NFL Draft 2008 - Let's make a mock-ery.

The Game Room
1

Let’s see what the greatest football minds of the SDMB can do when the combine their powers to conduct a mock draft for the 2008 NFL Draft. I’d like the mock draft to be interactive, with each poster being able to pick for whichever team is on the board at any given time.

RULES:

A poster must make the pick of the team thats up to draft, not a later team. No poster can make 2 picks in a row. With each pick you make, please include the team making the pick, the name of the player, that player’s position, and school the player attended. And, if possible, I’d love a brief description of the reason for the pick.

Please don’t make ridiculous picks or picks to screw with a rival team or so a player falls to your team, because they will throw off the whole draft. If two (or more) posters make a pick for the same team, the first post wins and the player picked second is still on the market. If we skip a pick or make a mistake with a player being chosen twice, make a change yourself, or I can hopefully straighten it out. Since there are no assigned teams, trading up or down is discouraged, but if it can be fairly worked out, have at it.

Any questions or issues arise, we can figure it out as we go. It’s kind of an experiment. Feel free to jump in with any suggestions.

Here’s the draft order:

ROUND ONE

1 (1) Miami Dolphins
2 (2) St. Louis Rams
3 (3) Atlanta Falcons
4 (4) Oakland Raiders
5 (5) Kansas City Chiefs
6 (6) New York Jets
7 (7) New England Patriots (From 49ers)
8 (8) Baltimore Ravens
9 (9) Cincinnati Bengals
10 (10) New Orleans Saints
11 (11) Buffalo Bills
12 (12) Denver Broncos
13 (13) Carolina Panthers
14 (14) Chicago Bears
15 (15) Detroit Lions
16 (16) Arizona Cardinals
17 (17) Minnesota Vikings
18 (18) Houston Texans
19 (19) Philadelphia Eagles
20 (20) Tampa Bay Buccaneers
21 (21) Washington Redskins
22 (22) Dallas Cowboys (From Browns)
23 (23) Pittsburgh Steelers
24 (24) Tennessee Titans
25 (25) Seattle Seahawks
26 (26) Jacksonville Jaguars
27 (27) San Diego Chargers
28 (28) Dallas Cowboys
29 (29) San Francisco 49ers (From Colts)
30 (30) Green Bay Packers
31 (31) New York Giants

ROUND 2

1 (32) Miami Dolphins
2 (33) St. Louis Rams
3 (34) Atlanta Falcons (From Raiders)
4 (35) Kansas City Chiefs
5 (36) New York Jets
6 (37) Atlanta Falcons
7 (38) Baltimore Ravens
8 (39) San Francisco 49ers
9 (40) New Orleans Saints
10 (41) Buffalo Bills
11 (42) Denver Broncos
12 (43) Carolina Panthers
13 (44) Chicago Bears
14 (45) Detroit Lions
15 (46) Cincinnati Bengals
16 (47) Minnesota Vikings
17 (48) Atlanta Falcons (From Texans)
18 (49) Philadelphia Eagles
19 (50) Arizona Cardinals
20 (51) Washington Redskins
21 (52) Tampa Bay Buccaneers
22 (53) Pittsburgh Steelers
23 (54) Tennessee Titans
24 (55) Seattle Seahawks
25 (56) Green Bay Packers (From Browns)
26 (57) Miami Dolphins (From Chargers)
27 (58) Jacksonville Jaguars
28 (59) Indianapolis Colts
29 (60) Green Bay Packers
30 (61) Dallas Cowboys
31 (62) New England Patriots
32 (63) New York Giants

