If you’re reading this now, this means the draft is over. While I love doing actual mock drafts, I don’t like giving away my secrets, as well as others’ secrets that were given to me…but I still do a mock draft anyway.
Let’s see how accurate I got. Let’s see if my mock team for you is better or worse than the team you actually drafted in my five-round mock draft.
* = Trade (K) = Keeper
ROUND ONE
1. Eric – Ray Rice, RB-BAL It’s Rice vs. McCoy, McCoy vs. Rice. Either way, Eric can’t make a wrong pick (barring injury of course). In my Spring mock, I had McCoy going first, but I’m changing my mind since every mock I read has Rice ahead of McCoy.
2. Rich C – LeSean McCoy, RB-PHI I actually think McCoy could be better than Rice. If you go back and look at his numbers when Michael Vick was playing last year, McCoy is better than Rice. However, when Vick goes down, Rice is better than McCoy. I guess Calderon will be relying on Vick’s health yet again in 2012.
3. JEFF – Maurice Jones-Drew, RB-JAC Last I checked, he’s still holding out. That’s always risky. Chris Johnson held out last year and he got stuck in second gear for nearly the entire 2011 season. Having said that, there is no way Jeff passes on last year’s leading rusher in his prime.
4. RICH B* – Larry Fitzgerald, WR-ARI Burrier has stated that if Trent Richardson impressed him in the preseason he would take him, if not, he’d take the best WR on the board. Well, Richardson is out with a knee injury, thus Rich goes wide receiver.
5. MATT – Adrian Peterson, RB-MIN I’ve said it before to anyone willing to listen and I’ll say it again, someone will take a chance on Purple Jesus in round one. In my last mock, I said Colby had the big balls to do it. This time around, I’m putting the big hairy ones onto Matt. It’s a hell of risk, but we’ll all regret it if it pays off.
6. GRIFF – Roddy White, WR-ATL Griff’s got a couple of options here. He obviously could keep it simple and go Michael Turner. That would be boring and Griff’s not into boring. He could take Jimmy Graham. Is it too early for a tight end? Maybe, but he saw how great Graham made his wife last year. Still, you’re looking at about 3-4 elite wide receivers left in the draft and Griff HAS TO use his second-round pick on a running back.
7. ROB M – Chris Johnson, RB-TEN (K) Rob had to keep him over Bradshaw. Look for Johnson to bounce back in 2012. I’m not predicting he’s going to win the rushing title, but I don’t think 1,300-1,400 yards is out of the question.
8. MOLLY – Aaron Rodgers, QB-GB (K) Um, yeah. A retarded dog with Aids could have made this decision.
9. ROBIO* – Jimmy Graham, TE-NO Fearing Colby will use his first-round pick to take Graham, I swap picks with Don to grab the Saints’ star tight end. The fact is this…if last year wasn’t a fluke, then Graham (along with Gronkowski) are as good as the elite wide receivers on the board.
10. COLBY – Trent Richardson, RB-CLE Well, the good news is Colby got the running back he wanted all along. The question is, with that second knee surgery, does he still want the next Adrian Peterson? It’s a risky pick, which means Colby better jump on some running back insurance early.
11. RICH B – Drew Brees, QB-NO (K) Um yeah.
12. BOB – Michael Turner, RB-ATL What does a Bob do? Turner is the clear starter in Atlanta. However, he’s 30 years old now. It’s not a matter of if he will hit a Shaun Alexander-sized wall, but when? Does Turner have one more year in him?
ROUND TWO
13. BOB – A.J. Green, WR-CIN Wait, no Andre Johnson? That’s right, Bob grabs the next generation Andre Johnson with A.J. Green and let’s someone else sweat over A-John’s injury issues.
14. DON* – Steven Jackson, RB-STL In Don’s mind, starting with Michael Turner, the next four or five backs are all the same. Why not trade down, get a better third-round pick and see who falls to him at Burrier’s old second-round pick. Jackson’s health is always a concern now, but what back doesn’t have some kind of huge question mark at this point?
15. COLBY – Tom Brady, QB-NE (K) Um, yeah.
16. DON – Andre Johnson, WR-HOU Despite the injury issues, Don will jump for joy if Johnson falls to him at this point. Prior to the keepers, I thought Molly would keep Graham, so I would draft either Cruz or Green with Burrier’s 14th pick, but when she kept Cruz, everything changed and Don got himself a law firm, Jackson, Jackson and Johnson.
17. MOLLY – Jamaal Charles, RB-KC When you have Aaron Rodgers leading your team, you can afford to take some chances. Molly clearly needs a back with his first actual pick. I know she’s dying for the hometown kid Doug Martin, but of all the remaining backs, Charles is the most explosive.
