The Uncle Heatster 2-round mock with trades: Mercilus, Dennard, Sanu, Boykin

[dryheat44]

Be gentle...

1 Indianapolis - Andrew Luck QB Stanford

2 Washington - Robert Griffin QB Baylor

3 Minnesota - Ryan Kalil OT USC I think the Vikings would love to trade back and take Claiborne, but I don't see any of the next couple of teams being eager to
trade up, and I don't think Minnesota wants to trade back any furthur. In the end, they can't talk themselves into Claiborne here.

4 Cleveland - Trent Richardson RB Alabama. Again, I think they'd prefer to trade back, but will be unable.

5 Tampa Bay - Morris Claiborne CB LSU. A no-brainer if the draft works out this way.

6 St. Louis - Will Blackmon WR Oklahoma St

7 Jacksonville - Trade. Arizona moves up to get Tannehill QB Texas A&M. FU Miami. Jacksonville gets the Cardinals picks at 13 and 80. Cardinals get some insurance in case Kolb's concussions or general ineptness prove to be recurring.

8 Miami - Fletcher Cox DL Mississippi St - Frankly, the Dolphins caught a break -- Cox will probably help them more than Tannehill.

9 Carolina - Michael Floyd WR Notre Dame

10 Buffalo - Luke Kuechley LB Boston College

11 Kansas City - David DeCastro G Stanford

12 Seattle - Quinton Coples DE North Carolina

13 Jacksonville (from Arizona) - Stephon Gilmore CB South Carolina

14 Dallas - Dre Kirkpatrick CB Alabama

15 Philadelphia - Melvin Ingram DE South Carolina

16 NY Jets - Dontari Poe NT Memphis

17 Cincinnati (from Oakland) - Cordy Glenn G Georgia. If he's on the board, I don't see any way the Bengals pass him over.

18 San Diego - The Chargers have needs everywhere, and can take the best player available here. Who is that? For the system they run, probably Courtney Upshaw LB Alabama.

19 Chicago - Reilly Reiff OT Iowa. He's slipped a bit. Good for the Bears.

20 Tennessee - Michael Brockers DL LSU

21 Cincinnati - Janoris Jenkins CB North Alabama. Marvin Lewis never met a lost soul he didn't think he could reclaim.

22 Cleveland (from Atlanta) - The Browns need to find out if McCoy is legit. The way to do that is to get him some help. First was Richardson, now it's Stephen Hill WR Georgia Tech.

23 Detroit - Trade with Houston. Houston gets Donta Hightower LB Alabama before Pittsburgh does. Detroit gets #26 and other considerations that don't matter
in a 2-round mock. Let's say Houston's two 4th rounders go to Detroit in the swap.

24 Pittsburgh - Mike Adams OT Ohio St.

25 Denver - Peter Konz C Wisconsin. The Broncos are a center away from having a dominant OL. Fox and Manning seem like guys who would want that.

26 Detroit (from Houston) Trade to Philadelphia for Samuel and #51 with an exchange of lower picks. The Eagles take Mark Barron S Alabama, as they can
envision the Patriots taking the next Brian Dawkins.

27 New England (from New Orleans) Well, who you got? The choice of Mercilus, Perry, and McClellin is here. Or would you rather go for Still or Worthy? Or
Wright? I'm not sure anybody is eager to trade into this spot, so we'll have to use it. I really want to go defense all the way in the early rounds, but Wright is the only one I feel is a legit 1st round talent for this team, and we clearly need some WR youth. But sometimes you have to roll the dice on a guy who might need some
time to develop, but if he's well coached, he can grow into a game-changer. I'm going to take Mercilus OLB Illinois here.

28 Green Bay - Devon Still DE Penn St.

29 Baltimore - The Ravens have some critical needs along the O-line and at linebacker and in an ideal world would like to trade back for some more picks, but I don't see that happening. We'll give them Chandler Jones LB Syracuse here to play with his brother Arthur.

30 San Francisco - Jonathan Martin OT Stanford

31 New England - I've changed my mind about trading down here, because I don't see anybody that another team needs badly enough to trade up to get. Does Miami want to come up from 42 for a quarterback? I don't think they'd want to trade with Belichick when they can probably make that trade just as easily with the next 5 teams. Does anybody love Fleener? Perry? One of the second-tier running backs? If the Patriots can't work a deal, I'll give them Kendall Wright. But wait. We might find a trading partner, if say, there's a team in the NFC with a former Belichick associate running the draft whose pass-catching tight end is aging quickly and is in a win-now window and won't get Fleener if they stay where they were? I just can't imagine the Patriots making both 1st round picks, so let's trade it to Atlanta for #55, a sixth, and next year's first. Coby Fleener TE Stanford is the pick. Bama and Stanford own the first round.

