Posted by Will Brinson

Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck is, once again, the prize gem of the NFL's incoming draft class. But things are a little different this year, as a number of discontented fan bases fired up "Suck for Luck" campaigns in the hopes that their team will be worse than your team and therefor end up drafting the Stanford prospect No. 1 overall.

Awkwardly, Luck's very much aware of these campaigns and, as he told Judy Battista of the New York Times recently, he's not a fan.

"I am aware of it," Luck said. "A couple of guys told me about it. I think it's stupid. Simply put."

It is stupid. And frankly, kind of annoying, given that there are so many fanbases -- the Colts, the Seahawks, the Chiefs and the Dolphins to name a few -- involved this early in the season. (There's nothing wrong with scouting Luck, of course.)

In fact, Chris Joseph, the fella that runs Fins Nation, a Dolphins blog, is quoted in Battista's article as wholeheartedly endorsing the campaign, saying that he "actively rooted" for the Dolphins to lose to San Diego recently.

That's pretty awkward if you're a "real fan" or whatever, but making it even worse is that Luck still has a year of eligibility left. As a redshirt junior, Luck doesn't have to leave Stanford. Though if he wins the Heisman (he's the prohibitive favorite right now) and the first-ever Pac-12 title game, plus a BCS bowl game, he'll be hard pressed to hang around, especially since the Cardinal graduating 23 seniors from this season's team.

But maybe Luck will think twice if the folks who'll end up cheering for him in 2012 spent the entire prior year rooting against their own team.

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Posted by Ryan Wilson

As the owners and players rush to finalize a new collective bargaining agreement, we've heard theories about how an abbreviated free-agent signing period might work -- and the domino effect it could have on the timing of training camps and the preseason, particularly the Hall of Fame game. Lost in the mix of this conversation: the supplemental draft.

In a typical offseason, the NFL's supplemental draft takes place in mid-July, but due to the lockout, it's been pushed back indefinitely. Meantime, former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor has joined forces with super-agent Drew Rosenhaus, and we've been treated to everything from theatrical press conferences to staged workouts.

Despite Rosenhaus' PR push (which included an "I expect him to be a first-round pick" decree last month), the consensus from personnel types seems to be that Pryor is a late-round talent.

Turns out, Pryor is fine with that.

According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Pryor continues to work out in Florida with former NFL quarterbacks coach Ken Anderson and doesn't care where he's drafted. "Whether I go as a first-round (supplemental) draft pick or a seventh-round draft pick, it doesn't matter," he said. "When I get in there, I'm going to work my butt off and compete."

Sounds like someone's been listening to Herm Edwards: Motivational Speaker. (At the NFLPA rookie symposium last month, one of the points Edwards stressed was that where you're drafted is irrelevant. "I was not drafted," he said at the time. "I was a free agent. Played for 10 years, men. Never missed a game, never missed a practice. I was ready to go when they kicked the ball off. Make sure you're ready to go.")

It's probably the right way to approach something as unpredictable as the NFL draft, although every player, no matter what they might say, wants to be drafted as early as possible. (Some, like Tom Brady, even cry when they recount their personal -- and very traumatic, it turns out -- draft weekend experiences, even if they are one of the best players on the planet.)

For now, though, all Pryor can do is continue to train and refine his technique. "Footwork and getting my hips right during my throwing motion is the biggest thing [Anderson's] taught me," he said. "Little things to make me a better quarterback. … I'm getting a chance to work on things I didn't do well at Ohio State. I have a chance to get better. I want to be the best quarterback I can possibly be."

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Posted by Ryan Wilson

Former Ohio State Buckeye Terrelle Pryor and new agent Drew Rosenhaus will hold a press conference at 2 p.m. ET Tuesday. We're betting it will be the opening salvo of a PR onslaught to convince the public, and perhaps even a few NFL teams, that not only is Pryor a swell guy who got caught up in a bad situation at Ohio State, but he's also a legit NFL quarterback worthy of our attention.

What you won't see (though it would make the spectacle much more entertaining): Rosenhaus yelling "NEXT QUESTION!" as Pryor is in the background doing half-naked sit-ups.

Coincidentally, another Rosenhaus client, Chad Ochocinco, worked out with Pryor Tuesday and he couldn't quit raving about what he saw (via Twitter, where "tpeezy2" is Pryor's feed): 

"Media says @tpeezy2 is an NFL QB. I come out n see 4 myself n this mofo is good as hell. He messed up yes but got damn he can throw shhh!!!"

