2008 NFL Mock Draft #1- Miami Dolphins- Jake Long- OT #2- St. Louis Rams- Glenn Dorsey- DT #3- Atlanta Falcons- Matt Ryan- QB #4- Oakland Raiders- Chris Long- DE #5- Kansas City Chiefs- Branden Albert- OG #6- New York Jets- Darren McFadden- RB #7- New England Patriots- Vernon Gholston- OLB #8- Baltimore Ravens- Leodis McKelvin- CB #9- Cincinnati Bengals- Sedrick Ellis- DT #10- New Orleans Saints- Keith Rivers- OLB #11- Buffalo Bills- Devin Thomas- WR #12- Denver Broncos- Ryan Clady- OT #13- Carolina Panthers- Jeff Otah- OT #14- Chicago Bears- Malcolm Kelly- WR #15- Detroit Lions- Rashard Mendenhall- RB #16- Arizona Cardinals- Dominique Rodgers Cromartie- CB #17- Minnesota Vikings- Derrick Harvey- DE #18- Houston Texans- Jonathan Stewart- RB #19- Philadelphia Eagles- Limas Sweed- WR #20- Tampa Bay Buccaneers- Mike Jenkins- CB #21- Washington Redskins- Philip Merling- DE #22- Dallas Cowboys (f/Cle) - Antoine Cason- CB #23- Pittsburgh Steelers- Chris Williams- OT #24- Tennessee Titans- Desean Jackson- WR #25- Seattle Seahawks- Dustin Keller- TE #26- Jacksonville Jaguars- Kentwan Balmer- DT #27- San Diego Chargers- Gosder Cherilus- OT #28- Dallas Cowboys- Felix Jones- RB #29- San Francisco 49ers (f/IND) - Quentin Groves- OLB #30- Green Bay Packers- Kenny Philips #31- New England “Cheating” Patriots- Pick Lost #32- New York Giants- MLB- Dan Connor- LB Made alot of changes at the top of the draft. I really do believe Miami will select Jake Long. They just brought in a former Oline coach and they are gonna need someone to protect their QB (whoever it will be). After that it gets dicey. Do the Rams take Glenn Dorsey and push Carriker back out to End? Or do they take C. Long and keep Carriker inside? If Rams take Dorsey, do the Falcons take Ryan or do they opt for the DE to beef up the front 4 like Mike Smith will probably want to do? If Chris Long is available at #4, I don't see how the Raiders can pass. That would just be too crazy. If Long isn't there, McFadden will be the pick. Chiefs are in dire need of an offensive lineman. Albert has been rising up the draft boards and he would be a smart/safe pick for the chiefs. The Jets seem to be in the situation where if McFadden is available, they will take him. If he isn't there, they could and likely will try and get out of the pick. If not, Gholston or a top flight CB could be the pick.
Hmmmm.....I'm not 100% sure if I like McFadden over Gholston. I really don't know what to think about that and it'll probably be something I struggle with over the next 3 weeks. However, either one would be a solid pick and should help this team for years to come. I'm reeeeally not sure if Jonathan Stewart falls out of the first. It'll bite us in the ass if he is there at our 2nd and we took McFadden in the first, as a Gholston-Stewart combo presents more value that a McFadden-Cliff Avril combo or the like. It's Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, not Antonio (his cousin) :wink: I like the top 5, those are all very solid picks with good reasoning. I can't argue with any of them except for maybe Oakland, where I don't know if Davis passes on a freak talent like Gholston or McFadden and where he also has so much money invested into the defense. However, Davis also likely would have an equally strong desire to bring in the son of one of the most well known Raiders of all time, so it's not like it's an unrealistic pick. I like Thomas to the Bills, but I'm not so sure about Kelly to the Bears. Not only do I think they'll go Chris Williams or Mendenhall with the board as it is, I think Kelly's dropping a lot because of his knees. If his knee condition ends up being way overblown like Dorsey's was it's all good but until we get confirmation of that I think he falls into the late 1st or early 2nd. We'll see on thursday, I guess. Where's Talib? I think he gets taken over Cason (not that I agree with that, I'm just saying that's how most boards seem to be falling). I don't think the marijuana admissions are really a big deal to his stock, although it might cement Jenkins over him. I know I typed a lot and it sounds like I'm bitching about it but this is still quite a good mock. Good job man.
You gave me some solid feedback and I appreciate all of it. Here are my replies for your comments: Stewart- I actually forgot about Jonathan. I was able to fix this pretty easily. I have him going to the Texans at #18. He would be a great fit for them and would be a good value pick at #18. Kelly- I am guessing the guy is healthy because if he wasn't, why would the guy have a private workout? He would be screwing himself over if he wasn't ready to workout. I expect he will do fine, but if he doesn't then I can fix my mock, which I don't mind doing since the draft is so close now. As of right now I have Aqib out of the first. I really think he will be taken in the top of the 2nd round. The CB class is quite deep and making this little mistake could bump him down past Cason I believe. There is a decent chance he goes in the mid 20's, but I don't think any higher. I only have the Jets taking McFadden at 6 because thats what I think THEY will want to do. I like Gholston or McFadden there. Either way we get a solid blue chipper.
Gholston would be great because he would take some pressure off of Pace. Pace shouldn't feel like he has to be Demarcus Ware because in all likelihood he will never be able to do that. Gholston and Pace could really be a terror for offenses. McFadden would be great because we just spent alot of dough to improve our offensive line. What would make McFadden an even better pickup, is that he would take a TON of pressure off of Kellen Clemens. If we have a stable of Jones, McFadden and Washington, we could be a heavy run offense and just have Kellen Clemens manage the game which I think he could do. Not to mention, what we might be able to do off of play action with Clemens' big arm. Damn, the draft needs to get here.
Two edge rushers who need to be gameplanned for will make DCs heads explode, not to mention interior linemen getting eaten alive by Jenkins. Hell that may even make Shaun Ellis highly effective once again as a 3-4 DE nonetheless. DMC would make the play action great, but i feel if TJ and LW get it done with the new O-Line, the PA will work regardless. A big arm for the PA will have Coles back to deep threat duty, something he is known for, his speed, but its not seen due to no opportunities in the play calling. And yes, these 2 1/2 weeks cannot go by fast enough.