32 New York Giants - The Giants don't have a whole lot of pressing needs, but with Jacobs gone and Bradshaw unreliable, Doug Martin RB Boise St makes sense
here.


Second round

33 St. Louis - Jerel Worthy DE Michigan St

34 Indianapolis - Kendall Reyes DT Connecticut

35 Minnesota - Harrison Smith S Notre Dame

36 Tampa Bay - David Wilson RB Virginia Tech

37 Cleveland - Brandon Weedon QB Oklahoma St

38 Jacksonville - Kendall Wright WR Baylor

39 St. Louis (from Washington) - Bobby Massie OT Mississippi

40 Carolina - Brandon Thompson DT Clemson

41 Buffalo - Amini Silatolu OL Midwestern St

42 Miami - Kirk Cousins QB Michigan St

43 Seattle - Vinny Curry LB Marshall

44 Kansas City - Shea McClellin LB Boise St

45 Dallas - Reuben Randle WR LSU

46 Philadelphia - Jayron Hosley CB Virginia Tech

47 NY Jets - Nick Perry OLB USC. This seems a little low, but these things happen sometimes.

48 New England (from Oakland) - I think Dennard or Sanu could be the pick here, as they both seem like Belichick-type guys. I think it might come down to which one is more likely to be there at 55. Although the next five teams could draft a WR, I'll opt for Alfonzo Dennard CB Nebraska at 48 and hope for the best - corners typically being higher in demand. Every Nebraska game I watched in 2010, the talking heads kept talking up Amukamara, but Dennard was the one who caught my eye.

49 San Diego -Jeff Allen OT Illinois

50 Chicago - Alshon Jeffery WR South Carolina

51 Detroit (from Arizona) - Welcome to the party Lions. Their first pick in the draft is Kevin Zeitler OL Wisconsin. They still pick before New Orleans and Oakland.

52 Tennessee - Trumaine Johnson CB Montana

53 Cincinnati - Lavonte David LB Nebraska

54 Detroit - George Iloka S Boise St

55 New England (from Atlanta) - Mohamed Sanu WR Rutgers. He seems to be a high character athlete out of Rutgers. He'll fit in fine, assuming he can help out on Teams.

56 Pittsburgh - Lamar Miller RB Miami (Florida)

57 Denver - Zach Brown LB North Carolina

58 Houston - Andre Branch OLB Clemson

59 Green Bay - Bruce Irvin OLB West Virginia

60 Baltimore - Ben Jones C Georgia

61 San Francisco - Brandon Brooks G Miami (Ohio)

62 New England - Brandon Boykin CB Georgia. I'm keeping my eye on Markelle Martin, but I'll gamble we can get him next round. If he does nothing else, Boykin will improve our return game a hundredfold.

63 New York Giants - Jared Crick DE Nebraska seems to be a perfect replacement for Tolleson along the front line.

 

[WhiZa]

I can't see Arizona giving up that much to get Tannehill. If you remember the Cards just paid Kolb's $7 million dollar bonus back in march. They would rather stay put and take Tannehill at 13 or just wait until next year to get a QB.

I could see the Jets take Poe and I can end my day a happy man if they do.

I like the trade ahead of Pittsburgh. They are desperate at LB and defense in general.

I also agree there is a strong possibility we trade out of #31. There are always players that start falling and BB will look to trade back and pick up more picks next year.

I really think the Colts will find a way to draft Coby Fleener. Makes too much sense for them.

We will take a safety in the first 2 rounds. Not sure who, I just know it will happen

Thanks for doing this.

 

[Metaphors]

Be gentle...

igsfly:

14 Dallas - Dre Kirkpatrick CB Alabama

Not much of controversy until you get here. Kirkpatrick is a fine CB...just not for what the Cowboys need and expect from a CB. They really can't afford to miss on the secondary, so unless Gilmore is here (and I agree with you that he likely won't be) then I think this is Barron's floor

27 New England (from New Orleans) Mercilus OLB Illinois

48 New England (from Oakland) - Alfonzo Dennard CB Nebraska

55 New England (from Atlanta) - Mohamed Sanu WR Rutgers.

62 New England - Brandon Boykin CB Georgia.

No real issues with the other picks so I'll focus on the Pats.

