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Only a few weeks remaining until the draft, but I haven't done a mock in quite a while (the last one was two months ago, I believe). If some may seem like reaches, they were intended to be reaches. I'm trying to predict what Jeff Fisher would do, and that's never an easy task; after all, this is the coach who took a running back who graded out as a third rounder in the top twenty-five. Yes, I have two favorites, but only at spots where they would be available to take.
So, without further ado, the picks and explainations (this will be long):
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#6 overall (from Redskins) - Justin Blackmon, WR, Oklahoma State. I realize that Fisher desperately wants Trent Richardson, but I can't see a scenario where he falls to us. Cleveland would likely take the superior prospect in Richardson; they have nothing at running back. If they take Blackmon instead, Tampa Bay will choose Richardson; they're apparently much higher on him than Claiborne, and they believe that they can find a cornerback later in the draft. That leaves Blackmon and Claiborne - and Fisher's not going to pass up the chance to surround Bradford with talent.
Blackmon is clearly the best receiver in this draft. Floyd and Wright are both very good receivers who should become number one targets, but Blackmon, while not in the elite category of Fitzgerald, the Johnsons (Andre and Calvin), Green, and Jones, is still going to be better than them. His attributes (YAC, route running, deep threat, hands, etc.) would have still placed him in the top fifteen of last year's class, which was extremely top heavy. This year, he's a potential top-five pick - and I see no problem with taking the best player available.
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#33 overall - David Wilson, RB, Virginia Tech. Fisher will take one of the two remaining three-down backs in the second round. He's a run-first coach who will not be happy with the complete lack of depth behind Steven Jackson. Notice that he hasn't gotten a running back in free agency. Anyway, I had a very tough time deciding between Wilson and Doug Martin of Boise State. I really did. Both of them could likely go in the late first round to the Giants (who have a huge need at running back). However, I think that Martin will be the guy they pick; he brings a power element that they lost with Brandon Jacobs.
However, that's not a slight against Wilson at all. Wilson is shifty, elusive, and he runs with great speed and very underrated power. His receiving abilities are very good; he's a natural receiver that catches with his hands, not his body. And to top it all off, Wilson's character is inconcievably good. He was a leader for the Hokies, and he performed very well in big games. He showed an element of maturity that some of his peers didn't have when he interviewed; every team that interviewed him came away impressed with his preparation. It may not say much about his football skills, but it shows that he's a true student of the game who is highly motivated - and things like that can make all the difference between an impact player and a bust.
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#39 overall (from Redskins) - Brandon Brooks, OG/OT, Miami of Ohio. First reach, huh? Yeah, most people would've picked Amini Silatolu (Midwestern State). I'm not convinced. Fisher is going to want a versatile player on his offensive line, someone that he can mold for both tackle and guard - just in case Jason Smith continues on his current path. Silatolu is just a guard. I don't like his arm length or height at tackle, and you can be sure that Fisher is going to want to have a guy with the versatility to play both guard spots and right tackle.
Brooks is extremely impressive from a physical standpoint. At 6'5", 345 lbs, he has displayed quick feet that allow him to mirror opposing pass-rushers, and he is unstoppable in the running game. No offensive line prospect other than Cordy Glenn has the kind of power that this guy has. While Brooks may not have the arm length to stay at tackle either, he still has a longer reach than Silatolu or Tony Bergstrom (Utah), and he will be the rare breed of athletic mauling guard who can play three positions on the line. Some team is going to get a steal with him; this guy is no mere workout warrior.
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#65 overall - Marvin McNutt, WR, Iowa. Fisher has to know that he's going to need competition at the outside wide receiver spot. Steve Smith isn't guaranteed to pan out, Pettis is suspended for the first few games, Alexander is injury prone, Gibson has been largely ineffective, and Salas and Amendola are slot receivers (albeit very good slot receivers).
McNutt could easily be the kind of receiver that Fisher wants. He's one of my favorite prospects for many reasons. Being a St. Louis kid isn't one of them. McNutt will make the acrobatic highlight reel grab on occasion, he has the speed to go deep, the quickness to run good routes, and he has the hands and leaping ability to create a large target for the quarterback. He struggled against good cornerbacks like Alfonso Dennard (Nebraska), and he didn't stand out at the Combine. However, this is a player who was one of the best wideouts in the college game - and he did it with a young and inexperienced quarterback.