ROUND 3

1 (64) Miami Dolphins
2 (65) St. Louis Rams
3 (66) Kansas City Chiefs
4 (67) Carolina Panthers (From Jets)
5 (68) Atlanta Falcons
6 (69) New England Patriots (From Raiders)
7 (70) Chicago Bears (From 49ers)
8 (71) Jacksonville Jaguars (From Ravens through Bills)
9 (72) Buffalo Bills
10 (73) Minnesota Vikings (From Broncos)
11 (74) Carolina Panthers
12 (75) San Francisco 49ers (From Bears)
13 (76) Detroit Lions
14 (77) Cincinnati Bengals
15 (78) New Orleans Saints
16 (79) Houston Texans
17 (80) Philadelphia Eagles
18 (81) Arizona Cardinals
19 (82) Minnesota Vikings
20 (83) Tampa Bay Buccaneers
21 (84) Washington Redskins
22 (85) Tennessee Titans
23 (86) Seattle Seahawks
24 (87) Detroit Lions (From Browns)
25 (88) Pittsburgh Steelers
26 (89) Jacksonville Jaguars
27 (90) Chicago Bears (From Chargers)
28 (91) Green Bay Packers
29 (92) Dallas Cowboys
30 (93) Indianapolis Colts
31 (94) New England Patriots
32 (95) New York Giants
33 (96) Washington Redskins (Compensatory selection)
34 (97) Cincinnati Bengals (Compensatory selection)
35 (98) Atlanta Falcons (Compensatory selection)
36 (99) Baltimore Ravens (Compensatory selection)

I, or anyone who wishes to, can update the list as we progress. If the draft order is wrong (it shouldn’t be) or there are trades, we can change it.

Without further ado, the Miami Dolphins are on the clock:

Miami Dolphins

The Dolphins would love to trade down with this pick, but there doesn’t seem to be many suitors. The Saints have expressed an interest, but not for the first pick. The latest rumors are that the Dolphins are hoping to get a contract done with Jake Long at a decent price. I think they’ll be able to work something out. A 1-15 team, the Dolphins need help everywhere. And it all starts with a good O Line.

Miami Dolphins select Jake Long, OT, Michigan.

Who wants to go next?

2

2nd Pick - St Louis Rams
DT - Glenn Dorsey, LSU

The Rams need to look at the defense and I think Dorsey would make a greater impact than the next likeliest pick, Chris Long. No chance they go QB or RB so that limits the number of options. As always a trade would be a possibility, and maybe one of the teams in the top 10 will do it if they are in love with Dorsey, but I doubt it.

3

Atlanta Falcons

The Falcons are looking for a franchise quarterback to replace Vick, but is #3 too early for Matt Ryan? Personally, hell yes, I think it is. Unfortunately, those bastard Rams took the guy the Falcons would really want. That leaves them with a decision between Chris Long, Sedrick Ellis and maybe Vernon Gholston. After the Vick debacle, the Falcons will look for a high integrity player with a lot of effort. And John Abraham isn’t getting any younger.

Atlanta Falcons select Chris Long, DE, Virginia.

4

Ideally we’d probably be best if we made people wait like 4 picks before making another one just to get as many people involved as possible, or else you and I will just tag team this bitch. But, since I’m posting I might as well go again. It’s your thread afterall!

4 - Oakland Raiders
RB - Darren McFadden, Arkansas

For the record I think this is a terrible pick and Sedrick Eliis would make infinitely more sense here, but this is Al Davis we are talking about. He loves his playmakers and he’ll be drooling over McFadden. They’ll make this pick in approximately .06 seconds. McFadden will be the pick here.

5

I do want more people involved in making the picks, especially if they’re a fan of the team picking. But rather than a strict rule, I think we can rely on poster’s own judgment to wait for picks.

So, let’s get someone else here to make a pick.

6

The KC Chiefs need offensive line help. However, Brodie Croyle and Damon Huard are a two-headed monster of mediocrity. Surprised that the Falcons, passed on him, the Chiefs select:

4 - KC Chiefs
**QB Matt Ryan (**Boston College)

7

5 - New York Jets
DE/LB Vernon Gholston (Ohio State University)

Prototypical 3-4 pass rushing tweener with excellent speed and an all-day motor.

Gotta agree that McFadden to the Raiders is about the worst possible pick they could make…

8

Pssst… you guys got your numbers wrong.

You’ve clearly never seem him play, that’s about as inaccurate a description as you can possibly make. He disappears for entire games.

  1. New England Patriots
    DT - Sedrick Ellis, DT

The Pats will absolutely do anything to trade out of this pick, but assuming they don’t they will take the best player available, and that’s Ellis. Their pressing need is LB but I just don’t think the Pats will reach for Mayo or Rivers here, in the real world they will probably swap spots with Cincy and move back a few spots.

9

Only two or three times. I was going off John Clayton’s shtick there.

By the way, I call dibs on the Bucs’ pick :slight_smile: (20)

10

The Ravens need some youth in the secondary. Leodis McKelvin is the pick here. He’ll get brought in slowly and should move in to cover the impending injury to one of the starting cornerbacks.

