March 12, 2015

2015 Seahawks Mock Draft Edition 1

About 3 inches from another Super Bowl, a crushing loss after that Kearse catch.. but that's all I'm doing to reminisce at this point.. time to move forward to the 2015 NFL Draft. As my other mocks: I know that the draft list isn't set yet, so I'll update more later but I am a tad bored right now! Using cbssports.com big board, and I can't draft a player if he's higher than that on the board. #63 is the highest pick I can first make for Seattle since they traded for that Jimmy Graham character. Never heard of him..... have you? Talk radio in WI isn't worried about him as long as they have Aaron Rodgers.. at least, that's the word today. We'll find out when the season starts ;)

#63- Oregon C- Hroniss Grasu. Oh, hey.. guess who Grasu projects to? MAX UNGER. This is such a tempting spot with Funchess, Xavier Cooper, Ty Sambrailo also on the board. A lot has already been made about the.. fragility and skill of Seattle's line last year and they lost Carpenter in FA and Unger in the Graham trade. Might as well start restocking now!

#95- Oregon CB- Ifo Ekpre-Olomu. Call me Chip Kelly, apparently.. getting Oregon guys with the first 2 Seahawks selections. Ifo doesn't have the size the Seahawks love and will miss a bunch of the exhibition season with a knee injury.. so why gamble with their 2nd selection? He's young, he can move, he's great with the ball in the air and has great technique. He isn't as physical as they might like, but in today's NFL, he'd be a great addition to the slot for a team that depends so much on their coverage. I think this is a great pick for the Seahawks, I even passed up a few OL to make this one.

109- Wisconsin OL- Rob Havenstein. Run game struggled last year, Havenstein played OT in college but projects as a mauling G in the NFL. Everybody knows, and I've mentioned about the OL already.. potentially replaced a C and a G or, at least, provided depth for a team that loves to run the football.

127- Nebraska WR- Kenny Bell. Looked at Ty Montgomery and ILB Ben Heeney as well as some OLB, but took a shot with Bell. Bell has good straight line speed, he's a little smaller than a few of their other guys, but he can bring a little bit different dimension to the Seahawks return game as well as cover kicks/punts.

159- Harvard OLB Zach Hodges. Finally getting to work on the front 7, I think they'll draft a LB higher than this, but this was my best find as is. Hodges is from a small school but is a jack of all trades for them, which leaves him a little bit raw. He, however, has the ability to play multiple LB positions and even put his hand on the ground and rush the QB. Sounds like a Seahawks fit to me.

165- Auburn ATH Nick Marshall. Why not? Late pick, already have a CB and trying to add more DB depth. If it doesn't work, it's a 6th rd pick in a trade, so not a big loss. Think he can play CB with his athleticism and size and has some great tutors and a great scheme to work in for development.

223- Iowa DT Louis Trinca-Pasat. Finally a DL for the defense, but not an explosive one. Seattle could use a rotation DT to put in and just grind away and do dirty work until the pass rushers come in. Iowa DL are always extremely high effort, fundamental players. Pasat isn't any different, and could fit into a rotation.


March 10, 2015

2015 1st Bills Mock

Apparently I blog about 4 times a year and it happens to be during the NFL draft. I never did finish my mocks last year or even a "what I would have done" follow up after the draft. This year, I am determined to be different, however.. back to before kids and only the mock draft on my mind!

As a result of trades, like LeSean McCoy, and what not I had to look up the Bills pick and I am taking this site as my guide for now. As usual: I use the cbssports.com rankings and cannot draft a player ABOVE the number of the pick. For instance, the Bills first pick is #50, so the best prospect I could take would be 50th on the cbssports.com big board. Fair enough? I suppose so.

#50- FSU OG Tre Jackson-- I like him better than the other guard in that range (Laken Tomlinson) even though CBS has Tomlinson rated higher. I don't know a ton about Rex's offense, but I know that he loves to run the football and that guard was a weakspot for the Bills last year. Jackson has played in a pro style offense for 4 years, has great leg drive and is able to get to the 2nd level. Sounds like a great run fit to me!

#81- USC CB Josh Shaw-- Don't care about the fabricated story, actually saw his interview and was like.. "Yeah, that makes sense to me." The story part is lame, but he was scared. The kid can play and has insane measurables for this spot in the draft at that position. In the real draft, I think he goes higher, but I'm jumping on the CB/S at this spot and laughing!

#147- MSU FS Kurtis Drummond-- Apparently, I think Rex Ryan likes to have a lot of DBs.. I really think they look at a LB, but I like Drummond here over other raw players. Drummond gives them a smart, physical safety that can play different styles in Ryan's defense. They might look elsewhere, because he can struggle in man coverage, but he does too many other things well to pass him up.

#172- Purdue DE Ryan Russell-- Physical. Great look and explosiveness. Needs time to develop. Oh, hi Rex Ryan and the Bills DL that gets the QB routinely.. what a great place to learn.

#178- QB Sean Mannion- I'd be shocked if he's on the board this long and was surprised he's rated this low. The Bills have QB issues, is he a star? No.. but I can see him being better than Cassell and Manuel.

#209- WR Antwan Goodley-- Actually had a hard time here going back and forth between Goodley and EJ Bibbs. Went with Goodley, who has more explosion (obviously, given the position) than Bibbs, but a TE is a more likely real pick. Goodley fits that slot role that Goodwin never developed into, has his speed, but ability to cross the middle is the difference between the two. Small, explosive, short threat for whoever QBs the team