NPC's Mock Draft of Doom

With the NFL Draft a mere three days away, I thought I’d take a stab at predicting how things will fall. I fill out my NCAA Tournament brackets every year so being horrifically bad at making predictions has never stopped me before! So don’t expect in-depth analysis on the level of my personal hero, Mel Kiper Jr., but rather accept this humble offering as food for thought.

While you’re in a mock drafty sort of mood, check out CBS Sports.com by clicking here and take a look at a live mock draft I will be participating in alongside my fellow FanSided NFL bloggers.

As for the Pittsburgh Steelers, I’ll have a post up tomorrow detailing my thoughts on their specific needs and draft strategy. This is just to give you guys a picture of how I think the first round will play out (and give me a chance to write about something other than Big Ben Gone Wild).

PickTeamPlayer SelectedPlayer’s PositionPlayer’s SchoolAnalysis

Sam Bradford

Quarterback

Oklahoma

Releasing Marc Bulger is a big flashing neon sign that they’re taking a QB. Bradford is the only logical pick here.

Defensive Tackle

Nebraska

Let’s see how many abbreviations I can use. Detroit fans probably want an OT to keep their young QB upright. However, head coach Jim Schwartz is a defensive mastermind and his team’s D sucked last year. OT can wait until Rd 2.

Gerald McCoy

Defensive Tackle

Oklahoma

Tampa needs to rebuild their defense basically from scratch. McCoy is a smudge behind Suh as far as prospects go so they’ll jump at the chance to land him.

Russell Okung

Offensive Tackle

Oklahoma State

The ‘Skins have their franchise QB in Donovan McNabb. Now they need to keep him healthy and upright.

