I'm going to do one pre-combine mock, one post, and one a day before the draft to see how things change. I'm going to avoid free agency as it's extremely unpredictable, but I think we'll address the OG position. It was a huge weakness last year, and I think they'll want a vet there so they don't have Mangold surrounded by Winters and a rookie. Anyway, I'm going to do a full mock until the Jets pick, and then just do the Jets. 1. Houston- Blake Bortles, QB, UCF Rumors are arising that Houston thinks he's the best QB in the draft. He's a Bill O'Brien QB, so it does make sense. It's not too often that you don't see a QB go at #1. 2. St Louis- Jake Matthews, OT, Texas A&M If they want Bradford to become something, they need to protect him. It's that simple. 3. Jacksonville- Jadeveon Clowney, DE, South Carolina Many think they'll go QB here, but they have way too many holes to be reaching for a QB. They'll go with the BPA here, which is clearly Clowney. 4. Cleveland- Johnny Manziel, QB, Texas A&M Cleveland loves Manziel by all reports. They desperately need a QB. Lets put 2 and 2 together. 5. Oakland- Sammy Watkins, WR, Clemson Oakland needs pretty much every single position. Watkins is BPA. Seems simple enough. 6. Atlanta- Anthony Barr, OLB, UCLA Atlanta could really use a OLB that could rush the pasher. Barr is my favorite defensive prospect in this draft. I think this will be a match made in heaven. 7. Tampa Bay- Greg Robinson, OT, Auburn Tampa needs a OT with Nicks soon to be a cap casualty. They are bummed Matthews is no longer on the board, but still takes a good prospect in Robinson. 8. Minnesota- Teddy Bridgewater, QB, Louisville Minnesota desperately needs a quarterback, and they hope Teddy could fill that role for them. I think that they'll think long and hard about Carr as they were in love with him at the Senior Bowl, but ultimately I think they go with Teddy. 9. Buffalo- Eric Ebron, TE, UNC Buffalo wanted to take Robinson to protect EJ, but he's off the board. They take the BPA and give EJ a toy to play with. 10. Detroit- Mike Evans, WR, Texas A&M Detroit needs a WR to play across from Megatron. Here's their guy. 11. Tennessee- Khalil Mack, OLB, Buffalo Tennessee is switching to a 3-4 this year I believe, and Mack would fit perfectly as a 3-4 pass rusher. Another perfect match. 12. New York Giants- Taylor Lewan, OT, Michigan New York NEEDS pass protection to keep Eli alive. Their OL is in shambles. Lewan is a great run blocker that's also good in the passing game. 13. St. Louis- HaHa Clinton-Dix, S, Alabama St. Louis really needs a safety. Clinton-Dix is the best one available. Easy enough. 14. Chicago- Justin Gilbert, CB, Oklahoma State Chicago needs help all over the defensive side of the ball. I don't know what they're planning on doing with Tillman, but regardless, they'll need help at the CB position. They get the best one in the draft. 15. Pittsburgh- Marqise Lee, WR, USC Pitt needs some offensive help. Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders aren't scaring any defensive coordinators. 16. Dallas- Timmy Jernigan, DT, Florida State Timmy looked REALLY good in the National Championship Game. Dallas needs some help on the D-line, so I think this'll be a perfect fit. 17. Baltimore- Jordan Matthews, WR, Vanderbilt Baltimore definitely needs a WR, and Matthews seems like a very Baltimore pick. They need to get some weapons for their new $20M QB. Looking at the board here I'm pissed. Mack/Barr are gone, as are Ebron, Watkins, Evans, Lee, and Matthews. I don't like Ford enough to take him here, and I don't want to reach for a WR/TE. 18. New York Jets- Calvin Pryor, S, Louisville We have desperately needed a FS since Kerry left. Calvin Pryor is nothing like Kerry Rhodes, however. He is an absolute heat-seeking missile. He has good ball skills and can (and will) hit like a mack truck. The only thing that can limit him is the NFL's rules on defensive hits. 2- Davante Adams, WR, Fresno State 3a-Michael Sam, OLB, Mizzou 3b- CJ Fiedorowicz, TE, Iowa 4- De'Anthony Thomas, RB, Oregon 4- Victor Hampton, CB, South Carolina 5- Logan Thomas, QB, Virginia Tech 6- Kirby Van Der Kamp, P, Iowa State 6- Michael Campanaro, WR, Wake Forest 7- Colt Lyerla, TE, Oregon Flame on.
I am glad I do not believe the draft will go down this way. Antonio Brown was a bonafied no.1 this season despite his lack of size he was a big playmaker. Plus Pitt has been great at finding WR depth in later rounds. I think Pitt will go in another direction. Hopefully Lee falls to us if that is the case.
