2014 NFL Draft Grades: NFC West

It's hard to imagine that back in 2010 the NFC West was the butt of jokes throughout the league for having a team with a losing record win the division. Not any more. The Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers are the two best teams in the NFL, and Seattle capped off their 2013 season with a rout of Denver to win their first Super Bowl title. Arizona narrowly missed the playoffs and St. Louis has one of the most talented rosters in the league and all four teams only seem to get better. Arizona Cardinals: B- Best Pick: Deone Bucannon Late Round Sleeper: Logan Thomas The Cardinals added to a tough defense with the hard hitting Deone Bucannon in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft, and then picked up Kareem Martin to the defensive line rotation in Round 3. The offense got a boost with the selection of Troy Niklas, the big tight end in Round 2 and the small but speedy John Brown to play the slot receiver in Round 4. A late round sleeper pick could be Logan Thomas, who will have time to learn the pro game at quarterback and should eventually replace Carson Palmer at quarterback for Arizona. San Francisco 49ers: A Best Pick: Carlos Hyde Late Round Sleeper: Bruce Ellington The rich get richer, as San Francisco continues to make excellent picks in the NFL Draft. First Rounder Jimmie Ward will team with last years first pick Eric Reid to form one of the best safety tandems in the league. Carlos Hyde should eventually replace Frank Gore at running back, and will provide a great change of pace when sharing the ball carrying duties with Gore. Three third round picks add depth and are future plans for San Francisco, with Marcus Martin able to play guard or center, Chris Borland can spell NaVarro Bowman while the latte rehabs a knee injury, and Brandon Thomas is coming off his own ACL tear and and basically redshirt in 2014. A late round sleeper looks to be Bruce Ellington, who can add another target for Colin Kaepernick to develop the 49ers passing game. Seattle Seahawks: C Best Pick: Kevin Norwood Late Round Sleeper: Kevin Norwood The Seahawks roster is loaded with talent from top to bottom, and it looks like the current crop of draft picks will have a tough time finding playing time with the World Champions. Paul Richardson and Justin Britt flashed in spots last year, but both were seen as reaches as high as they were selected. Kevin Norwood might have the best chance to make an impact on the field in Seattle. St. Louis Rams: A Best Pick: Aaron Donald Late Round Sleeper: Maurice Alexander The Rams had two first round picks, courtesy of the trade with Washington in 2012. They had that pick at #2 and selected the powerful tackle Greg Robinson, and with their own pick in Round 1 the Rams added Aaron Donald at defensive tackle. Robinson will give Sam Bradford some much needed protection and the big tackle excels in the run game, where he will shine the most for St. Louis. Donald rounds out the best front 4 in the NFL, and will the youth up front the Rams will be a force on defense for years to come. The running game was upgraded with the selection of Tre Mason, and the secondary got help from LaMarcus Joyner, E.J. Gaines and late round sleeper Maurice Alexander. With a compensatory pick in Round 7, the Rams selected Michael Sam, the Co-Defensive Player of the Year in the SEC and the first openly gay player picked in the NFL Draft. Sam will have a tough time finding playing time with the Rams talented front 4 but he has a chance to shine on special teams and make his mark there for now.

