2014 Mock Draft ~ Final Exams!!

[Off The Grid]

29. Dominique Easley DT
62. Trade Down for #76 and #108
76. Louis Nix III - NT - Notre Dame
105. Bruce Ellington - WR - South Carolina
108. Bryan Stork - OC - FSU
130. Dakota Dozier - OG - Furman
140. Telvin Smith - LB - FSU
179. Antone Exum - DB - VTech
198. Marion Grice - RB - Arizona State
206. Jemea Thomas - DB - GTech
244. Gator Hoskins - TE/HBack - Marshall

Woo Hoo!! Brother Leemo's in!! We are now eight!!

Great Work, Brother.

 

[Off The Grid]

6 Days left to play, Brothers!!

DeadLine is 0400, Tuesday the 27th!!

 

[ashley]

ok, here goes:

29- Rashede Hageman (would have probably preferred to trade back, but I was debating between Hageman and Tuitt if we stayed.)
62-CJ Fiedorowicz
105-Russell Bodine
130-Brock Vareen
179-Antoine Exum
198-Zach Moore
206-Daniel McCullers

 

[Patriot Missile]

Calling Captain Stone. Would like to see you put your hat in this game. I'm interested to see how you would of went about fixing this team with this years draft. Just put your name out there and own it without being Captain Hindsight.

 

[Off The Grid]

Calling Captain Stone. Would like to see you put your hat in this game. I'm interested to see how you would of went about fixing this team with this years draft. Just put your name out there and own it without being Captain Hindsight.

That is an awesome point!! Best Post of the Thread!!

C'mon down, Brother Stone!!

Put your Money where your mouth is...if...you...dare!!

 

[Off The Grid]

ok, here goes:

29- Rashede Hageman (would have probably preferred to trade back, but I was debating between Hageman and Tuitt if we stayed.)
62-CJ Fiedorowicz
105-Russell Bodine
130-Brock Vareen
179-Antoine Exum
198-Zach Moore
206-Daniel McCullers

Beautiful!!

Nice Mock, too.

 

[Off The Grid]

4 Days left to play, Brothers & Sisters!!

DeadLine is 0400, Tuesday the 27th!!

C'mon down, Brother Stone!!
Put your Money where your mouth is...if...you...dare!!

 

[ashley]

4 Days left to play, Brothers & Sisters!!

DeadLine is 0400, Tuesday the 27th!!

C'mon down, Brother Stone!!
Put your Money where your mouth is...if...you...dare!!

I like how you added "Sisters"

Beautiful!!

Nice Mock, too.

Thanks, really enjoyed doing it!!!!

 

[Off The Grid]

4 Days left to play, Brothers & Sisters!!

DeadLine is 0400, Tuesday the 27th!!

C'mon down, Brother Stone!!
Put your Money where your mouth is...if...you...dare!!

I like how you added "Sisters"

Just correcting an inexcusable Oversight, Fair One. Honored to have you join us!!

 

[patsfaninpa]

ok, here goes:

29- Rashede Hageman (would have probably preferred to trade back, but I was debating between Hageman and Tuitt if we stayed.)
62-CJ Fiedorowicz
105-Russell Bodine
130-Brock Vareen
179-Antoine Exum
198-Zach Moore
206-Daniel McCullers

You shorted yourself a player. The supplemental pick at the end of Round 4. You just found money in the sofa! What'ya going to spend it on?

 

[Off The Grid]

Ok, here goes:

29- Rashede Hageman (would have probably preferred to trade back, but I was debating between Hageman and Tuitt if we stayed.)
62-CJ Fiedorowicz
105-Russell Bodine
130-Brock Vareen
179-Antoine Exum
198-Zach Moore
206-Daniel McCullers

You shorted yourself a player. The supplemental pick at the end of Round 4. You just found money in the sofa! What'ya going to spend it on?

Good Catch, Brother Penn Pat!!

I hope you get that in Time, Sister!!

*By the way, Ashley and All: You can twist it any way you want: Trades and such!!*

 

[ashley]

Great catch, thanks!!!

pick 140 - Telvin Smith

You shorted yourself a player. The supplemental pick at the end of Round 4. You just found money in the sofa! What'ya going to spend it on?

