My Last 2014 NFL Mock Draft

I would just like to take a moment to thank everyone who has checked out my Mock Drafts the past few weeks. This mock will be my last 2014 NFL Mock Draft, but next week I will display my first 2015 NFL Mock Draft, and then begin my College Football Countdown Blogs until the season begins. I hope you all keep coming out to check out my blog, and I encourage any and all to make comments. I  am excited to read what you all think about my ideas, and I am excited to hear about your ideas.

Thanks again and I hope you all continue to enjoy.

1st Round

Pick	Team	Player	College	Position
1	Atlanta Trade w/Houston	Jadevown Clowney	South Carolina	DE
2	St. Louis	Jake Mathews	Texas A&M	OT
3	Jacksonville	Greg Robinson	Auburn	OT
4	Cleveland	Sammy Watkins	Clemson	WR
5	Oakland	Mike Evans	Texas A&M	WR
6	Houston Trade w/Atlanta	Khalil Mack	Buffalo	LB
7	Arizona Trade w/Tampa Bay	Johnny Manziel	Texas A&M	QB
8	Minnesota	Aaron Donald	Pittsburgh	DT
9	Buffalo	Taylor Lewtan	Michigan	OT
10	Detroit	Justin Gilbert	Oklahoma State	CB
11	Tennessee	Anthony Barr	UCLA	OLB
12	New York G	Dee Ford	Auburn	DE
13	St. Louis	Xavier Su’a-Filo	UCLA	OG
14	Chicago	Darqueze Dennard	Michigan State	CB
15	Pittsburgh	Ha Ha Clinton Dix	Alabama	S
16	Dallas	Louis Nix	Notre Dame	DE
17	Baltimore	CJ Mosley	Alabama	LB
18	New York J	Eric Ebron	UNC	TE
19	Miami	Zach Martin	Notre Dame	OT
20	Tampa Bay Trade w/Arizona	Bradley Roby	Ohio State	CB
21	Green Bay	Calvin Pryor	Louisville	S
22	Philadelphia	Odell Beckham Jr.	LSU	WR
23	Kansas City	Cody Latimer	Indiana	WR
24	Cincinnati	Joe Bitino	Nevada	OT
25	San Diego	Kyle Fuller	Virginia Tech	CB
26	Cleveland	Blake Bortles	UCF	QB
27	New Orleans	Ryan Shazier	Ohio State	OLB
28	Carolina	Marqise Lee	USC	WR
29	Minnesota trade w/ New England	Derek Carr	Fresno State	QB
30	San Francisco	Gabe Jackson	Mississippi State	OG
31	Denver	Kyle Van Noy	BYU	OLB
32	Seattle	Carl Bradford	Arizona State	OLB

Story of the first round: Teams Trade Up For Quarterbacks

            I am sticking with my prediction from a week ago that Arizona will make a play for Johnny Manziel by swapping first round picks with the Buccaneers. The next big story of the first round will be when Minnesota decides to pass on Blake Bortles at the 8 spot. NFL experts like Bill Piolian are raving about Aaron Donald’s ability at the defensive tackle position, and on ESPN’s Mock Draft Special a week ago, he even went as far as saying that there are many GMs that view Donald’s value as high as Clowney’s. Peter King reported that new Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer is looking for a “front-seven disruptor” (http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nfl/9356/aaron-donald). Zimmer could re-create the dynamic defense front that he was able to do in Cincinnati. Aaron Donald paired up with Shariff Floyd could rival what Zimmer had with Geno Atkins and Domata Peko.

            So if that happens where does Blake Bortles end up going? Tennessee will give Locker one more year, and if he is unable to pan out, Tennessee will be bad enough to get one of the top quarterbacks in next year’s draft (Brett Hundley, Marcus Mariota, or Jameis Winston possibly?). After Tennessee, there is not another team in the first round who will target a quarterback, and you will then begin to hear all the talk focused on Bortles like Big Ben, Matt Leinart, and Geno Smith last year were about his “dropping” status…except for Cleveland. Cleveland selects Sammy Waktins with their first pick, and just happen to watch Bortles fall in their lap at the 26^th spot. The Browns will then not only add a significant weapon to go along with Josh Gordon, but secure the best quarterback in this year’s draft. The last time this happened was when they saw Brady Quinn fall into their lap in 2007 after selecting Joe Thomas number 1 overall. The Browns this time, will hope that the quarterback gods smile at this differently this time. But that is not the last quarterback story of the first round.

