Last Minute Mock
1.01- QB Carson Palmer
His awareness may be lower than some others, but pre-workouts he has the best all-round skills combined with an age of 21 in a 6'5" frame. I’ve tried to look at this from all angles, but ultimately Palmer is the right pick here.
1.02 - QB Gibran Hamden
It's now a toss-up where you are sacrificing throwing power, accuracy, awareness, or age. Hamden only sacrifices THA, aged 22, 6'4" tall, a strong arm and a surprising level of strength. This probably comes down to if awareness trumps accuracy in the eyes of Rodany.
1.03 - QB Byron Leftwich
Young (21), tall (6'5"), good accuracy and one of the better awareness if you want to be sure to avoid a potential scrambler tag (Grossman). Whilst his throwing power is looking a tad low now, if that skews up he’s very similar to Palmer otherwise.
1.04 - QB Chris Simms
A year older at 22, throwing power like Leftwich, but an accuracy that is starter level out of the gate. He’s 6'4" as well so it’s really only the age factor and skew that could see him not go higher.
1.05 - HB Larry Johnson
Apolo may be throwing smokescreens about his drafting history, but is Quincy Carter enough to lead this team in 2003? The answer really is no and it may be a case of suck for Manning, Rivers, or Roethlisberger, which means a 21-year-old running back who is ready to run from day 1 gets the nod instead. He’s 6'1" and 235 lbs, should have enough speed for the outside and shows plenty of strength and break tackle to truck up the middle.
1.06 - WR Andre Johnson
Height is not something that can be improved and Johnson at 6'3" is the most complete receiver in this class. Add in that he's a year younger than Bolden and I feel that has him going earlier, plus has great hands and awareness for a rookie.
1.07 - QB Brooks Bollinger
This is a tough call, but AC seems to have passed up on trying with Carr even though he has an absurd contract that is tough to escape without AP. Whilst on the shorter side for a QB (6'1") and older than the others (23), he comes with day one ready throwing power combined with accuracy, so only his awareness needs work but that is still around the same level as Palmer, Leftwich, and Simms. Plenty of upsides here and if it wasn’t for his age he’d be in contention for the top picks.
1.08 - CB Terence Newman
What can I mock here that doesn't look like I'm blowing smoke? I must admit that a run on QB's in the previous 7 picks is great for me and leaves me with multiple options for BPA on positions we need to fill. I've slowly been leading away from tall everywhere, so it's looking at Newman or even Polamalu as once in a generation talent to revive an empty secondary.
1.09 - QB Dave Ragone
I feel that Grossman's potential for a scrambling tendency scares off another team and they go with a safer talent that needs a little more work. At 22 and 6'3" he'll be a good long-term option if the skew doesn’t tank his accuracy.
1.10 - QB Rex Grossman
Left with the option of relying on Jeff Blake and going wide receiver here seems like too much of a gamble, even if taking Grossman is a gamble. Boldin would be a good fit here but then they’d have to hope for a good draft position next year to find him a proper signal caller. Grossmans’ high agility and acceleration (77 apiece) are the concerning stats, but with 60 awareness strength in the 80’s he has a lot of upsides if it plays out, especially as he’s only 22.
1.11 - WR Anquan Boldin
Letting Shawn Spriggs walk to free agency was never part of the plan, but now more questions need to be asked about what the Seahawks need. We can all joke about Rock drafting a kicker here, but he needs to up his game and take a punter. No, giving Hasselbeck a decent target to balance out their offense is a great option, unless they want protection on the offensive line or a special kind of safety.
1.12 - SS Troy Polamalu
It's unlikely to see Polamalu fall this far, but teams with a need for a safety put that one to the back seat for a lot of other teams, especially all those with average QBs. Worst case scenario he comes out with 93 speed at age 23, which means he could still be maxed out via training camp before regression hits. Now that's scary anyway you look at it.
1.13 - LE Ty Warren
It's a big question whether Patrick Ramsey and Ladell Betts are good enough to spearhead the offense, but QBs are slim now and there is an option at HB if they want an upgrade. Warren on the other hand gives them a potentially stellar pass rusher if his speed doesn't skew down too far, which is always a concern considering it’s a non-bolded attribute for defensive ends.
1.14 - ROLB E.J. Henderson
Taking the best lineman in the draft here would be a steal, but when you have an outside linebacker option with the potential for mid 90's+ speed and acceleration at only 22? Bigger steal and probably a bigger game changer in Miami.
1.15 - HB Willis McGahee
I know Justin has been trying to acquire a HB of his ideal mold and I feel if McGahee skews anywhere north on speed than he’s found his match. At 23 he's an older rookie, but 235 lbs with mid-high 80's STR, great ACC, carry in the 90's and BTK heading into the high 80s looks sweet.
1.16 - CB Charles Tillman
By now what the Chiefs are after is getting into the area of the draft where the top tier players are gone and the ones left have deficiencies. Tillman’s knock is that he is 24 and his ACC doesn’t match his blazing speed. But with that blazing speed comes a 6’2" frame that helps make up for those shortcomings.
1.17 - MLB Antwan Peek
Both of their QB's are old for their stats and Neal would love to see one of the QBs drop to here, but I think they get better value from a speedy MLB considering Kirkland is 34 with 72 SPD. Peek has a great combo of age (22), height (6'3"), weight (255lbs), speed, strength, agility, and acceleration. The whole MLB class is here for the choosing and there ae some stellar options for super speed if he wants to sacrifice age and size.
1.18 – LT Jordan Gross
No other player really comes close the Gross' combination of SPD, STR, AGI, ACC, PBK, and RBK in this draft, and it automatically puts him into to tier athletic capability for offensive lineman league wide. It would be a gamble to let him slide past their 14th pick, but then it’s a gamble to pass up on any of the top players at their position still available.
1.19 - WR Kassim Osgood
New England get a shot at the draft now and Rob has been crossing his fingers the past few picks that he’d get a guy to drop. I’m sure his stress has grown seeing Gross and Tillman come so close and the decision gets tough. If you have Brady for life, you need a superior target for him and as it's already been said: You can't teach height. Assuming Osgood doesn’t skew down in the speed department he’ll be a labour of love that will always pay dividends combined with Brady.
1.20 - CB Dennis Weathersby
The idea of starting Craig Nall didn’t sound like it appealed to AF but the only real passer left to consider is Tony Romo and that’s probably a stretch in comparison. Instead filling another position of need like cornerback with a 6’2” player has value. Whilst hi awareness needs work the rest of his attributes suggest a superior physical specimen.
1.21 – CB Marcus Trufant
Having not heard from Bill Ryan at all during the offseason to date it's hard to judge where’d they go here. I feel they have a need for corner that can be filled with this pick, and I also feel that Trufant will get some speed love after the skew.