 

[Off The Grid]

Less than 24 Hours to go, Brothers & Sisters!! The Buzzer goes off at 0400 tomorrow!!

We currently have 9 Men & Woman of Courage & Vision participating in this Grand UnderTaking:

Patriot Missile

Brady6

BigT

Vrable Junior

MayoClinic

Coach42

PatsFanInPennSylvania

Leemo

Ashley

Strangely enough, Captain Stone's name is conspicuously absent.

Surely he's not afraid to put his legendary Reputation on the line??

 

[mmasterkillah]

I'd have the HOPE of landing an elite interior o-lineman or Ryan Shazier, but the way it turned out, I would've gone:

Rd 1 Dominique Easley DT or TE Sefarian-Jenkins
Rd 2 Kareem Martin DE
Rd 4 Bryan Stork C, Kevin Pierre-Louis LB, Cameron Fleming OT
Rd 6 David Fales QB, Seantrel Henderson OT, Brandon Watts LB
Rd 7 CB Carrington Byndom

 

[Off The Grid]

I'd have the HOPE of landing an elite interior o-lineman or Ryan Shazier, but the way it turned out, I would've gone:

Rd 1 Dominique Easley DT or TE Sefarian-Jenkins
Rd 2 Kareem Martin DE
Rd 4 Bryan Stork C, Kevin Pierre-Louis LB, Cameron Fleming OT
Rd 6 David Fales QB, Seantrel Henderson OT, Brandon Watts LB
Rd 7 CB Carrington Byndom

Umm...NO.

Honored that you would propose to join us, Brother M, but Hyphenators Need Not Apply.

In this Game, you must commit to your Choices 100%...or not at all.

 

[mmasterkillah]

Sorry Brudda Griddy, I guess it would be the pick on a whim when I close my eyes on draft day.

::closes eyes and picks Sefarian-Jenkins at 29::

EDIT: Sometimes I feel that presenting more information is more opportunity for other's to decide on the quality of a man's opinion. I do understand the ONE choice only, pretending it's a real draft, but giving you two options that I would consider possibly gives you more of an understanding of my thoughts on the subject, whether it be positionally, or the talent itself... but because I feel a wee-bit disrespected by my personal favorite Patsfans' personality OTG, I want you to know I do a little bit of scouting every season. Here are my pre-draft top 10s at each spot, if you're interested. Thanks for reading:

 

[Off The Grid]

Apologies for the lateness, but I was incommunicado in Ohio for the weekend, and did not return until earlier this evening.

Now I'm not sure if what I'm about to write fits the description of your Final Exam, but this is what I would've done if I were in Bill's shoes on draft weekend:

Trade 29 to Minny for 40 & 108: Ebron, Zach Martin, Shazier, Buchanon, Pryor & Clinton Dix are all gone; Bitonio, XSF, ASJ, Amaro & Kony Ealy are my next favorite targets, but I just don't know if any of them are #29 overall worthy. I want more picks in a deep draft, so I'll take a chance that I can get one of them later.

Trade 40 to St Lou for 44 & 153: Bitonio, XSF & ASJ are gone, but Amaro & Kony Ealy are still available, and getting a 5th-rounder (which I didn't previously have) for moving down a mere 4 spots is worth the risk.

At 44 I select TE Jace Amaro: there is not one single TE in the rest of this draft who can do what Amaro can do, and we absolutely Must have a Move TE to make this offense work. I would not have felt real great about taking him at 29, but I feel a lot better taking him at 44 while adding 108 & 153.

At 62 I select either DE Scott Crichton or DE Kareem Martin (I would've been happy with either of them): by far the 2 best remaining pass-rushers in the draft. C/G Marcus Martin was strongly considered, but the available depth at interior OL greatly exceeded the depth at DE.

Like Bill, I also would've traded 93 to Jax for 105 & 179, especially after Trai Turner (my best available OG) was just taken at 92.

At 105 I select RB Andre Williams: Blount's immediate replacement, and Ridley's future replacement. I realize that I was very, very strongly opposed to drafting a RB anywhere at all; but now I have 3 additional picks, so I'm pulling a Rick "I meant it at the time" Pitino and taking one here. The kid's a class act, too.