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#96 overall - Akiem Hicks, DT, Regina University (Canada). I'm going to be quite blunt: our defense was atrocious at the defensive tackle position. Our run defense was the worst in the league for a reason; guys like Beanie Wells went through the middle like it was made out of swiss cheese. Guards and centers pushed them back like balloons with feathers inside of them. I can count on one hand the amount of times that any of them got any sort of real pressure on the quarterback on their own. Langford will solve some of the running game problems, but we desperately need a nose tackle. Darell Scott didn't contribute anything, and Laws is too iffy to rely on. Fisher will take two defensive tackles in this draft. Aside from Langford, nobody on that team has a guaranteed job. He might also decide that taking a guy with character issues is the best route to go.
Hicks has a ton of talent. He was originally recruited by Louisiana State as a highly-touted defensive tackle out of a community college. However, he left the team in 2010 and didn't return. The fact that he went to a community college shows that his grades weren't exactly up to standard. He then went to Canada and played very well for Regina. He showed the most at the East-West Shrine game, where he simply dominated the other competition. At 6'5", 315 lbs with 35 1/8" arms, he managed to crank out twenty-six reps - an impressive feat for someone whose arms are longer than Brockers'. He has a lot of explosion off of the snap, and the quickness he has at his size makes him very intriguing as both a run-stopper and a pass-rusher. Hicks could be a devastating force if used in the right system.
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#171 overall - Danny Trevathan, OLB, Kentucky. Another huge problem that contributed to our porous run defense were our outside linebackers. Jo-Lonn Dunbar is simply not going to be enough to help at this point, Justin Cole is a mere camp body, and Josh Hull has had both of his seasons cut short by injury. I don't see Fisher trying to fix outside linebacker in the early rounds, so he'll go for a late-round steal here.
Trevathan is another favorite of mine. He's undersized at 6'0", 239 lbs, but Jon Beason is a similar height and weight, and he's one of the best linebackers in the NFL. Trevathan has amazing instincts and is an inconcievably sound tackler. He made splash plays all over the field for a defense that had nobody else of note. In fact, he finished with 143 tackles with eleven-and-a-half for a loss, three sacks, four interceptions, five forced fumbles, and five pass deflections - all of which were done in one less game than most of his peers, since Kentucky didn't qualify for a bowl game. Now tell me that that's not impressive. Trevathan is going to be a force in the NFL, and he'd clearly be the best player available in the sixth round.
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#209 overall - Isaiah Frey, CB, Nevada. Every team needs to draft a cornerback these days. This is clearly a passing league, and going into a season without depth is a foolish venture. Even though the Rams have signed Cortland Finnegan, there are still a few question marks in the secondary. Can Bradley Fletcher return to the level he was at and stay healthy? Can Jerome Murphy take the next step? Can Josh Gordy become a main cog in this team? Questions like those sometimes don't have a positive outcome, and Fisher will be forced to address the cornerback position. The only reason that wasn't done earlier is because there were more pressing needs.
Frey is an undervalued prospect who could go anywhere from the sixth round to the ranks of the undrafted. I like to think that he's somewhere in between. Frey's skills in pass coverage can't be denied (thirty-seven tackles, five interceptions, and sixteen pass deflections). However, there's a chance that the interceptions could be a fluke; he never had more than one pick in his other three years as a starter, although he did have fourteen pass deflections in his junior year. He also has average size (5'11", 190 lbs) and average speed (4.5), which doesn't make him stand out in any way. The pass deflections are a positive sign, though. At the very least, he would add more depth to a team that is in desperate need of it.
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#252 overall (compensation) - Logan Harrell, DT/DE, Fresno State. Fisher isn't going to stop at one defensive tackle. While Hicks is a great addition, the depth at the three-technique leaves a lot to be desired. Jermelle Cudjo has potential, but he also had a serious back injury last year. Fisher could possibly cut him. Fisher also likes undersized defensive tackles as his pass-rushers; Jason Jones is clear evidence of that.
Therefore, Harrell could be a possible candidate for a rotational pass-rusher for the Rams. He's extremely underweight at 278 lbs, but he has an impressive motor and is very physical. His production at the three-tech was also impressive: seventy-one tackles with seventeen for a loss and six sacks. I'm not much of a fan of Harrell myself, but I can see Fisher drafting him for depth purposes.
