1) Detroit Lions– Matt Stafford – QB – Georgia – The Lions are in need of a major overhaul in almost every facet of their organization, as indicated by them being the first team to play 16 games and lose every single one of them. They select Stafford because he has all of the tangible skills that you want out of a franchise quarterback, there is an abundance of depth along the offensive line, and there is no true number one pick in this draft. Stafford may not have blown Scouts away at the combine but he didn’t do anything to give them any extra concerns. Scouting Report. Video: One, Two,
2) St. Louis Rams– Jason Smith – LT – Baylor – Since the Rams let go of Orlando Pace they have pretty well penciled in the fact that they will be getting a tackle at number two. The only question is which one? Andre Smith may have been the most dominant, while Eugene Monroe may be the most dependable, Michael Oher is also very good and then there is Jason Smith who has shot up draft boards from out of no where, well Waco to be a little bit more specific. The Rams take Smith because he is generally regarded as the tackle with the most upside. He has great feet since he used to be a tight end and has been the best kept secret in the Big XII. He did help to lead an offensive revival leading the way for Robert Griffin, one of the most dynamic dual threat quarterbacks in the nation. Scouting Report. Video: One
3) Kansas City Chiefs – Aaron Curry – The Chiefs have a plethora of needs and thus several directions that they could go in. This time they opt to take what the experts are projecting as the most sure fire talent in the draft. Curry will be able to come in and be an instant impact starter for the Chiefs playing on the strong side. Scouting Report. Video: One, Two
4) Seattle Seahawks – Eugene Monroe – LT – The Seahawks are facing the possible demise of Walter Jones as an elite tackle and possibly the end of his career after surgery that cost him the last several weeks of the 2008 season. Sean Locklear has never shown himself to be much of anything besides an average right tackle, so if Jones miraculously comes back having Monroe and Jones as your bookends would be something for hawks fans to be happy about. They also can point to their demise when they lost All-Pro guard Steve Hutchinson and Shawn Alexander, but there is no running back worth taking at #4. Scouting Report. Video: One,
5) Cleveland Browns – Brian Orakpo – DE/ OLB – The Browns got a total of 5 sacks last year out of their starting OLBs. In a 3-4 defense that is simply unacceptable, especially when you consider the fact that Shaun Rogers had 4.5 sacks as a nose tackle. Orakpo is a physical freak who will instantly upgrade the the pass rush for Eric Mangini who will demand a lot more from his defense this coming year. Mangini will get that if Orakpo is anywhere near as good in the pros as he was in college where he had 11 sacks in 11 games. Hmmm if we project that out… Scouting Report. Video: One,
6) Cincinnati Bengals – Michael Oher – LT – Ole Miss – The Bengals are coming very close to returning to true Bungal form. Their team is obviously dependant on Carson Palmer to have any type of success and if he has now become injury prone they must protect him at all cost. The off the field issues of Andre Smith throw up an even larger red flag for those residing in Paul Brown Stadium. Oher is a fantastic player who has a great story and hopefully will be able to become a leader along the offensive line for the next decade. Crabtree is a very tempting option here because of the loss of T.J. and the pending problems (I don’t know what but they are coming) with Ocho Cinco. But as it stands now there are a few questions about Crabtree (if he is really fast enough to be an elite receiver in the NFL) and they have other serious needs. Scouting Report. Video: One
7) Oakland Raiders – Michael Crabtree – WR – Texas Tech – When you have Chaz Schilens and Johnnie Lee Higgins starting for you, and yeah I had to look that up, that screams for a true number one receiver. While there are certainly questions around Crabtree (I personally am not 100 percent convinced that he has the break away speed to be a perennial pro-bowler) Al Davis needs someone to make Jamarcus Russel look good because he’s not doing it on his own. Scouting Report. Video: One, Two
