Mock Draft NFC North

NFC North

Green Bay Packers

The Green Bay Packers were number three in total offense and number thirty two in total defense last year. One doesn’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the packers are drafting defense this year. Amazingly the Packers might be disguising how talented their defense is by scoring 800 points a game. When your offense is that good, you tend to give up yards and garbage time touchdowns. Let’s face is, Green Bay has, A.J. Hawk, Clay Matthews, Woodson, Raji, they are far from being a piecemeal defense. That being said, they will sure it up by going out and drafting the best defensive player available at the 28^th pick.

Pick 28: Shea McClellin DE Boise State

Detroit Lions

Detroit were ranked number 23 defensively and number 4 offensively. I’m kind of not on the bandwagon though. I feel like they have a lot of holes on their team at running back, defensive back and linebacker. Sorry ladies, I don’t just look at ESPN and jump on the sack of the analysts. I think at pick 23 they should go best available outside of the obvious position of QB, WR, DT. All of the big names will be gone by the time the Lions pick so they should just be smart and keep adding pieces to hide how vulnerable they really are.

Pick 23: Courtney Upshaw DE/OLB Alabama

Chicago Bears

So Jay Cutler has WR Brandon Marshall back. This could mean trouble for the NFC North. Marshall got his contract with Miami because of Cutler’s arm and vice versa. They have Forte albeit unsigned but have him nonetheless. Offensively they should be a problem. I see a need in the secondary but many of the top flight DB’s will be gone by the 19^th pick. Da’ Bears ranked 28^th in pass defense last year and Chitown will not stand for that. Brian Uhrlacher is almost done but not quite yet. So my logical pick would be the secondary. Unfortunately, I think Claiborne, Kilpatrick, Barron, and Gilmore will be gone before Chicago gets on the clock.

Pick 19: Chandler Jones DE Syracuse

Minnesota Vikings

Now we get to have a little bit of fun. The rest of the NFC North have late picks and require a bit of thought to determine who they will pick up but the Minnesota Vikings need a lot of things. Fortunately they have a very good RB in Adrian Peterson, a solid slot WR in Percy Harvin, and the QB they decided to bencg Donavan for, Christian Ponder. They had better protect this kid and get OL help. It doesn’t matter what they do because if this kid is on his back most of the season, he will be considered a bust (see Davis Carr).

Pick 3: Matt Kalil OT USC

Mock Draft NFC West

NFC West

Arizona Cardinals

Key Additions: OL Adam Snyder, CB William Gay

Key Losses: CB Richard Marshall

Key Needs: OT, WR, OLB

Yeah, like they ever stood a chance of getting Peyton Manning. Peyton used the Cards as a mock interview and then moved on to bigger fish. The Cards are not too far removed from a SB run but are complacent to lose the players that got them there: Boldin, Breaston, Rodgers-Cromartie and now Marshall. This is a team whose management doesn’t get the old adage “the window of opportunity for success isn’t open for very long.” I feel for a guy with the talent level of Larry Fitzgerald who continues to put up all-world numbers in no man’s land (a la Cris Carter and Tim Brown). On the plus side, Beanie Wells seemed to come into his own after Hightower was shipped off to Washington and young wide receivers took turns stepping up from week to week. Since the Cards play in the same division as the 49ers, they’ll have to contend by building their offensive line and defense. The Cardinals need help at offensive tackle and have shown interest in Buffalo Bills free agent Demetrius Bell. The team would be fortunate to address the position before the draft. The Cardinals have yet to reach a long-term agreement with franchise player Calais Campbell. Getting a deal done with Campbell would reduce teams salary cap headed into the draft. If these signings pan out, the most obvious need would be to get someone to help take pressure off Fitz consistently. But keeping your QB upright always comes first.

