Carolina: Cam Newton, QB No other player is worthy of the top spot for the Panthers. Can’t bank on having a high enough pick to draft a QB in next year’s draft. Denver: Nick Fairley, DT I still think Fairley will be drafted over Dareus. Besides, John Fox might consider Fairley a better fit for the 4-3 defense he is installing in Denver. Buffalo: Da’Quan Bowers, DE/DT The Bills are going to draft Bowers and use him as a pass rushing 3-4 end. This is why the Bills suck. Dallas*: Patrick Peterson, CB The Cowboys probably shouldn’t be drafting this high to begin with so they can afford to trade for the top player on their draft board. Arizona: Von Miller, DE/OLB The consensus is that Von Miller is the best edge rusher in this draft. After overpaying for Joey Porter, the Cardinals just make too much sense. Cleveland: A.J. Green, WR Mike Holmgren wants to draft a homerun hitter. A.J. Green is the best receiving prospect since Calvin Johnson. San Francisco: Marcell Dareus, DE/DT Conventional wisdom says: “you should either draft the QB or trade down”. Oh well, Dareus is a huge steal here. Tennessee: Blaine Gabbert, QB After firing their head coach and releasing their “franchise” QB, the Titans are lucky to have an opportunity to start over. Cincinnati*: Julio Jones, WR What better way to keep Palmer out of retirement? Julio Jones was arguably the most impressive skill position player at the combine. Washington: Robert Quinn, DE/OLB Robert Quinn is the best player in this draft. The Skins will pair him with Brian Orakpo and have one of the best pass rushing duos the NFL has ever seen. Called it. Houston: Prince Amukamara, CB The Texans would make this pick in a heartbeat. I don’t think there is a number high enough to describe the amount of times the Texans got burned deep last season. Minnesota: Jake Locker, QB First major reach of the draft. The Vikings have a question mark at QB and don’t have a large window for winning. Locker also has been compared to Brett Favre. Detroit: Tyron Smith, OT The Lions have to figure out a way to keep Stafford healthy. At the moment, Tyron Smith is the favorite to be the first offensive tackle drafted. St. Louis: Aldon Smith, DE The Rams were really hoping for Julio Jones to be available here, but at least they’ll get to pair a local product with Chris Long. Miami: Mark Ingram, RB The Dolphins don't have a single RB under contract. They would have to be stupid to not select the Heisman winner out of Alabama. Jacksonville: Christian Ponder, QB Another humongous reach for the Jaguars, but he is a local product and David Garrard is 33 years old. New England: Muhammad Wilkerson, DE/DT Bit of a reach but Pats can afford to do that. They’ll also get to spite Tom Condon by passing on J.J. Watt. San Diego: J.J. Watt, DE/DT Arguably the best pass rushing 5-tech in this draft. Watt could add some “voltage” to an already pretty good Charger pass rush. N.Y. Giants: Anthony Castonzo, OT Tom Coughlin has a Boston College connection with this prospect and the Giants are going to need a new LT protecting Eli Manning’s blindside. Tampa Bay: Cameron Jordan, DE Cameron Jordan could be a top-10 pick but he just happens to be available here in this version of my mock. Kansas City: Phil Taylor, NT Chiefs desperately need a NT and Phil Taylor is the best available, so I can’t really call this a reach. Indianapolis: Derek Sherrod, OT Possibly the safest OT in this draft and that fits Colts MO. Still regret passing on Roger Saffold in last year’s draft. Philadelphia: Gabe Carimi, OT Gabe Carimi projects as a potentially elite RT. Carimi has also been compared to former-Eagle Jon Runyan. New Orleans: Ryan Kerrigan, DE Saints need to improve their pass rush and the former Boiler-maker has been tearing it up in workouts. Seattle: Jimmy Smith, CB Seattle needs so much that they can just take the best player available. Jimmy Smith could definitely go higher than this but character concerns could hurt him on draft day. Baltimore: Torrey Smith, WR Ravens' receiving corps is slow and aging (not a good combination). Torrey Smith is from Baltimore and ran a 4.37 at the combine. Atlanta: Justin Houston, DE If Atlanta wants to win the NFC South again, they’ll need to be able to get to Drew Brees. They probably should have drafted a DE last year. New England: Brooks Reed, DE/OLB The Patriots have a lot of options here (including trading down) but for this mock draft I’m not including a lot of trades. Brooks Reed fills another need in the front 7. Chicago: Nate Solder, OT Bears desperately need a blindside protector for Jay Cutler and they’ll get a steal of one. Many consider Solder to be the top OT of this class. N.Y. Jets: Cameron Heyward, DE/DT I can only see us using this pick on two positions (DE or OLB). Safety would be the third option but that doesn’t seem like a priority. Pittsburgh: Mike Pouncey, G Pittsburgh gets to pair C Marquice Pouncey with his twin brother, Mike. Maybe this will prevent Ben Roethlisberger from receiving further brain damage. Green Bay: Ryan Williams, RB Ryan Grant isn’t that good. Brandon Jackson is nothing more than a 3rd-down back. James Starks can’t stay healthy. Green Bay needs a go-to RB.