I agree that trading down from #31 may be a little dicey depending on how the draft falls. So that is why I think the Pats stick at #31 and trade #27. When looking for a trade like this, you zero in on where demand really exceeds supply. For this draft class, that clearly looks to be at OT. So I could see a team (like Atlanta as you mention) trading to #27 to get Martin or Adams since very little will be left on day 2.

Mercilus seems to be another in the long line of yearly rush specialist that Belichick refuses to take in the first round. I'm just not sure why that would change this year.

I agree with your assessment of Dennard. Classic Belichick pick that nobody will like (though some will defend) but seems to meet the criteria that the Pats look for in a CB prospect...for better or worse.

I hate knocking on the WR picks associated with the Pats but I just can't make the math work. Brady completed 400 passes last year and nobody in their right mind wants a repeat of that or even more. Returning Welker, adding Lloyd, next steps for Gronk/Hernandez and McDaniels return (signalling the return of the RB in the passing game) just doesn't seem to justify a high pick in this draft class...where solid WRs are sure to slide and potentially even be available as UDFAs.

I like Dennard and I like Boykin. Not sure that I like both when the 3-4 DE position is left unaddressed.

I do think you have the general flow of the draft captured in your mock. I would go in a different direction with the Pats picks, but it isn't like your picks aren't very talented and assets for any team. Hard to criticize that too much.

 

[manxman2601]

igsfly:



Not much of controversy until you get here. Kirkpatrick is a fine CB...just not for what the Cowboys need and expect from a CB. They really can't afford to miss on the secondary, so unless Gilmore is here (and I agree with you that he likely won't be) then I think this is Barron's floor



No real issues with the other picks so I'll focus on the Pats.

I agree that trading down from #31 may be a little dicey depending on how the draft falls. So that is why I think the Pats stick at #31 and trade #27. When looking for a trade like this, you zero in on where demand really exceeds supply. For this draft class, that clearly looks to be at OT. So I could see a team (like Atlanta as you mention) trading to #27 to get Martin or Adams since very little will be left on day 2.

Mercilus seems to be another in the long line of yearly rush specialist that Belichick refuses to take in the first round. I'm just not sure why that would change this year.

I agree with your assessment of Dennard. Classic Belichick pick that nobody will like (though some will defend) but seems to meet the criteria that the Pats look for in a CB prospect...for better or worse.

I hate knocking on the WR picks associated with the Pats but I just can't make the math work. Brady completed 400 passes last year and nobody in their right mind wants a repeat of that or even more. Returning Welker, adding Lloyd, next steps for Gronk/Hernandez and McDaniels return (signalling the return of the RB in the passing game) just doesn't seem to justify a high pick in this draft class...where solid WRs are sure to slide and potentially even be available as UDFAs.

I like Dennard and I like Boykin. Not sure that I like both when the 3-4 DE position is left unaddressed.

I do think you have the general flow of the draft captured in your mock. I would go in a different direction with the Pats picks, but it isn't like your picks aren't very talented and assets for any team. Hard to criticize that too much.

I wonder about Mike Adams. There's already question marks about his attitude and then to test positive for MJ at the combine, I think he's going to be off a lot of teams boards. Houston and Ballard fell to the 3rd and 4th last year for the same thing. I think Adams could see a fall into at least the third round.

As for addressing the 3-4 DE, I'm still not convinced this is a priority for BB. Aside from Brockers, we know of no 3-4 types that visited the Pats this year and whilst it's not a given that a draftee also needs to be a visitee, in the last two years, the Pats have given an indication as to the type of player they're going to draft by the depth of visitees at a position and draft range. Add in the fact that they didn't draft DE's last year and probably played their best defensive football when in a 3-4 last year (Broncos/Ravens), at least against the run, I think if the Pats are going to pass on a position of need, 3-4 DE will be it.

Nice analysis overall though.

 

[supafly]

I wonder about Mike Adams. There's already question marks about his attitude and then to test positive for MJ at the combine, I think he's going to be off a lot of teams boards. Houston and Ballard fell to the 3rd and 4th last year for the same thing. I think Adams could see a fall into at least the third round.