Projected Pick: OT Riley Reiff (Iowa)

San Francisco 49ers

Key additions: WR Randy Moss, WR Mario Manningham, RB Brandon Jacobs

Key losses: Snyder, WR Josh Morgan, ST Blake Costanzo, OL Adam Snyder

Key Needs: OT, OG

It pains me to say this, but this team is ready to win now and I don’t see how anyone can stop them. Their front office offseason moves rank right up there with the Eagles and Patriots. These guys are so stacked they told Peyton Manning to take a hike. We don’t need your stinking offense. They made the Giants weaker by subtraction, they picked up Randy Moss for nothing (remember when he left the Raiders and everyone swore he was done – NFL TD single season receiving record), they lost no one of significance in the offseason and have re-signed all their free agents (Alex Smith, Carlos Rogers and tagged Dashon Goldson). The past two seasons they’ve lost starting OL in free agency and would most likely pursue to shore up the line through the draft. The 49ers have no needs on either side of the ball will most likely pick for depth in the draft.

Projected Pick: TE Coby Fleener (Stanford) – He played for Harbaugh and a double tight set w/ Vernon davis would be a nightmare for defenses.

St. Louis Rams

Key additions: CB Cortland Finnegan, C Scott Wells, DT Kendall Langford, WR Steve Smith

Key losses: WR Brandon Lloyd, P Donnie Jones, OLB Chris Chamberlain

Key Needs: WR, OT

We see why Jeff Fisher was the longest tenured coach in the league before the Vince Young fiasco. They did an amazing job maximizing the value for the 2^nd overall pick, they’ve picked up strong locker room leaders in free agency and they’ve addressed ALMOST all areas of need. They have inexplicably not addressed the need for Sam Bradford to have someone to throw the ball to in free agency. The way draft looks at the moment Justin Blackmon should fall into their laps. Even with Blackmon, the Rams need to upgrade their playmaking deficiencies.

Projected Pick: WR Justin Blackmon (Oklahoma State)

Seattle Seahawks

Key additions: QB Matt Flynn, DT Jason Jones

Key losses: TE John Carlson, DT Anthony Hargrove

Key Needs: DE, LB

Re-signing Marshawn Lynch before the signing period took off much of the pressure. Re-signing Red Bryant without using the franchise tag rewarded the Seahawks for a disciplined approach to the market. That approach paid off again when the Seahawks landed Flynn without rushing into an imprudent contract. Flynn spent five days on the market before signing with Seattle. The Seahawks got him for about half as much per season as Kolb cost a year ago, without even promising him the starting job. That was impressive. Quarterback and pass-rusher were Seattle's top two needs heading into free agency. Flynn solved one of them for now, at least. Jones, an inside pass-rusher signed from Tennessee, should help the other area. But the need for outside pass-rush help persists. The team could use the 12th overall choice in the draft for a defensive end. Linebacker is another obvious position of need for Seattle. Market conditions favor Seattle's re-signing veterans David Hawthorne and Leroy Hill at reasonable rates. Both were starters last season. Hawthorne visited Detroit and New Orleans in free agency, but those teams subsequently signed other linebackers. Hill turns 30 in September, has had some off-field issues in the past and should have more value to Seattle than to another team. Still, it's an upset if the Seahawks do not address linebacker in the draft.

Projected Pick: DE Quniton Coples (North Carolina)

Mock Draft NFC East

This year we’re going to do a new format with our mock draft. It’ll be a compete recap of free agency, key additions, key losses and where we think teams are going with the draft. Since we’re both NY GIANTS disciples, we’ll start with the NFC East.

NY Giants

Key additions: TE Martellus Bennett

Key losses: RB Brandon Jacobs, WR Mario Manningham, CB Aaron Ross, T Kareem McKenzie, DL Dave Tollefson

Draft needs: OL, ILB, RB

The attrition of the Super Bowl champs didn’t take long and the Giants lost several key players. The depth these scrubs provided when starters went down is nothing to sneeze at (e.g. the loss of Dave Tollefson will be a problem if the G-men trade Osi and someone on the D-Line has to miss significant time to injury). Jacobs, Manningham, Ross, and McKenzie all saw a lot of playing time while starters were out with injuries.

