SI.com First NFL Mock Draft
by Bruce Raffel on Jan 29, 2012 12:00 PM EST
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It’s never too early for an NFL mock draft and SI.com senior writer Don Banks has his first one of the year hit on SI.com today. Much will change in this process between now and April 26th but for now, here is Banks first edition…
1. Indianapolis -- Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford
2. Cleveland (projected trade with St. Louis) -- Robert Griffin III, QB, Baylor
3. Minnesota -- Matt Kalil, OT, Southern Cal
4. St. Louis (projected trade with Cleveland) -- Justin Blackmon, WR, Okla. St.
5. Tampa Bay -- Morris Claiborne, CB, LSU
6. Washington -- Ryan Tannehill, QB, Texas A&M
7. Jacksonville -- Quinton Coples, DE, North Carolina
8. Carolina -- Dre Kirkpatrick, CB, Alabama
9. Miami -- Riley Reiff, OT, Iowa
10. Buffalo -- Courtney Upshaw, OLB, Alabama
(Click on the 'Jump' to see the rest of the first round of this Mock Draft, including who Banks thinks the Baltimore Ravens will take with their first pick at #29)
11. Kansas City -- Devon Still, DT, Penn State
12. Seattle -- Melvin Ingram, DE, South Carolina
13. Arizona -- Jonathan Martin, OT, Stanford
14. Dallas -- Janoris Jenkins, CB, North Alabama
15. Philadelphia -- Luke Kuechly, ILB, Boston College
16. New York Jets -- Mark Barron, S, Alabama
17. Cincinnati (from Oakland) -- Trent Richardson, RB, Alabama
18. San Diego -- Whitney Mercilus, DE-OLB, Illinois
19. Chicago -- Michael Floyd, WR, Notre Dame
20. Tennessee -- David DeCastro, G, Stanford
21. Cincinnati -- Alfonzo Dennard, CB, Nebraska
22. St. Louis (projected trade with Cleveland, via Atlanta) – Mike Adams, OT, Ohio State
23. Detroit -- Stephon Gilmore, CB, South Carolina
24. Pittsburgh -- Cordy Glenn, OG-OT, Georgia
25. Denver -- Jerel Worthy, DT, Michigan State.
26. Houston -- Dontari Poe, DT, Memphis
27. New England (from New Orleans) – Michael Brockers, DT, LSU
28. Green Bay -- Andre Branch, OLB-DE, Clemson
29. Baltimore -- Peter Konz, C, Wisconsin
30. San Francisco -- Kendall Wright, WR, Baylor
31. NY Giants -- Zebrie Sanders, OT, Florida State
32. New England -- Dont’a Hightower, LB, Alabama
For explanations on each pick, here is the link to the draft in its entirety…
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.
My analysis of the Ravens pick: While I could see the Ravens taking an offensive lineman with the 29th pick, I just do not see them taking a center in the first round. If Matt Birk retires, the reasonable expectation is that they will put Andre Gurode in his place and be just fine at least for another year or two. With ILB's Dont'a Hightower and Vontaze Burflict still available, I'd much rather go in that direction in the first round.
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I can see it going either way. Going center or linebacker.
by Raven_all_day on Jan 29, 2012 12:05 PM EST via mobile reply actions
This year won’t be any different. Ozzie will patch up any depth issues and we will take a great player. I am not thrilled about offensive line picks but I know they are actually the most important picks.
We need to find a returned in this draft. A X-factor kind of guy. You guys know of any we could take?
by Raven_all_day on Jan 29, 2012 12:07 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Tavon Austin!
im just not 100% sure if hes sticking around at WVU or not, but he’s got to be our boy. Hes an explosive Baltimore native, says it all. haha.
Scott Hines
Yeah?
Another Steve Slaton or Noel Divine?
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Jan 29, 2012 2:05 PM EST up reply actions
Both those guys were RB’s, Austin is a WR
Flacco has to trust his receivers to make catches, but shouldn’t throw towards coverage. He needs to attack deep more often, but shouldn’t hold onto the ball so long. He needs to show more awareness in the pocket and move to extend plays, but nothing good comes of him leaving the pocket. He should run with the ball if nobody’s open, but he definitely can’t run with the ball.