18. ROB M – Ahmad Bradshaw, RB-NYG Bradshaw is probably not Rob’s dream pick. He’s just not that sexy and Masterson loves sexy. Still, he’s starting, he’s consistent and he’ll produce at least 1,000 yards rushing this season.
19. GRIFF – Michael Vick, QB-PHI Too early? Probably…especially with Martin sitting right there. I just think Martin to Molly or Griff is too obvious. With Vick, there is no other player on the board capable of delivering a 500-point game on any given week.
20. MATT – Doug Martin, RB-TB At this point, Matt’s going with the 10-3 or 3-10 approach. After taking a chance on Peterson in round one, he grabs Martin, a running back who probably won’t even be starting in week one (although he’ll get plenty of touches). If Martin can overtake Blount (which is what many are predicting) and Peterson can show no ill-effects from his ACL, Matt could be a 10-win team. Of course if Martin never passes Blount and Peterson struggles with his recovery, then he’s looking at three wins.
21. ROBIO – Percy Harvin, WR-MIN I’m really deciding between Harvin, Marshall and Wallace. Of the three only one of them was a top-five receiver during the second-half of last year. That’s the guy I’m drafting.
22. JEFF – Tony Romo, QB-DAL This is a tough pick to figure out. Jeff should be cool with Sproles (at least cool enough to wait to draft another running back), but he also needs two wide receivers. Let’s hope Jeff is smart enough to know this is a deep wide receiver draft. If he waits two more rounds to draft a quarterback, it might be too late.
23. RICH C – Calvin Johnson, WR-DET (K) Can you say back-to-back years of first-team All-Robio?
24. ERIC – Brandon Marshall, WR-CHI Marshall was money when Jay Cutler was throwing him the ball in Denver. Now the duo is back together in Chicago. Good news, right?
ROUND THREE
25. ERIC – Peyton Manning, QB-DEN Three picks in and Eric has already wrapped up both running back spots (Rice/Forte), so he needs one more WR, but again, this is a deep WR draft. He can go elite tight end (Gates, Witten, etc), defense (49ers, Ravens, Steelers, etc) or better yet, quarterback. With that resolve it comes down to which Manning you prefer?
26. RICH C – Eli Manning, QB-NYG Twenty-one more picks after this one is a long time to wait if you want a stud quarterback. Calderon decides not to wait and grabs the homer pick.
27. JEFF – Mike Wallace, WR – PIT Tough call for Jeff…I bet he would have loved Eli, but I doubt Philip Rivers tickles his fancy. Instead, he locks down a WR1 with Wallace.
28. DON* – DeMaryius Thomas, WR-DEN Somewhere in this round someone is going to grab Peyton Manning’s favorite target. The problem is, no one knows for sure who it is. Most are projecting Thomas over Decker.
29. MATT – Greg Jennings, WR-GB (K) There is no reason to believe he won’t continue to do what he always does..produce.
30. GRIFF – Wes Welker, WR-NE (K) A Wes Welker/Roddy White receiving duo is easily the best in the league, but do I really believe Griff would wait until the fourth round to grab a second back? He has no choice in this round because Welker is a keeper. Makes me want to re-think my second-round pick for Griff.
31. ROB M – Philip Rivers, QB-SD I’m not sure what Rob will do. Hell, I’m not really sure what he’ll do in round two. If he ends up going wide out in round two, then he’s clearly going running back now, thus Shonn Green. Of course, I have him taking a RB in round two so he should go wideout, but there are plenty of decent ones still available. It’s a quarterbacks league and no one learned that more than Rob last year.
32. MOLLY – Shonn Greene, RB-NYJ With Tomlinson gone, can anyone really challenge Greene for carries? Yes, she got burned by him two years ago, but Molly’s grown, Greene has grown, we’ve all grown.
33. ROBIO – Dwayne Bowe, WR-KC I’ve never liked Bowe, but yeah, if my mock holds true, I’d take him over either Cowboys receiver. I just don’t know which one (Austin/Bryant) is going to be the true star. At least in Kansas City, I know Bowe is the top guy. He did have 80+ catches for over 1,100 yards with Matt Cassel missing half the games last year, so he can’t be that bad.
34. COLBY – Issac Redman, RB-PIT Is the third round too early for insurance? With Richardson’s knee problem, Colby has little choice but to get another back. The best case scenario is, all his backs play great and he ships one off for talent elsewhere.
35. ROBIO – Matt Ryan, QB-ATL If both Roddy White and Julio Jones are expected to be WR1’s this season, then shouldn’t Matt Ryan be an elite quarterback? Of course I might be silly thinking I’m the only person who has figured this out. I would not be shocked if he went ahead of both Manning’s, who I have going in the end of the second/early third-round.