Followed five minutes later by this: "I meant to say the media said @tpeezy2 isn't NFL type QB, after running routes n seeing great timing n arm strength I beg to differ."

And NFL Films' Greg Cosell and SI.com's Tony Pauline beg to differ with Ochocinco.

But Chad wasn't done. One final tweet on the matter: "Last tweet about @tpeezy2 With the right coaching after what I saw today with my own eyes he can be a great QB."

If Ochocinco ever starts his own team, it sounds like Pryor will have a job. Otherwise, at this stage of the proceedings, NFL teams don't appear interested in taking a chance on a kid with questionable character and dubious ability. Still, we're pretty sure that won't slow up the Rosenhaus Propaganda Machine. The circus starts promptly at 2!

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Posted by Ryan Wilson

We have talked more today about a player who last appeared in an NFL game two years ago, and another who has yet to do so, than we have about current NFL news. That's because it's June, we're in the middle of a lockout, and there's not much else going on.

But even if this was Week 8 of the regular season, the unfolding Terrelle Pryor saga is worth following. It's got a little bit of everything: lies, duplicity and what sounds like misguided hopes for the future.

Last week, Pryor left Ohio State and an ever-growing scandal in his rearview mirror, presumably with designs on making himself available to NFL teams through the supplemental draft. One problem: Pryor isn't considered much of a prospect, though he seems to think enough of his talents that he kindly told the CFL's Saskatchewan Roughriders thanks but no thanks after they extended him an offer.

Now Pryor has hired super agent Drew Rosenhaus, who isn't in the habit of representing schlubs on the fringes of professional football.

There are also rumors that Pryor hopes to get Fired Football Coaches Association founder Jon Gruden to serve as his quarterbacks coach in the coming weeks.

In April, Gruden spoke at the Ohio State coaches clinic where he first met Pryor, and when he was asked if he thought Pryor is an NFL prospect, he said, "Yeah, I do -- I really do," according to the Columbus Dispatch. "Again, I'm accused of liking too many people. 'Gruden likes everybody.' Well, sorry about that. (But) Bill Walsh used to say, 'Don't tell me what this guy can't do. Tell me what he can do."

All respect to Walsh, one of the great offensive minds in NFL history, but remember this: Walsh was a big fan of Trent Edwards coming out of Stanford. We guess all anyone ever told him was that Edwards excelled at throwing the checkdown pass. That's an example of when more information would have been useful.

"And I tell you, Terrelle Pryor can run and he can throw," Gruden continued. "And he's a helluva competitor. And if I coached him, I'd find something for him to do. You might have to cater your offense to a degree towards his strengths. But I think this guy can develop his passing the more you pass the ball. And I think the guy is a unique, rare talent."

That doesn't seem to be the consensus. In fact, NFL Films' Greg Cosell, who watches as much game tape as most coaches, took to Twitter to evaluate Pryor's NFL prospects.

For your education, in chronological order:

• "I watched 2 games of Pryor, 7-8 of the other QB in draft. Based on those 2 games, Pryor a late round pick at best." - June 8 
• "Finished 4 game study of Pryor: Miami, Wisconsin, Iowa and Arkansas in bowl game. A developmental project. No NFL QB traits at this point." - June 9
• More Pryor: Those who equate body athleticism to QB skills + tools will see positives. Those who see NFL QB as a craft will not see much." - June 10 
• "More Pryor: Many issues that need major work. 2 are average arm strength + erratic accuracy. Little velocity. Can't drive ball. Poor passer." - June 10 
• "More Pryor: For those who equate athleticism with QB he's a draftable player. I evaluated him w/late round/free agent grade. No NFL skills." - June 10 

And for those quick to compare Pryor to Cam Newton, there's one huge difference:

• "Major difference between Pryor + Newton is Newton can throw. Big arm, drives the ball. Newton can make NFL throws, Pryor at this point can't." - June 10 

While it might be hard to make out, there is a silver lining. Again, via Cosell: "Pryor's advantage in supp. draft is no expectations. Can be a #3 QB + perhaps develop over time. Still a major question but ideal situation."

But here's the rub: you'll never read "no expectations" on the scouting report of high-round draft picks. In fact, it's how you end up with the late round/free agent grade Cosell gave Pryor. 

Of course, Rosenhaus' job is to sell his client. Or, at the very least, have that be the perception. If Pryor ends up going in the fifth round of the supplemental draft, Rosenhaus will declare it a victory. In terms of PR, he's probably right. Just something to remember, though: Former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett sat out a season before entering the draft. The Broncos eventually took him in the third round, and he didn't make it out of training camp.

