One thing to remember about Kirwan, and I had forgotten about it until PFT reminded me last night, is that he has been accused of manipulating his mock drafts to help out his friends among agents. He actually got a kickback off Carson Palmer's contract:
A reader has pointed out to us that Pat Kirwan of NFL.com, who recently had defensive end Jamaal Anderson completely out of his first-round mock draft, also has taken running back Marshawn Lynch off of the board.
So what gives? Kirwan says that "[q]uestions are emerging" about Lynch, but doesn't delve into said questions. We've done some poking around, and the only questions we're aware of relate to allegations that were made and promptly disregarded by a female acquaintance several months ago.
For Kirwan, however, something apparently has bubbled up in the past week to cause Lynch to fall from No. 16 to the Packers all the way out of the round.
In fact, the thinking is that Lynch won't get past the Titans at No. 19. We're told that he has visits lined up with Cleveland, Baltimore, Tennessee, Green Bay, Detroit, and Buffalo, and private workouts with the Packers and the Titans.
The Bills, Packers, and Titans all need a clear-cut No. 1 tailback. We can't see all three saying no to Lynch.
Even if they do, we envision someone trading into the bottom of round one to snare him, just like the Lions did a few years back in landing Kevin Jones.
And, though we've got no real beef with Kirwan, it's hard to ponder his slate of picks without recalling the side deal he allegedly had several years back in connection with the rookie contract of quarterback Carson Palmer, who coincidentally happened to be the No. 1 guy on Kirwan's mock draft. One league insider who eyeballed Kirwan's mock spotted several CAA clients positioned far higher than many think they will be taken.
We're not suggesting that Kirwan is pimping for Tom Condon or Ben Dogra. But the reality of the mock draft process is that agent relationships often can color the manner in which certain players are regarded.
