New 2012 NFL Mock Draft

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Good effort - and it looks great - I'm not too excited about the Thompson pick, though, we have a decent number of that type of player with Love, Deaderick, Brace, etc, with Pryor hopefully back next year. Not that it's a stunning list of talent but I would prefer someone like Konz to fix the Center issue long term or a CB like Minnifield (McCourty, Dowling, Arrington, Minnifield would get us back to the talent I was hoping we'd have coming into this season). We definitely need the Safety, McDonald or Barron would have been OK although I think McDonald is a better fit with Chung.
 
I'm not so sure they'll go for a safety in the first round. I was looking more towards the linebacker position, and I think Upshaw is the LB they go for. He can play 3-4 or 4-3 and is versatile. With the Alabama blood lines, I think he's a good pick for us.
 
Doing any sort of mock draft for the Patriots is an exercise in futility.
I didn't see a single mock with either Nate Solder or Devin McCourty in the last two years and that's only the 1st round.

How many mocks had us picking Dowling, Vereen, and Ridley in Round 2 last year? I think I saw one that had Vereen.
 
PatsFanLisa said:
I'm not so sure they'll go for a safety in the first round. I was looking more towards the linebacker position, and I think Upshaw is the LB they go for. He can play 3-4 or 4-3 and is versatile. With the Alabama blood lines, I think he's a good pick for us.
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Hightower looked pretty good against LSU, too.
 
RI Pats Fan said:
Doing any sort of mock draft for the Patriots is an exercise in futility.
I didn't see a single mock with either Nate Solder or Devin McCourty in the last two years and that's only the 1st round.

How many mocks had us picking Dowling, Vereen, and Ridley in Round 2 last year? I think I saw one that had Vereen.
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Certainly applies to any mock that I've ever done for the Pats. This past draft, I was certain that BB would go for at least one of the potential 3-4 ends, but no.

Might be an even tougher call wrt defensive players for 2012. I'm still unconvinced that this season's "switch" to the 4-3 is permanent or exclusive. Same with the apparent move away from zone-read coverage to press-man.

DB/safety would seem likely if only because BB seems to pick up one or two every draft and, let's face it, DBs get broken a lot more frequently than players at any other position.

OLB is a possibility, but, again, 3-4 or 4-3? And a "pass-rusher"? Really? When has that ever happened?

With interior sub-rushers Wright and Pryor seeming so fragile, one might expect BB to refill that spot at least later in the draft, but would it be really shocking for him to grab a potentially elite DT in Round One?

OL (especially interior) also seems likely, at least on the surface, but Dante already has McDonald (G/C) and Kopa (T) on the PS and Koppen (OC), Hix (T), Ohrnberger (G/C) on IR. And Cannon hasn't even played yet. Dante has done more with less in the past.

I'm sure that a lot of folks will be calling again for a "deep threat WR" which is fine if we think that BB/BoB/Brady will be making a commitment to actually practicing a vertical game again (which I don't think has been done since 2007). However, if he goes for a WR, I suspect it might be another "WTF?" selection of a guy who's primarily a returner, maybe in the 3rd or 4th.

Perhaps another blocking TE in a later round (since the two he picked up in 2011 were "stolen").

I think for 2012, I'm just going to throw darts at the board.
 
RI Pats Fan said:
Doing any sort of mock draft for the Patriots is an exercise in futility.
I didn't see a single mock with either Nate Solder or Devin McCourty in the last two years and that's only the 1st round.
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Mock drafts are a ton of fun.

I did have McCourtey on my final Pats mock two years ago. I had Kyle Wilson but Box convinced me that McCourtey's ST ability pushed him higher. I almost had Solder last year but went with Costanzo and he was supposedly more NFL ready.

We clearly need LB (multiple), DE, C, WR, CB but we need a capable Safety in the worst way. That doesn't mean it has to be the top pick but whether it's a FA or draft pick we need one so badly it hurts. We really need two.
 
