I couldn’t see the forest through losing with Deone Bucannon

OK. I get it. Someday I’ll have to say, “I was wrong.”

I liked the pick of Deone Bucannon…for a Friday. Thursdays are first-round only. Fridays (for the time being) are the second and third round. When looking forward to Friday night at the beginning of the week, I hoped that Chris Borland or Kyle Van Noy might slip to the Cardinals. If that didn’t happen, Bucannon crossed my mind.

A listener at our mock draft picked Bucannon and I scoffed that he’d be a first-round pick. I remember Bucannon very well on Halloween night when Washington State played ASU. He was the only one making plays. The problem for me in evaluating was the rest of the team was terrible. I struggled to tell if Bucannon was special or if making plays was all he could do because 10 other people kept screwing up.

I have read rave reviews for the pick since the end of the first round. Tedy Bruschi labeled the Cards winners for the pick without even mentioning the trade to pick up an additional third-round selection. Pat Kirwin said he can do it all. Rick Neuheisel told our listeners that they will love Bucannon. Steve Keim said Arizona liked him before the combine and he blew everyone away at the combine.

I’m sitting here on Friday knowing the Cardinals took a player at 27 that I thought should be taken 27 picks later. Then I hear very smart football people say two things: They didn’t see that coming and it was a great pick. That’s the mark of a pretty good general manager who impresses football people while fooling them.

I have given Steve Keim high praise for a lot of his decisions. On Thursday night, I did not salute him. The way people are talking about Bucannon, that might have to change in two years.

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