TMG Draft Zone 2014 Mock Draft 1.0

I've been so busy with other things in life that posting my first Mock Draft of 2014 has kept been getting put off. And now after The Scouting Combine and free agency, about all I can say is that you could take Teddy Bridgewater, Blake Bortles, Johnny Manziel, Jadaveon Clowney, Jake Matthews, Greg Robinson, Sammy Watkins and Khalil Mack, put their names in a hat, and draw out the first 8 blindly and not go wrong. I might just have to try it out and see what happens. In spite of his less than stellar showing at his pro day, I'm sticking with Bridgewater at the 1st Overall position. Bortles looked very good and Gus Bradley is going to have some sleepless nights wondering about the up and coming quarterback or the best player in the draft in Clowney. The Rams made a haul off of trading the pick that Washington made for Robert Griffin III, and I wonder if they feel like they can make a similar deal this time. They re-signed Roger Saffold after his deal with the Raiders fell through, and adding a bookend tackle would make life that much easier for Sam Bradford. Until the trade is made, I have the Rams taking the more athletic Robinson over the polished Matthews (for now). As for Matthews, I have him going 8th to Minnesota. The Vikings could use a franchise quarterback, but they re-signed Matt Cassell and have Christian Ponder as well. Say what you want about both quarterbacks, but they have both recently led teams to the playoffs. And how do you make an average signal caller better? Give him a great running back. The Vikings have the best in the game in Adrian Peterson. Give him targets to throw to. Minnesota has Corderrelle Patterson and Kyle Rudolph. Put a wall of an offensive line in front of him. Put Jake Matthews opposite Matt Kalil, and you have a tackle combination that most teams would love to have. Think this could work in Minnesota? Look what it did for Alex Smith in San Francisco. So here is the first mock draft from the TMG Draft Zone for 2014, with a 110% certainty to change in the next 2 months: 1) Houston Teddy Bridgewater 2) St. Louis Greg Robinson 3) Jacksonville Jadaveon Clowney 4) Cleveland Sammy Watkins 5) Oakland Blake Bortles 6) Atlanta Khalil Mack 7) Tampa Bay Justin Gilbert 8) Minnesota Jake Matthews 9) Buffalo Eric Ebron 10) Detroit Darqueze Dennard 11) Tennessee Anthony Barr 12) NY Giants Taylor Lewan 13) St. Louis Calvin Pryor 14) Chicago Louis Nix 15) Pittsburgh Ha'Sean Clinton Dix 16) Dallas C.J. Mosley 17) Baltimore Mike Evans 18) NY Jets Marqise Lee 19) Miami Zack Martin 20) Arizona Cyrus Kouandjio 21) Green Bay Jace Amaro 22) Philadelphia Jason Verrett 23) Kansas City Odell Beckham 24) Cincinnati Kyle Fuller 25) San Diego Tim Jernigan 26) Cleveland Johnny Manziel 27) New Orleans Ryan Shazier 28) Carolina Kelvin Benjamin 29) New England Aaron Donald 30) San Francisco Brandin Cooks 31) Denver Ra'Shade Hageman 32) Seattle Kony Ealy As you can see, I do not have Johnny Manziel going in the top 8 of the draft. I just feel that teams are going to get a little jittery in regards to Manziel, either the potential for injury for a running quarterback or that the risk won't match the reward. I do have Justin Gilbert going #7 to Tampa Bay as the replacement for Darrelle Revis. Buffalo needs some playmakers on offense, and Eric Ebron is too tempting to pass on at #9. Mike Evans would be a good choice for the Bills, but a physical monster like Ebron would be a great target for E.J. Manuel down the middle and in the red zone. However the first round of the draft falls out, there is talent aplenty from top to bottom. If you can find full 7 round mocks out there, or even just two rounders, look at the players in the 60's and 70's and you can probably make an argument that they could go in Round 1. I do know this: some GM is REALLY going to have to screw up his early picks to get a C grade or worse this year. But it always happens. I just wonder who it will be in 2014.