TMG DraftZone Final 2014 Mock Draft

It's Draft Day. Finally. Now it is time to get the last mock drafts out there for all to see and for draftniks like myself to put out money where our keyboards are. I have Jadeveon Clowney going #1 Overall to Houston, and I have to laugh when I hear the big reason why the Texans will not pick him. He doesn't fit their 3-4 defensive scheme. Give me a break. When you have a player with that much talent, you change your scheme to fit Clowney. It's as simple as that, and I cannot believe that a Defensive Coordinator like Romeo Crennel can't change his ways find the best fit for Clowney on his defense. Can you imagine a Texans 4-3 defense, with Clowney on the right side and J.J. Watt on the left. Teams might be able to get away with double teaming just one, but I don't see that happening for long. So you have to put two blockers on the star pass rushers. A tight end on one, and a running back to get a chip block on the other. Do the math. How many receivers does that leave? Three. That's it. Houston would be able to bring a blitzer on every play and still have double coverage in the secondary. If I were a Texans fan, I'd take those odds every play. But I think back to two examples in the 80's that tell me the shortsighted would pass on Clowney now, and those with vision would take him and change their scheme to fit his abilities. In 1983, when the Miami Dolphins selected Dan marino, Paul Zimmerman was famously caught on the draft coverage making the comment 'Who is going to coach him?' Then Chris Berman came back with the correct response-Don Shula is a pretty good coach. Shula admitted later in making a mistake with Marino. The mistake was that he did not start him right away. Up until then, the Dolphins under Don Shula were what we now call a Ground and Pound team. Run the ball, then run it some more. In Marino's second season, the Dolphins threw the ball on 76% of their plays, and Marino set records for passing yards and touchdowns while leading Miami to the Super Bowl. Shula had the vision to change his scheme to fit his quarterback, and Miami enjoyed success for the next decade with a hall of Fame Quarterback leading the way. The next year, an example of shortsightedness came into play in the NBA. Everyone knows the story of Portland passing on Michael Jordan and selecting Sam Bowie. But before the draft, a conversation between Bob Knight and a member of the Blazers front office was recounted in John Feinstein's book A Season on the Brink. Knight was coaching the US Olympic Team, and Jordan was the star of the team. He was asked by a friend who worked for Portland about Jordan. Knight told him to take Jordan. The reply was 'we already have Clyde Drexler, and we need a center.' Knight told him 'Play Jordan at center. No one can stop him.' The rest of the story is what can happen when you draft to fit your scheme and pass on the once in a generation talent like Jadeveon Clowney. So here is the Final TMG DraftZone Mock Draft for 2014. I have these picked posted on NFL.com under the entry sycamore88. I'd like to see just how I am going to do against everyone else, but with this draft year you just never know. 1) Houston Jadeveon Clowney 2) St. Louis Jake Matthews 3) Jacksonville Khalil Mack 4) Cleveland Sammy Watkins 5) Oakland Blake Bortles 6) Atlanta Greg Robinson 7) Tampa Bay Mike Evans 8) Minnesota Johnny Manziel 9) Buffalo Eric Ebron 10) Detroit Darqueze Dennard 11) Tennessee Anthony Barr 12) NY Giants Taylor Lewan 13) St. Louis Ha'Sean Clinton-Dix 14) Chicago Aaron Donald 15) Pittsburgh Calvin Pryor 16) Dallas Tim Jernigan 17) Baltimore C.J. Mosley 18) NY Jets Marqise Lee 19) Miami Zack Martin 20) Arizona Ryan Shazier 21) Green Bay Justin Gilbert 22) Philadelphia Brandin Cooks 23) Kansas City Odell Beckham 24) Cincinnati Kyle Fuller 25) San Diego Jason Verrett 26) Cleveland Teddy Bridgewater 27) New Orleans Kony Ealy 28) Carolina Morgan Moses 29) New England Ra'Shade Hageman 30) San Francisco Bradley Roby 31) Denver Xavier Su'a-Filo 32) Seattle David Yankey I have St. Louis taking Jake Matthews at #2, but I could have very well put Greg Robinson there. And even though reports earlier in the week said the Raiders would not take Blake Bortles of Johnny Manziel at #5, I can still see them taking the big signal caller from Central Florida who can give them their version of Ben Roethlisberger. I see Minnesota taking Manziel at #8 because new head coach Mike Zimmer has seen first hand what an average, vanilla quarterback can do after watching Andy Dalton the last three seasons in Cincinnati. Don't forget that the Vikings are moving into a new stadium in a couple of seasons. Just think what a quarterback like Manziel can do to energize the fan base in Minnesota. It's four hours until the start of Round 1 of the 2014 NFL Draft. Let's get it's going. It has been a long draft season.

