Round 1: Kareem Jackson, CB Alabama
Round 2: Toby Gerhart, RB Stanford
Round 3: Al Woods, DT LSU
Round 4: Roderick Muckelroy, ILB Texas
Round 5: Shawn Lauvao, OG Arizona State
Round 6: Darrell Stuckey, DS Kansas
Round 6: O’Brien Schofield, OLD Wisconsin
Round 7: Danario Alexander, WR Missouri
And I agree about Simmons. I think he’s wildly overrated, but he’s still worth reading from time to time, especially for topics in which he’s interested.
Are you a Hokie? With Render here and Wang for the Raiders, you got a liking for those VT offensive linemen.
I really liked the Bucs draft. Hit their major needs (grab a DE next) with usually the BPA. I don’t know what to make of Tate. It seems a big part of his game is making people miss after the catch, but I’m not sure he can do that in the NFL. Although he could be Tim Brown. I really liked the Washington pick, and Jones has enough potential to make him well worth a 3rd rounder. Nicely done.
Spiller/McFadden/Bush would make an interesting backfield. Hell, they wouldnt even have to throw the ball. A lot more risk in this draft, with a reach for Robinson, injuries for Lee and Jones, and discipline problems with Cox, this is a high risk/high reward draft. And thanks for bringing Wang to my attention (snicker). He certainly looks like the steal in the 4th round, he’ll go much higher in real life. I like it.
My thinking was pretty elementary: The Lions need help everywhere. The first rounder was a no brainer. The second pick was/could have been Spikes as well. I practically flipped a coin, but if I had to do it over again, I’d have taken the linebacker. This isn’t to say that Dunlap isn’t a very good talent, it’s just that there’s also talent and value there for linebackers. McCluster should at least help the return game, at most, he’s a Darren Sproles-like scatback. Either way, the Lions have Aaron Brown, a scatback-ish running back on the roster already, that some really like. The Lions do need a running back, and I’m pretty convinced that they’re going to pick up a running back in the second or third. Gerhart is a good, solid back. I do think it’s odd that there are so many running backs whose stock all seems to be falling. Surely teams need running backs, and surely there’s some talent out there. It’s primed up for there to be a few steals scattered around.
The line is what it is. The Lions traded for a solid, young guard from the Seahawks. It’s sink-or-swim for them. Besides, the defense is the unit that needs more attention.
And I thought the Raiders took risks. A head case in Round 1, a small school athlete in the second, and a developmental smaller school project in the fourth. A lot of need-based picks … need a WR, grab Bryant … need a CB and KR, grab Owusu … need a QB, get FeFevour. I thought there were better players available at each selection, rather than reaching for a need. I love Owusu-Ansah as a special teams player, but he’ll need to develop as a CB (hell, even a FS) in the NFL. A bit of a reach in the 2nd round, but his athleticism is outstanding. Thomas was a good, safe pick. Very intriguing.
Earl Thomas is a guy who I’d love to see more than just highlight tapes on, because I don’t know what to make of him. It seems like he came out of nowhere to become a top 15 selection in the mocks. He certainly had an outstanding year, but he’s inexperienced, not as big and strong as I would like, and he takes a lot of risks. Good pick for the Texans though, whose secondary needs a ton of help.
Speaking of addressing the secondary. Nice trade. Heavy cost, but great CBs don’t come cheaply.
I’m not as high on Tate as others, but, even considering that, you got him cheap. Great pick, great value, and at a position of need.
My 49ers draft:
1 (13) Mike Iupati, G, Idaho
1 (17) Kyle Wilson, CB, Boise State
2 (49) Brandon Spikes, ILB, Florida
3 (79) Greg Hardy, DE, Mississippi
4 (113) Sam Young, OT, Notre Dame
I’ve got a lot of second choices here, to be honest. The top tackles were taken, but I’m totally high on Iupati. Even though Joe Haden was gone before 13, Wilson has the same ability to become a shutdown corner. In the real world, I think Pouncey or Iupati could be the OL pick, barring trade forward. Earl Thomas is impressive, but I value him more as trade-bait.
In the 2nd Round, my entire proxy list was gone in front of Spikes (Tackles Brown, Ducasse, and Saffold, RBs Best or Mathews). I should have tried moving up. Spikes is a distant cousin to current Willis LB partner, Takeo Spikes, and should compete for playing time with last year’s Scott McKillop.
