Vikings Fans are raising money to help gulf residents

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has attracted a lot of attention from the world, and a lot of people and groups are making their effort to help recover the communities there. Following the New Orleans Saints who visited the communities, the Minnesota Vikings fans are also raising money for the recovery.

According to reports, an online community of Vikings fans is selling members’ precious collection of Vikings products to raise money to help gulf residents recover from the oil spill. The autographed Brett Favre jerseys are most popular among the thousands of items related to Vikings. One such jersey on auction was bought by a long-time fan at a high price of $1,000. Some other jerseys of other Vikings players were bought at different prices. By doing so, the community hopes to raise as much as $50,000 to donate to the gulf recovery groups.

There are also other NFL teams doing what they can do to help these unfortunate residents. Even President Obama made statement on his attitude toward the incident and BP, the company who caused the oil spill. By so far, there has not been confirmative or apologetic claim from UK government and anger of Americans is increasing.

Holy Cross OL Aaron Jones got invitation from Saints

Hearing nothing from any of the 32 NFL teams by the end of the three-day 2010 NFL draft, former Holy Cross defensive lineman Aaron Rodgers disappointedly thought he was completely a loser of the draft. However, two weeks later, he finally received a call from the best team of last season, the New Orleans Saints.

Graduating from South High School in 2006, Jones had been selected to All-Patriot League for twice while playing with the Crusaders. He also managed to earn second team honors in 2009 and first team honors in 2008. With is help, the Crusaders had leading record of score in the Patriots League with 34.4 points per game, 455.4 total yards on offense per game and 348.9 passing yards on offense per game. Attending both Pro Days at the University of Massachusetts and Boston College, he might have impressed some Saints coach in one of them.

Jones has been excited for being able to put on Saints jersey after a short while of surprise. Although a tryout chance is still far away from a real roster spot with the defending champion team, he made it clear that the chance itself is worth waiting and he will try his best to earn a real Saints jersey.

Saints’ choices in 2010 draft are still worth expectation

Although quite a few people think that the New Orleans Saints picked too many offensive rookies but showed somewhat ignorance with the defensive line, some other people, judging from the team’s success with draft picks during the past few years, believe that the Saints newly drafted rookies will prove they are the right choices.

Since 2006, the Saints have successfully turned low-round picks into popular star players who used to be selected into Pro Bowls and win Super Bowl rings. Such examples include former seventh-round pick Marques Colston, six-round pick Zack Strief, sixth-round pick Carl Nicks and fourth-round picks Jahri Evans and Jermon Bushrod. The team also managed to prove their high-round picks all deserve the original expectations. Former first-round picks like Jammal Brown, Reggie Bush, Robert Meachem and Sedrick Ellis were all with team in the Super Bowl XLIV victory over the Indianapolis Colts.

Now we can have a look at the rookies drafted by Saints from the 2010 NFL draft. Cornerback Patrick Robinson has proven he could be a playmaker with his performance in college football career; defensive tackle AI Woods is highly expected to develop into a great professional player; tackle Charles Brown is widely recognized as a talent young player and tight end Jimmy Graham has the potential to be another valuable weapon of the team. Therefore, the Saints fans do have quite a few reasons to get their beloved Saints jerseys ready with the belief that the team will have another winning season.

Saints did not make bad choices in draft

Two days passed since the end of 2010 NFL draft and analysts begin to give out their opinions on teams’ different choices in the draft. As for the defending champions New Orleans Saints, who held late round picks with limited choice when it was their turn to pick, most professional analysts think that they did not make bad choices.

Best of all the choices made by the Saints was the selection of second-round pick Charles Brown, offensive tackle from the USC. He had been already a great player during college years and has potential to be a better one in the professional NFL. With great feet that are needed on offensive line, the young player is expected to compete for some playing time in his rookie season.

However, most people still doubt what the Saints were thinking about while making their first choice in the draft. Cornerback Patrick Robinson is great at doing his job and has the advantage of quick feet, but the addition of a new cornerback is just not considered to be necessary for the Saints. Some people point out that there is possibility for the team to move last year’s first-round pick, cornerback Malcolm Jenkins to free safety. There are also doubts that Saints picked a cornerback in first round again because free agent cornerback Darren Sharper could not wear back his Saints jersey.

Except for picking Robinson, Saints’ other choices all seem good and could offer necessary help. Taking center Matt Tennant as example, the 6-5, 300-pound young man had three-year experience of being a starter during his college football career in Boston and there is good chance for him to obtain the starting job again in the NFL within a couple of years. So generally speaking, the Saints have made the most use of the draft picks they had during the draft and the team will be better in the new season.

TE Graham became the first UM player to be drafted

By the end of the first-round draft on Thursday night, none of the 12 eligible players from the University of Miami got drafted by any team. Even by the start of Friday night’s second-round draft, the twelve were still waiting. Eventually, near the end of third-round draft, which was also held on Friday night, one of them got a call from the Super Bowl XLIV champions New Orleans Saints.

Tight end Jimmy Graham was the lucky first. The young man with a height of 6-7 and weight of 280 pounds was the 95th overall pick in the third round and had been previously believed to be the first drafted Hurricanes player. There were only two other Hurricanes were expected to have equal chance- linebacker Darryl Sharpton and offensive tackle Jason Fox are likely to be drafted in early fourth and fifth rounds on Saturday night.

Being a huge Saints fan himself, Graham felt great honor for having the chance to put on his beloved Saints jersey as a real Saints player. Previously a college basketball player, Graham changed his career to football in his senior year and proved his talent on field soon with 17 catches for 213 yards and five touchdowns. The rookie is also feeling great for being able to play with Jeremy Shockey, who also played college football in UM before entering the professional NFL.