RI Pats Fan said:
Doing any sort of mock draft for the Patriots is an exercise in futility.
I didn't see a single mock with either Nate Solder or Devin McCourty in the last two years and that's only the 1st round.

How many mocks had us picking Dowling, Vereen, and Ridley in Round 2 last year? I think I saw one that had Vereen.
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Absolutely typical of you. Why did you even bother to open the thread then? You know what's an exercise in futility? Any thread in that other forum that you frequent, especially when you're posting in it.

So if you don't want to discuss prospects, and you virtually never post in the football forum, why bother to come here?

And several mocks were showing an OL going to us early in the draft last year, several rounds showed us picking a DB in the second round the year before. But that's not the point. The point is that it's something that some people actually like to do in a football forum.
 
I may actually shed a tear when Vinny Curry goes off the board before our pick. :(

BelichickFan makes a great point about the Thompson pick and the talent we already have in waiting at that position next to Wilfork. I'd much rather see a DE or OLB here.

I'm totally not in favor of taking an interior O-lineman in the 1st. No matter the need. Good ones are just too easy to find in free agency or later in the draft.

The T.J. McDonald pick makes an awful lot of sense. Especially considering his bloodlines and once being a team captain.

PS - There's a typo in the first sentence of the description of the #23 pick.
 
Great effort and very nice visually.

I'm in agreement with others who don't see the need for a DT when OLB, DB and even WR are greater needs. I'd like to see our pass D enhanced once and for all. Then give TB some legitimate outside the numbers toys so the spread can once again be 'the spread'. (I didn't say vertical threat, so don't start on me folks, please.)
 
I like mock drafts. They are fun to read and discuss. Just don't take them to seriously. They are an even bigger crapshoot than the actual draft itself, especially this early.
 
Peachhead said:
I'm totally not in favor of taking an interior O-lineman in the 1st. No matter the need. Good ones are just too easy to find in free agency or later in the draft.
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You're right, I got confused with need over value at Center.

Offensively, WR is the only position I'd spend a #1 pick on given our current situation.

Defensively it's tough because we don't know what defense we'll be playing. But we need a high round and a mid round Safety. The high round Safety preferably being strong in coverage to be a good mix with Chung. We also need another CB. McCourtey, Arrington, Dowling is decent but we desperately need depth. If we stick with this year's defense we need a pass rushing DE - or two if Carter isn't re-signed. And we need a couple of LB either way.

My preference would be to use 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b all on those defensive needs and hope to get Ryan Broyles (torn ACL) in round 3.

I would also try to trade Mallett for a #2 - I like Mallett but we have too many needs right now. If Mallett continues to keep his nose clean his value will be up solely based on that as his QB upside isn't in question.

If we came out with McDonald, Minnifield, Broyles and three front seven guys in the second round (that's including a #2 for Mallett) we could finally have some serious upside defensively.
 
BelichickFan said:
I would also try to trade Mallett for a #2 - I like Mallett but we have too many needs right now. If Mallett continues to keep his nose clean his value will be up solely based on that as his QB upside isn't in question.
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I actually think they franchise Hoyer and trade him, keeping Mallett. I'm not for this, btw.
 
PatsFanLisa said:
I actually think they franchise Hoyer and trade him, keeping Mallett. I'm not for this, btw.
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It could go either way. Hoyer is a RFA, he doesn't need to be Franchised (correct me if I'm wrong but I think I'm correct), they can just give him the first round tender. At that point they could either trade him or Mallett (I'm reasonably confident no-one would sign Hoyer at the 1st round level).

I don't really care which one we trade but I don't want both on the roster given our number of needs. In my perfect world we would trade Hoyer - like you said - I'm just not sure of his value whereas Mallett's seems more clear to me so it's easier to talk about trading him. If we could get a #2 for Hoyer and keep Mallett, all the better.
 
Does anyone know, if free agency will be prior to the draft again like it used to be?
 