Hardy and Young were the best players at positions of need, but I wanted John Jerry in the 3rd, and Joe McKnight in the 4th. Hardy could be a sleeper pick. Oh, and if your team picks Ciron Black, OL, LSU, anywhere after the 4th Round, keep an eye on him.
My two teams:
CINCINNATI BENGALS
Round 1 Pick 21: Jermaine Gresham, TE, Oklahoma
Round 2 Pick 22: Nate Allen, S, South Florida
Round 3 Pick 20: Donald Butler, ILB, Washington
Round 3 Pick 32 (compensatory): D’ Anthony Smith, DT/DE Lou. Tech
Round 4 Pick 22: Jacoby Ford, WR, Clemson
Round 4 Pick 33 (compensatory): Dennis Landolt, G, Penn State
Potential Picks:
Round 5: Jonathan Crompton, QB, Tennessee
Round 6: Antonio Coleman, DE/OLB, Auburn
Round 7: Aaron Petney, K, Ohio State
These were pretty straightforward “draft the top players in needed spots” picks. I actually felt the least comfortable about Gresham, but most reports have him as the most likely Bengals 1st pick in real life. I used a Sporting News draft magazine for the rest of the picks, and they were pretty different from what other people thought in this mock draft. If the magazine is right, then this draft was a bunch of steals. They have Butler ranked as the top ILB in the draft, and Crompton as the #2 QB! Nate Allen and Ford seem like good values at those spots - others here agree, as I got cursed at for picking both of them. I was torn between Smith and Gilyard, who was taken with the very next pick, but I took the more versatile player. This seems like it could be a good real life draft, unlike…
NEW YORK GIANTS
Round 1 Pick 15 Taylor Mays, S/OLB, USC
Round 2 Traded with TE Boss to New England for LB Adalius Thomas
Round 3 Traded to Washington for TE Chris Cooley
Round 4 Pick 17 Charles Scott, RB, LSU
Potential picks:
Round 5 Tony Moeaki, TE, Iowa
Round 6 Ciron Black, T, LSU
Round 7 Zoltan Mesko, P, Michigan
Taylor Mays was the most controversial pick of this whole thread. I just didn’t (and don’t) like any of the LB options in this draft after McClain for the 1st round. Mays is a terrific defender against the run, and FAST. I think he’d be a real terror and upgrade at OLB. Others think I made a mockery of the draft. Oh, well. Then I made some interesting trades, only going after players I think would be available in real life (although Cooley was offered to me after I inquired about their other TE, Fred Davis). Scott seems to be a tough, big RB somewhat in the Brandon Jacobs mold, although apparently the Giants are thinking Spiller for the real draft. Overall, this won’t look much like how the Giants will really go, but I can dream, can’t I?
Anybody interested in a quick and dirty 2nd Round mock with the available players and traded picks following the 1st Round results from yesterday?
I’m down. Of course, the Lions don’t have a second round pick.
You, know, you made fun of me for the Mays pick, but is it really worse than their real-life picks of a DE, DT and S in the first three rounds? At least my mock draft brought them Adalius Thomas.
I think the Giants proved both of us fools. Me just by virtue of taking a safety at all, much less as high as the third round. WTF? You by virtue of the fact that not only didn’t they take Mays in the first, but he was still there for their second round pick and they passed on him again.
Yes, yes and no. I explicitly said that if you didn’t like any of the LBs at least pick a team need like DT, so you can’t point to Joseph (terrible name; painful reminder of first round DT bust William Joseph) as validation.
The DE is hard to defend, but the Giants as an organization have a track record of drafting completely unnecessary DEs in the first round. Like, for example, Mathias Kiwanuka when they already had Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck. Taking Pierre-Paul is simply a repeat of 2006.
Taking a safety in the third saved you, though. I can’t totally kill you (even though they passed on Mays twice) because my hypothesis that they would never take a safety was clearly wrong.
EDIT: I was doubly a fool because I thought Weatherspoon was a MLB, but he was drafted as an OLB. Did he switch positions or something?
Did anybody match a team and a player after the 1st Round? or a player at a pick?
I had the Patriots taking Gronkowski in the 2nd round in the Mock. They traded up to get him but I had the team and round right.
Texans liked Ben Tate even more than I did, trading up to take him in the 2nd. The Cardinals grabbed John Skelton one round later than I did, in the 5th.
Wow - Bruce Campbell and Everson Griffin were both taken in the first round of our mock draft… but in the 4th round of the actual draft. Who saw that coming?