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Stafford rates high with Kiper

After his month in the spotlight, Mel Kiper Jr. can retreat to his cave and break down game tapes for the rest of the year. The NFL Draft is done, and so is Kiper's face time on ESPN.

Kiper might be a contrived character and a clown. But his knowledge of football prospects is impressive, and so is his helmet hair -- a towering black wave blasted by at least two cans of hairspray.

Like him or laugh at him, Kiper's opinions count for something, and the draft guru is on the record as supporting former Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford as the No. 1 pick by the Detroit Lions.

"If you coach him properly," Kiper said, "I'm not saying Hall of Fame, but he should be a very good starting quarterback, and that should be good enough for the Lions."

In other words, Stafford will not be as good as Peyton Manning or as bad as Ryan Leaf. Maybe the Lions picked the next Chad Pennington.

MULTIPLE CHOICE -- Stafford was all smiles Saturday as he said, "I'm the luckiest guy in this room."

Why was Stafford feeling so lucky?

A) He signed for a guaranteed $41.7 million.

B) He had an up-close view of Kiper's hairdo.

C) He will be living in downtown Detroit.

D) He signed for $41.7 million and was being interviewed by Erin Andrews.

RATING THE QB -- The New York Jets traded up to the fifth spot to select Mark Sanchez from Southern California. The Jets seem to believe they drafted the next Brett Favre.

"When you think of Mark Sanchez, think of Drew Brees," ESPN analyst and former quarterback Steve Young said.

Brees led the NFL with 5,069 yards passing last season, so it's a strong comparison.

NO PASSING GRADE -- In a wide-open offense at Texas Tech, Graham Harrell threw for 15,793 yards and 134 touchdowns in his career. But NFL scouts were unimpressed with Harrell's arm strength, and he went undrafted after 256 picks and seven rounds.

Meanwhile, a completely unknown quarterback, Keith Null of West Texas A&M, went in the sixth round to the St. Louis Rams. There were several head-scratching draft picks, and not all of them were made by Al Davis and the Oakland Raiders.

"The truth of the matter is that the NFL drafts quarterbacks notoriously bad," Texas Tech coach Mike Leach told The Dallas Morning News. "That's indisputable."

KIPER THE CRITIC -- Looking ahead to next year's draft, Kiper is no fan of Florida's Tim Tebow. "As a quarterback in the NFL, I don't see it," Kiper said to Rivals.com.

Gators coach Urban Meyer ripped draft analysts -- but did not name Kiper -- and described them, according to the Orlando Sentinel, as "guys with a microphone who have no idea what they're talking about. They've never played football, never had to be accountable, they just babble, go home and drink a Heineken."

Maybe he was talking about Chris Berman.

COMPILED BY MATT YOUMANS LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

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