The expectations will be much higher for Pryor, and the scrutiny will be even more intense.

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Posted by Ryan Wilson

It's been a tough few weeks for Ohio State football. Head coach Jim Tressel resigned amid allegations of wrongdoing, and shortly thereafter quarterback Terrelle Pryor left school, presumably to avoid further NCAA sanctions.

It wasn't long after Tressel's departure that we started hearing he could coach again, maybe even in the NFL. Pryor, on the other hand, doesn't appear to have many professional options. At least ones that include making a living playing football.

It's unclear what Pryor's next move will be, but the NFL's supplemental draft is one possibility. The allure of millions is tempting, but here's to hoping someone in Pryor's camp is living in reality. Because if the early reports are any indication, Pryor's not considered much of a quarterback prospect, and at least one NFL front-office type had doubts about Pryor's character.

“We spent a lot of time this year going through Cam Newton (notes) and Ryan Mallett’s (notes) personality,” an NFC general manager told Yahoo.com's Jason Cole. “I haven’t done all my homework on Pryor yet, but my initial impression is that if you line all three of them up and just talked about trust and reliability, Pryor is dead last. Like not-even-out-of-the-starting-gate last. And it’s probably only going to get worse.”.

Doesn't leave much room for interpretation. Ryan Mallet was once considered a first-round talent but the dreaded "off-the-field concerns" saw him plummet to Round 3 before Bill Belichick and the Patriots took a flyer on him.

An NFL coach echoed many of the same worries. “The more you read about this guy with the cars and the tattoos and money and all that other stuff … Look, we all know how the college game works and what those [coaches] have to deal with, but this kid sounds like he didn’t give a damn about anybody. He was just there for himself. He didn’t even try to hide it. He flaunted it. If you’re like that, it’s hard to be a quarterback.”

There are a lot of places on an NFL team that you can hide character flaws and personality defects. Terrell Owens has made a handsome living despite his notoriously divisive locker room presence. Antonio Cromartie has at least nine kids by eight women, and isn't much on tackling, but he played without incident for the Jets last year.

Teams don't have such luxuries at quarterback. It's the one position you can ill-afford to have a mental case -- or worse: a flake. And we haven't even gotten into Pryor's physical shortcomings as a quarterback. “I’ve viewed him as a wide receiver prospect more than a quarterback prospect,” ESPN's Todd McShay said on a conference call. “I think he’s so far off in terms of decision-making, being comfortable in the pocket, being able to go through the progression reads, with his mechanics and consistent accuracy from where you need to be as a quarterback." McShay's colleague Mel Kiper thinks Pryor's path to the NFL is as a tight end.

Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow faced similar questions about his ability when he was at Florida. The difference: his character was unimpeachable and his leadership skills were indisputable.

Still, Pryor has alternatives to the supplemental draft, which is currently on hold because of the labor situation. As CBSSports.com's Josh Katzowitz wrote Tuesday, Pryor could transfer to another FBS school and have to sit out a year, transfer to an FCS (or lower) school and play immediately, or hone his talents in the CFL or UFL.

But unless Pryor undergoes a complete transformation -- both between the ears and in terms of physical talents -- his NFL future looks decidedly dim.

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Posted by Will Brinson

Over the weekend, Jim Wexell of Steel City Insider dropped an interesting little nugget on Twitter about a hypothetical draft-day deal between the Redskins and Steelers that would have had Pittsburgh hopping up to the No. 16 overall spot, presumably to grab Mike Pouncey out of Florida. Turns out, not only was the deal entirely misconstrued, so was the Snyder radio interview.

I spent about 300 (too many) words breaking down why I believed it was Pouncey the Steelers were chasing. On Monday, Peter King did something similar, although in the first published edition of "Monday Morning Quarterback," King didn't have a link to Wexell.

In an updated version, King's blurb ("Brother and Child Reunion?") contains the phrase "Dan Snyder reportedly said on Sirius Radio" and then mentions that "Redskins spokesman Tony Wyllie denies Snyder says this."

Wyllie did exactly that, as did a spokesman for Sirius, per Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post, who also notes that Chris Mortensen tweeted a report of the possible trade, also sans a citation to Wexell's original note.

Since then, Wexell has apologized in tweet form and also deleted the original tweet.

