mayoclinic

Tony Pauline from TFYdraft (who also writes for CNNSI) is one of the better draftniks around IMHO, after Rick Gosselin and Nolan Nawrocki. TFYdraft has just published their positional rankings, with some interesting choices.

DE

This position covers a wide range of guys, from guys who project to 3-4 DEs to guys who project to 3-4 OLB, as well as classic 4-3 DEs.

At the DE position, Pauline ranks Greg Hardy #1, Greg Romeus of Pittsburgh #2, Jason Pierre-Paul #3, and Ricky Sapp #4, ranking all as 1st round picks. Pauline notes that Pierre-Paul is likely to come out this year.

Pauline's 5-9 DEs include Corey Wooton, Cameron Heyward, Carlos Dunlap, Derrick Morgan, and Jeremy Beal. That seems low for Morgan, who has been shooting up draft boards and looks like a sure top-20 pick at the moment. Pauline thinks Heyward (son of Ironhead Heyward, and a fabulous 3-4 DE prospect at 6'6" 290#) is likely to stay for hwspis senior year, but that Morgan and Dunlap are coming out. He considers Beal a "fast, athletic end best in a conventional system", though Beal originally came to Oklahoma as an OLB prospect. And he ranks Everson Griffen #15 among DE prospects (2nd-3rd round), and Adrian Clayborn #35 (5th round prospect).

An interesting prospect to watch is Cal junior DE Cameron Jordan (son of former Minnesota TE Steve Jordan), 6'4" 287#, who could be a good 5 technique prospect. Pauline ranks him #14 (2nd-3rd round).

TFY

OLB

Pauline ranks Jerry Hughes (1st round), Sergio Kindle (1st/2nd round) and Eric Norwood (2nd round) as his top 3. Interestingly, he has Sean Weatherspoon ranked as a 2nd round pick at #6.

Many of the guys listed under the DE group could end up as 3-4 OLBs, including Ricky Sapp and Jeremy Beal.

TFY

DT

Many of these guys project to 3-4 DE, as do some of the DE prospects (Cameron Heyward, Corey Wooton, Cameron Jordan, possibly Adrian Clayborn.

Not surprisingly, Pauline has Ndamukong Suh, Gerald McCoy and Terrance Cody as the top 3 DTs. He has Arthur Jones (#4) as a first rounder, and Jared Odrick (#5) and Marvin Austin (#8) as borderline 1st/2nd rounders, with Vince Oghobasse (#10) as a projected 2nd round pick.

Mid round guys of interest who project to 3-4 DE include Lawrence Marsh of Florida (#21, projected 3rd-4th round) and Brandon Deaderick of Alabama (#26, projected 5th round).

TFY

ILB

The only interesting thing here is that Pauline lists Brandon Spikes #1 as a 1st round prospect, and Rolando McClain #2 as a borderline 1st/2nd. I see that as being the reverse of what is likely to happen. The only other ranking of interest is that Pauline projects Iowa MLB Pat Angerer as a FA prospect, ranking him #29.

TFY

OT

Pauline ranks Rutgers OT Anthony Davis #2 after Russell Okung. My 2 favorite guys, Maryland junior Bruce Campbell (#8) and LSU junior Joseph Barksdale (#11), are both projected as 3rd round prospects, which seems low. Pauline ranks Wisconsin OT Gabe Carimi #6 and projects him to the 2nd round, but calls him "solid pass protecting LT", whereas Carimi seems to be a pure RT or possibly even OG prospect.

TFY

OG/C

Among OG's Pauline ranks Idaho's Mike Iupati 1st, as his only projected clear 1st day pick (borderline 1st/2nd round). He doesn't even list Stanford OG Andrew Phillips, who has been destroying people.

Pauline lists Maurkice Pouncey #1 among center prospects and projects him as a 1st round pick. He only projects Penn St. center Stefan Wisniewski and USC center Kris O'Dowd (#9) as 5th-6th round picks, which seems ridiculous.

