Football Outsiders Mock Draft
One of my favourite sites - FootballOutsiders has recently posted their own mock draft and as it’s a damn fine read as usual. Check it out in it’s entirety here. It includes detailed analysis (5,000 words+) of why certain franchises will lean towards particular players, as well as a few trades!
As regards to the Rams pick they said:
#2 - St. Louis Rams: Aaron Curry, LB, Wake Forest. Let’s be honest: The Rams are riddled with holes. After cutting Orlando Pace and Torry Holt, mock drafts have made a case for either (Jason) Smith, Monroe, or Curry.
But their head coach is Steve Spagnuolo. And while Spagnuolo doesn’t have the final say on player personnel, he certainly has a lot of say in that room. And we suspect that Spagnuolo will want to take the best pass rusher he can find for his defense and move Alex Barron over to left tackle. Curry is an excellent nine-technique player and is superb enough in coverage that Spagnuolo can build his blitz packages around disguising what Curry is going to do on every play, just like he did with Justin Tuck in New York last year.
In regards to Detroit’s pick at #1 they said:
#1 Detroit Lions: Jason Smith, T, Baylor. This will be a very interesting sign of how much power Jim Schwartz has in Detroit as opposed to general manager Martin Mayhew. You might suspect that we’re not proffering support for Matthew Stafford as the first overall pick, thanks to the Lewin Career Forecast. We suspect that the analytics-appreciating Schwartz is well aware of Stafford’s comparable quarterbacks, and would much prefer taking one of the draft’s tackles.
We figure Smith over Eugene Monroe because of their nature; Monroe’s more of a finished product, but he’s a pass blocker first. The Lions are going to be building around an ability to run the football, for better or worse, and Smith’s the better run blocker. Worth noting is that Detroit hasn’t even brought Monroe in for a one-on-one interview yet. The Lions could choose to take Aaron Curry and just focus all their resources on building a Tennessee-esque set of linebackers, but with Ernie Sims and Julian Peterson already in place, Smith makes the most sense.
As for the other NFC West teams they had them doing the following -
Seahags - Pick Eugene Monroe at #4
Whiners - Everette Brown at #10
Dirty Birdz - trading up to #16 (Chargers) and selecting Michael Johnson
Go check out the full article here…
3 years ago
