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- Jun 20, 2014
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http://mmqb.si.com/2015/04/29/lael-collins-nfl-draft-rumors-buzz-mailbag/
1. I think La’el Collins, the LSU tackle projected to be a first-round draft choice, has a problem. A pregnant woman Collins apparently knew was murdered last week in Louisiana, and police want to speak with Collins. Police say he is not a suspect. But one team I talked to that is interested in drafting a tackle in the first round is now re-thinking whether Collins will even be on its board on Thursday night. This team’s thinking goes: How can you draft a guy who’s being sought in connection with the death of a woman, even if police are saying now he isn’t a suspect? He needs to be exonerated by Thursday. Fair or unfair, Collins needs to address this today, and with finality.
2. I think Tennessee, Tampa Bay and Jacksonville, three of the first four teams in the second round, all have inquired with late-first-round teams about trading up into the bottom of the first round. I’ll be following that in the hours before the draft.
3. I think Dallas, at pick 27 in round one, would love Melvin Gordon to fall to that spot. But two names to watch if the Cowboys stay at 27: UCLA inside linebacker Eric Kendricks and Mississippi State inside ’backer Benardrick McKinney.
4. I think UConn cornerback Byron Jones is the perfect metaphor for this draft, in which one team’s 15th player on the board could be another team’s 55th. I’ve heard Jones as high as 15th to San Francisco, and as low as the 50s to the Eagles, Steelers or Ravens.
5. I think no one knows what Mike Maccagnan and the New York Jets are doing. That’s a tribute to the tight and leak-proof ship Maccagnan must be running in his first draft.
6. I think the Patriots are in a great spot at 32. So many teams high in the second round want to move up, and the Patriots don’t have to take anyone here. If they could get the 2016 first-round pick of a current bad team, I’d do that deal in a second…
7. … I think there’s one exception. New England likes USC wide receiver Nelson Agholor. If I were Bill Belichick, I wouldn’t be getting cute late in the first round, particularly with three picks between 96 and 101. I’d take the guy I’d like. Even if I could get an attractive first-round picks next year for the 32nd pick, I’d still take a receiver like Agholor now if I could. (But I do think he’ll be gone before 32.)
8. I think I heard this from a smart GM Wednesday night: “I know everybody’s got Tennessee taking Marcus Mariota, and that’s probably how it goes. But it will not shock me if Cleveland trades the farm to get him at two. [Owner] Jimmy Haslam has to be sick of the merry-go-round at quarterback, and he has to be embarrassed by the Johnny Manziel pick last year. How could he not want a squeaky-clean quarterback like Mariota to lead his franchise?”
• THE TRUTH ABOUT MARIOTA: Peter King on the questions surrounding the Oregon product’s game.
9. I think the Bucs haven’t gotten an offer that would come close to making them consider trading the first overall pick.
10. I think I believed I was going out on a limb in my mock draft, putting Texas A&M tackle Cedric Ogbuehi in the first round (Denver, pick 28). Ogbuehi had ACL surgery in January after tearing it in his last college football game. But now comes this revelation: Cincinnati, at 21, also is considering Ogbuehi, even with a cadre of good tackle prospects who actually would be able to play on opening day instead of likely being on the physically-unable-to-perform list at the start of the season. It’s an interesting dilemma. But it goes to show you that teams with a tackle need are willing to wait, say, a half-season or longer if they think there’s a premier player out there who will have a long career but just might not be ready to start at the beginning of his rookie year.
1. I think La’el Collins, the LSU tackle projected to be a first-round draft choice, has a problem. A pregnant woman Collins apparently knew was murdered last week in Louisiana, and police want to speak with Collins. Police say he is not a suspect. But one team I talked to that is interested in drafting a tackle in the first round is now re-thinking whether Collins will even be on its board on Thursday night. This team’s thinking goes: How can you draft a guy who’s being sought in connection with the death of a woman, even if police are saying now he isn’t a suspect? He needs to be exonerated by Thursday. Fair or unfair, Collins needs to address this today, and with finality.
2. I think Tennessee, Tampa Bay and Jacksonville, three of the first four teams in the second round, all have inquired with late-first-round teams about trading up into the bottom of the first round. I’ll be following that in the hours before the draft.
3. I think Dallas, at pick 27 in round one, would love Melvin Gordon to fall to that spot. But two names to watch if the Cowboys stay at 27: UCLA inside linebacker Eric Kendricks and Mississippi State inside ’backer Benardrick McKinney.
4. I think UConn cornerback Byron Jones is the perfect metaphor for this draft, in which one team’s 15th player on the board could be another team’s 55th. I’ve heard Jones as high as 15th to San Francisco, and as low as the 50s to the Eagles, Steelers or Ravens.
5. I think no one knows what Mike Maccagnan and the New York Jets are doing. That’s a tribute to the tight and leak-proof ship Maccagnan must be running in his first draft.
6. I think the Patriots are in a great spot at 32. So many teams high in the second round want to move up, and the Patriots don’t have to take anyone here. If they could get the 2016 first-round pick of a current bad team, I’d do that deal in a second…
7. … I think there’s one exception. New England likes USC wide receiver Nelson Agholor. If I were Bill Belichick, I wouldn’t be getting cute late in the first round, particularly with three picks between 96 and 101. I’d take the guy I’d like. Even if I could get an attractive first-round picks next year for the 32nd pick, I’d still take a receiver like Agholor now if I could. (But I do think he’ll be gone before 32.)
8. I think I heard this from a smart GM Wednesday night: “I know everybody’s got Tennessee taking Marcus Mariota, and that’s probably how it goes. But it will not shock me if Cleveland trades the farm to get him at two. [Owner] Jimmy Haslam has to be sick of the merry-go-round at quarterback, and he has to be embarrassed by the Johnny Manziel pick last year. How could he not want a squeaky-clean quarterback like Mariota to lead his franchise?”
• THE TRUTH ABOUT MARIOTA: Peter King on the questions surrounding the Oregon product’s game.
9. I think the Bucs haven’t gotten an offer that would come close to making them consider trading the first overall pick.
10. I think I believed I was going out on a limb in my mock draft, putting Texas A&M tackle Cedric Ogbuehi in the first round (Denver, pick 28). Ogbuehi had ACL surgery in January after tearing it in his last college football game. But now comes this revelation: Cincinnati, at 21, also is considering Ogbuehi, even with a cadre of good tackle prospects who actually would be able to play on opening day instead of likely being on the physically-unable-to-perform list at the start of the season. It’s an interesting dilemma. But it goes to show you that teams with a tackle need are willing to wait, say, a half-season or longer if they think there’s a premier player out there who will have a long career but just might not be ready to start at the beginning of his rookie year.