I like that this presents an uncommon and tough scenario as WR or TE seems to be the consensus. If the draft were to fall like this, Pryor is a nice option. The secondary could certainly use a boost and this seems like a solid value. I like Adams in the 2nd and will have to look a little more into Sam as a 3-4 prospect. I saw Logan Thomas play a game in which he looked like a superstar in one quarter and undraftable in the others. He may be a good option for a developmental guy, but I'd have a hard time drafting him.
Blimey I hope it doesn't end this way, its like the 'source' leaking out our next pick and the rest of the NFL having a laugh at us. Not in any order but our pressing needs are, TE, WR, LG, OLB, FS, SS, CB, LG ....if any of those are BPA, I'm happy.
I like Logan Thomas because he has all the tools to be a great QB, but if that fails (which it likely will), he was an All-American high school TE and the #1 TE recruit in the nation as legler pointed out.
I don't see anyway we take Pryor on defense with guys like Dee Ford and Kony Ealy still on the board. Ealy has the size and length that Rex loves in his front 7. He has fantastic athleticism and would really round out the front 7 with threats everywhere to get to the QB. That said, I think Ford, despite his less than idea frame, would be a wonderful addition to the defense. He brings the quick twitch explosiveness that this defense lacks in the front seven. I would rate him a bit ahead of Ealy to this point. They both are higher rated playes, play at a position of need, are able to rush the passer and find fits in our multiple fronts. They would easily trump a FS pick. I would also rank Benjamin and Amaro as potential game changes worthy of consideration well before any of the safteys in this class.
I don't see any way on earth that Bortles goes #1 in the draft and Tedd drops to #8. If he does, they might as well go ahead and fold the NFL because GM's have lost their minds. I can't see Detroit taking Evans. He's too similar to Megatron. They need a faster WR to stretch the field opposite Megatron and need an upgrade at TE and probably the OL. I don't see Matthews going at #17 either. If anything, I think he's probably dropping rather than rising. I really like your Jets portion through the first 3 rounds, but wouldn't take Pryor over Ford. I also don't think Black Mamba will go anywhere near that high. I like him a lot, just don't think he'll go that high. I don't Logan Thomas is much of a prospect at all and I'd absolutely hate both that and the Colt Lyerla pick. Might as well just pass on those picks, because I think they'd both be wasted.
Matt....just seems to me you drafted all of the Jet's possible targets, to make a worse case scenario. I don't see 4 WRs drafted in the 17 picks ahead of the Jets. I'm hearing the Cowboys are very high on Kony Ealy. As far as Pryor, he 's a very good player, but I don't have him as a mid 1st rd pick just yet. If the draft ended up with your scenario, I'd draft Dee Ford in a heartbeat. Somebody compared Ford to Maybin, which is crazy.
I like Calvin Pryor but if we were to take him over Dee Ford I would lose it. About the draft, I think Greg Robinson will end up going ahead of Matthews.
The consensus seems to be me underrating Ford. To me, he seemed like a bit of a one-trick pony, but I'll watch more tape. And @ WW, I didn't fix anything to make this "worst case scenario" for the draft. In fact, I went to most of these teams' forums to get a good idea of what they want in the first. Also, there were four teams below us that really want Ebron as their #1 choice. I'm not saying that he'll definitely go there because obviously fan view doesn't reflect management, but I think it's telling that it's no certainty he'll be there when we pick.
I have no problem with the 3 QB's going where you think they will. This is because Houston apparently really does not want to take Bridgewater on the 1 pick from all the smoke that is blowing at this point. They already have JJ Watt and a strong pass rush and they might just be willing to blow the pick on the best QB prospect they see even if he's not #1 worthy. Cleveland is a mess right now. Them taking Manziel on the 4 would be just another screw-up by a franchise that can't shoot straight even with an obvious target in front of them. Bridgewater isn't going to get by Minnesota though. Not unless something funny happens, and the Vikings fans wouldn't be laughing if it did. Pryor is an interesting choice for the Jets. I don't think it will come to that but you might be right that he'd be their fall through pick if everything else started going wrong in the draft. I'd much rather have him on the 18 than Jordan Matthews. Nothing against Matthews but NFL CB's are going to shut him down if they can focus on him and on the Jets they'd be able to do that. Matthews had a bad week of practices against the other seniors. He had trouble getting off the line of scrimmage when pressed and was unable to shake man-to-man coverage when he did get off the line. They weren't playing zone during the practices and he had no place to sit down and give his QB a target. I suspect he's going to go mid 2nd round at this point. The talent is there but not enough of it to be a #1 in the NFL.
Apologies. I knew the guy had a completely un-capitalized username. Truth be told I get you two confused all the time.
