken by the Colts, it seems like a safe bet that Griffin will be in Washington.

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