At 108 I select CB Pierre Desir: another position I would not have addressed with only 8 picks, but with the shaky legal standings of Browner & Dennard, the one-and-done likelihood of Revis, and the bloated contract of Arrington, taking one of the Best Players Available regardless of position seems like a good idea. Another good kid, too.

At 130 I select DT Caraun Reid: here's the penetrating DT we've been asking for; if Dom Easley is still available, then I'll take him instead.

continued in next post...

I'm Cutting & Pasting these for you, Brother Stone.

 

[Off The Grid]

Brother Stone's BackDraft, Part 2:

…continued:

At 140 I select OG John Urschel: much better athletically than originally thought, he has the physical & mental makeup to eventually become a starting-caliber Center. The conversations between him & Reid during practices would be mind-boggling.

At 153 I select either LB Jordan Tripp or LB Lamin Barrow: both are athletic enough to hang with TEs & RBs in space, and both appear sturdier than Telvin Smith, who seems to have attempted to gain weight the old-fashioned method - by getting the Munchies.

At 179 I select DB Antone Exum: he might need a medical redshirt year, but by 2015 he could very well become our starting SS.

At 198 I select OT Laurent Duvernay Tardif: one of the most athletic OLmen in the entire draft, he could become our Swing Tackle by 2015, and our starting RT by 2016 if Vollmer continues to have health "issues" that would make his contract unworthy of his production. I'm sure that LDT is a Montreal Canadiens fan, but I won't hold it against him if he can play football.

At 206 I select WR Jeff Janis: like LDT, he's one of the most athletic players at his position in the entire draft; and again like LDT his level of competition is his biggest question mark. At this point of the draft, I feel that he's easily worth the risk to learn the answer.

And finally, at 244 I select DE Zach Moore: another athletic, small-school kid with potential at a position of perpetual need. I would love it if he were to last this long; but if he were already taken, then there are multiple options still available, including DEs Adrian Hubbard, Jackson Jeffcoat & James Gayle, not to mention many other players at other positions.

I hope these posts answer your questions OTG, and again apologies for the delay in responding. I'll be interested to see how my suggestions fare vs Bill's actual choices.

 

[Off The Grid]

*** I plan on posting the Long & Windy Version late Tuesday Night, explaining all my thinking. ***

*** I'll respond to any Questions & Criticisms at that point!! ***

***
​

1 ~ Apologies for the following Brevity ~ though many would prefer it, I'm sure!!

2 ~ I'm up against my own DeadLine, so I only have time to produce the CliffNotes Version.

3 ~ I'll plan on Cutting & Pasting the Long Version tomorrow night ~ Tuesday Night, that is.

***

PreDraft Trades

1 ~ #244 to Beefalo for WB Evan Rodriguez.
2 ~ OT Marcus Cannon to the Rams for WB Lance Kendricks.
3 ~ HB Stevan Ridley & XB Brandon Bolden to the Raiders for WB Marcel Reece & OT Matt McCants.
4 ~ LD Armon Armstead & RB Duran Harmon to the Eagles for DD Vince Curry & #169.
5 ~ QB Ryan Mallet to Planet Hoosten for #101 & #216.
6 ~ DD Donta HighTower & GD Joe Vellano to the Ravens for #48 & WB Kyle Juszczyk.
7 ~ CB Aqib Talib (Tag&Trade) to the RedSkins for #34, #102, and #178.
8 ~ TE Rob Gronkowski to the Cardinals for #20, #120, #196, and their 2014 1st Rounder.

Draft Day Trades

1 ~ #20 & #48 to the Giants for #12 & #113.
2 ~ #29 & #206 to the Vikings for #40 & #96.
3 ~ #34 to the CowBoys for #47 & #78.
4 ~ #40 to the Lions for #45, #133, and #189.
5 ~ #45 to the Jets for #49 & #154.
6 ~ #47, #113, and #125 to the Packers for #53, #85, and #197.
7 ~ #49 to the Lightning Bolts for #57 & #125.
8 ~ #53 to Tampa for #69 & #143 & #221.
9 ~ #62 to Planet Hoosten for #65 & #177.