36. BOB – Ryan Mathews, RB-SD (K) He’s projected to be a star this year, but we still need to see how many actual games (if any) he will miss. The fact is, Mathews has yet to demonstrate that he is a full-time 16-game football star.
ROUND FOUR
37. BOB – Vernon Davis, TE-SF Did you see how good he was at the end of last season and in the post-season? I know Bob did. Note: If someone drafts Graham ahead of me in round one, then I’m going to grab Davis in the third-round.
38. RICH B – Steve Ridley, RB-NE 37 picks in, plus a ton of keepers still left to be kept and Burrier has yet to draft a running back. That can’t be good. There are plenty of veterans to grab (Bush, Gore, McGahee), but look for Rich to stay close to home and add another Patriot to the mix.
39. COLBY – 49ers, DST-SF Colby loves D. He loves being the first guy to take a D. He says he’s going to wait…I guess I don’t have faith in that.
40. DON – Antonio Gates, TE-SD At this point, if Don hasn’t taken a quarterback, there is little reason to reach for one now. Based on my mock, he is the only one without a quarterback…at this point, just wait.
41. MOLLY – Vincent Jackson, WR-TB He’s suppose to be the number one option in Tampa. With Mike Williams on the other side, Dallas Clark at the tight end and two solid backs (Blount/Martin) in the backfield, Jackson should have plenty of room to roam.
42. ROB M – Dez Bryant, WR-DAL Can Bryant finally breakout and be a true star? At best he’s been a inconsistent WR2. This is year three, the year wide receivers typically breakout.
43. GRIFF – Reggie Bush, RB-MIA You know no one is going to appreciate him, but for the final nine weeks of 2011, he was a top-five running back. Just saying.
44. MATT – Antonio Brown, WR-PIT Matt rounds out his core (everyone except defense). During the second-half of the 2011 season, Brown was the WR1 and Wallace was the WR2.
45. ROBIO – Ravens, DST-BAL With the 45th pick in the draft, I have officially become the first person to draft my entire starting lineup (except kicker), Ryan, McFadden, Lynch, Harvin, Bowe and the Ravens D. Not tragic.
46. JEFF – Miles Austin, WR-DAL The fact is, if both Austin and Bryant remain healthy, they both could be 1,000-yard receivers this year.
47. RICH C – Jason Witten, TE-DAL Solid pick. He’s going to catch a lot of balls for a lot of yards. No, he’s not a Graham or Gronkowski, but he should compete for third-team All-Robio.
48. ERIC – JerMichael Finley, TE-GB He lost a lot of luster after struggling in 2011, but let’s not forget, he was coming off back-to-back years of knee injuries.
ROUND FIVE
49. ERIC – Matt Forte, RB-CHI (K) He’s still solid, he’s still RB1, but with Michael Bush stealing carries, I doubt he can compete for All-Robio awards.
50. RICH C – DeSean Jackson, WR-PHI Interesting decision here…Colston is still available and he’s arguable more consistent, but Jackson is the big play guy. With a new contract concerns, he should be happy and he should be ready to just play some ball.
51. JEFF – Giants, DST-NY It’s a homer pick, but they are the next best defense, so it’s a good pick.
52. RICH B – Frank Gore, RB-SF Last year, Gore was a first-round keeper. This year, he’s falling to the fifth round, even though he’s still penciled in as a starter in San Francisco.
53. MATT – Packers, DST-GB It’s just like Matt to pass on the Eagles defense to grab the Packers.
54. GRIFF – Fred Davis, TE-WAS We’ll see how he does with a rookie quarterback throwing him the ball, but Davis may be the best receiving option in Washington.
55. ROB M – Willis McGahee, RB-DEN Masterson needs a D, but is he really 100% confident in a Johnson/Bradshaw backfield? If not, the starting running backs are starting to disappear. This old veteran should have some room to run with Manning in the backfield.
56. MOLLY – Brent Celek, TE-PHI Molly’s a research hog. She relies more on homework than gut. If that last sentence is really true, then her homework is going to say Celek is the next big tight end.
57. DON – Eagles, DST-PHI Again, everyone has their quarterbacks. Granted, Don shouldn’t wait forever, but might as well grab a top-six D before they go bye-bye.
58. COLBY – Marques Colston, WR-NO Listen, if a 1,000-yard receiver really does fall to Colby deep in the fifth round, he should be very thankful.
59 RICH B – Donald Brown, RB-IND Here’s the five-O on Rich. If he feels weak at one position, he tends to overcompensate for it down the road. I can’t imagine he’s going to be psyched about a Ridley/Gore backfield, so he’s going to be looking for sleepers early.
60. BOB – Lions, DST-DET And Bob rounds out his starting lineup (besides kickers) with an up-and-coming Lions D.
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