Injury issues caused OT Brown to fall out of first round

With the last picks of all rounds in the 2010 NFL draft, the New Orleans Saints made every decision carefully to make sure that they got the best from the remaining picks. So when they used the 64th overall, the last pick of the second round, to draft Southern Cal offensive lineman Charles Brown, they indeed had a good reason.

The Saints believe that Brown, who received no call from any team during the first round, should have been picked in higher round and it was really fortunate for the team to still have such a choice available on board by the end of second round. However, if the Saints had good reason to have the young player put on Saints jersey, other teams must also have good reasons not to choose him.

According to recent reports, injuries were the major reason that caused Brown to fall out of the first round. Some reports said that Brown had a minor knee injury and some others said he pulled a hamstring at the USC Pro Day. The latter speculation was somewhat proved by Trojans athletic department officials, who confirmed that Brown did pull up his hamstring while running the 40-yard dash on pro day but it did not seem serious at that time.

So it is for sure that Brown is indeed having some problem with his leg, but the Saints do not appear to care much about it. Perhaps other teams simply worried a bit too much about the injury, and now it’s the Saints who finally add a powerful weapon on their offense.

Saints added rookie DE Sharpe to roster

Remaining undrafted when the three-day 2010 NFL draft ended on Saturday afternoon, former Texas Tech defensive end Brandon Sharpe finally received an contract offer from the New Orleans Saints on Monday, joining his former teammate in the Red Raiders, offensive guard Brandon Carter.

Actually, Sharpe was previously to be picked in the first round as the ESPN had ranked him as the 22nd best defensive end in the draft. He indeed deserves the rank with a latest school record of the most sacks in a season he made in his last college season. Having one solo sack in 2008 season, Sharpe burst out with 15 sacks in 2009 season, with four solo sacks ruing the Nebraska game. He also had four two-solo-sack games last season. Besides, the 15 sacks that totaled for a loss of 104 yards also ranked the second most on a national basis.

Sharpe and Carter are expected to make their first appearance in New Orleans Saints jerseys next week, when the team’s three-day rookie minicamp started on May 7 and ended on May 9. Both rookies will try their best to impress the coaches with hope of getting playing time in preseason and regular season.