Flacco should have the awareness of Roethlisberger, the elusiveness of Vick, the control of the offense of Manning, the leadership of Brady, the accuracy of Brees, and the arm strength of … Flacco? - Ampallang
I agree with everything you said about that pick Bruce. I think Gurode stays and was the plan all along to be a stop- gap between Birk and whoever the future center is. The fact that he was able to slide to Guard for us was just a bonus.
If Burfict and Hightower were still on the board, I’d expect to pull the trigger on one of them before a line-man.
"Don't throw it, don't throw it, don't throw it. I know y'all going to throw it, they going to throw it anyway. I wouldn't throw it. Don't do it." - Ed Reed
You say tomato, I say tomahto. You say Six, I say Sweep.
by WestminsterRaven on Jan 29, 2012 12:10 PM EST reply actions
I get that the offensive line is incredibly important, and you can’t have a great offense without a great o-line, but I still can never get excited about linemen being drafted… it might sound silly, but they’re not a “sexy” pick. Also, I highly doubt the Ravens would pass on Burfict if he’s still on the board. “Character concerns” haven’t swayed their judgement in the past (Ray Lewis, Terrell Suggs, Sergio Kindle, Jimmy Smith…)
Worth thinking about
If Konz is still there (and most mocks have him taken already) you have to consider him. This is a definite need area, and there are worse scenarios than having Peter Konz as our center for the next 4- 5+ years. Let Birk retire, let Gurode walk, use the cap $ savings to sign Grubbs and our O-line is solid. Like I said, there are worse scenarios and you have to at least consider keeping Flacco well protected.
But if Burflict and/or Hightower are still there, not sure I can pass that up either. Let’s just hope we have such a difficult decision to make when picking at 29.
"the croaking raven doth bellow for revenge."
Hamlet, William Shakespeare
cleveland should trade for multpile picks. if RG3 turns out to be a bust (which he will) they will be paying for it for years. they would be better off playing it safe and slowly building up. i am still not a believer in drafting a QB in the 1st round. rather take someones veteran than burn 5 years bringing a guy along as the rest of my team ages.
i am still not a believer in drafting a QB in the 1st round. rather take someones veteran than burn 5 years bringing a guy along as the rest of my team ages.
That is maybe the dumbest thing you have ever said on here.
Flacco has to trust his receivers to make catches, but shouldn’t throw towards coverage. He needs to attack deep more often, but shouldn’t hold onto the ball so long. He needs to show more awareness in the pocket and move to extend plays, but nothing good comes of him leaving the pocket. He should run with the ball if nobody’s open, but he definitely can’t run with the ball.
Flacco should have the awareness of Roethlisberger, the elusiveness of Vick, the control of the offense of Manning, the leadership of Brady, the accuracy of Brees, and the arm strength of … Flacco? - Ampallang
Although
any QB that Cleveland takes in the first round will end up a bust, at least in Cleveland, knowing how well they develop talent.
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Jan 29, 2012 2:07 PM EST up reply actions
I really pray they don’t get RGIII though. He’s got some serious upside and could be the type of QB to give us problems when he gets out the pocket.
On Ed Reed:
"I’ve told him to his face many times, ‘You’re the greatest safety ever to play the game,’"
"We all learn from each other, but we all learn most from him."
- Troy Polamalu
your nuts…too much money and too much time with qb’s in the 1st round UNLESS there’s a sure thing. how often does a sure thing come along.
That may have been the case prior to the new CBA, but now the money things isn’t as big of an issue. Cam Newton was the No.1 pick and he only got $22 million, which is hugely smaller than the $60 million that Sam Bradford got.
A Ravens fan on the wrong side of the country!!
by Christopher Atwood on Jan 30, 2012 12:57 AM EST up reply actions
Name me a 5 year veteran that we could have realistically brought in before we drafted Joe?
