2. QB Robert Griffin A Just like the Colts with Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin was the obvious selection here. I also love the move to come up and get him. 71. G Josh LeRibeus C- Guard was a need with Kory Lichtensteiger coming off a nasty knee injury, but this was a major reach [...]
89. DT Akiem Hicks C Defensive tackle was a need for the Saints and Hicks is a solid prospect, but he’s a bit of a reach and they really needed a pass rusher at defensive tackle. Sedrick Ellis and Brodrick Bunkley are already very good run stuffers. Hicks is not the pass rushing, penetrating [...]
15. DE Bruce Irvin F Bruce Irvin was the first defensive end off the board in 2012. I’m not basing this grade on “they could have gotten him in the 2nd round” because we don’t know that for sure. I’m basing this grade on what I see on tape of Irvin. He’s a great [...]
24. G David DeCastro A Wow. This might have been the best pick of the 1st round. DeCastro was 12th on my board and deserved to be the highest guard drafted since Chris Naoele in 1997. And guard was a huge need for the Steelers. Once again, the rich get richer. 56. OT Mike [...]
26. RLB Whitney Mercilus A I actually had Whitney Mercilus as my 6th rated prospect. I think he’s the best pass rusher in this draft class. He’s got a great motor and worked himself up the draft chart to have 22.5 tackles for loss, 16 sacks, and 9 forced fumbles last season. He’s a [...]
28. RLB Nick Perry A Rush linebacker was arguably the Packers’ biggest need after they managed just 29 sacks last year. Nick Perry is a great value at this point as part of a strong pass rushing class and will immediately help take the pressure off of Clay Matthews, who had no help last [...]
20. WR Kendall Wright A- Kendall Wright was 16th on my board and fills a need at wide receiver as Nate Washington is not a #1 receiver and Kenny Britt is unreliable. Without Britt, they struggled for consistency at the wide receiver position. This pick should be an A, but I don’t see how [...]
9. OLB Luke Kuechly A I had Kuechly as my 7th rated prospect so I think the value for the Panthers at 9. Linebackers rarely deserve to go in the top 10, but Kuechly does. This likely spells the end of Thomas Davis’ tenure in Carolina as a starter, but Davis’ has had 3 [...]
4. OT Matt Kalil A I mocked Matt Kalil to the Vikings in my final mock draft because I thought their interest in Morris Claiborne was just a smokescreen to try to get someone to move up. I didn’t think any team would actually be stupid enough to take Claiborne over Kalil in their situation. [...]
21. DE Chandler Jones B- Defensive end was a need of theirs, but I had a 2nd round grade on Chandler Jones. He’s very raw, especially as a pass rusher. He can come in as play the run right now, but he’s a project as a pass rusher. He’s got the upside though and [...]
95. G Tony Bergstrom C+ The Raiders needed a guard. In fact, it might have been their most pressing need because Cooper Carlisle is 35 in August and was only resigned to 1 year, veteran minimum deal. However, I had Bergstrom much lower than this on my board. 129. OLB Miles Burris C The [...]
14. DT Michael Brockers B+ Somewhere Sam Bradford just retired. In all seriousness, I have no problem with the Rams trading down again. They turned the 2nd overall pick into the 14th overall pick, 2 1sts and 2 2nds. That’s not a bad haul. I probably would have just gone ahead and taken [...]
35. RLB Courtney Upshaw A The Ravens like to trade down when they pick in the late 1st round. It makes a lot of sense. They don’t fall in love with prospects and positions of need so they know they can get a prospect they have 1st round grade on in the early 2nd [...]
36. DT Derek Wolfe B- This explains why the Broncos traded down twice. Wolfe is a solid football player and definitely fills a need, but I had Kendall Reyes and Devon Still ranked higher than him, among others. This was a reach. 57. QB Brock Osweiler C I’m completely torn on this. On one [...]
32. RB David Wilson C The Giants needed a running back, but I had David Wilson ranked about a round lower than this. On top of that, he’s way too similar to Ahmad Bradshaw. In fact, I made the exact comparison between Wilson and Bradshaw in my scouting report. Bradshaw is a fine running [...]
4. RB Trent Richardson B+ I would have given the Browns an A for taking Richardson at 4 because he was the 4th rated player on my board, but I’m giving them a B+ for moving up to 3 and taking him for two reasons. For one, I don’t think they needed to move [...]
5. WR Justin Blackmon A I normally don’t like when bad teams move up because they have so many needs, but everyone said there were 6 blue chip prospects in this draft class and the Jaguars were in a bad spot at 7. If I’m going to knock the Buccaneers for trading out of the [...]
7. S Mark Barron D Hmmm, Mark Barron and a 4th round pick…or Morris Claiborne? That shouldn’t have been a tough question, but it was for the Buccaneers, who seem to have gotten it wrong. I know the Buccaneers had Barron higher than Claiborne on their board, but that’s ridiculous. Claiborne is a better [...]
23. OT Riley Reiff A I had Riley Reiff 12th on my board, but I also had Bryan Bulaga high. I had a feeling Reiff, a similar player, could experience a similar fall on draft day and actually had Reiff to the Lions in my 2nd to final mock draft, but moved him back [...]
13. WR Michael Floyd A They needed offensive line help, but Floyd was the best player left on my board other than two pass rushers that wouldn’t have filled needs. Riley Reiff and David DeCastro were a little further down my board and those would have been good picks too, but I’m not going [...]
16. 3-4 DE Quinton Coples A I love the fit of Coples in New York. Rex Ryan has a good chance to get the most out of him and he can use him in a variety of different ways. He’ll probably play mostly 5-technique, where he’s an upgrade over Mike DeVito, who is [...]
18. RLB Melvin Ingram B+ I actually had Melvin Ingram 18th on my board so I can’t hate this pick, but I had Whitney Mercilus, Nick Perry, and Courtney Upshaw higher than Ingram at this position, though they filled arguably their biggest need here. 49. 3-4 DE Kendall Reyes B+ They had other needs, [...]
11. NT Dontari Poe C Dontari Poe is the definition of a boom or bust prospect. He has phenomenal measurables, but he had minimal production on a crappy team in a small conference in Conference-USA and the tape doesn’t match at to his measurables. He’s also more of a straight line athlete than anything [...]
1. QB Andrew Luck A Not much to say here. Luck was the obvious selection. 34. TE Coby Fleener A I love this pick. I’ve never understood why more teams don’t bring in former teammates to compliment highly drafted quarterbacks. Fleener was the top tight end in this draft class, a solid value at 34, [...]
30. WR AJ Jenkins D This isn’t a D because “the 49ers could have gotten him later.” That’s not true. The Rams were very interested in him and probably would have taken him at 33. This is a D because I don’t think Jenkins was worth the spot. It would have been a bad [...]