The Picks

1 ~ #12 ~ WD Aaron Donald.
2 ~ #57 ~ CB Stanley Jean Baptiste.
3 ~ #65 ~ OC Markus Martin.
4 ~ #69 ~ FD Christian Kirksey.
5 ~ #78 ~ WD Will Sutton.
6 ~ #85 ~ CB Phillip Gaines.
7 ~ #93 ~ XB Jerick McKinnon.
8 ~ #96 ~ OG Brandon Thomas.
9 ~ #101 ~ XB DeVonta Freeman.
10 ~ #102 ~ GD Justin Ellis.
11 ~ #120 ~ SE Kevin Norwood.
12 ~ #130 ~ FD Kevin Pierre Louis.
13 ~ #133 ~ OG Dakota Dozier.
14 ~ #140 ~ DD Aaron Lynch.
15 ~ #143 ~ WD Caraun Reid.
16 ~ #154 ~ OC John Urschel.
17 ~ #169 ~ FB Jared Abbrederis.
18 ~ #177 ~ RB Antone Exum.
19 ~ #179 ~ QB David Fales.
20 ~ #189 ~ PK Pat O'Donnell.
21 ~ #196 ~ OT Laurent DuVernay Tardif.
22 ~ #197 ~ OT Garrett Scott.
23 ~ #198 ~ XB Marion Grice.
24 ~ #216 ~ WB Trey Milard.
25 ~ #221 ~ GD Zach Kerr.

UFA's

1 ~ QB Bryn Renner.
2 ~ WB Nikita Whitlock.
3 ~ WB Colt Lyerla.
4 ~ XB Zach Bauman.
5 ~ SE Quincy Enunwa.
6 ~ SE Geraldo Boldewijn.
7 ~ SE Kofi Hughes.
8 ~ WD Christopher Whaley.
9 ~ FD Christian Jones.
10 ~ RB Victor Hampton.

FA's

1 ~ CB Darrelle Revis.
2 ~ OG Davin Joseph.
3 ~ OG Will Rackley.
4 ~ OT Charlie Brown.
5 ~ CB Antonio Cromartie.

Cut Loose

1 ~ SB Danny Amendola.
2 ~ SB Julian Edelman.
3 ~ OC Ryan Wendell.
4 ~ HB LaGarrette Blount.
5 ~ DT Tommy Kelly.
6 ~ MF Brandon Spikes.
7 ~ CF Steve Gregory.

Retain

1 ~ MF Dane Fletcher.

 

[mayoclinic]

*** I plan on posting the Long & Windy Version late Tuesday Night, explaining all my thinking. ***

*** I'll respond to any Questions & Criticisms at that point!! ***

***
​

1 ~ Apologies for the following Brevity ~ though many would prefer it, I'm sure!!

2 ~ I'm up against my own DeadLine, so I only have time to produce the CliffNotes Version.

3 ~ I'll plan on Cutting & Pasting the Long Version tomorrow night ~ Tuesday Night, that is.

***

PreDraft Trades

1 ~ #244 to Beefalo for WB Evan Rodriguez.
2 ~ OT Marcus Cannon to the Rams for WB Lance Kendricks.
3 ~ HB Stevan Ridley & XB Brandon Bolden to the Raiders for WB Marcel Reece & OT Matt McCants.
4 ~ LD Armon Armstead & RB Duran Harmon to the Eagles for DD Vince Curry & #169.
5 ~ QB Ryan Mallet to Planet Hoosten for #101 & #216.
6 ~ DD Donta HighTower & GD Joe Vellano to the Ravens for #48 & WB Kyle Juszczyk.
7 ~ CB Aqib Talib (Tag&Trade) to the RedSkins for #34, #102, and #178.
8 ~ TE Rob Gronkowski to the Cardinals for #20, #120, #196, and their 2014 1st Rounder.