            Minnesota still needs a quarterback however. So they swing a deal with the Patriots, to select Derek Carr before the top end of the draft gets their chance to snag him. The Patriots have needs at DT, TE, OL, and WR but where they are drafting in the first round will no secure them the kind of first round talent they are looking for. So this would be an excellent time for the Patriots to do what they do ever draft season, which is trade down and secure more picks. This would be the perfect fit for both teams to fill holes.

My Guarantee Of The First Round: Too many teams push the panic button on Wide Recievers

            There is little denying the abilities of Sammy Watkins and Mike Evans. But after those two go, there are eight wide receivers who could go anywhere from the mid-first round to the end of the second round. There is so much wide receiver depth in this draft, but what some mocks have shown is that there are teams who are so desperate for receiving help that they will reach, and reach early. Kelvim Benjamin and Cody Latimer have the size, but not the big play ability as Mike Evans does, and Brandon Cooks, Odell Beckham have quickness, but not the game changing quickness of Sammy Watkins. If the draft has proven anything over the years, is that draft a wide receiver early is one of the riskiest moves a GM can make. But the Jets, Packers, Chiefs, Saints, Eagles and Panthers will all be in on finding a receiver. But in this draft, patience is a virtue, and if teams reaches to early and the pick flops (and by historic standards chances are it will) that’s how GMs become ex-GMs.

2^nd Round

Pick	Team	Player	College	Position
1	Houston	Zach Mettenberger	LSU	QB
2	Washington	DeVante Adams	Fresno State	WR
3	Jacksonville	Jimmy Garoppolo	Eastern Illinois	QB
4	Cleveland	Carlos Hyde	Ohio State	RB
5	Oakland	Teddy Bridgewater	Louisville	QB
6	Houston	Stephon Tuitt	Notre Dame	DT
7	Tampa Bay	Kelvim Benjamin	Florida State	WR
8	New England trade w/Minnesota	Jace Amaro	Texas Tech	TE
9	Buffalo	Austin Seferian-Jenkins	Washington	TE
10	Detroit	Craig Lotson	LSU	FS
11	Tennessee	Tom Savage	Pittsburgh	QB
12	New York G	Chris Borland	Wisconsin	ILB
13	St. Louis	Jeremy Hill	LSU	RB
14	Chicago	Kony Ealy	Missouri	DE
15	Pittsburgh	Jason Verrett	TCU	CB
16	Dallas	Dion Baily	USC	S
17	Baltimore	Lache Seastrunk	Baylor	RB
18	New York J	Brandin Cooks	Oregon State	WR
19	Miami	R’Shade Hageman	Minnesota	DT
20	Arizona	Jordan Mathews	Vanderbilt	WR
21	Green Bay	Marcus Robinson	Florida	CB
22	Philadelphia	Timmy Jernigan	Florida State	DT
23	Cincinnati	Christian Jones	Florida State	ILB
24	Kansas City	Donte Moncrief	Ole Miss	WR
25	San Diego	Antonio Richardson	Tennessee	OT
26	Indianapolis	Jeremiah Attaochu	Georgia Tech	LB
27	New Orleans	Dominique Easly	Florida	DT
28	Carolina	Bishop Sankey	Washington	RB
29	New England	AJ McCarron	Alabama	QB
30	San Francisco	Trent Murphy	Stanford	LB
31	Denver	Cyril Richardson	Baylor	OG
32	Seattle	Kadeem Carey	Arizona	RB

Story of the second round: Teddy’s Back!

            I don’t know if there is another quarterback in the history of the draft which confuses me more than Teddy Bridgewater. As much as you read about the negatives of Bridgewater’s game (accuracy, arm strength, questions about him being able to handle the spotlight) you then read articles about the positives of his game (footwork, statistics, that whole “watch the tape” Bridgewater keeps bringing up). So last week I had him falling out of the second round and that might be a little too harsh, so I will have him go back in the second round. The Raiders need someone young behind Matt Schaub, and it would be good to have Bridgewater come in and learn under a veteran.

My Guarantee Of The 2^nd Round: Running Backs Become ‘The Thing Of the 2^nd Round’

            Eddie Lacy was probably the best value pick of the 2^nd round or of any round for that matter a year ago. I think this trend picks up steam in this year draft as Carlos Hyde, Lache Seastrunk, Jeremy Hill and Bishop Sankey should be locks for the second round. Teams will begin to refocus their offenses around the running game once again, running backs may one day regain their 1^st round status. Just not this year.