As for addressing the 3-4 DE, I'm still not convinced this is a priority for BB. Aside from Brockers, we know of no 3-4 types that visited the Pats this year and whilst it's not a given that a draftee also needs to be a visitee, in the last two years, the Pats have given an indication as to the type of player they're going to draft by the depth of visitees at a position and draft range. Add in the fact that they didn't draft DE's last year and probably played their best defensive football when in a 3-4 last year (Broncos/Ravens), at least against the run, I think if the Pats are going to pass on a position of need, 3-4 DE will be it.

Nice analysis overall though.

Having watched him for his career as OSU, I honestly believe that he'll end up going a bit higher than he's worth. I do not think that BB will think about taking him.

I am not concerned about the pot test, and I do not think that too many teams will be scared off by him (specifically) failing a test for pot. I think a guy like Jenkins could be a totally different story, b/c there are many warning signs there. I am not seeing the pot as being as much of a problem for Adams as I am the poor bench presses/strength issues, and possible overrating of talent.

I would be inclined to look at him at 62 or in the 3rd, but obviously he'll be long gone by that time.

 

[supafly]

Be gentle...

1 Indianapolis - Andrew Luck QB Stanford

2 Washington - Robert Griffin QB Baylor

3 Minnesota - Ryan Kalil OT USC I think the Vikings would love to trade back and take Claiborne, but I don't see any of the next couple of teams being eager to
trade up, and I don't think Minnesota wants to trade back any furthur. In the end, they can't talk themselves into Claiborne here.

4 Cleveland - Trent Richardson RB Alabama. Again, I think they'd prefer to trade back, but will be unable.

5 Tampa Bay - Morris Claiborne CB LSU. A no-brainer if the draft works out this way.

6 St. Louis - Will Blackmon WR Oklahoma St

7 Jacksonville - Trade. Arizona moves up to get Tannehill QB Texas A&M. FU Miami. Jacksonville gets the Cardinals picks at 13 and 80. Cardinals get some insurance in case Kolb's concussions or general ineptness prove to be recurring.

8 Miami - Fletcher Cox DL Mississippi St - Frankly, the Dolphins caught a break -- Cox will probably help them more than Tannehill.

9 Carolina - Michael Floyd WR Notre Dame

10 Buffalo - Luke Kuechley LB Boston College

11 Kansas City - David DeCastro G Stanford

12 Seattle - Quinton Coples DE North Carolina

13 Jacksonville (from Arizona) - Stephon Gilmore CB South Carolina

14 Dallas - Dre Kirkpatrick CB Alabama

15 Philadelphia - Melvin Ingram DE South Carolina

16 NY Jets - Dontari Poe NT Memphis

17 Cincinnati (from Oakland) - Cordy Glenn G Georgia. If he's on the board, I don't see any way the Bengals pass him over.

18 San Diego - The Chargers have needs everywhere, and can take the best player available here. Who is that? For the system they run, probably Courtney Upshaw LB Alabama.

19 Chicago - Reilly Reiff OT Iowa. He's slipped a bit. Good for the Bears.

20 Tennessee - Michael Brockers DL LSU

21 Cincinnati - Janoris Jenkins CB North Alabama. Marvin Lewis never met a lost soul he didn't think he could reclaim.

22 Cleveland (from Atlanta) - The Browns need to find out if McCoy is legit. The way to do that is to get him some help. First was Richardson, now it's Stephen Hill WR Georgia Tech.

23 Detroit - Trade with Houston. Houston gets Donta Hightower LB Alabama before Pittsburgh does. Detroit gets #26 and other considerations that don't matter
in a 2-round mock. Let's say Houston's two 4th rounders go to Detroit in the swap.

24 Pittsburgh - Mike Adams OT Ohio St.

25 Denver - Peter Konz C Wisconsin. The Broncos are a center away from having a dominant OL. Fox and Manning seem like guys who would want that.

26 Detroit (from Houston) Trade to Philadelphia for Samuel and #51 with an exchange of lower picks. The Eagles take Mark Barron S Alabama, as they can
envision the Patriots taking the next Brian Dawkins.

