Pony...I've been on the tradedown/Mayo/CB/OLB mindset for quite a while now. My call was Mayo + Patrick Lee + Jeremy Thompson, only because I didn't believe the positioning would work out well enough to get Cason and Avril. I'm starting to talk myself into raising expectations. I don't think the Pats want to accumulate picks so they should have enough ammo to trade up and there are teams light on picks (Minnesota at #47, Tampa at #52) that would likely be willing to trade down.
I'll stick with my original picks in the draft contest, but I'm hoping for better.
M,
I try not to be overly optimistic in these mocks, so I used Gosselin's 100...
Mayo at 13 (Gosselin ranking 19)
Cason at 43 (Gosselin ranking 45- cutting it close)
Avril at 62 (Gosselin ranking 79)
Zuttah at 69 (Gosselin ranking 89)
Okam at 94 (unranked)
Obviously Cason is a huge wild card. There may be another club smart enough to overlook pedestrian 40 times to draft a savvy pro.
If the trade down is with NO, to #10, in exchange for S Ellis, which is another possibility, that would probably yield pick #78. I would still take Mayo at #10 and then package #69 +#78 to get up to #45 and take Cason if available.
Then select Avril at #62, and see if I could maneuver up for Zuttah from #94 using later rd picks, and hope that Okam or Red Bryant are still available in rd 4.
If Cason is already off the board before picks #44/#45, I would grab Avril early at #45 and take Ch. Jackson at #62.