So, what's the real story here? Well, it doesn't seem like Wexell was playing a Mike Wise-style "social experiment" via Twitter. At any rate, affable prankster isn't really his style. And if this were any team other than the Redskins, it might make more sense. (Or less? I'm not sure which way that goes, honestly.)

But the scrambling from various members of the media to attribute the story to Wexell (now that it's fake) is odd, especially given that in several different instances, an apparently fabricated radio interview was sourced, separately, by multiple outlets.

Whatever, at some point Wexell will probably get asked how it came about and there's probably some sort of rationalization as to why this all happened.

In the meantime, can you tell there's a lockout going on in the NFL?

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Posted by Will Brinson

UPDATE (Monday, 11:00 AM): So, this is weird: the Redskins are saying now that Dan Snyder never appeared on Sirius. Which makes Wexell's tweet really odd. Read the anatomy of a rumor post right here.

The 2011 NFL Draft has come and gone, but here's an interesting little nugget about something that could have happened, involving a Redskins-Steelers trade for the No. 16 overall pick.

Per Jim Wexell of Steel City Insider, Dan Snyder, appearing on Sirius Radio this past week, said that Washington and Pittsburgh had a deal in place for the No. 16 overall pick, but "the player was gone."

As you probably recall, the Redskins traded down from 10th to 16th via a deal with Jacksonville where the Jaguars picked up Blaine Gabbert.

The logical guess is that the Steelers wanted Mike Pouncey, brother of their center, Maurkice Pouncey. Can we be sure though?

Well, not positive, but pretty close. Hopping in the not-so-way-back machine and taking a look at our Draft Tracker, we can pretty much reach that conclusion.

We have to make the assumption that the player in question was taken in between the 11th and 15th picks, as Washington had access to both the 10th and 16th picks and Pittsburgh didn't make a move.

Scratching the one quarterback taken in that range, Gabbert and Christian Ponder, off the list isn't a reach, considering that the Steelers still have Ben Roethlisberger.

J.J. Watt and Robert Quinn were both strong picks, but it seems unlikely that Pittsburgh would trade valuable assets for a defensive end in a year when there was depth at the position. Additionally, Cameron Heyward -- the guy they got -- fits their scheme nicely.

Nick Fairley could have been under consideration, as he would have represented outstanding value, but, I'm not so sure that what he does best would necessarily equate to making him the long-term answer at DT for Pittsburgh, assuming they don't make a scheme shift once (if??) Dick LeBeau retires.

And then there's this: many people thought the Dolphins would take Alabama running back Mark Ingram, but went with Pouncey right before the 'Skins 16th pick instead. So it seemed like Pouncey might be there at 16; clearly the Steelers are fans of that family, and wouldn't need to play him at center, as many teams felt they might.

And with their second-round pick, the Steelers nabbed Pouncey's linemate at Florida, Marcus Gilbert. That's not to say they loved the other Pouncey just because he's related to one of their players, or because he's from the same school.

And it's tough to guarantee that's what they were hoping for, but it sure does seem like a strong possibility.

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Posted by Will Brinson

The Seahawks shocked, well, everyone when the reached up and grabbed James Carpenter with the 28th overall pick in the first round of the NFL Draft.

It was an odd pick, though if it works out, all the experts who called Pete Carroll and John Scheinder's decision "zany" will look stupid.

Anyway, part of being a football person means that you get to make the picks, but also have to hear about them; Peter King of Sports Illustrated writes Monday that many a team will watch either ESPN or NFL Network in their draft room, just to get a feel for the reaction of certain picks.

The Seahawks are no exception, and when the picked Carpenter, instead of listening to the various people on TV actually state what Nick Saban mouthed -- "Carpenter got picked in the first round?" -- the found something else to listen to. "So the Seahawks muted both channels and put on Pandora, the personalized Internet radio thing," . "And soon had Reggae music filling the draft room."

NFL Draft Wrap-Up

Brinson: 2011 NFL Draft Winners/Losers Judge: 2011 NFL Draft Judgements Prisco: 2011 NFL Draft Grades

This was actually King's "Factoid of the Week That May Only Interest Me," but he's not alone on this one, because I find it fascinating, to be perfectly honest.

Not because I'm going to get sold on the pick based on what kind of tunes the 'Hawks front office is blaring in their compound, but because, somehow, this strikes me as absolutely perfect music for Carroll to rock while he's sitting around doing something really important in a chill, hip way.

Like fake-snake-pranking the guys on his roster. Or trading for Charlie Whitehurst.For more NFL news, rumors and analysis, follow @cbssportsnfl on Twitter and subscribe to our RSS Feed.