Barkley in the 3rd is a steal. Of course, since trades aren't allowed, it's not much of a surprise no one here took a quarterback in round 1. ATLANTA FALCONS (30th pick) RD1. Cornelius "Tank" Carradine, DE, Florida State RD2. Jamar Taylor, CB, Boise State RD3. Gavin Escobar, TE, San Diego State RD4. D.J. Hayden, CB, Houston RD4. Zaviar Gooden, LB, Missouri RD5. Denard Robinson, QB/WR, Michigan RD6. Braden Brown, OT, BYU RD7. Ryan Griffin, QB, Tulane RD7. Knile Davis, RB, Arkansas RD7. Ryan Jensen, OG, Colorado State-Pueblo RD7. Travis Long, DE/OLB, Washington State Thoughts I wanted to address cornerback and defensive end entering the draft, and hopefully add a playmaker on offense somewhere. I got 2 of the top 5 corners on my board, a very good pass rusher in Carradine, and some unique playmakers on offense in Escobar and Robinson who could make big plays when everyone is focusing on Julio, Roddy and Gonzalez. Carradine in round 1 isn't a fantastic value, but he fits a need, and I felt the positional drop-off after guys like him, Okafor and Datone Jones were gone was enough for me to want to grab defensive end there. I felt I could get just as good a cornerback in round 2. Like Jamar Taylor, my 2nd pick. I debated him for a while with D.J. Hayden before finally ending up with Taylor who a lot of people have going in the 1st round now. I like Hayden a lot, too. Was absolutely stunned that I was able to get him in the 4th. He might be a 1st round pick, too. I took Nnamdi in the 4th round in one of these 7-round mock drafts. If Hayden works out, he can have that upside. Gavin Escobar in the 3rd was a good value and another underneath weapon to go with Roddy and Julio. Then I added Denard in the 5th who can be a playmaker and an interesting offensive wrinkle. In the 5th, why not? Knile Davis also has speed and upside. I'm not a huge believer in Knile, but in the 7th, again, why not? Ryan Griffin is an interesting 6th-7th round QB sleeper, and Travis Long should have been picked earlier. Zaviar Gooden has a ton of upside at outside linebacker. Wish I could have gotten more help on the offensive line, but I think I got good value and really helped out this defense, too. Seeing as I had considered Carradine, Taylor and Hayden at times with my 1st round pick, and I was able to grab 3 of them, I am very happy. BALTIMORE RAVENS (32nd pick) RD1. Kevin Minter, ILB, LSU RD2. D.J. Swearinger, S, South Carolina RD3. David Bakhtiari, OT, Colorado RD4. Marquise Goodwin, WR, Texas RD4. William Gholston, DE, Michigan State RD5. Chris Harper, WR, Kansas State RD5. Cody Davis, S, Texas Tech RD6. Nick Williams, DT, Samford RD6. Mario Benavides, C, Louisville RD6. Keith Pough, LB, Howard RD7. Lawrence Okoye, ???, England RD7. Mark Jackson, OG/OT, Glenville State Thoughts Overall, again, I loved values I got with Swearinger, Goodwin, Harper and Williams. Added guys with physical and athletic upside in later rounds to go with guys who can step right in and play in Minter and Swearinger. Harper and Goodwin aren't elite receivers, but both can play roles with Torrey Smith on the other side. I'm a DJ Swearinger fan. Athletic, hard-hitting safety who is physical and can cover. Not great straight line speed, but he's got most everything else. Same with Kevin Minter. He's a tough, productive inside linebacker. David Bakhtiari is athletic enough to play left tackle or guard. He may have to get bigger, but he might not need to play right away. Marqise Goodwin, I felt was a steal in the 4th round with his speed. He's a legitimate track star, and he has some natural ball skills. He has a ton of work to do with running routes, but 99th percentile speed and ball skills is a good start, especially with a QB like Flacco who can make deep throws and a guy like Torrey Smith to open up the field a bit. I felt receiver in this draft was really deep. I had targeted Chris Harper as a possession receiver to replace Boldin as early as the 3rd. Then I passed on him because I felt Goodwin was a great value and there were enough other WRs I felt comfortable with if I missed on Harper. But I'm really glad he fell to the 5th. Harper is very strong for a receiver, like Boldin was. Doubt his hands can do what Boldin could, but he's drawn that comparison. Gholston looks the part, and he fits the 3-4 defensive end profile pretty well. At the end of round 4, getting someone with that physical upside who played well on a good defense works for me. Couldn't decide between Cody Davis and Earl Wolff at safety. Like Davis's athleticism and tackling skills. Part of an underrated Texas Tech pass defense. Nick Williams and Keith Pough are small school guys with upside. Lawrence Okoye may be the 2nd most physically gifted player in this draft behind Ansah, but he's never played football. Baltimore's Hayden Smith, except a better athlete and younger. Again, very happy. Both the Ravens and the Falcons were late draft picks, so I was picking near the end of every single one of these rounds. I had the benefit of a lot of compensatory picks, which I used to give me the freedom for picking guys with upside.