27 New England (from New Orleans) Well, who you got? The choice of Mercilus, Perry, and McClellin is here. Or would you rather go for Still or Worthy? Or
Wright? I'm not sure anybody is eager to trade into this spot, so we'll have to use it. I really want to go defense all the way in the early rounds, but Wright is the only one I feel is a legit 1st round talent for this team, and we clearly need some WR youth. But sometimes you have to roll the dice on a guy who might need some
time to develop, but if he's well coached, he can grow into a game-changer. I'm going to take Mercilus OLB Illinois here.

28 Green Bay - Devon Still DE Penn St.

29 Baltimore - The Ravens have some critical needs along the O-line and at linebacker and in an ideal world would like to trade back for some more picks, but I don't see that happening. We'll give them Chandler Jones LB Syracuse here to play with his brother Arthur.

30 San Francisco - Jonathan Martin OT Stanford

31 New England - I've changed my mind about trading down here, because I don't see anybody that another team needs badly enough to trade up to get. Does Miami want to come up from 42 for a quarterback? I don't think they'd want to trade with Belichick when they can probably make that trade just as easily with the next 5 teams. Does anybody love Fleener? Perry? One of the second-tier running backs? If the Patriots can't work a deal, I'll give them Kendall Wright. But wait. We might find a trading partner, if say, there's a team in the NFC with a former Belichick associate running the draft whose pass-catching tight end is aging quickly and is in a win-now window and won't get Fleener if they stay where they were? I just can't imagine the Patriots making both 1st round picks, so let's trade it to Atlanta for #55, a sixth, and next year's first. Coby Fleener TE Stanford is the pick. Bama and Stanford own the first round.

32 New York Giants - The Giants don't have a whole lot of pressing needs, but with Jacobs gone and Bradshaw unreliable, Doug Martin RB Boise St makes sense
here.


Second round

33 St. Louis - Jerel Worthy DE Michigan St

34 Indianapolis - Kendall Reyes DT Connecticut

35 Minnesota - Harrison Smith S Notre Dame

36 Tampa Bay - David Wilson RB Virginia Tech

37 Cleveland - Brandon Weedon QB Oklahoma St

38 Jacksonville - Kendall Wright WR Baylor

39 St. Louis (from Washington) - Bobby Massie OT Mississippi

40 Carolina - Brandon Thompson DT Clemson

41 Buffalo - Amini Silatolu OL Midwestern St

42 Miami - Kirk Cousins QB Michigan St

43 Seattle - Vinny Curry LB Marshall

44 Kansas City - Shea McClellin LB Boise St

45 Dallas - Reuben Randle WR LSU

46 Philadelphia - Jayron Hosley CB Virginia Tech

47 NY Jets - Nick Perry OLB USC. This seems a little low, but these things happen sometimes.

48 New England (from Oakland) - I think Dennard or Sanu could be the pick here, as they both seem like Belichick-type guys. I think it might come down to which one is more likely to be there at 55. Although the next five teams could draft a WR, I'll opt for Alfonzo Dennard CB Nebraska at 48 and hope for the best - corners typically being higher in demand. Every Nebraska game I watched in 2010, the talking heads kept talking up Amukamara, but Dennard was the one who caught my eye.

49 San Diego -Jeff Allen OT Illinois

50 Chicago - Alshon Jeffery WR South Carolina

51 Detroit (from Arizona) - Welcome to the party Lions. Their first pick in the draft is Kevin Zeitler OL Wisconsin. They still pick before New Orleans and Oakland.

52 Tennessee - Trumaine Johnson CB Montana

53 Cincinnati - Lavonte David LB Nebraska

54 Detroit - George Iloka S Boise St

55 New England (from Atlanta) - Mohamed Sanu WR Rutgers. He seems to be a high character athlete out of Rutgers. He'll fit in fine, assuming he can help out on Teams.

56 Pittsburgh - Lamar Miller RB Miami (Florida)

57 Denver - Zach Brown LB North Carolina

58 Houston - Andre Branch OLB Clemson

59 Green Bay - Bruce Irvin OLB West Virginia

60 Baltimore - Ben Jones C Georgia

61 San Francisco - Brandon Brooks G Miami (Ohio)

62 New England - Brandon Boykin CB Georgia. I'm keeping my eye on Markelle Martin, but I'll gamble we can get him next round. If he does nothing else, Boykin will improve our return game a hundredfold.

63 New York Giants - Jared Crick DE Nebraska seems to be a perfect replacement for Tolleson along the front line.

Nice job, but I would HOPE that NE would move up a few spots from 48 to take one of either McClellin or Perry. That would be annoying to miss out on one of those guys for another CB.

