CSU in the NFL draft
Bradlee Van Pelt is a Denver Bronco, Dexter Wynn will continue
to wear green and Andre Sommersell is Mr. Irrelevant.
The first five rounds of the NFL Draft this weekend were
uneventful for former CSU football players hoping to make an NFL
team.
However, the pace picked up late in the sixth round when the
Philadelphia Eagles selected Wynn, a star cornerback and return man
for the Rams, with the 192nd pick of the draft.
Van Pelt, the former Rams quarterback who won the Mountain West
Conference offensive player of the year honor twice, found out he
is staying in Colorado when the Denver Broncos drafted him in the
seventh round.
Then, with the 255th and final pick of the draft, the Oakland
Raiders selected Sommersell, who played defensive end for the Rams
and will compete at outside linebacker for the Raiders.
“We don’t quite get the respect players in Boulder do,” Wynn
said. “(But) when Colorado State players get the opportunity to
play at the next level, we make the most of it.”
Wynn thought he could go as early as the fourth round. He said
he is a little disappointed he was not selected earlier because of
the money difference, but he is relieved the draft is over and that
he is going to a great team like the Eagles.
“My brother is really excited because (Eagles wide receiver
Terrell Owens) is his favorite player in the NFL,” Wynn said. “Now,
he said, I’m his second favorite.”
The Eagles have been to the NFC Championship game three years in
a row and should contend for the Super Bowl again with the
acquisition of pro-bowlers Owens and defensive end Jevon Kearse.
Wynn joked that Owens is going to have to “show me some
things.”
Wynn said he expects to compete for playing time on special
teams and defense. The Eagles two starting cornerbacks from last
season, Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor, both went to other teams.
The Eagles also drafted UCLA cornerback Matt Ware in the third
round.
Van Pelt, who was also projected as high as the fourth round,
will be in a battle with many other quarterbacks to fill the two
slots behind Broncos’ starter Jake Plummer.
The Broncos also drafted former Louisiana State quarterback Matt
Mauck in the seventh round, and have veterans Danny Kannell,
Jarious Jackson and Mike Quinn on the roster. Even though some
analysts thought the team that drafted Van Pelt might try to
convert him to another position, Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan
said he has no intention of doing so.
“He’s a quarterback in my mind,” Shanahan said in a Broncos
press release. “But, he’s also a guy that during the season, if he
was your third quarterback or second quarterback, he can help you
on the scout team playing linebacker or safety.”
Van Pelt said he realizes he is going to have to change the
run-oriented style he used at CSU and be more of a pocket
passer.
“In the NFL I’ve got to change a lot and I have to work on a lot
of things,” Van Pelt said in the Broncos release. “I am going to
probably be more of a traditional quarterback. I am going to slide,
I am going to run out of bounds; I am not going to fight for those
few extra yards. In college that’s what got me my name and
victories on the board, and really that is the kind of player I
am.”
Sommersell holds the title of Mr. Irrelevant for being the last
pick of 2004 draft. The honor wins him a week of festivities in his
honor in Newport Beach, Calif.
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