Bengals: RD1: LB Alec Ogletree, Georgia RD2: OT Menelik Watson, Florida St RD2: WR Justin Hunter, Tennessee RD3: S Bacarri Rambo, Georgia RD4: RB Johnathan Franklin, UCLA RD5: G Hugh Thornton, Illinois RD6: CB Steve Williams, California RD6: C Braxston Cave, Notre Dame RD7: TE Zach Sudfeld, Nevada Rd7: CB/KR Mike Edwards, Hawaii - Overall, I am pretty happy with how this went for Cincy. They get their future MLB in Ogletree who will surpass Rey M. early into the year, they get their RT of next year in Watson to replace Andre Smith who has priced himself out in Cincy. Hunter seems like a coop to get near the bottom of round 2 and will be fighting for the no.2 WR job so that's sweet value. Rambo can be a starter for some years at safety for the Bengals who can use talent at that spot. Franklin honestly was a heist in the middle of round 4 like that and could be apart of a sweet 1-2 punch with BJGE at the RB spot. Thornton offers sweet depth at the guard position, Cave should be a serviceable backup center who if he bulks up could fend for that center position in a year's worth time. Steve Williams and Mike Edwards both will be vying for CB spot no.3 and for Edwards case, he may take the kick returning duties away from Brandon Tate. And Sudfeld could fight to be Gresham's backup TE and may get some plays/work here and there. Overall, I felt like I hit on quite some needs and got some sweet value with my picks. Vikings: RD1: WR Keenan Allan, California RD1: LB Arthur Brown, Kansas St. RD2: DT Sylvester Williams, UNC RD3: CB Darius Slay, Mississippi St. RD4: OL David Quessenberry, San Jose St RD4: DT Bennie Logan, LSU RD5: OLB Jelani Jenkins, Florida RD6: S Zeke Motta, Notre Dame RD7: P Jeff Locke, UCLA RD7: RB/KR Kerwynn Williams, Utah State The Vikings draft wasn't as good as the Bengals draft IMO and it begins in round 1. Had I known that Allan would have suffered the setback that he did a few days ago, I would have taken Hopkins without a doubt but by the time that news arrived we were in round 3 or 4 so its a "What can ya do?" type of thing. Allan may go in early to middle of round 2 so its not the best value but I do think if you put health aside, he has 1st round talent. He can be the No.2 with Greg Jennings who can make Ponder's life much better but he just needs to be at full health to do so...so hopefully all is well with him come the start of the season. Arthur Brown may be a little undersized but he plays the game the way a MLB really needs to and he will instantly be an impact guy on that defense. Syl. Williams may go in round 1 so getting him in the middle of round 2 hits on a need for the team and gets very good value. Slay is another guy who gets taken here a round later then where I think he goes, as I think Slay could be a middle to end of round 2 type of player come late April...he will take over where Winfield left off when getting cut. Quessenberry offers a ton of versatility on that O-Line ranging from guard to tackle to center so he may very well be that ever important "6th OL" type of player right away for the Vikes and even jump in and start if called upon. Bennie Logan is adding more into the DT spot and could eventually be Kevin Williams successor in due time and he and S. Williams will rotate snaps come year 1. Jelani Jenkins has pretty good upside at OLB and if in the event Greenway were to get hurt again, he may get his time there to be something at the OLB position for Minnesota. Zeke Motta joins the team that has quite a few Fighting Irish guys, notably his former partner in crime in the secondary Harrison Smith so its a great fit...not to mention there's a need at strong safety. Just have to hope they get the Motta of last year and not the one who looked like Tom Zbikowski for his 1st 2 years as a part/full time player at South Bend. Jeff Locke is the best punter in the draft and may be a round 5 pick come late April so early 7th is good value and since fellow UCLA Alum Chris "Deserves Ice Cream" Kluwe has been playing too much World of Warcraft, he has faltered a bit as a punter so this becomes a legit training camp battle where Locke may win out and offer up a younger cannon of a leg at the position. Kerwynn Williams will be the team's No.3 RB most likely behind All Day and Gerhart but his value comes as a kick returner and special teamer, where with Harvin gone...there becomes a hole at the return spot where if Williams plays his cards right, could take that gig. Outside of the Allan pick which may or may not come to burn me come late April with the recent developments and all, I do like this draft for Minnesota and it addresses a lot of their needs and they get some very nifty value here too.
Great job everyone, and special thanks for Johnny and Laxin for taking the lead on this and having it run as smoothly as it ever has.
Yea, but with out being able to trade back, like the bills did, no one was taking any of these QBs early.