Do you not find it a bit strange that every dominant QB in the league today besides Brees was drafted by their team, most of the time in the first round?
Flacco has to trust his receivers to make catches, but shouldn’t throw towards coverage. He needs to attack deep more often, but shouldn’t hold onto the ball so long. He needs to show more awareness in the pocket and move to extend plays, but nothing good comes of him leaving the pocket. He should run with the ball if nobody’s open, but he definitely can’t run with the ball.
Flacco should have the awareness of Roethlisberger, the elusiveness of Vick, the control of the offense of Manning, the leadership of Brady, the accuracy of Brees, and the arm strength of … Flacco? - Ampallang
A DT might be a possible pick too. In case Cody doesn’t pan out.
Do we know if Pees is keeping the defense I can the hybrid type formation. With Kruger, kindle ngata and Suggs. A 4-3good might suit us better. Push ngata and Cody inside with Suggs on the edge
by Raven_all_day on Jan 29, 2012 1:09 PM EST via mobile reply actions
I am sure he will stick to what he knows this defense is good at, and that will be keeping the hybrid defense. The guy ran a great system in NE, and he has much better talent here.
With how good our secondary will be next season, we will be able to blitz just as much.
Flacco has to trust his receivers to make catches, but shouldn’t throw towards coverage. He needs to attack deep more often, but shouldn’t hold onto the ball so long. He needs to show more awareness in the pocket and move to extend plays, but nothing good comes of him leaving the pocket. He should run with the ball if nobody’s open, but he definitely can’t run with the ball.
Flacco should have the awareness of Roethlisberger, the elusiveness of Vick, the control of the offense of Manning, the leadership of Brady, the accuracy of Brees, and the arm strength of … Flacco? - Ampallang
Even with the question mark on Cody
Bryant McKinnie played real well and could start for most teams.
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Jan 29, 2012 2:08 PM EST up reply actions
I meant
Brandon, the DT, not Bryant the LT.
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Jan 29, 2012 2:08 PM EST up reply actions
Besides
I think it’s McKinney anyway. Whatever….
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Jan 29, 2012 2:09 PM EST up reply actions
Konz is the ony C i could potentially see us taking, but with that said I’m not sure if Ozzie drafts one that early with Burfict and Hightower on the board. He can play G as well which is good, but I agree Bruce that I think we could probably get at least 2 years out of Gurode and maybe draft a C late and let him develop. C is a very common position that can be found later in the draft.
On Ed Reed:
"I’ve told him to his face many times, ‘You’re the greatest safety ever to play the game,’"
"We all learn from each other, but we all learn most from him."
- Troy Polamalu
A DT might be a possible pick too. In case Cody doesn’t pan out.
Do we know if Pees is keeping the defense in the hybrid type formation. With Kruger, kindle ngata and Suggs. A 4-3good might suit us better. Push ngata and Cody inside and pair someone up with Suggs on the edge. Take Kruger and stand him up……idk I just think with all the talent we have a olb we can be creative.
by Raven_all_day on Jan 29, 2012 1:13 PM EST via mobile reply actions
In case Cody doesn’t pan out.
Um, what? You must have not watched him once this year. Cody was dominant upfront this year. The stat sheet is the last thing you should be looking at with a NT. Ngata, Suggs, Redding, etc…….alot of their success this season is credited to Cody eating up 2, sometimes 3 lineman.
Flacco has to trust his receivers to make catches, but shouldn’t throw towards coverage. He needs to attack deep more often, but shouldn’t hold onto the ball so long. He needs to show more awareness in the pocket and move to extend plays, but nothing good comes of him leaving the pocket. He should run with the ball if nobody’s open, but he definitely can’t run with the ball.
Flacco should have the awareness of Roethlisberger, the elusiveness of Vick, the control of the offense of Manning, the leadership of Brady, the accuracy of Brees, and the arm strength of … Flacco? - Ampallang
Yeah we are fine there, could maybe use one later if Mckinney leaves, but I really hope we keep him. Very underrated player on our D.