The status of DE Osi Umeryiora and the Giant’s reluctance to sign him to a long term deal could become a factor as the draft approaches but we’ll take the position that the Giants are not dumb enough to trade him. Everyone once in awhile the Giants inexplicably bring in a player that actually has personality (Plaxico, Shockey, Arrington) and this year it’s Martellus Bennett. He washed out with the Cowboys and the Giants signed him almost as soon as free agency started. Not sure what to make of this one, but it seems like a move predicated on the NFL being a copycat league (double tight end sets).

Projected pick: LB Donta Hightower (Alabama) – we can only pray he falls this far

Dallas Cowboys

Key additions: CD Brandon Carr, S Brodney Pool, QB Kyle Orton, FB Lawrence Vickers, LB Dan Connor, G Nate Livings, G Mackenzy Bernadeau

Key losses: WR Laurent Robinson, TE Matrellus Bennett, FB Tony Fiammetta, CB Terence Newman, G Klye Kosier

Draft needs: DE, OLB, C, S

I’ll get my bashing out of the way early…this team will never win another SB as long as Jerry Jones is their owner. He’s the best thing to ever happen to Giants fans.

The Cowboys systematically upgraded or addressed almost all of their key losses to free agency. The Cowboys had too much invested in Austin and Bryant to sign Robinson to big money. The Cowboys will have concentrate on their back seven in the draft in order to contend with the weapons of the teams in their division (Cruz, Nicks, DeSean, Maclin, McCoy, Moss, etc). The emergence of Sean Lee supplied the team with someone who can make plays on a regular basis other than DeMarcus Ware, but they’ll need someone in their secondary to fill that role as well – something they haven’t had since Roy Williams (the safety). The Cowboys have made it no secret they intend to draft one of the defensive stars from Alabama’s National Championship team.

Projected pick: DE/ LB Courtney Upshaw (Alabama)

Philadelphia Eagles

Key additions: LB DeMeco Ryans, G Mike Gibson

Key losses: DE Juqua Parker, WR Steve Smith, QB Vince Young

Draft needs: S, OLB, RB

On paper, the Eagles still look better than any team in the league. They’re going to be the newest team that everyone picks to win the SB but doesn’t get anywhere close (move over Cowboys and Chargers). With all their starters healthy, the Eagles don’t have any real holes. Maybe they can bring in a new WR to spell injury prone wideout Maclin since he’s almost guaranteed to miss time next year. They can select a safety to give Asomugha and Rodgers-Cromartie some help deep. Or they can continue to shore up their linebacking corps. The only glaring need that this team has is at backup QB where Vick is almost guaranteed to miss time as well. They will in all likelihood trade Asante Samuel during the draft for a 2^nd or 3^rd round pick. I’ll never understand how a team can seemingly make what always seem like the right moves but always come up empty.

Projected pick: S Mark Barron (Alabama)

Washington Redskins

Key additions: WR Pierre Garcon, WR Josh Morgan, CB Cedric Griffin, S Brandon Meriweather

Key losses: S OJ Otogwe, S LaRon Landry, WR Donte’ Stallworth

Draft needs: QB, LB, RB, OL, DL, CB (everything damnit)

The overpaying continues in free agency and in draft picks (swap with the Rams for #2 pick). I have no idea what this team is doing so I’ll try to make sense of what could possibly be happening.

The Redskins continue to try to re-sign veteran linebacker London Fletcher (he’s about in his 20^th season), and they're confident they can do that. They also want to bring back running back Tim Hightower (your guess is good as mine), assuming he's recovered from his ACL injury, and they're in talks with him about doing just that. If they fail in either or both of those efforts, they'll need backup plans, as they'll lack depth at running back and inside linebacker.

Washington still could stand to add to its secondary and find help for the offensive line. Right tackle Jammal Brown has injury problems, and the team is looking for a better option. Demetrius Bell remains on the market and is a player Washington likes for that right tackle spot.