Trades to be Made: 2014 Edition

Every year, there are plenty of draft trades that are made. It doesn't matter if it is the first round or the last, deals can make or break a team on Draft Weekend, and I am starting to get the feeling that in 2014 the wheeling and dealing, or the possibility of the big trade, is going to be in the forefront of the upcoming draft weekend. Start at the top this year. The Houston Texans need a quarterback. I still say that Teddy Bridgewater is going to be the best of the bunch in this years crop, but it looks like their top targets are Blake Bortles and Johnny Manziel. But the best player in the draft is Jadaveon Clowney, the freakishly talented defensive end. But Houston already has J.J. Watt, and their question is 'Do we tandem the pass rush with Watt and Clowney, or do we take the quarterback who will get us back to the playoffs?' If the Texans are dead set on a quarterback, they need to look for a trading partner who will break the bank for Clowney. St. Louis already has Chris Long and Robert Quinn, so they are set at defensive end. Then there is Jacksonville. I have already written about how Gus Bradley is looking to build the Jaguars much the same way he former team, the Seattle Seahawks, were built. Defense, power running game, and an intelligent quarterback who doesn't make mistakes that costs you game. If Clowney is there at #3, Jacksonville will take him. But how much do they want him? I wonder if they might consider a trade up to #1, and hold onto their second round pick this year to get a quarterback they want. A.J. McCarron, Derek Carr and Zach Mettenberger come to mind who Jacksonville could target with that pick. But as good as Clowney looks to be, the Jaguars need to fill a lot of holes, so I don't see them as a top candidate to trade. Cleveland has the 4th Overall Selection, but they also have #26, which they received for Trent Richardson last season. But Cleveland needs a quarterback and a playmaking receiver. I have them taking Sammy Watkins at #4 and Derek Carr at #26. But if Teddy Bridgewater falls past #8, and the Browns did not take a quarterback at #4, they could be in trade mode themselves to move up and get a quarterback they covet. Cleveland made a big deal three years ago with Atlanta do that the Falcons could draft Julio Jones, but this year I don't see the Browns moving up to get Clowney. The Oakland Raiders could use a player like Clowney. They could also use a player like Johnny Manziel, Teddy Bridgewater, Blake Bortles, Greg Robinson, Jake Matthews, Khalil Mack and Sammy Watkins. Translation: The Raiders need a lot of help, and trading away a boatload of draft picks for Clowney doesn't make a lot of sense. But these are the Raiders. So who really knows what they are going to do. As I mentioned earlier, Atlanta made a blockbuster deal three years ago to move up from #27 to #6 and take Julio Jones. The Falcons are in the sixth position this year, after a season of one injury after another cost them any chance of success. Would they pull the trigger on another blockbuster deal and move up to #1 and get Clowney? I don't see it happening. They need help on the offensive line, and with Greg Robinson and Jake Matthews they have 1 and 1A to choose from. If they have their eye on defense, Khalil Mack might still be there. Atlanta sacrificed number ones to get Jones back in 2011, and it cost them with lack of depth last year. I don't see it happening this year with the Falcons. If the Houston Texans can't move out of #1, and they take a quarterback, the trade focus will be on the St. Louis Rams, who also have the #13 pick this year. They made their own big trade two years ago and hoarded picks from the Washington Redskins in the Robert Griffin III deal. Jeff Fisher has taken those picks and started to rebuild the Rams into a winner. But they need help on the offensive line, and they can get either Robinson, Matthews or Taylor Lewan later in the Top 10 if they move down. Now all the Rams have to do is find a trading partner. With one of the deepest draft classes in memory, good luck with that. It is one month until the 2014 NFL Draft, and it will be interesting to see if The Big Trade is made before the draft, or if we have to wait until the Houston Texans are officially on the clock before it happens.

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.