Draft Day Trades

1 ~ #20 & #48 to the Giants for #12 & #113.
2 ~ #29 & #206 to the Vikings for #40 & #96.
3 ~ #34 to the CowBoys for #47 & #78.
4 ~ #40 to the Lions for #45, #133, and #189.
5 ~ #45 to the Jets for #49 & #154.
6 ~ #47, #113, and #125 to the Packers for #53, #85, and #197.
7 ~ #49 to the Lightning Bolts for #57 & #125.
8 ~ #53 to Tampa for #69 & #143 & #221.
9 ~ #62 to Planet Hoosten for #65 & #177.

The Picks

1 ~ #12 ~ WD Aaron Donald.
2 ~ #57 ~ CB Stanley Jean Baptiste.
3 ~ #65 ~ OC Markus Martin.
4 ~ #69 ~ FD Christina Kirksey.
5 ~ #78 ~ WD Will Sutton.
6 ~ #85 ~ CB Phillip Gaines.
7 ~ #93 ~ XB Jerick McKinnon.
8 ~ #96 ~ OG Brandon Thomas.
9 ~ #101 ~ XB DeVonta Freeman.
10 ~ #102 ~ GD Justin Ellis.
11 ~ #120 ~ SE Kevin Norwood.
12 ~ #130 ~ FD Kevin Pierre Louis.
13 ~ #133 ~ OG Dakota Dozier.
14 ~ #140 ~ DD Aaron Lynch.
15 ~ #143 ~ WD Caraun Reid.
16 ~ #154 ~ OC John Urschel.
17 ~ #169 ~ FB Jared Abbrederis.
18 ~ #177 ~ RB Antone Exum.
19 ~ #179 ~ QB David Fales.
20 ~ #189 ~ PK Pat O'Donnell.
21 ~ #196 ~ OT Laurent DuVernay Tardif.
22 ~ #197 ~ OT Garrett Scott.
23 ~ #198 ~ XB Marion Grice.
24 ~ #216 ~ WB Trey Milard.
25 ~ #221 ~ GD Zach Kerr.

UFA's

1 ~ QB Bryn Renner.
2 ~ WB Nikita Whitlock.
3 ~ WB Colt Lyerla.
4 ~ XB Zach Bauman.
5 ~ SE Quincy Enunwa.
6 ~ SE Geraldo Boldewijn.
7 ~ SE Kofi Hughes.
8 ~ WD Christopher Whaley.
9 ~ FD Christian Jones.
10 ~ RB Victor Hampton.

FA's

1 ~ CB Darrelle Revis.
2 ~ OG Davin Joseph.
3 ~ OG Will Rackley.
4 ~ OT Charlie Brown.
5 ~ CB Antonio Cromartie.

Cut Loose

1 ~ SB Danny Amendola.
2 ~ SB Julian Edelman.
3 ~ OC Ryan Wendell.
4 ~ HB LaGarrette Blount.
5 ~ DT Tommy Kelly.
6 ~ MF Brandon Spikes.
7 ~ CF Steve Gregory.

Retain

1 ~ MF Dane Fletcher.

I thought this was a "backdraft", not an entire off-season re-do. Those are both useful exercises, but entirely different. I would do many of the offseason moves over again that I had previously discussed (such as cutting Wilfork and signing Linval Joseph or Lamarr Houston, signing Wesley Woodyard, retaining Dane Fletcher, and many others), but the draft took place after teams had made offseason moves, and would have progressed differently if free agency had fallen differently, so it's hard to project.

Needless to say, we agree on many players: Aaron Donald (though I'm more than content with Easley, who I think will be as good), Phillip Gaines, Brandon Thomas, Devonta Freeman, Kevin Pierre-Louis, John Urschel, Antone Exum, Marion Grice, Trey Millard. I love Zach Kerr, and I would have made a major push for Christian Jones as a UDFA. I'm with you 100% on Christopher Whaley.

Places where I differ from you, FWIW:

- In your scenario I would have packaged 57 and 62 (and more if necessary) to move back into the 1st round to take Dominique Easley. Donald + Easley = maximum disruption. I'd make John Urschel my long term center, so I don't need Marcus Martin as well.

- I liked the Cameron Fleming pick much more than you, and would have used your #143 on him.

- I'd take Garrett Gilbert as my QB prospect over David Fales.