Hlas column: Ballard and Stanzi fell, but not out of sight

The morning after last December's Insight Bowl, I think you'd have said the fifth-round of the 2011 NFL draft would be pretty good for Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi.

You'd have said the fifth-round would have been pretty, pretty good for Hawkeye defensive tackle Karl Klug and offensive lineman Julian Vandervelde.

And you'd have said the fourth-round would have been a big letdown for Hawkeye defensive tackle Christian Ballard. Of course, you wouldn't have known Ballard would (reportedly) test positive for marijuana at the NFL Combine. Oops.

There are many other things you wouldn't have known. Like Stanzi moving up to fourth-round and even third-round in most NFL mock drafts as winter turned to spring. Which surely made lasting as long as he did a disappointment to him and his fans.

In the days leading up to the draft, Stanzi said people wouldn't ultimately remember if he went in the second or the sixth round. Maybe, but ...

Six quarterbacks were taken in the first 36 selections. That means six NFL teams are gambling their futures at the most important position on those players. Stanzi wasn't viewed as having that kind of upside. Thus, he was the 135th player picked.

The story of Tom Brady being a sixth-round pick has been told and told, and many in Hawkdom have wanted to project Stanzi's tale as following in Brady's big footsteps. Perhaps that will hold a little water in years to come, but it's a long shot. Brady is an abnormality.

At least half the NFL teams will have starting quarterbacks in 2011 who were first-round picks, and a few others will have a No. 1 as their heir-apparents.

Besides Brady, only Tony Romo of Dallas (undrafted), Ryan Fitzpatrick of Buffalo (seventh round) and Matt Cassel of Kansas City (seventh round) are quarterbacks taken after Round 3 who almost surely will be starters this year.

San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh flew to Iowa City a month ago to spend part of a day with Stanzi. From what I'm told, Harbaugh liked him.

But like wasn't love. The Niners traded three draft picks to Denver for the No. 36 selection, and grabbed quarterback Colin Kaepernick of Nevada. That's love.

However, it does seem Stanzi couldn't have found many better situations than Kansas City when it comes to battling for a back-up job.

The Chiefs' No. 2 QB is Brodie Croyle. Tyler Palko is No. 3. Croyle has eight touchdown passes in five years with the team after being a third-round pick. Undrafted Palko has been a career hanger-on.

But Cassel went from a question to an answer last season. He had 16 TD passes and 16 interceptions as a first-year Chief in 2009. In 2010, it was 27 TDs, 7 INTs for a team that went to the playoffs for the first time in four years.

Injuries happen. Lots of things happen. Maybe Stanzi will one day replace Cassel the way Brady aced out Drew Bledsoe in New England. Or maybe Stanzi will be another Brodie Croyle.

As for Ballard, we don't know if his drug-test at the Combine was solely responsible for his tumble down the draft list. But is there any thinking person who believes it wasn't a considerable factor?

Well, fourth-round NFL money is better dough than you get from any job right out of college that I know. Ballard goes to the Minnesota Vikings, one of the more peculiarly run franchises in the league. If he lets some of Viking linebacker Chad Greenway of Iowa rub off on him, he'll get pointed in the right direction.

The Tennessee Titans made a nice pick when they took Klug in Round 5. If you knew nothing about first-round draftee Adrian Clayborn, Ballard and Klug before watching all of Iowa's game tape from 2011, I think you'd be inclined to call Klug's season the best of the three.

What Klug doesn't have going for him is the size to be a prototypical NFL defensive tackle. So his road might be tough. But not nearly as tough as Klug.

Vandervelde is someone to never count out as a player or person. When Philadelphia took him in the fifth round, I was surprised he was drafted as high as he was. But after thinking about it, I realized I shouldn't have been.

Iowa safety Tyler Sash did what he felt he had to do when he made himself eligible for the draft as a junior. He went in the sixth round at pick 198 Saturday, to the New York Giants.

Iowa safety Matt Bowen was the 198th pick in the 2000 NFL draft. He was in the NFL for seven seasons. Not a bad omen for Sash, eh?