TFY
TFY

RB

Pauline projects Jonathan Dwyer, Jahvid Best, CJ Spiller and Ryan Mathews as his top 4 backs, with Dwyer and Best as 1st round picks. He projects Anthony Dixon (#8) and Toby Gerhart (#9) as 3rd-4th round picks, Dexter McCluser (#21) as a 4th-5th round pick, and LaGarrette Blount as a 7th round pick.

TFY

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result." Albert Einstein

The Coon

my first two rounds draft

1)Jerry Hughes OLB TCU

2)McClain ILB Bama

2b)Ryan Matthews RB

2c)Another Vollmer/Mankins under the radar OL (where he will play on the line depends on what happens with Mankins, Neal, Kazcur or Light

__________________
I am the hero that this board needs!

mayoclinic

No way McClain lasts to us in the 1st round, much less the 2nd, though that would be nice.

My version of your draft:

1. Best available pass rushing DE/elephant prospect - ideally, one of Derrick Morgan, Greg Hardy or Carlos Dunlap (or possibly Everson Griffen) slips.

2a. Any of the first group still available, Cameron Heyward, Jason Pierre-Paul, Jerry Hughes, Sergio Kindle or Eric Norwood, in that order.

2b. Ryan Mathews or Jonathan Dwyer if either is available.

2c. Joseph Barksdale. I think he'll do for the RT position what Vollmer will do for the LT position. He'll be better than Michael Oher, and able to play LT in case of injury.

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result." Albert Einstein

The Coon

I expect that our first second rounder will be mid to late 30s. Who would have thought at this time last year that Rey Maaluga or however you spell his last name would last into round 2. I believe he went in the mid to late 30s to Cincy. I definitely think we need to add 2 LBs (one inside and one outside) to add with Mayo, Guyton, and TBC.

__________________
I am the hero that this board needs!

Marqui

I think some of you guys are sleeping on Tyrone McKenzie. He was rated as a late 1st to early 2nd round prospect and we got him at very good value in the 3rd round. Guy was really productive in college. Had 100+ tackles in all seasons and filled up the whole stat sheet with FFs sacks TFLs INTs PDs. Now there's no guarantee he'll comeback 100% from his knee injury but at this point I think we have FAR greater needs than ILB.

Although I admit, McClain would be too good a value to pass up if he falls to us. I'd pass on any other ILB.

mayoclinic

I'm not sleeping on McKenzie. I'm counting on him. Though I'd like to see where he was rated a late 1st/early 2nd round prospect. Tony Pauline rated him a 4th rounder. Rich Gosselin had him ranked #97 on his final draft board. And Nolan Nawrocki ranked him #92 on his final draft board.

I assume that in the 3-4 we will have a core ILB rotation of Mayo, Guyton and McKenzie. In the 4-3 McKenzie can play all 3 positions including SAM, with Mayo at MLB and Guyton at WLB.

Because of that, I see drafting an ILB as a much lesser need than drafting pass rushers. But, as you say, McClain might be too good value to pass up if he somehow were available. I certainly wouldn't trade up for him given our other needs.

Because of McKenzie I even feel that drafting a 3-4 OLB/4-3 SAM pass rusher is less of a need than drafting pass rushers who could play 4-3 DE/3-4 OLB. So I would probably take players like Hardy, Morgan and Dunlap over guys like Kindle and Hughes.

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result." Albert Einstein

Marqui

Yea it was a while ago so I was probably off about his pre-draft status, but I still think he'll be a good player.

Ochmed Jones

Wow! I am kind of shocked by some of these rankings. It seems like he has watched and graded properly the "known" prospects and just gone on reputation on most of the lesser known prospects.

I do agree with him and think McClain will drop to the end of the first round because of the position ILB that he plays and the fact that he has played exclusively in a 3-4 in college.

This is shaping up to be a very deep draft with a good 5 or 6 blue chip prospects as well as about 40 red chip prospects.