8 ) Jacksonville Jaguars – Rey Maualuga – ILB – USC – After the fall out with Mike Peterson the Jaguars defense took a massive step backwards. Maualuga was the leader on one of the best college defenses we have seen in recent history and is an absolute tackling machine. He can solidify the middle of their defense and make the Jags fans forget about Peterson. Scouting Report. Video: One, Two
9) Green Bay Packers – Everette Brown – DE – Florida State – With Dom Capers as the new defensive coordinator the Packers will be forced to not make the same mistake the Texans made by avoiding pass rushers in the first round (Jason Babin doesn’t really count, I mean come on). Brown is coming off of an extremely productive season where he totaled 21.5 TFLs and 13.5 sacks. Personally I like him more as a 4-3 defensive end but many scouts are projecting him as a 3-4 edge pass rusher. Scouting Report. Video: One
10) San Francisco 49ers – B.J. Raji – DT – Boston College – Raji is one of the hottest commodities coming out of the Senior Bowl. He has the ability to both stop the rush and rush the passer and could be an anchor for a defense. The Niners go with the best player available and a hope that they can build a dominating defense, something the NFC West hasn’t seen in a while. They ranked 13th overall in terms of yards allowed in 2008 but with an elite big man anchoring the front they may be able to take the next step. They could also look to upgrade their pass rush with Aaron Maybin. Scouting Report. Video: One, Two
11) Buffalo Bills – Aaron Maybin – DE – Penn State – The number one knock on Maybin is his lack of size. He comes in at 6’4 and 246 pounds which is certainly undersized but the Bills seem to work well with that. Their starters are weighing in at 261 and 243 for Chris Kelsay and Aaron Schobel respectively. They ranked 28th last year in terms of sacks and need un upgrade in terms of pressure and Maybin may be just the answer finishing his redshirt sophomore season with 12 sacks, that would be exactly half of what the Bills as a team had last year. A lot of people have Brandon Pettigrew going here but I just don’t see him being such a dominant tight end that he would go #11. B.P. had a total of 9 touchdowns in his career including a big fat 0 in his senior year. That just doesn’t scream top 15 to me. Scouting Report. Video: One
12) Denver Broncos – Vonta Davis – CB – Illinois – I don’t have Davis rated as the best defensive back but I think he may have as much upside as Jenkins and I think he fits better into the system that Mike Nolan will be wanting to implement in Denver. Nolan would love to have an edge pass rusher a la Terrel Suggs but with Maybin jumping off the board I think it would be a stretch here. They could be looking at Brian Cushing, Clay Mathews or Larry English to fill the void and none of them would shock me. Also the Broncos may want to look at Jeremy Maclin to give Cutler a new weapon and hopefully have him buy back into the new team but that’s unlikely unless they have other plans for Brandon Marshall. I still think Knowshon Moreno would be a very good pick for them here but that seems less likely now that his stock has fallen due to a slow 40 time. Scouting Report. Video: One
13) Washington Redskins – Andre Smith – LT – Alabama – Smith is arguably the most talented and dominating offensive lineman in this draft. However, off the field issues and a possible weight problem in addition to the worst combine “performance” of anyone in recent history hurt his draft status. He then followed this up with his, now all important, pro day and came up short again. He should just be thanking the football gods that someone figured out how to film games because his film is the only thing going for him. I could have seen him going number one overall before the Sugar Bowl but now he will be blocking for Portis. He may start out as a guard but will obviously be transition to tackle as the aging Jon Janson and Chris Samuels. Scouting Report. Video: One,
14) New Orleans Saints – Malcolm Jenkins- CB – Ohio State – The Saints have been trying to find help for their secondary for years without much luck. With Roman Harper, Josh Bullocks and Jason David commanding three of the four starting positions it seems more than necessary to do something to upgrade the secondary. The Saints are thanking the football gods that Jenkins fell to them. He was almost a lock for a top 5 spot until he ran a 4.55 sec 40 and for some reason scouts and GMs think that the way you run a straight line on a track without pads on is a great way to determine how you will be as a pro football player. Ri-fucking-diculous. They may also look at adding a running back but I think they should be set with Stecker and Bush even if Bush is injury prone. Scouting Report. Video: One
