NFL analyst talks about ex-Hawkeyes and upcoming draft

Former Dallas Cowboys scout and current NFL.com draft analyst Gil Brandt, perhaps the best-known scout in NFL history, held a teleconference today about the NFL draft prospects. I asked Brandt about several Iowa players (unfortunately with dozens of reporters on the call you can't ask about every ex-Hawk), and here is what he had to say.

On former Iowa offensive tackle Bryan Bulaga, who could be drafted as high as No. 5 by the Kansas City Chiefs:

"Bulaga is a tough, tough, throwback player. He's a very, very competitive football player that's mean. He's a mean football player. I don't think you can go wrong by having a team full of Bulagas on there."

Brandt said Bulaga (6-foot-5, 314 pounds) could play either left or right tackle for any team. He also said teams are concerned about the thyroid condition that kept Bulaga off the field for three games last fall. Bulaga left Iowa after his junior season.

"He knows how to use his hands," Brandt said. "Hand placement is very, very important now for offensive tackles. The guy has been really coached well; they do a great job at Iowa.

"I don't like people who come out of school after three years. I wish he would have stayed there because I think it would make him still a better player than he already is. But I do think Bulaga can play left tackle and I think he'll play for a long time and I think your team will be successful."

Former Iowa linebacker Pat Angerer (6-0, 235) posted 145 tackles last year. Brandt said size will keep Angerer from getting drafted high, but his past production coupled with intangibles -- 26 bench-press repetitions at the NFL Scouting Combine, 4.7 40-yard dash time -- will get him in the NFL.

"I think when you have a player that plays with that type of production and plays in a plays in a great program like they have at Iowa, I like him a lot," Brandt said. "We don't draft middle linebackers. If you remember the last two years, everybody thought the linebacker from Ohio State (James Laurinaitis) and from USC (Rey Maualuga) were going to be first-round picks, and neither of them were. Simply because we want to get players who will be on the field for three downs. I think Pat can do that because he does run better than he looks."

Former Iowa linebacker A.J. Edds (6-4, 246) also will get drafted, Brandt said.

"He's another good linebacker," Brandt said. "I like him, too. And when I say I like them, I think these are guys that are going to play in the National Football League. I don't know if they're going to be second-round picks or third-round picks; I don't have either one of them in my top 100. But Edds is a taller player, he's almost 6-3 ½ and he had a lot of tackles last year, and he's pretty active in coverage is what he is. I think both of those players (Edds and Angerer) will be drafted, and I think they'll both have careers in the National Football League."

Brandt compared former Iowa cornerback Amari Spievey (5-11, 195) to former Hawkeye and current Carolina Panthers safety Charles Godfrey.

"I think that (Spievey is) a little better," Brandt said. "I think these two are very much alike as corners; that's what they are. He's a very physical player, I'd say that about him."