2014 DSA Player Rankings 2.0

The TMG Draft Zone has returned after a time on sick leave. I wasn't just under the weather. I was buried about 3 feet down before digging my way out. I was hoping to post the second DSA Player Rankings of 2014 right after the NFL Scouting Combine and before the start of free agency. But unable to do so, my mock draft research spans both events, so in a way it is an average of the Draft Slot Average. Jadaveon Clowney is once again a solid pick at #1 Overall, and the tide of the first quarterback to go has shifted from Teddy Bridgewater to Blake Bortles. But barely. The surprise among the quarterbacks is that Johnny Manziel is not feeling the love as he once did. Johnny Football dropped 4 spots down to #8, and in a way he has flipped positions with Greg Robinson. The athletic tackle, who wowed at the Combine, looks to be the first lineman to go off the boards instead of Jake Matthews. Robinson made a strong leap up 3 spots to #4, and is a mere three tenths of a point away from #2. Justin Gilbert also made a strong move, leaping 7 positions into the top 10 at #10. The top of the pack has started to separate from the rest, as there is already a nearly 3 point margin between #8 and #9. But the research I performed showed that the first round is getting to be a solid block of players. 20 players were listed in each mock draft I researched, 4 others were left out of one, and 4 others were left out of two of the mocks. Overall, there were 34 players who averaged 30 or better. Teams will be getting first round talent well into the third round of the draft this year. It's going to take a monumental screw-up for a team to get a bad grade on Draft Day this year. The biggest gainer was by far Aaron Donald, who jumped an incredible 17 positions. Odell Beckham was also a double digit gainer, moving up 10 spots. Justin Gilbert also made a strong move, leaping 7 positions into the top 10 at #10. Dropping hard were C.J. Mosley and Cyrus Kouandjio, who both fell 11 spots. I don't see Mosley staying down too long, but the concerns over the knee troubles of Kouandjio could cause him to be the winner of the Stone Drop Award of 2014, the player who started out the highest and who falls the farthest. Another candidate could be Kelvin Benjamin, the highest slotted player in the first DSA's who fell out completely the next time. Benjamin will not fall too far out of Round 2. He is too freakishly talented for someone to let him go too long, even if he has trouble catching the ball. So here is the 2nd 2014 DSA Player Rankings, with the average score and the positions gained or lost from the last DSA Rankings, and I promise to do better to keep my draft postings coming here to the TMG Draft Zone: 1) Jadaveon Clowney 2.10 0 2) Blake Bortles 3.10 1 3) Teddy Bridgewater 3.40 (1) 4) Greg Robinson 3.50 3 5) Sammy Watkins 5.00 0 6) Khalil Mack 6.20 2 7) Jake Matthews 7.90 (1) 8) Johnny Manziel 9.30 (4) 9) Anthony Barr 12.00 0 10) Justin Gilbert 13.00 7 11) Ha'Sean Clinton-Dix 13.40 3 12) Taylor Lewan 14.10 (1) 13) Mike Evans 14.40 0 14) Aaron Donald 15.70 17 15) Darqueze Dennard 15.70 (3) 16) Eric Ebron 16.50 (1) 17) Marquise Lee 19.10 (1) 18) Zack Martin 19.40 5 19) Calvin Pryor 19.70 3 20) Louis Nix 20.80 1 21) C.J. Mosley 21.60 (11) 22) Odell Beckham 22.20 10 23) Jason Varrett 24.60 5 24) Kony Ealy 25.10 0 25) Derek Carr 25.40 (7) 26) Tim Jernigan 25.90 0 27) Ra'Shade Hageman 27.00 (7) 28) Brandin Cooks 27.80 5 29) Kyle Fuller 27.80 5 30) Cyrus Kouandijo 28.90 (11) 31) Ryan Shazier 29.50 4 32) Bradley Roby 29.60 4 33) Xavier Su'a-Filo 29.70 4 34) Dee Ford 30.60 4