15) Houston Texans – Clay Mathews- LB – USC- Well it looks like William Moore’s stock has taken a hit much like most of the stock on wall street and is in virtual free fall. He may still be there in the 2nd round when the Texans are drafting and if he is I would love to pick him there. With that said there are a couple of players I specifically don’t want the Texans to pick. I want nothing to do with Perria Jerry, who is another up the field type of pass rusher from the DT position. That is not what we need at this point. Its not that Jerry is bad player, just a bad fit for the team. Tyson Jackson is another D-Lineman I want no part of for just the opposite reason. He is a DE that is best suited to stopping the run, once again not what we need from that position. Also for some reason people think that we need another wide receiver, which really is just asinine. So any conversation about Maclin or Harvin should be immediately dismissed. Now on to the players we should be interested in. There seems to be a fair amount of hype around Brian Cushing. Cushing is very talented and if he could stay health would be a solid pick but there are several issues regarding his health that could be a concern, including a hamstring injury that cost him all of spring practice that won’t show up in his games missed. D.J. Moore is another possibility but at 15 he would be a noticeable reach. The same would be true for Larry English. My first pick, if we stay at 15, which we really shouldn’t, would be Clay Mathews. Clint Sintim is an interesting prospect for the Texans but would also have more value later in the draft. On the other hand Knowshon Moreno would be a decent value here, despite his 4.61 40 time, because of what he has shown over the last two years on the field. Moreno, however, is not the type of short yardage back the Texans need and I don’t think the Texans want to address this position in the first round. With that said Moreno or Wells would give the Texans a dynamic duo in the backfield along with “Speed” Slaton that may be able to rival the best duos in the NFL. Clay Mathews played the “elephant” position at USC, which was a hybrid between the defensive end and the strong side linebacker. This is precisely what the Texans need out of their strong side backer because they need him first and foremost to stop the run and rush the passer. He is also the nephew of Oiler Hall of Fame left tackle Bruce Mathews, who was recently hired as the Texans assistant offensive line coach. Scouting Report. Video: One,
16) San Diego Chargers – Brain Cushing – LB – USC – The Chargers would probably like to trade back and pick up a few additional picks but if they are at 16 I think they stay in SoCal for the first round. Cushing is a great athlete and has had some injury concerns but has not missed that many games. He is capable of playing either inside or outside for a 3-4 team but I would project him as an ILB under the assumption that Merriman comes back healthy. If the Chargers don’t believe he is healthy they may opt for Larry English who’s stock is shooting up draft boards and would fit better into a pass rushing OLB position for the Chargers. Scouting Report. Video: One
17) New York Jets – Mark Sanchez – QB – USC – This is an interesting spot for the Jets; they clearly need a quarterback with the loss of Brett Favre but I am not particularly sold on the ability of Sanchez to come in and be in impact contributor in his first and maybe even his second year in the league. He certainly has the skills but his sheer lack of experience is worrisome. If all you watched of him was the Rose Bowl you would think this guy was unstoppable (Hmmm Sir Vincent Young anybody?) but as a whole he certainly has some chinks in his armor. One of the major concerns is how good did he look simply because he was at USC. Matt Leinhart is not doing him any favors here. Nor is Reggie Bush. The two most hyped players coming out of USC have both fallen short of expectations; of course this is much more true for Matt “I’m a bench warmer” Leinhart. Another possibility, and in my opinion a better one, would be to sign Jeff Garcia to be the signal caller and draft Jeremy Maclin to replace Coles and add a dynamic and explosive force to the offense. Scouting Report. Video: One
