NFL teams prepare for weekend’s draft

Casual fans didn’t discover JaMarcus Russell until the Sugar Bowl last January. Neither, apparently, did some NFL scouts – not to the extent that they’re on to him now as the likely No. 1 pick in Saturday’s draft.\nIn those three-plus hours, Russell’s 332 yards and two touchdown passes carried LSU to a 41-14 win over Notre Dame. That performance helped propel him to the top of the 2007 NFL draft class over the presumptive heir to that spot, Notre Dame’s Brady Quinn. Never mind that LSU was simply the better team, Quinn’s 15-of-35 for 148 yards with two interceptions put a huge question mark after his name.\nSo the top of the NFL draft is about the two quarterbacks, notwithstanding the fact that Georgia Tech’s Calvin Johnson is conceded to be the one “can’t miss” player – perhaps the best at any position in the last five years or so.\nBut in the endless analysis that starts in early January and carries on for four months, Quinn’s “can he or can’t he” status has been the focus, despite the fact he had a far more consistent college career than Russell. Suddenly, he became a “can’t win the big one” QB, a label that also was applied in college (and for a while in the NFL) to Peyton Manning.\nQuinn might go second, third ... or 10th, as Matt Leinart, who spent almost two years at Southern California fighting the burden of being a potential No. 1, did a year ago. Such a drop could cost Quinn a lot of money.\n“I don’t care about money; I care about football,” Quinn said Thursday at a media session in New York for potential top picks. “Look at it this way: the lower I go, the better chance I have a chance of playing for a winning team.”\nThe other subplot to this draft is behavior.\nThere is supposed to be increased scrutiny on players who misbehaved in college – whether on the field or off – following a season in which nine Cincinnati Bengals were arrested, and a number of other players were in trouble for a variety of other reasons. Earlier this month, commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Adam “Pacman” Jones of Tennessee for a year and Cincinnati’s Chris Henry for eight games for their misbehavior. More suspensions could be upcoming.\nIn an odd twist, after a report leaked that three of the top players – Johnson, Louisville defensive tackle Amobi Okoye, and Clemson defensive end Gaines Adams – acknowledged at the scouting combine that they had used marijuana, the reaction to those revelations seemed to be positive. What college kid, many NFL types asked, didn’t try the drug at some point? And weren’t these three more honest than others who didn’t acknowledge they used it?\nAssuming the Raiders take Russell, Johnson presents an interesting dilemma to Detroit, which picks second, putting considerable pressure on team president Matt Millen, under whom the Lions are 24-72.\nFrom 2003-2005, Millen chose wide receivers with high first-round picks. Only one of them, Roy Williams, has worked out, and taking another, even one seemingly as sure a thing as Johnson, would be acknowledging how badly he has drafted.\nBut Millen has said the NFL now is “a throwing, wide-open game.”\n“That all points to catching the football,” he added in defense of those three picks.\nSo does he take Johnson? Or Quinn for the throwing part; the Lions’ incumbent QB \nis veteran journeyman Jon Kitna? Or Wisconsin tackle Joe Thomas to block? Or trade down and take Adams, the pass-rusher he needs?\nThat makes this an unusual draft, especially in the top five, which normally is pretty well set this late.