11

The Bengals desperately need a defense, and particularly help in their front seven. With Gholston and Ellis gone, they pick up

9. LB Keith Rivers (USC)

12

My bad!

13

New Orleans Saints

The rumor is that the Saints want to move up to grab Dorsey (or possibly Ellis or Long). And with the way this mock is going, you can see why. There are plenty of guys left, but the players to covet are gone. And they did sign a couple of CB’s (Glenn who I think went to high school with Noah) and Randall Gay, so taking a CB
(Rodgers-Cromartie?) might not be high on their list. This is a damn tough pick. Do they go for pass rusher Derrick Harvey? Is Brandon Albert a huge reach? Will Stewart or Mendenhall be really poor value? How about Ryan Clady, they could use an OT.

Damn, I don’t know who to go with. I’ve had this post on preview for 20 minutes, not being able to pull the trigger on a guy. They’d love to trade up with the Patsy’s and grab Ellis, but its too late. Screw it.

New Orleans Saints select Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, CB, Tennessee St.
Here’s an update:
ROUND ONE

1 (1) Miami Dolphins – Jake Long, OT, Michigan
2 (2) St. Louis Rams – Glenn Dorsey, DT, LSU
3 (3) Atlanta Falcons – Chris Long, DE, Virginia
4 (4) Oakland Raiders – Darren McFadden, RB, Arkansas
5 (5) Kansas City Chiefs – Matt Ryan, QB, Boston College
6 (6) New York Jets – Vernon Gholston, DE/OLB, Ohio State
7 (7) New England Patriots (From 49ers) – Sedrick Ellis, DT, USC
8 (8) Baltimore Ravens – Leodis McKelvin, CB, Troy
9 (9) Cincinnati Bengals – Keith Rivers, LB, USC
10 (10) New Orleans Saints – Dominique Rodgers Cromartie, CB, Tennessee St.
11 (11) Buffalo Bills
12 (12) Denver Broncos
13 (13) Carolina Panthers
14 (14) Chicago Bears
15 (15) Detroit Lions
16 (16) Arizona Cardinals
17 (17) Minnesota Vikings
18 (18) Houston Texans
19 (19) Philadelphia Eagles
20 (20) Tampa Bay Buccaneers
21 (21) Washington Redskins
22 (22) Dallas Cowboys (From Browns)
23 (23) Pittsburgh Steelers
24 (24) Tennessee Titans
25 (25) Seattle Seahawks
26 (26) Jacksonville Jaguars
27 (27) San Diego Chargers
28 (28) Dallas Cowboys
29 (29) San Francisco 49ers (From Colts)
30 (30) Green Bay Packers
31 (31) New York Giants

14

The Saints, always looking for help to shore up a defense that allows as many yards as the offense produces, need help at corner, thanks to some bad free agent signings. (Randall Gay? Nick Harper?)

With Aquib Talib falling off everyone’s first-round board due a case of the Ricky Williams, the Saints use the 10th pick to acquire the consistent-yet-boring Mike Jenkins, becoming not only the first player from South Florida to be drafted in the first round, but only the second to be drafted at all.

ETA: never mind, Hamlet beat me to it.

15

I don’t have a pick to offer for the Bills, but I would like to mention that they have been the Reachy McReachalots in the last few drafts. They’ve gotten good players, but for terrible “draft value”. The safety they took in the first was good but would have still been there for half a round, and the DT they took in the first may have been there in the third.

I could be wrong about the safety but I was all over researching DTs the year they way reached on him. He’s good, but terrible draft value.

16

No, you’re correct - people said the same thing when they picked Whitner eighth two years ago. And I’d love to fill in and say which guy my team will pick this year - but I absolutely don’t know.

17

The Bills eagerly await your thoughts.

18

The safety, Donte Whitner, turned out to be pretty good… arguably the best player on the team last season, in fact. They could have gotten him later, but as Bill Walsh used to say, “it’s not where you draft them, it’s how they play.”

19

Is there a realistic wideout at this spot in the draft? The Bills are pretty good at a lot of positions (but great at few), and I think they have to go offense. They seem content with their QB options and they’re definitely set with Lynch at RB.

20

What do you get the team who needs everything?

A big receiver- and continuing the reach theme, the Bills draft

Limas Sweed, WR (Texas)