18 ) Chicago Bears – Jeremy Maclin – WR – Missouri – The Bears have two major deficiencies: defensive end and wide receiver. They must address one of these in the first round. The Bears have zero of their top four defensive ends signed after next year, which may not be all that bad because they combined for a total of 15.5 sacks between the four of them. Either way this must be addressed at some point in time for the Bears during this draft. However, when it takes your top two receivers still on the roster to top 1,000 yards wide receiver is a pretty big issues too. The Bears go with the best player available between the two positions and take Maclin over English. Despite the fact that the Bears had almost no production from the wide receiver corp Kyle Orton put up almost 3,000 yards and an 18/12 TD to Interception ratio. Who knows maybe he will be alright if he has a little bit of talent on the outside. Scouting Report. Video: One
19) Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Darius Heyward-Bey – WR – Maryland- With Chucky (Gruden) using up the last of his political capital from the Super Bowl he doesn’t have the time to draft a quarterback and groom him for the future so instead he looks for a player that will make an immediate impact and save his job. They could take a tackle here but instead I think they opt for the wide out with the most upside and hope that he develops into a star opposite Antonio Bryant. Bey ran the fastest 40 time of any receiver and was noticeably faster than the other elite wide receivers. Scouting Report.Video: One
20) Detroit Lions – Brandon Pettigrew – TE – Oklahoma State – Pettigrew is undoubtedly the top tight end coming out in this years draft and will be a safety valve for Matt Stafford as the Lions try to do something that won’t embarrass them anymore, good luck with that. Pettigrew is a very good blocker and can be put on whichever edge the elite pass rusher is coming from to help Stafford in his protection and has very solid hands despite not putting up massive numbers. Scouting Report. Video: One
21)Philadelphia Eagles – Eben Britton – T – Arizona – The Eagles may be reaching a little here but they have a good and relatively deep team that allows them to make this stretch. Britten in an amazing athlete, at 6′6 and 310 lbs he can run a 5.10 40. Contracts also are a major factor with both Tra Thomas’ and John Runyan’s expiring this year. Both have been in the league for over a decade and while their decline may not be showing yet no one can beat father time. Scouting Report. Video: One (This one is a bit of a stretch, just jump to the end)
22) Minnesota Vikings – Alex Mack – C – Cal – Mack is rated by many as one of the top offensive linemen in the entire draft and by almost everyone as the number one center. The loss of Matt Birk is a monumental void in the middle of the Minnesota line, which they count heavily upon in order to run A.P. all day. They are in desperate need to fill some very large shoes and Mack is as qualified as anyone available but even he may not be able to immediately make up for the loss of Birk. Scouting Report. Video: One
23) New England – Larry English – OLB – Northern Illinois – The Pats continue to get younger and more athletic in their line-backing corp. Pierre Woods is simply not a good starting OLB much less one on a good team that plans on being a real contender. English is fast and athletic and can definitely get to the QB. With that said there are some concerns as he has had several major injuries and his competition can’t be described as “elite”. There are also a few other options for the Pats including Knowshon Moreno/ Chris Wells or possibly James Laurenitus to eventually take Teddy Bruschi’s place. Scouting Report. Video: One
24) Atlanta Falcons– Clint Sintim – LB – UVA – Sintim is a down hill tackler that can help the Falcons shore up their 28th ranked run defense and now that Keith Brooking is gone they are in desperate need of help at the position. As of right now they would be starting Coy Wire who has 125 tackles in his last 79 games. Another possibility would be for them to take Perria Jerry who may be ranked higher by most scouts but for now I am going with the Falcons addressing their largest need. Scouting Report. Video: One