Projected pick: QB Robert Griffin III (Baylor)

Gregg Williams, The Bounty Hunter

I actually didn't really want to talk about this but I have to give my two cents. I have played high school ball, junior college, and semi-pro football in my career. In general, if you ask anyone that has ever seen me play, I was one of the angriest folks to ever touch the field. I hated everything in a different color jersey. Just to preface my forthcoming statement, no Mr. Devil's Advocate, I have never been played to play football, I have never once gone on to a football field to intentionally injure another player. That being said, I tried to knock someone out every chance I got. I was a safety that played relatively close to the line and my playing career was only extended and oftentimes paid for through scholarship because of my ferocity. My helmet was always chipped and every practice wide receiver on my JUCO team had welt marks from my helmet. Every running back or receiver from a different school scowled at me after the game because my intentions were to knock them the blank out EVERY SINGLE TIME. This was, however, the era of Ronnie Lott, Steve Atwater, Dennis Smith, Chuck Cecil et al. It was encouraged to break somebody into pieces with an earth shattering legal hit. But no, never would I intentionally twist an ankle, a neck, aim for a knee or anything like that in order to get the guy out of the game and even more astonishingly to get a $1500 bonus on top of my $5 million for the year.

The annoying part is that you have so many former football players saying that this has always been done in the locker room. If that is the case, then it has always been wrong. How could one man decide that another man is not fit to feed his family so that this guy can make some penance of a bonus? If Peyton Manning, who I can't stand, can no longer play because of some bounty hit then the player that injured his neck should forever know that, yes, of course, Manning's kids wont starve but, daddy will have to make coin in some other way now because Larry "The Bounty Hunting" Linebacker needed to buy some more Louis XIV at 40/40 so he could dull the pain of the bullet going into his thigh. Think about it. If you work for FedEx and the UPS guy gets a bonus for slowing you down using dubious methods and now you're on Workers Comp because that guy caused your hand truck to flip over and blow out your knee, sure you still have income but not the way you did before. Right, I know this is a stupid analogy but the fact remains that one man is effectively taking the fate of another in his own hands.

Someone on ESPN New York the other day mentioned that it is disturbing to think that when a player is on a stretcher or gets carted off that both teams take a knee in prayer for the fallen player. That, I agree, is one of the most disingenuous things to do if you know that you are getting some bonus for putting that guy on that stretcher. Football is football. If a guy goes down, he goes down. That's the risk one takes in playing a violent sport. But to play God, with another man's fortunes is almost evil to some degree. I have put people out of games, and people have put me out of games, but I never did it because we were setting aside strip club money to put a guy on a cart. If the players that put me on stretchers did it for any other reason than to destroy a player in another color jersey than I wish nothing but ill will on that jag off for retarding my career. Plus I can't wait for the IRS to come knocking on the door for the 50 large that was allegedly in the pot. Ask Wesley Snipes about the IRS, apparently they are very good friends.

Good Luck Cam

Okay. Someone please tell me why Andrew Luck is being compared to Cam Newton. I thought, supposedly, Andrew Luck was the best thing since John Elway and Cam Newton had a lot of question. Wasn't Andrew Luck a sure thing last year? I thought that there were no questions about his viability as the fifteen year perennial all pro quarterback that will fill his trophy case with MVP's and have more finger bling than the Bishop Don Magic Juan. In the immortal words of Stuart Scott, what had happened was, RGIII. I don't know if all of the football pundits are scrambling because of the age old beliefs as to what a good pro quarterback was is beginning to fall flat on its proverbial face. Or maybe it's the fact that as Bobby Valentine said recently, media gets paid to say stuff and teams get paid to do stuff. Professional football teams look at their product and do everything to make it better, unless of course you are the Oakland Raiders or Washington Redskins. GM's and coaches will sit in a room and say hey, this defensive end runs a 4.6 40 yard dash. My quarterback runs a 5.2 40 yard dash. No one needs an advanced degree in applied mathematics to understand that if that 280 pound monster that hasn't eaten for a week gets turned loose by your slower, weaker offensive tackle then in .6 seconds there will be impact. Of course, weirdos, I'm oversimplifying, but the fact remains that if every other position on the football field is getting bigger, faster, and stronger, that the most cerebral position on the field would need to change as well. Perhaps I may be too cavalier about the necessity of a speedy athletic quarterback. Tom Brady ran a 5.2, Eli Manning ran a 4.9. I mention these particular quarterbacks because their success is undeniable and so is their elusiveness. Not a soul will mistake Brady or manning for Michael Vick or Randall Cunningham but Eli was sacked about 29 times last year. This tells me that with a combination of good offensive line play and the QB having the ability to escape can produce results lending to difficulty in sacking the QB.
At the end of the day, the Dan Marino stand in the pocket and let 'er rip days are all but over. Lots of folks love to point to John Elway and his decrepit knees doing a 360 to gain a first down in the Super Bowl. What those same losers forget is that Elway was a very mobile QB in his youth. Todd McShay and Mel Kiper and all of the other historic figures that have pontificated over the past thousand years about how a quarterback should look will need to adjust their collective abacus and reassess what a New World Order QB will look like. This is not to say that this is the age of the 4.4 QB that can't hit the side of a 200 yard barn from ten yards away but these guys will need to become a lot more gifted like every other position on the field. Historically, no one cared about the QB's measureables. The only thing that mattered would be if he were 6'3", 230 lbs., could throw 75 yards, score over 20 on the wonderlic, throw 80 TD's a year in the Big 12, and not kill dogs or be accused of rape in the south. Now the entire combine is open for business for these jackwagons that thought they were MLB pitchers that only had to do one thing.
So, boys and girls, Andrew Luck may literally be the last of the QuarterHicans. Every analyst will fight to make sure all of their books and God awful sports show appearances will not be as useless as tits on a bull. There is a saying Mock Draft dopes, adapt or die.