Funny I have Dallas trading up for Peterson in the mock I just did too. On the other hand, I do not have Ponder going in the first 2 rounds, let alone top half of the first round.
Pretty decent job! I disagree with your thinking on Fairley. Dareus has proven, on his pro-day, he's a much better athlete than Fairley. I believe Denver is the perfect match for Dareus. I have a difficult time having Phil Taylor in rd 1, he's one of the most overrated players in this draft. Brooks Reed to #28 (Pats) is a strong possibilty. I'm a Heyward fan, but he wouldn't be my first option. I would hope Wilkerson, Reed, Wilson or Ayers would be available. Mikel Leshoure before Ryan Williams.
Thanks. We'll see. That's exactly why I have him going to the Chiefs. I also considered Jonathan Baldwin, Leonard Hankerson, and Mikel Leshoure. I was considering Heyward, Ayers, and Moore for this pick. I'm not a fan of Ayers. You could be right.
I disagree strongly with that. They're both elite prospects and I can see people choosing either as their guy, BUT, Fairley is a better athlete (and there's no one on this planet that should say Dareus is "much better"), and in my opinion a better player than Dareus. Marcell has a ton of potential in his own right, and did a great job at a higher weight than Fairley, but 20 lbs up honestly doesn't mean a whole lot to me. You could say that Dareus might be a better fit for most 34s, but to say that he's a much better athlete than Fairley is just wrong, especially basing it on this offseason's workouts.
I could eat slips of paper with college players names on them and shit out a better mock than this. Kidding.. I like this mock a lot.
We can agree to disagree. Using the word "Much" was too strong on my part, I'll admit that. I won't admit Fairley is a better football player. It's like, what do you like better Vanilla or Chocolate? Both are elite, but I see a better all around football player watching Dareus' game tape. Watching both play, I see Dareus playing faster in game action, just my perspective. Both are terrific for their size. Dareus' size and quickness, at least in my mind, makes him more athletic and I believe he has the better upside as a true NFL football player. Fairley's body of work is limited, although mighty incredible. I watched clips of both Farley's and Dareus' pro days today...both looked awesome for big men. I liked Dareus' footwork a little better. If you want a pure penetrating defensive tackle, you have to take Fairley. Dareus could be more versatile if drafted to the right team.
Decent mock, I don't know I agree with the Chrsitian Ponder in the first round, you acknowledge its a reach which is good. Also I agree that of the prospects remaining, Cameron Heyward is not my first choice
Once again, it came down to Heyward, Ayers, and Moore. The latter two don't deserve to be drafted in round 1, IMO.
He's not a pass rusher. If a 3-4 team drafts him, he'll probably wind up spending most of his career on the inside. He'd basically be another Cactus.
I agree...I dont see him (ayers) uprading our pass rush more than what we have already- he might only improve our TE and RB coverage by a little. I would rather brooks reed, jabaal sheard with a trade back or martez wilson (if of course justin houston isn't available)
ugh, if the Pats get Wilkerson AND Reed, it would take all weekend to console me. I do think they will nab at least one of them though. Would be interesting if that many QB's go round 1. I can see Dallas doing something like that even though they really need an OT.