On Ed Reed:
"I’ve told him to his face many times, ‘You’re the greatest safety ever to play the game,’"
"We all learn from each other, but we all learn most from him."
- Troy Polamalu
McKinney is as good as gone. Solid back up guy and the least talked about player on our defense. Someone will give him a nice pay day.
Flacco has to trust his receivers to make catches, but shouldn’t throw towards coverage. He needs to attack deep more often, but shouldn’t hold onto the ball so long. He needs to show more awareness in the pocket and move to extend plays, but nothing good comes of him leaving the pocket. He should run with the ball if nobody’s open, but he definitely can’t run with the ball.
Flacco should have the awareness of Roethlisberger, the elusiveness of Vick, the control of the offense of Manning, the leadership of Brady, the accuracy of Brees, and the arm strength of … Flacco? - Ampallang
I agree but i do think the ravens may want to draft versatile defensive tackle like ngata to help with the pass rush.
Cody is a good nose tackle but he doesnt really add much when it comes to the pass rush but he does indeed make it easier for ngata ,suggs and redding to do what they do best
I think I'd refer
to have Ngata fall on me instead of Cody. Remember what he did to Jamal Charles in the Chiefs playoff game? Ompf!
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Jan 29, 2012 2:11 PM EST up reply actions
We really don’t need another pass rushing NT because in passing situations Ngata or Arthur jones go down there and Cody comes off the field anyways. If we did go NT we need another big body to stuff the run in case Cody were to get hurt.
On Ed Reed:
"I’ve told him to his face many times, ‘You’re the greatest safety ever to play the game,’"
"We all learn from each other, but we all learn most from him."
- Troy Polamalu
Cody is used primarily for run stopping, and considering we had a top 5 run defense this season, I would say he did a damn good job.
Flacco has to trust his receivers to make catches, but shouldn’t throw towards coverage. He needs to attack deep more often, but shouldn’t hold onto the ball so long. He needs to show more awareness in the pocket and move to extend plays, but nothing good comes of him leaving the pocket. He should run with the ball if nobody’s open, but he definitely can’t run with the ball.
Flacco should have the awareness of Roethlisberger, the elusiveness of Vick, the control of the offense of Manning, the leadership of Brady, the accuracy of Brees, and the arm strength of … Flacco? - Ampallang
Cody is a good nose tackle but he doesnt really add much when it comes to the pass rush
His job isn’t to sack the QB. His job is to eat up blockers, and not allow the QB to step up in the pocket when the rush comes from the edge.
Cody was a MAJOR piece to our ability to get 48 sacks this season.
Flacco has to trust his receivers to make catches, but shouldn’t throw towards coverage. He needs to attack deep more often, but shouldn’t hold onto the ball so long. He needs to show more awareness in the pocket and move to extend plays, but nothing good comes of him leaving the pocket. He should run with the ball if nobody’s open, but he definitely can’t run with the ball.
Flacco should have the awareness of Roethlisberger, the elusiveness of Vick, the control of the offense of Manning, the leadership of Brady, the accuracy of Brees, and the arm strength of … Flacco? - Ampallang
I wasn’t looking at the stat sheet at all. Against dominant run teams we didn’t quite shut them down. Next yr we play some good run teams and we need some good play from our NT. Not saying I’m giving up on him cuz its very early in his career, but he does need to play better. We were getting gutted up the middle this year more than last year. Another year under Cody’s belt should do him well.
by Raven_all_day on Jan 29, 2012 2:28 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Against dominant run teams we didn’t quite shut them down.
Which is why they are dominant run teams. In every game in the regular season that we allowed a 100 yard rusher (4), they each had below a 3.6 ypc, so that is still pretty good. If they are running a guy 30+ times a game, the yards are going to come.
Everybody needs to play better, not just Cody. He did an adequate job for someone in his 2nd season. Look at the some of the DT’s drafted in front of him, Dan Williams, Brian Price, Torell Troup….those guys are doing half of what Cody is.