 

[dryheat44]

Nice job, but I would HOPE that NE would move up a few spots from 48 to take one of either McClellin or Perry. That would be annoying to miss out on one of those guys for another CB.

If Mercilus is the pick in the first, I can't see that happening. Otherwise I would agree.

 

[patsfaninpa]

If Mark Barron slides to 26, I hope like hell we trade up to get him. I'd deal 2b(62) and get a 4 or so back depending on how high we move up. Love Mercilus at 27. Don't even care what we do after that. Barron would start. And, Mercilus would give us significant PT. Would like to get a couple of DL. But, is starting to thin out. Would consider Crick or Ta'amu at 48. If you really like one of the cb's you can go there too. I like Boykin and Housley

 

[Patriot Missile]

As for addressing the 3-4 DE, I'm still not convinced this is a priority for BB. Aside from Brockers, we know of no 3-4 types that visited the Pats this year and whilst it's not a given that a draftee also needs to be a visitee, in the last two years, the Pats have given an indication as to the type of player they're going to draft by the depth of visitees at a position and draft range. Add in the fact that they didn't draft DE's last year and probably played their best defensive football when in a 3-4 last year (Broncos/Ravens), at least against the run, I think if the Pats are going to pass on a position of need, 3-4 DE will be it.

This is one position that is hard to figure out. I could very well see the Pats passing on a DE based on their assessment of their own talent. For all we know they think Jonathan Fanene and Trevor Scott are the missing ingredients on the front 7 and are ready to move on with them. Coupled with Love's young progress and Pryor and Brace coming back they may not see the need like us fans do. I hope that's not the case but without being a fly on the wall we really don't know. BB is a coach first but I also think he enjoys being the teacher. I really think he believes he can teach anyone the game of football and if he has more time like he will this off season with ota's and training camp that he can get his players ready to play the multiple fronts including the 34 which we starting seeing more of in the latter stretch of the season.

Personally if one he likes fall in the first I can see him drafting him. If Brockers is close I can see him with a small trade up. But I can also see him pissing off the populace and waiting it out and getting a guy with pedigree like Malik Jackson out of USC,{or is it Tennesse} in the 4th or 5th round. That pick would be so BB like.

If we know one thing our mocks mean nothing in the eyes of the master. He should atleast take our 3rd round picks in consideration but he doesn't for some reason I cant fathom.

 

[Ochmed Jones]

Dryheat, great effort on the mock draft. We got some good picks from this mock and I would be very happy if it unfolded this way.

One thing I have to ask is if the Pats take Mercilous in the first round, does this mean they have given up on Cunningham?

 

[Patriot Missile]

Not addressed to me but that guy is a total enigma to me right now. I have no idea what's going on with him be it injury or attitude,skill set etc. Be interesting to see how training camp unfolds for him.

You would of figured he would of got some reps last season with the partial move back to a 34 towards the end of the season?

 

[patfanken]

Nice job Heat. A couple of things that popped out to me.

1. I agree with Metaphors - forget about WR's this year. Wright is a great prospect, but there will he more just like him next year. THIS year the larder if full. There will be a couple of guys that will be cut that will be better NFL WRs for THIS season, than anyone the Pats are in position to get.

2. Speaking of Wright, I think he'd be the better pick for Cleveland over Hill. Hill might end up being the better WR over the long term, but in Cleveland, Wright would be a major contributor right away.

3. Like the Mercilus pick, but I doubt he'll last into the 20's.

4. Since you made the pick, I have to ask, "do you really think Brandon Weedon is a better QB prospect than Ryan Mallet? (of course you know that that that's the trade I would make)

5. However I loved your trade idea. It makes a lot of sense

6. So lets make both our trades and using your draft order, this is what I'd do if the Pats had picks at 27, 37, 48, 55, and 62, and we didn't us the 37 to trade up

a. Mercilus - I agree whole heartedly
b. Brandon Thompson - based on whats available at 37 he'd be a solid pick.
c. Trumaine Johnson - not a Denard fan, but I wouldn't hate the pick. But I'm going for the guy with more size and a bigger upside (though a lower floor)
d. George Iloki - I know its cheating but its only by one.
e. I have enough players at this point and covered all my needs. So I trade this pick for a 2nd and 6th next year.
f. I trade again into next year for a 3rd
g. Continuing the trend I again trade it for a 4th next year.
h. btw- one of those trades into the future (probably with the Eagles) nets us a 7th this year, so BB will have a reason to show up on day 3 and can have is choice of his top UDFA prospects and start to build the PS.early

 

[patfanken]

Dryheat, great effort on the mock draft. We got some good picks from this mock and I would be very happy if it unfolded this way.