It was very nice visually and the reasoning and relative value looks pretty good, although doing one of these prior to the combine is difficult due to the mad swings in value depending on how college stars test.

It appears to be a pretty strong 1st round class to me, despite the rookie cap which arguably drained off some underclassmen last year. If I had a criticism it is that I think Courtney Upshaw is too good to last until the end of the 1st round. He looks to be elite. If he does drop that far then this must be a bumper crop of athletes.

A solid job.
 
That's a lot of work you did there; really visually stunning and informative. I appreciate your effort, and we'll see how close your picks are to the real thing. Can't be any worse than what goes on in here >)
 
PatsFanLisa said:
Absolutely typical of you. Why did you even bother to open the thread then? You know what's an exercise in futility? Any thread in that other forum that you frequent, especially when you're posting in it.

So if you don't want to discuss prospects, and you virtually never post in the football forum, why bother to come here?

And several mocks were showing an OL going to us early in the draft last year, several rounds showed us picking a DB in the second round the year before. But that's not the point. The point is that it's something that some people actually like to do in a football forum.
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Fine, then do it. Did I say you shouldn't do it? I said that it was an excercise in futility. I stand by that statement.

BTW, discussing prospects isn't the same as doing a mock draft.
 
BelichickFan said:
It could go either way. Hoyer is a RFA, he doesn't need to be Franchised (correct me if I'm wrong but I think I'm correct), they can just give him the first round tender. At that point they could either trade him or Mallett (I'm reasonably confident no-one would sign Hoyer at the 1st round level).

I don't really care which one we trade but I don't want both on the roster given our number of needs. In my perfect world we would trade Hoyer - like you said - I'm just not sure of his value whereas Mallett's seems more clear to me so it's easier to talk about trading him. If we could get a #2 for Hoyer and keep Mallett, all the better.
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You are correct in saying that Hoyer is a RFA and doesn't need to be franchised. If he wasn't an RFA, franchising him would, of course, be beyond stupid.
I can't see the Patriots giving him a 1st round tender.....probably second.
 
RI Pats Fan said:
Doing any sort of mock draft for the Patriots is an exercise in futility.
I didn't see a single mock with either Nate Solder or Devin McCourty in the last two years and that's only the 1st round.

How many mocks had us picking Dowling, Vereen, and Ridley in Round 2 last year? I think I saw one that had Vereen.
Click to expand...

I didn't have Solder at 1a. But, I did have him to us at 1b. Also, had Ridley going to us. In the 4th though. As usual, BB's draft better than mine... lol Had us taking Danny Watkins at 33. Though, he wouldn't have been there on draft day.

http://www.patriotsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?p=1678486#post1678486

I know we won't do it. But, I wouldn't be against us drafting two olb's. J. Cunningham just ain't cutting it. Ninko doesn't have the speed to play as much as he does in coverage. And, isn't that great a pass-rusher. Have to be one or the other. I'd love to get Courtney Upshaw and Vinny Curry. I'm willing to bet we go back to the 3-4. So, I think we get a 2-gap 5 tech de. From what I've seen this year. Devon Still - PSU has been the best interior defensive lineman in the country. I think he's top 15 now. If not, he's my pick and either Curry or Upshaw.

Right now my wish list would be something like this;
1a Devon Still - DE - PSU - Looks like a young Ty Warren.
1b Vinny Curry - olb - Marshall - Have a feeling he tests better in workouts than Upshaw.

My next two targets are S and WR. I hope one of the Bama boys; Lester or Barron slips. Or, TJ McDonald from USC. But, don't be afraid to trade up. We can use that 3 to get a guy we need. How many of our 3rd rounders can walk and chew gum at the same time prior to this years draft?(Ridley and Mallett).

2a TJ McDonald - S - USC - I like the Bama boys too.
2B Dwight Jones - WR - UNC - We need to get TFB a bigger wr who can beat press off of the line and get downfield.
3 traded to move up and get McDonald. Damn Raiders keep winning more than we hope.
 
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