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Thoughts and comments are very much appreciated. Thank you.
So, without further ado, the picks and explainations (this will be long):
-
#6 overall (from Redskins) - Justin Blackmon, WR, Oklahoma State. I realize that Fisher desperately wants Trent Richardson, but I can't see a scenario where he falls to us. Cleveland would likely take the superior prospect in Richardson; they have nothing at running back. If they take Blackmon instead, Tampa Bay will choose Richardson; they're apparently much higher on him than Claiborne, and they believe that they can find a cornerback later in the draft. That leaves Blackmon and Claiborne - and Fisher's not going to pass up the chance to surround Bradford with talent.
Blackmon is clearly the best receiver in this draft. Floyd and Wright are both very good receivers who should become number one targets, but Blackmon, while not in the elite category of Fitzgerald, the Johnsons (Andre and Calvin), Green, and Jones, is still going to be better than them. His attributes (YAC, route running, deep threat, hands, etc.) would have still placed him in the top fifteen of last year's class, which was extremely top heavy. This year, he's a potential top-five pick - and I see no problem with taking the best player available.
-
#33 overall - David Wilson, RB, Virginia Tech. Fisher will take one of the two remaining three-down backs in the second round. He's a run-first coach who will not be happy with the complete lack of depth behind Steven Jackson. Notice that he hasn't gotten a running back in free agency. Anyway, I had a very tough time deciding between Wilson and Doug Martin of Boise State. I really did. Both of them could likely go in the late first round to the Giants (who have a huge need at running back). However, I think that Martin will be the guy they pick; he brings a power element that they lost with Brandon Jacobs.
However, that's not a slight against Wilson at all. Wilson is shifty, elusive, and he runs with great speed and very underrated power. His receiving abilities are very good; he's a natural receiver that catches with his hands, not his body. And to top it all off, Wilson's character is inconcievably good. He was a leader for the Hokies, and he performed very well in big games. He showed an element of maturity that some of his peers didn't have when he interviewed; every team that interviewed him came away impressed with his preparation. It may not say much about his football skills, but it shows that he's a true student of the game who is highly motivated - and things like that can make all the difference between an impact player and a bust.
-
#39 overall (from Redskins) - Brandon Brooks, OG/OT, Miami of Ohio. First reach, huh? Yeah, most people would've picked Amini Silatolu (Midwestern State). I'm not convinced. Fisher is going to want a versatile player on his offensive line, someone that he can mold for both tackle and guard - just in case Jason Smith continues on his current path. Silatolu is just a guard. I don't like his arm length or height at tackle, and you can be sure that Fisher is going to want to have a guy with the versatility to play both guard spots and right tackle.
Brooks is extremely impressive from a physical standpoint. At 6'5", 345 lbs, he has displayed quick feet that allow him to mirror opposing pass-rushers, and he is unstoppable in the running game. No offensive line prospect other than Cordy Glenn has the kind of power that this guy has. While Brooks may not have the arm length to stay at tackle either, he still has a longer reach than Silatolu or Tony Bergstrom (Utah), and he will be the rare breed of athletic mauling guard who can play three positions on the line. Some team is going to get a steal with him; this guy is no mere workout warrior.
-
#65 overall - Marvin McNutt, WR, Iowa. Fisher has to know that he's going to need competition at the outside wide receiver spot. Steve Smith isn't guaranteed to pan out, Pettis is suspended for the first few games, Alexander is injury prone, Gibson has been largely ineffective, and Salas and Amendola are slot receivers (albeit very good slot receivers).
McNutt could easily be the kind of receiver that Fisher wants. He's one of my favorite prospects for many reasons. Being a St. Louis kid isn't one of them. McNutt will make the acrobatic highlight reel grab on occasion, he has the speed to go deep, the quickness to run good routes, and he has the hands and leaping ability to create a large target for the quarterback. He struggled against good cornerbacks like Alfonso Dennard (Nebraska), and he didn't stand out at the Combine. However, this is a player who was one of the best wideouts in the college game - and he did it with a young and inexperienced quarterback.