One thing I have to ask is if the Pats take Mercilous in the first round, does this mean they have given up on Cunningham?

good question, OJ. But I think they are 2 different players and could co-exist. Cunningham looked to be a strong side OLB, who's main job would be to set the edge-when the Pats are in a 3-4. The guy who backs up Ninko. Mercilus is a more explosive player who I see as Andre Carter in training. Someone who is a situational pass rusher in the 3-4 and can put his hand in the dirt on passing down that the Pats are in a 4-3

 

[dryheat44]

Nice job Heat. A couple of things that popped out to me.

1. I agree with Metaphors - forget about WR's this year. Wright is a great prospect, but there will he more just like him next year. THIS year the larder if full. There will be a couple of guys that will be cut that will be better NFL WRs for THIS season, than anyone the Pats are in position to get

2. Speaking of Wright, I think he'd be the better pick for Cleveland over Hill. Hill might end up being the better WR over the long term, but in Cleveland, Wright would be a major contributor right away.

3. Like the Mercilus pick, but I doubt he'll last into the 20's.

4. Since you made the pick, I have to ask, "do you really think Brandon Weedon is a better QB prospect than Ryan Mallet? (of course you know that that that's the trade I would make)

5. However I loved your trade idea. It makes a lot of sense

6. So lets make both our trades and using your draft order, this is what I'd do if the Pats had picks at 27, 37, 48, 55, and 62, and we didn't us the 37 to trade up

a. Mercilus - I agree whole heartedly
b. Brandon Thompson - based on whats available at 37 he'd be a solid pick.
c. Trumaine Johnson - not a Denard fan, but I wouldn't hate the pick. But I'm going for the guy with more size and a bigger upside (though a lower floor)
d. George Iloki - I know its cheating but its only by one.
e. I have enough players at this point and covered all my needs. So I trade this pick for a 2nd and 6th next year.
f. I trade again into next year for a 3rd
g. Continuing the trend I again trade it for a 4th next year.
h. btw- one of those trades into the future (probably with the Eagles) nets us a 7th this year, so BB will have a reason to show up on day 3 and can have is choice of his top UDFA prospects and start to build the PS.early

1. I'm a believer in the board. If the highest rated player is a WR, take him. I really don't think that highly of Branch, Stallworth, or 86 at this point in their careers that I'd avoid drafting a WR.

4. That makes sense for Cleveland, but why would we do it? We got the purported QB successor last year for a 3rd rounder, and we should trade him after 1 year for a 2nd? Hoyer's gone in a year. Let's keep an experienced backup -- he's worth more to us than a 2nd and spending a pick to replace him.

 

[Water Boy]

Nice job Heatster. I like how you have Philly swooping in to grab Barron. They steal my binky every year.

I'd be pretty happy with Mercilus and Sanu. Not much of a Dennard fan.

 

[old 55]

The more I think about it, the more I think that we'll pick a couple of WR in the draft. I could see Sanu as the primary WR targeted & a later round on Moss who has size and great combine numbers, but little experience.
My thinking is that most of our WR are signed only through the upcoming season and BB likes to draft players to develop in the 2nd year as serious contributors.
Look at the Oline. BB drafted OT & OG before he needed them and also signed Waters who was foolishly released by KC. I think the draft will set up the transition in the WR corps for the post Branch era.

 

[JackBauer]

Fleener AND Sanu? I'd take one or the other, but not both.

I do agree that one of the picks should be used on WR.

 

[dryheat44]

Fleener AND Sanu? I'd take one or the other, but not both.

I do agree that one of the picks should be used on WR.

Read that Fleener pick again more carefully.

 

[VJCPatriot]

If Fleener is as good as advertised, why not take him and roll out the NFL's first Triple Tight End offense?

 

[dryheat44]

Nice job Heatster. I like how you have Philly swooping in to grab Barron. They steal my binky every year.

I'd be pretty happy with Mercilus and Sanu. Not much of a Dennard fan.

After today's news, I'm not sure I would take Dennard either. Need to be comfortable with his off-field stuff.