2014 DSA Player Rankings 1.0

It is time to reveal the first DSA Player Rankings from the TMG Draft Zone for 2014. Apologies for the delay in bringing the rankings to you as work has delayed my research in the past week. But I have been putting together the mock drafts, and the first DSA's of the year have proved that this year is going to be all about star power at the top of the draft. The Houston Texans have yet to tip their hand as to who they may take with the 1st Overall Pick of the 2014 NFL Draft, and I do not suspect they will any time soon. So mock drafts everywhere have Houston taking any number of players at the top. The Texans need a quarterback, and you can find mocks with Teddy Bridgewater, Blake Bortles, or Johnny Manziel listed first. Or they could go for the best player in the draft, and you will also for Jadaveon Clowney rated at the top. But you will also find the three quarterbacks as far down as #8 to Minnesota, and Clowney no more then 5th to Oakland. Which is why Clowney leads the way in the first DSA Player Rankings of 2014. Sammy Watkins edged out Jake Matthews for the fifth slot, but they took very different paths to get there. Watkins can be found in just about any mock draft in the neighborhood of #5 to #7 for Tampa Bay. Matthews has as many postings at #2 to St. Louis as he does at #11 to Tennessee. The top 9 slots are rounded out by Greg Robinson, Khalil Mack, and Anthony Barr. It would not be much of a stretch to say, even this early in the process, that these nine players will be the first names called going down to Buffalo and their pick at #9. The one player would could easily find his way there is Derek Carr. Carr is #18, but 40% of the mock drafts I researched did not list him in the first round, and the others all had him at #8 to Minnesota. Carr certainly has to talent to compete with the top three QB's, and his performance at the NFL Scouting Combine and pro day at Fresno State will go a long way to determining where he goes in the draft. I have already written about the Jacksonville Jaguars taking Clowney at #3, then getting their quarterback in Round 2. If Carr does get past the Vikings in Round 1, I wonder how frantic the phone lines will be in the Jags draft office to make a trade. I can picture the Cleveland Browns being a likely trading partner with the 26th Pick they acquired from Indianapolis. If the Browns take a QB at #4, they may want to add more draft picks to their already sizable stockpile this year. Jacksonville would be moving up nine spots, and sending their second rounder plus a couple of late round picks, or a higher pick next year, could very well net the Jaguars a top flight signal caller to build around this coming season. So here is the DSA Player Rankings 1.0, exclusive to the TMG Draft Zone, for the 2014 NFL Draft: 1) Jadaveon Clowney 2.60 2) Teddy Bridgewater 3.00 3) Blake Bortles 3.70 4) Johnny Manziel 3.70 5) Sammy Watkins 5.50 6) Jake Matthews 5.80 7) Greg Robinson 6.70 8) Khalil Mack 7.70 9) Anthony Barr 8.80 10) C.J. Mosley 13.00 11) Taylor Lewan 14.40 12) Darqueze Dennard 15.00 13) Mike Evans 15.70 14) Ha'Sean Clinton-Dix 16.10 15) Eric Ebron 16.60 16) Marquise Lee 17.40 17) Justin Gilbert 18.90 18) Derek Carr 19.10 19) Cyrus Kouandijo 20.00 20) Ra'Shade Hageman 22.30 21) Louis Nix 22.80 22) Calvin Pryor 23.60 23) Zack Martin 24.60 24) Kony Ealy 24.80 25) Kelvin Benjamin 24.90 26) Tim Jernigan 26.60 27) Jace Amaro 28.90 28) Jason Varrett 29.40 29) Stephon Tuitt 30.10 30) Allen Robinson 30.60 31) Aaron Donald 30.60 32) Odell Beckham 31.50 Three players I want to keep an eye on up to and just past the NFL Scouting Combine, and where they start to find themselves in mock drafts everywhere, and Eric Ebron, Kelvin Benjamin, and Calvin Pryor. Ebron and Benjamin are both physical marvels, but Ebron has the polish and Benjamin is a work in progress. But teams love to have big targets such as these 2, and I can see both moving up draft boards everywhere. As for Pryor, teams are really starting to go with the physical safeties to play the middle of the field, and though Ha'Sean Clinton-Dix has long been seen as the top player at that position, there are many who see Pryor as one with just as much talent as Clinton-Dix, and the value placed at the position recently could move him up to the middle of the first round, possible to St. Louis at #13. The NFL Scouting Combine is coming up in less than 3 weeks, and it will be interesting to see who is getting some buzz talk going before, and then who will be the biggest winner coming out of Indianapolis later this month.