Over at Mocking The Draft, we have begun our 3rd installment of the SB Nation blog-wide live draft for all 32 NFL teams. On Saturday, we successfully finished up the first two rounds with few road blocks and the first round open thread generated over 1,000 comments. The 3rd and 4th rounds will occur next weekend. Shying away from many of the mock drafts around the internet, the representatives for each team made it very interesting with some of the picks they were making.
A few that stood out were
- QB Sam Bradford going 9th to Buffalo
- RB C.J. Spiller going 10th to Jacksonville
- Trade involving Tennessee and Tampa Bay which sent WR Dez Bryant to Tampa Bay at #16
- Pittsburgh ignoring their O-Line and Secondary issues by taking LB Sean Weatherspoon at #18
- Bruce Campbell falling out of the 1st round and being selected with the 1st pick in the 2nd round.
When it got to my pick (Ravens) at 25, I saw that there were many players left on my board that I felt could still be there if I moved back in the first round. Players like DE Jared Odrick and Carlos Dunlap, TE Jermaine Gresham, and CB's Devin McCourty and Kyle Wilson. What I decided to do was make an offer with Joe Baker of the Colts blog, Stampede Blue, and offer a trade to swap first round picks. The offer presented to Joe was the Ravens 1st round pick and the higher of our two 5th round picks for the Colts 1st round pick and 3rd round pick. The trade was accepted and here is a list of the trades made so far in the first two rounds.
Trades:
#16- The Titans trade the 16th pick to the Rams for their 2nd 3rd 4th and 7th round picks
#19/24- The Falcons trade the 19th pick to the eagles for the 24th and 87th pick.
#25/31- The Colts trade 31st and 94th picks to the Ravens for 25th and 152nd picks.
#26- The Cardinals trade the 26th pick to the Raiders a 2nd and 4th round pick.
So with the 31st pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, the Baltimore Ravens select........after the jump.
1st Round #31 - CB Kyle Wilson - Boise State (5'11" 195 lbs) Highlights
- First off, Wilson was the #25 player on my overall draft board, so he was obviously one of the best players available. With this pick, the Ravens get a huge security blanket in their Secondary. With Fabian Washington and Lardarius Webb coming off major knee injuries, Wilson would be a great option to get some starting time while Webb gets 100% and can come back playing next to Foxworth. From what I have seen on Wilson, he is the best press coverage CB in this draft. He knows how to get physical with a WR without drawing the penalty and can move his hips very fluently. Very good at mirroring the WR shifts in routes and reacts quickly to the QB's decision. Great athlete who can be used as a kick returner and is dangerous with the ball in his hands. In my opinion he is the best return man in this draft. Shies away from tackling at times and does not look to play the run too well, but this team is set up already to stop the run. We need pass coverage. Oh yea, he has dreadlocks.
2nd round #57 - TE Rob Gronkowski - Arizona (6'6" 264 lbs)
- My first impression when watching Gronkowski was that this guy reminds me so much of Jason Witten. This was a steal for me since Gronkowski was #41 on my board and even in the top 40 on others. Some have stated that Gronkowski is a more complete Tight End than projected first round pick Jermaine Gresham out of Oklahoma. Great explosion off the snap and is even quick enough to line up wide in the NFL. His hands are the best aspect of his game with great upper body flexibility to catch any ball near him. Not the most elusive player to make people miss, but is physical enough to break the first tackle. Sat out the entire 2009 season because of lower back surgery, but has publicly stated that he will be 100% come draft day. Fits a need for the Ravens who really have no other contributors outside of Todd Heap, who is in the decline of his career. Shannon Sharpe brought along Heap, now it is Heap's turn to bring along Gronkowski as the next great Ravens Tight End.