25) Miami Dolphins – Chris Wells – RB – Ohio State – The Dolphins developed and implemented the Wild Cat offense better than anyone else in the NFL. Now they have the ability to discharge Ricky Williams who was much better than expected but still not great. In addition to this Wells gives you an insurance policy if Ronnie Brown goes down. There are numerous other picks that the Phins might be looking at including Duke Robinson, Knowshon Moreno, Paul Kruger, D.J. Moore, Sean Smith, or Alphonso Smith. In other words there are so many directions this pick could go in I’m a little bit lost on this one so if you have any brilliant ideas or visions sent from above let me know. Scouting Report. Video: One
26) Baltimore Ravens– Alphonso Smith – CB – Wake Forest – As absolutely amazing as their defense was last year the corner backs left something to be desired at the end of the season. Granted that is due largely to injuries to Chris McCalister and Sammari Rolle but Rolle is aging and McCalister has been injured before and probably will not be back next year. Scouting Report. Video: One, Two, Three
27) Indianapolis Colts -Duke Robinson – G – Oklahoma – The Duke is one of the two best interior linemen in the entire draft and is a great pick here as the Colts work on improving their running game as well as protecting Peyton. Knowshon Moreno would be another interesting choice here especially if the Colts feel like they could get another guard in the second round. Scouting Report. Video: One
28 ) Philadelphia – Percy Harvin – WR – Florida – The Eagles have proven four times now that you don’t have to have a true number one receiver to make the NFC Championship, but it wouldn’t hurt would it? Harvin is not a prototypical number one. He is undersized and has been dependent upon moving around on the field but he has also been one of the most explosive and impactful players in the nation for the last two years. With Andy Reid’s pass happy west coast style of offense Harvin may be able to find similar success. Scouting Report. Video: One, Two
29) New York Giants – William Moore – S – Missouri – Look the Giants have Super Bowl aspirations and C.C. Brown is their starting strong safety. Enough said. Brown signed a one year deal so they can work Moore in slowly but he will be the future in New York. Weighing in around 225 Moore can deliver a de-cleater of epic proportions but still has good speed and can be an absolute ball hawk with eight interceptions his junior year. Scouting Report. Video: One
30) Tennesse Titans – Perria Jerry – DT – Ole Miss – Jerry is a legit DT that can cause havoc in the backfield. He is absolutely not Albert Haynseworth but with that said I don’t think Albert will be Albert after signing a ridiculously fat (pun intended) $100M contract. Scouting Report. Video: One
31) Arizona Cardinals– Knowshon Moreno – RB – Georgia – I think Moreno is the best back in this draft once you consider health. With that said the Cardinals are elated to have him fall all the way to the bottom of the round where they promptly jump on him. This will alleviate any pressure that James could have applied and he may be either shown the door or traded for a late round pick. Moreno is the total package despite a pathetic 40 time (4.61). Scouting Report. Video: One, Two, Three
32) Pittsburg Steelers -Max Unger – OL – Oregon – Unger is the most versatile lineman in the entire draft. He has played four positions on the line in his time at Oregon. Started out as a left tackle and then was moved inside to center. Would probably play guard for the Steelers but they had enough health issues along the line last year that the value of his versatility would not be lost on them. Scouting Report. Video: One
Honorable Mention to:
Tyson Jackson – DE – LSU – One of the more over-hyped players in the nation the last year or two but has all of the tangible skills that you would want for a 3-4 defensive end. Scouting Report. Video: One
LeSean McCoy – RB – Pitt – McCoy is a good all around back that can probably handle everything except for the short yardage stuff. Video: One, Two
Michael Johnson – DE – Georgia Tech – Johnson has all of the skills to be an elite pass rusher in the NFL but his motor has been questioned as he could not break into the starting line up until his senior season. With an extra year to develop he could be a project worth taking on. Video: One, Two
James Laurenitus – ILB – Ohio State- Just look at the tape on this guy. Scouting Report. Video: One
Paul Kruger – OLB – Utah – A very good edge pass rusher but he must be in a 3-4 and there is always a chance for a step backwards when you change positions. Scouting Report. Video: One (Kind of)
D.J. Moore – CB – Vanderbilt – Could slip into the first round but probably goes in the top half of the second round. Video: One
Mock Draft 2009 