Thursday, March 21, 2013

How does your Mock Draft look now?

If it looks anything like my NCAA Tournament Bracket after Day 1, it's probably needs to find the nearest shredder. Free agency has been going full tilt for over a week now, and the moves that have been made are sure to have an impact on the first round of the upcoming 2013 NFL Draft. Kansas City looked to be in the market for a quarterback, wide reciever and tackle. But the Chiefs traded for Alex Smith to run the offense, re-signed Dwayne Bowe and picked up Donnie Avery to catch the ball, and placed the franchise tag on left tackle Brandon Albert. Kansas City is looking for a right tackle to bookend Albert, and to eventually replace him, and Luke Joeckel is still on their radar. One thing that Andy Reid might be looking for is a tradig partner for that top pick, since the Chiefs gave up their second rounder to San Francisco for Smith. But I don't see it happening. The draft is loaded with good players but not the superstars that past drafts have featured. Why would a team trade up to get a player and give up other picks when they can get another pick that is just as good? So for my money KC is still on the clock, and I see them selectnig from a group of Joeckel, Eric Fisher, Star Lotulelei and Sharif Floyd. It all depends on which side of the ball they want to upgrade at the top. Two teams that are looking for quarterbacks continue to be Arizona and Buffalo. Arizona signed Drew Stanton, but I don't think this is pleasing Larry Fitzgerald too terribly much. Now the Cardinals have Stanton, John Skelton, Kevin Kolb and Ryan Lindley to compete for the starting job. My suggestion: get rid of all 4, and draft either Geno Smith or Matt Barkley and start fresh, just the same way new coach Bruce Arians did last year in Indianapolis with Andrew Luck. Now I am not saying that Smith or Barkley is anywhere near the level of Luck, but putting four bald tires on your car is not going to improve the overall performance. Time for a complete overhaul, and you have to start at quarterback. Buffalo did the opposite of Arizona. They just cut their starting quarterback. After giving Ryan Fitzpatrick a huge contract in 2011, they parted ways with Fitzpatrick and now the Bills are faced with a bit of a dilemna. Do they stay put at #8 and take whoever the Cardinals do not select, or do they trade up and leapfrog Arizona and get their man. This is going to be a classic example of Panic in the Draft Room. I don't see a move up to the top with Kansas City, but I would nto be surprised to see Jacksonville move down. The Jags need defensive help, and they can get that at #8 as well as #2, and the prospect of acquiring picks that they gave away to select Justin Blackmon has to be appealing to the Jaguars. Minnesota traded Percy Harvin and then signed Greg Jennings, so their need for a receiver is still there. Miami was a popular landing spot for Cordarrelle Patterson, but with the signing of Mike Wallace look for the Dolphins to go defensive with Xavier Rhodes to take over at cornerback, or Lane Johnson to replace former #1 Overall Pick Jake Long. If Ryan Tannehill is your future quarterback, you better have his backside covered with a franchise tackle. Johnson can fill the bill. And just today the news came out that Tampa Bay will trade a 1st and 2nd Round pick in 2014 to the NY Jets for Darrelle Revis. I have had the Bucs going cornerback in the first round and targeting Xavier Rhodes as well. One might think that with Revis on board that corner would not be a priority. I see that is can still be for Tampa. Revis is still rehabbing a torn ACL, and his status is still up in the air. But I have always been an advocate of having 2 shutdown corners and turning the pass rush loose. Want to get to the quarterback? It's a lot easier if he can't find an open receiver to throw the ball to. Putting Rhodes opposite Revis would create the Florida Keys. One island in line with another. Much has been said about Baltimore losing so many players on defense. Ray Lewis retires. Ed Reed is on his way to Houston. Paul Kruger signed as a free agent with Cleveland. Bernard Pollard is now a member of the Titans. But the Ravens have one of the best GMs in the league with Ozzie Newsome, so I don't see too many holes on the roster come training camp. Now the team that really has my head needing a good scratch is Cincinnati. The Bengals went into free agnecy with over $40 million in cap space, and what have they done-not much of anything. The placed the franchise tag on defensive end Michael Johnson, and re-signed Wallace Gilberry, Rey Maualuga, Mike Nugent, Clark Harris and Adam Jones. They have yet to sign a player from the open market, and have not struck a deal with Andre Smith to bring him back to play right tackle. This is what happens when your owner is also the GM, and the owner is a tightwad. Just about everyone will agree that the Bengals are ready to get over the hurdle, win in the playoffs and make a run at the Super Bowl. But when you have the cap space to improve your team and you don't, you shouldn't expect your team to improve. The talent is there in Andy Dalton, A.J. Green and Geno Atkins, but apparently Brown is happy picking 21st every year, since that is the pick which goes to the team that makes the playoffs and has the worst record of those that lose in the divisional round. 2013 is the 3rd time in 4 years that Cincinnati has picked in that particular slot. There is still time to make some moves in free agency. Now it will be seen if the Bengals can make the moves they need to make a run through the playoffs. I will be putting together the Post-Free Agency DSA Player Rankings, and it will be interesting to see who has who going where now that the veterans have found their landing spots. It's five week until the 2013 NFL Draft. Let the mock draft roll on in.

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