ESPN.com - What's hot, not for 2002 NFL draft

ESPN.com: Page 2

Wednesday, April 17, 2002
Updated: April 18, 11:55 AM ET
What's hot, not for 2002 NFL draft

By Dan Shanoff
Special to Page 2

For NFL junkies, the draft is special. Draftmania weeds out the weak weeds out the weak, the casual, and the ones who don't know how to enjoy the magic ratio that is 15 minutes of recovery time for every 10 seconds of pleasure.

That said, whether you are planning to phone in the rest of your life this weekend and watch the whole thing or you just want to sound like you are, check out the list below for the final call on what's cool and what's passé for the NFL draft. If there was ever a time when the Hot/Not List could help you make a good impression with your date, it's this one:

What's Hot, What's Not: 2002 NFL draft
Category	Hot	Not
Fan get-up	Anything "Texan"	Those freaky Raiders fans
Save-your-franchise running back	T.J. Duckett	William Green
Wide selection	Offensive line	Linebackers
QB we would have liked to see	Drew Henson	Chris Simms
Likely cheer from New Yorkers	"Patriots suck!"	"Red Sox suck!"
Big winners	Agents	Draft prognosticators
Team you want to end up on	Redskins	Giants
Strategy for Lions	Trade down!	Use the 3 on a DB
Suspense	Who'll get Harrington?	Status of David Carr
Mike Holmgren likes ...	Tight ends	Quarterbacks
Sleeper	RB Clinton Portis (Miami)	QB Pat Ramsey (Tulane)
Teams use the media to ...	Disseminate misdirection	Alert their fans to exactly who they'll be picking
Needs more hype	Napoleon Harris	Julius Peppers
Drew Bledsoe's big problem	The Bills stink	Tom Brady's steadiness
First sign David Carr is in trouble	Trent Dilfer is his mentor	Texans' O-line depth
Coolest job in the NFL	Running a team's draft-day "board"	Collating the draft-prospect binders
Player stat	"Attitude"	40-yard-dash time
Draft emphasis	Speed on defense	Quarterback
NFL factory	University of Miami	Notre Dame
Best bet for a 'Skins pick	One of the ex-Gators	A 'Nole
Way to spend 15 minutes between picks	Obsessing about team "next up"	Obsessing about team that just picked
What to do with your now-useless mock draft	Shopping list	Housebreak pet
Lessons from this year's Super Bowl winners	Game plans and execution win games	The draft wins games

Dan Shanoff is a regular contributor to Page 2.