5.		Bryan Bulaga	Offensive Tackle	Iowa	The Chiefs paid a ton of money to QB Matt Cassel. You’re not going to get your money’s worth unless you protect him.
6.		Eric Berry	Safety	Tennessee	Pete Carrol made a living at USC with strong defensive units. Berry will be a playmaker in the secondary.
7.		Derrick Morgan	Linebacker	Georgia Tech	Football Czar Mike Holmgren will probably take a developmental QB in later rounds. Neither Matt Hasselbeck nor Bret Favre were first round picks. Instead, they’ll shore up their D with the best pass rushing LB in the draft.
8.		Bruce Campbell	Offensive Tackle	Maryland	Well, he did run the fastest 40 time among all OL at the combine. The Raiders have a decent defense and weapons on offense. Maybe if they can protect Jamarcus Russell he’ll learn not to stink.
9.		Jimmy Clausen	Quarterback	Notre Dame	Their QB situation is dire. And, to be honest, they need something big to sell tickets and get their fanbase excited. Clausen will be the new face of the Bills.
10.		Rolando McClain	Linebacker	Alabama	The Jags had no pass rush last season. McClain is a beast who’ll help solve that problem.
11.		Dan Williams	Defensive End	Tennessee	Denver needs to re-tool a defense that has been porous the past couple years. Williams is an excellent run-stopper who can also bring pressure.
12.		Earl Thomas	Safety	Texas	Bill Parcells loves a strong defense. Especially in a pass happy division with Tom Brady and the newly explosive Jets. Thomas can cover and hit and will shore up a weak secondary.
13.		Trent Williams	Offensive Tackle	Oklahoma	Coach Mike Singletary is old school. He wants a tough physical running attack. Now that they have settled on Alex Smith as their QB, a stud OT to protect him and pave the way for their RBs is a must.
14.	(From Denver)	Dez Bryant	Wide Reciever	Oklahoma State	I don’t think Pete Carroll cares about character issues since USC was hardly a squeaky clean program. We also know he loves explosive pass-oriented offenses so why not go for this uber-talented headcase?
15.		Brandon Graham	Defensive End	Michicgan	The Giants need to generate more pass rush and they usually do that with their defensive line. Graham will play either DE or LB in the NFL but in either case he’ll be a perfect fit for the G-Men.
16.	(From Carolina)	Joe Haden	Cornerback	Florida	What division do the Titans play in? Oh, right, the one with Peyton Manning. So picking up the best CB in the draft seems pretty obvious here.
17.		CJ Spiller	Running Back	Clemson	See previous comment about Coach Singletary. RB Frank Gore is great but injury prone. Spiller would provide an awesome 1-2 punch and take pressure off Alex Smith.
18.		Mike Iupati	Offensive Guard	Idaho	I know. Every year we think the Steelers are going to finally address the O-Line. I don’t see how they pass up Iupati, who is raw but looks every bit the heir apparent to Alan Faneca at LG.
19.		Sean Weatherspoon	Linebacker	Missouri	The Falcons need a pass rusher and Weatherspoon will be a solid player for them from day one.
20.		Patrick Robinson	Cornerback	Florida State	The Texans lost CB Dunta Robinson during the off-season and, say it with me, play in the same division as Pey-Pey. Robinson is an excellent cover corner.
21.		Taylor Mays	Safety	USC	The Bengals have plenty of offense, they just need to tighten up their D. The Steelers have a big-hitting playmaking safety from USC named Troy Polamalu. The Bengals will hope Mays turns out to be version 2.0
22.		Jared Odrick	Defensive Tackle	Penn State	The Patriots began injecting youth into an aging defense last season. The re-tooling process continues this year. Odrick will be the pass-rushing lineman they lost when they got rid of Richard Seymour.
23.		Kyle Wilson	Cornerback	Boise State	The Packers offensive line was terrible but that was due to injuries. Their defensive, however, simply couldn’t stop anybody. Especially in the passing game. Wilson has flown up draft boards as a speedy cover corner.
24.		Jason Pierre-Paul	Defensive End	South Florida	The Eagles defense needs a pass rusher to play opposite Trent Cole. Pierre-Paul is raw and the Philly mutants may boo but if he fulfills his upside they’ll have another Reggie White.
25.		Maurkice Pouncey	Offensive Guard/Center	Florida	Center Matt Birk is 33 years old. Pouncey is a rare first round center prospect. He’ll go nicely with last year’s first rounder, Big Mike Oher, in providing the Ratbirds with a young talented OL for years to come.
26.		Jermaine Gresham	Tight End	Oklahoma	Matt Leinart needs all the help he can get, especially with WR Anquan Boldin gone. Gresham has some character and durability questions but appears to have talent on the level of a Vernon Davis. If he pans out, he’ll be a dynamic playmaker and a steal this late in the draft.
27.		Charlie Brown	Offensive Tackle	USC	Flozell Adams was released so they need to do some re-working at the tackles. Brown can probably start at RT immediately and has enough upside that he could eventually move to LT.
28.		Jonathan Dwyer	Running Back	Georgia Tech	With the loss of L.T., they need another running back to platoon with tiny Darren Sproules. Dwyer is a North-South runner with game-breaking ability.
29.		Sergio Kindle	Linebacker	Texas	Rex Ryan. Need I say more? They acquired plenty of offense in the off-season and shored up their secondary with Antonio Cromartie so why not add another explosive pass-rushing linebacker?
30.		Demaryius Thomas	Wide Receiver	Georgia Tech	Broke his foot in Feb. so teams aren’t sure what his measurables truly are. It’s rumored that he ran 4.3’s prior to injury which at 6’3 220 pounds would be Top 10 pick level stuff. Vikes take a chance on what could be the next Randy Moss.
31.		Brian Price	Defensive Tackle	UCLA	Colts can always use upgrades on defense, especially to their defensive line. Price is a big strong space-eater who will likely demand a double team which frees up their linebackers or Dwight Freeney coming off the edge.
32.		Jerry Hughes	Linebacker	TCU	Saints could use some better linebackers. Hughes is an active, athletic player who can rush the passer and effectively stop the run.

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NPC’s Mock Draft of Doom

By chris | Apr 19, 2010