I couldn't wait to get this Mock Draft up by Russ Lande of AOL's Sporting News Feed. He did a complete 7 round Mock Draft, including Compensatory Picks as determined by the NFL. He did not predict any trades, so the seven rounds, for example, includes the Baltimore Ravens current nine draft picks. The number one thing that jumped out at me began in the third round and continued for the rest of the Ravens selections, and I'm relatively sure you will join in my frustration and amazement that these picks were actually made by the same person in each round.
Russ takes Colorado cornerback Jimmy Smithin the first round, and although Temple defensive tackle Muhammad Wilkerson was still on the board, you can understand the choice. He chose Iowa defensive tackle Christian Ballard in the second round, with wide receivers Jon Baldwin (Pittsburgh) and Greg Little (UNC) still available, as well as DE Allen Bailey (Miami). Another questionable yet understandable pick in the realm of things.
However, this is where it gets bizarre and I'd love to hear his justification, including the over-used "best player available" phrase, on the next two picks.
Lande has the Ravens taking another cornerback, Rashard Carmichael (Va Tech), ignoring LB Casey Matthews (Oregon) in the 3rd round and then inexplicably comes back in the fourthround with yet another cornerback, this time Justin Rogers (Richmond). As the talent dwindles in the mid-later rounds, there still was center Ryan Bartholomew (Syracuse) on the board.
Lande'slast five picks are virtually irrelevant and unknown to most fans, although you can follow the link above to see who they are. At the same time, had he taken those first two picks but taken both Casey Matthews in the 3rd and Ryan Bartholomew in the 4th, then most likely while this draft might have been debatable, it certainly wouldn't fall into the ludicrous category that I place it.
What do you think?