NFL--Week Eleven Picks

1. Dallas over Washington
2. Detroit over Cleveland
3. San Francisco over Green Bay
4. Pittsburgh over Kansas City
5. Minnesota over Seattle
6. New York Giants over Atlanta
7. New Orleans over Tampa Bay
8. Jacksonville over Buffalo
9. Indianapolis over Baltimore
10. Arizona over St. Louis
11. San Diego over Denver
12. Cincinnati over Oakland
13. New England over New York Jets
14. Philadelphia over Chicago
15. MNF Tennessee over Houston

NFL--Week Nine Picks

Unfortunately I have had other things to do. Actually better things to do than educate the masses on the finer points of American football. I feel the world has been sorely missing my vast canon of knowledge on this particular subject matter so I will enlighten you folks and you can thank me later. Love 'em or leave 'em, these are my picks.

1. Atlanta over Washington. Atlanta looked great last week against one of the best teams in football and the Skins still suck.
2. Chicago over Arizona. It's cold in ChiTown this time of year. Warner is old and the Bears look solid
3. Baltimore over Cincinnati. The Ravens are playing real football right now and Cincinnati may be posers although Benson and Palmer are monsters. They won't be against Bulletmore, Murderland.
4. New England over Miami. Sorry, the wildcat will be mellow kittens against the Pats today. Brady almost looks like 2007 right now.
5. Jacksonville over Kansas City. The chiefs are horrible which is why they are not capitalized.
6. Indianapolis over Houston. The Colts will lose this season. They will not lose today. Peyton, robot or not is a monster and is having an MVP season.
7. Green Bay over Tamba Bay. The Bucs have a horrific pass defense and Aaron Rodgers will dismantle these dudes with Driver and Jennings.
8. New Orleans over Carolina. I was unsure about this one because these cats can't just keep winning like that but I can't see them losing in the Superdome.
9. Seattle over Detroit. The Seahawks have looked good more recently than the Lions. For that reason alone, I pick the Seahawks. I also like Matt Hasselbeck.
10. San Francisco over Tennessee. I think the Niners are the truth. I don't like the QB but everything else kind of looks good to me.
11. New York Giants over San Diego. This may be a sentimental choice as I am writing this in my Ahmad Bradshaw jersey but I can't see the Jints dropping 4 straight.
12. Dallas over Philly. I hate the Cowboys, I hate the Eagles but it may be time for the Eagles to be inconsistent again and when the 'Boys are rising, it takes a bit for them to come down, usually in the playoffs, right Romo.
13. Pittsburgh over Denver. Pittsburgh will expose Kyle Orton and all of his badness. Despite the record, Orton is still a JV QB on a High School football team not even starting.