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#96 overall - Akiem Hicks, DT, Regina University (Canada). I'm going to be quite blunt: our defense was atrocious at the defensive tackle position. Our run defense was the worst in the league for a reason; guys like Beanie Wells went through the middle like it was made out of swiss cheese. Guards and centers pushed them back like balloons with feathers inside of them. I can count on one hand the amount of times that any of them got any sort of real pressure on the quarterback on their own. Langford will solve some of the running game problems, but we desperately need a nose tackle. Darell Scott didn't contribute anything, and Laws is too iffy to rely on. Fisher will take two defensive tackles in this draft. Aside from Langford, nobody on that team has a guaranteed job. He might also decide that taking a guy with character issues is the best route to go.
Hicks has a ton of talent. He was originally recruited by Louisiana State as a highly-touted defensive tackle out of a community college. However, he left the team in 2010 and didn't return. The fact that he went to a community college shows that his grades weren't exactly up to standard. He then went to Canada and played very well for Regina. He showed the most at the East-West Shrine game, where he simply dominated the other competition. At 6'5", 315 lbs with 35 1/8" arms, he managed to crank out twenty-six reps - an impressive feat for someone whose arms are longer than Brockers'. He has a lot of explosion off of the snap, and the quickness he has at his size makes him very intriguing as both a run-stopper and a pass-rusher. Hicks could be a devastating force if used in the right system.
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#171 overall - Danny Trevathan, OLB, Kentucky. Another huge problem that contributed to our porous run defense were our outside linebackers. Jo-Lonn Dunbar is simply not going to be enough to help at this point, Justin Cole is a mere camp body, and Josh Hull has had both of his seasons cut short by injury. I don't see Fisher trying to fix outside linebacker in the early rounds, so he'll go for a late-round steal here.
Trevathan is another favorite of mine. He's undersized at 6'0", 239 lbs, but Jon Beason is a similar height and weight, and he's one of the best linebackers in the NFL. Trevathan has amazing instincts and is an inconcievably sound tackler. He made splash plays all over the field for a defense that had nobody else of note. In fact, he finished with 143 tackles with eleven-and-a-half for a loss, three sacks, four interceptions, five forced fumbles, and five pass deflections - all of which were done in one less game than most of his peers, since Kentucky didn't qualify for a bowl game. Now tell me that that's not impressive. Trevathan is going to be a force in the NFL, and he'd clearly be the best player available in the sixth round.
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#209 overall - Isaiah Frey, CB, Nevada. Every team needs to draft a cornerback these days. This is clearly a passing league, and going into a season without depth is a foolish venture. Even though the Rams have signed Cortland Finnegan, there are still a few question marks in the secondary. Can Bradley Fletcher return to the level he was at and stay healthy? Can Jerome Murphy take the next step? Can Josh Gordy become a main cog in this team? Questions like those sometimes don't have a positive outcome, and Fisher will be forced to address the cornerback position. The only reason that wasn't done earlier is because there were more pressing needs.
Frey is an undervalued prospect who could go anywhere from the sixth round to the ranks of the undrafted. I like to think that he's somewhere in between. Frey's skills in pass coverage can't be denied (thirty-seven tackles, five interceptions, and sixteen pass deflections). However, there's a chance that the interceptions could be a fluke; he never had more than one pick in his other three years as a starter, although he did have fourteen pass deflections in his junior year. He also has average size (5'11", 190 lbs) and average speed (4.5), which doesn't make him stand out in any way. The pass deflections are a positive sign, though. At the very least, he would add more depth to a team that is in desperate need of it.
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#252 overall (compensation) - Logan Harrell, DT/DE, Fresno State. Fisher isn't going to stop at one defensive tackle. While Hicks is a great addition, the depth at the three-technique leaves a lot to be desired. Jermelle Cudjo has potential, but he also had a serious back injury last year. Fisher could possibly cut him. Fisher also likes undersized defensive tackles as his pass-rushers; Jason Jones is clear evidence of that.
Therefore, Harrell could be a possible candidate for a rotational pass-rusher for the Rams. He's extremely underweight at 278 lbs, but he has an impressive motor and is very physical. His production at the three-tech was also impressive: seventy-one tackles with seventeen for a loss and six sacks. I'm not much of a fan of Harrell myself, but I can see Fisher drafting him for depth purposes.
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Thoughts and comments are very much appreciated. Thank you.