He is only going to get better, and a full offseason will help him out alot.
Flacco has to trust his receivers to make catches, but shouldn’t throw towards coverage. He needs to attack deep more often, but shouldn’t hold onto the ball so long. He needs to show more awareness in the pocket and move to extend plays, but nothing good comes of him leaving the pocket. He should run with the ball if nobody’s open, but he definitely can’t run with the ball.
Flacco should have the awareness of Roethlisberger, the elusiveness of Vick, the control of the offense of Manning, the leadership of Brady, the accuracy of Brees, and the arm strength of … Flacco? - Ampallang
ILB's wait till rounds 2 and/or 3?
I wrote about Burfict in the Fan Posts. I would be happy with Hightower or Kuechly in round 1 and I can imagine the Ravens would also.
However I think that there’s a couple of other ILB’s in rounds 2 or 3 that might be just as good a fit for us or even better:
- Bobby Wagner I think would be although of as a borderline round 1 pick if he had gone to an SEC school.
- James-Michel Johnson out of Nevada might be an even bigger steal.
- Finally Mychal Kendricks in the mid-rounds is a very nice choice.
The first two I think are better in coverage than the first round ILB’s-or better than what we have on the Ravens right now. I would love it if the Ravens did with the ILB position in this draft what they did with the TE position in 2010: draft a couple of them fairly high to get a real influx of talent for when Lewis finally heads off into the sunset. To me getting two of Hightower/Kuechly AND/OR two of Wagner, Kendricks, and Johnson would be a real nice draft.
I really like Bobby Wagner if we don’t go MLB round 1. He looked really good in the senior bowl along with being one of the most productive MLB’s in the country the past few seasons. Solid do it all type MLB.
On Ed Reed:
"I’ve told him to his face many times, ‘You’re the greatest safety ever to play the game,’"
"We all learn from each other, but we all learn most from him."
- Troy Polamalu
Show Me The Wide Receiver!
Get whoever the best playmaker is when it’s the right value. 1st, 2nd, or 3rd round.
daytime commentator. night time ninja.
Would not be too upset with Alshon Jeffrey. For a team that has had trouble with drops, this guy never misses.
Flacco has to trust his receivers to make catches, but shouldn’t throw towards coverage. He needs to attack deep more often, but shouldn’t hold onto the ball so long. He needs to show more awareness in the pocket and move to extend plays, but nothing good comes of him leaving the pocket. He should run with the ball if nobody’s open, but he definitely can’t run with the ball.
Flacco should have the awareness of Roethlisberger, the elusiveness of Vick, the control of the offense of Manning, the leadership of Brady, the accuracy of Brees, and the arm strength of … Flacco? - Ampallang
I’ve seen about 5 or 6 SC games the last 3 years. With sub par QB play, he appears to struggle to get separation in college. He has good high pointing skills with a hefty frame. I don’t know what to make of the guy yet. No that it’s the end all, but what do you think his 40 time will be?
daytime commentator. night time ninja.
If he doesn’t run in the 4.4 range, I think he drops in the draft. Probably something like 4.55. But hey, Jerry Rice ran a 4.7
Flacco has to trust his receivers to make catches, but shouldn’t throw towards coverage. He needs to attack deep more often, but shouldn’t hold onto the ball so long. He needs to show more awareness in the pocket and move to extend plays, but nothing good comes of him leaving the pocket. He should run with the ball if nobody’s open, but he definitely can’t run with the ball.
Flacco should have the awareness of Roethlisberger, the elusiveness of Vick, the control of the offense of Manning, the leadership of Brady, the accuracy of Brees, and the arm strength of … Flacco? - Ampallang
That’s my main concern is how will he separate in the NFL. He has the frame to just throw it up which could make up for it, but will interesting to see. He said he was going to be working hard on losing a little and getting quicker so we will see at the combine if he did that.
On Ed Reed:
"I’ve told him to his face many times, ‘You’re the greatest safety ever to play the game,’"
"We all learn from each other, but we all learn most from him."
- Troy Polamalu
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