Very nice draft. I actually think Casey is an absolute steal at #89, and would be good value at #58. He has tremendous athleticism and versatility. He can play TE, H-back, fullback, and move out to WR as a flanker, and even was considered as a possible starting QB for Rice. He's very intelligent and mature and extremely competitive.
Some people will love the Laurinaitis pick. I'm OK with it if the Pats believed he would complement Mayo, but I just don't see it. I'd rather look at moving Larry English inside.
A lot of their picks are identical to what I had posted in my last mocks, including:
- Mark Sanchez at #4 to Seattle. I've had Sanchez to Seattle in my last 2 mocks (in fact, the top 5 picks match my most recent mock). Sanchez is said to be rising fast, and Seattle is said to love him. He's a much better WCO fit than Stafford.
- Jarron Gilbert to Tennessee at #30. I suggested this in a variant of my latest mock as well. Gilbert has so much potential that with 20 lbs. added on he could be the closest thing to an uber-athletic 6'5" DT to replace Haynesworth.
- Chris Wells to NO at #14, Tyson Jackson to SD, Josh Freeman to TB at #19, Hakeem Nicks to the Giants at #29, Knowshon Moreno to Arizona at #31, Alex Mack to the Steelers at #32, Darius Butler to Cleveland at #36, and Ron Brace to GB at #41.
Some of their picks are quite interesting:
- Maybin/Ayers/Brown going 9, 11 and 12.
- Clay Matthews to the Jets at #17. Not sure where NY would find room for him, with Scott/Harris inside and Pace/Thomas/Gholston outside.
- Maualuga at 20 to Detroit. Laurinaitis seems a better complement to Julian Peterson and Ernie Sims.
- Beatty at 21 and Britton at 22.
I'd probably go with:
23 - Barwin, OLB. Nice to see another "professional" mock considering him worthy of a 1st round pick.
34 - Laurinaitis or English to cover ILB. Though in reality I'd go with Delmas here.
47 - Delmas, S. I'd be thrilled if this actually happened.
58 - Jamon Meredith, OT.
89 - Casey, TE.
97 - TJ Lang, OG.