Todd's April 6 Mock

Carolina	Cam Newton	QB	Auburn
Denver	Marcell Dareus	DT	Alabama
Buffalo	Nick Fairley	DT	Auburn
Cincinnati	AJ Green	WR	Georgia
Arizona	Blaine Gabbert	QB	Missouri
Cleveland	Von Miller	OLB	Texas A&M
SF	Patrick Peterson	CB	LSU
Tennessee	Robert Quinn	OLB	North Carolina
Dallas	Prince Amukamara	CB	Nebraska
Washington	Julio Jones	WR	Alabama
Houston	Cameron Jordan	DE/OLB	Cal
Minnesota	De'Quan Bowers	DE	Clemson
Detroit	Tyron Smith	OT	USC
St. Louis	Corey Liuget	DT	Illinois
Miami	Mike Pouncey	OG	Florida
Jacksonville	Aldon Smith	DE	Missouri
New England	JJ Watt	DE	Wisconsin
San Diego	Ryan Kerrigan	DE	Purdue
NY Giants	Anthony Castonzo	OT	Boston College
Tampa Bay	Adrian Clayborn	DE	Iowa
Kansas City	Akeem Ayers	OLB	UCLA
Indianapolis	Nate Solder	OT	Colorado
Philadelphia	Jimmy Smith	CB	Colorado
New Orleans	Mark Ingram	RB	Alabama
Seattle	Jake Locker	QB	Washington
Baltimore	Cameron Heyward	DE	Ohio St.
Atlanta	Marvin Austin	DT	North Carolina
New England	Muhammad Wilkerson	DT	Temple
Chicago	Gabe Carimi	OT	Wisconsin
NY Jets	Phil Taylor	DT	Baylor
Pittsburgh	Brandon Harris	CB	Miami
Green Bay	Leonard Hankerson	WR	Miami

Jerry's Mock Draft

Carolina	Marcell Dareus	DT	Alabama
Denver	Patrick Peterson	CB	LSU
Buffalo	Robert Quinn	OLB	North Carolina
Cincinnati	Blaine Gabbert	QB	Missouri
Arizona	Von Miller	OLB	Texas A&M
Cleveland	AJ Green	WR	Georgia
SF	Nick Fairley	DT	Auburn
Tennessee	De'Quan Bowers	DE	Clemson
Dallas	Prince Amukamara	CB	Nebraska
Washington	Cam Newton	QB	Auburn
Houston	Aldon Smith	DE	Missouri
Minnesota	Ryan Mallett	QB	Arkansas
Detroit	Tyron Smith	OT	USC
St. Louis	Julio Jones	WR	Alabama
Miami	Mark Ingram	RB	Alabama
Jacksonville	Ryan Kerrigan	DE	Purdue
New England	JJ Watt	DE	Wisconsin
San Diego	Cameron Jordan	DE	Cal
NY Giants	Akeem Ayers	OLB	UCLA
Tampa Bay	Anthony Castonzo	OT	Boston College
Kansas City	Gabe Carimi	OT	Wisconsin
Indianapolis	Stephen Paea	DT	Oregon St.
Philadelphia	Rahim Moore	S	UCLA
New Orleans	Adrian Clayborn	DE	Iowa
Seattle	Jake Locker	QB	Washington
Baltimore	Jimmy Smith	CB	Colorado
Atlanta	Brandon Harris	CB	Miami
New England	Justin Houston	OLB	Georgia
Chicago	Corey Liuget	DT	Illinois
NY Jets	Phil Taylor	DT	Baylor
Pittsburgh	Nate Solder	OT	Colorado
Green Bay	Derrek Sherrod	OT	Mississippi St.

Top 100

1	Patrick Peterson	LSU	CB
2	Marcell Dareus	Alabama	DT
3	A.J. Green	Georgia	WR
4	Nick Fairley	Auburn	DT
5	Von Miller	Texas A&M	OLB
6	Julio Jones	Alabama	WR
7	Robert Quinn	North Carolina	OLB
8	Da'Quan Bowers	Clemson	DE
9	Blaine Gabbert	Missouri	QB
10	Cam Newton	Auburn	QB
11	Tyron Smith	Southern California	OT
12	J.J. Watt	Wisconsin	DE
13	Mark Ingram	Alabama	RB
14	Aldon Smith	Missouri	OLB
15	Cameron Jordan	California	DE
16	Corey Liuget	Illinois	DT
17	Mike Pouncey	Florida	OG
18	J.J. Watt	Wisconsin	DE
19	Muhammad Wilkerson	Temple	DT
20	Prince Amukamara	Nebraska	CB
21	Adrian Clayborn	Iowa	DE
22	Ryan Kerrigan	Purdue	DE
23	Anthony Castonzo	Boston College	OT
24	Derek Sherrod	Mississippi State	OT
25	Mikel LeShoure	Illinois	RB
26	Akeem Ayers	UCLA	OLB
27	Gabe Carimi	Wisconsin	OT
28	Torrey Smith	Maryland	WR
29	Nate Solder	Colorado	OT
30	Phil Taylor	Baylor	DT
31	Bruce Carter	North Carolina	OLB
32	Rahim Moore	UCLA	FS
33	Brandon Harris	Miami (Fla.)	CB
34	Stephen Paea	Oregon State	DT
35	Rodney Hudson	Florida State	OG
36	Aaron Williams	Texas	CB
37	Justin Houston	Georgia	OLB
38	Marvin Austin	North Carolina	DT
39	Ryan Williams	Virginia Tech	RB
40	Sam Acho	Texas	DE
41	Stefen Wisniewski	Penn State	C
42	Christian Ballard	Iowa	DE
43	DeMarco Murray	Oklahoma	RB
44	Kyle Rudolph	Notre Dame	TE
45	Jimmy Smith	Colorado	CB
46	Curtis Brown	Texas	CB
47	Martez Wilson	Illinois	ILB
48	Ricky Elmore	Arizona	DE
49	Ben Ijalana	Villanova	OT
50	Daniel Thomas	Kansas State	RB
51	Danny Watkins	Baylor	OG
52	Randall Cobb	Kentucky	WR
53	Cameron Heyward	Ohio State	DE
54	DeAndre McDaniel	Clemson	SS
55	Brooks Reed	Arizona	OLB
56	Christian Ponder	Florida State	QB
57	Jeron Johnson	Boise State	SS
58	John Moffitt	Wisconsin	OG
59	Jordan Todman	Connecticut	RB
60	Mark Herzlich	Boston College	OLB
61	Quinton Carter	Oklahoma	FS
62	Drake Nevis	LSU	DT
63	Greg Jones	Michigan State	ILB
64	Kristofer O'Dowd	Southern California	C
65	Colin Kaepernick	Nevada	QB
66	Jason Pinkston	Pittsburgh	OT
67	Ras-I Dowling	Virginia	CB
68	Stephen Schilling	Michigan	OG
69	Leonard Hankerson	Miami (Fla.)	WR
70	Tyler Sash	Iowa	SS
71	Chris Carter	Fresno State	OLB
72	Kendall Hunter	Oklahoma State	RB
73	Mason Foster	Washington	OLB
74	Titus Young	Boise State	WR
75	Davon House	New Mexico State	CB
76	Jon Baldwin	Pittsburgh	WR
77	Jurrell Casey	Southern California	DT
78	Ryan Mattett	Arkansas	QB
79	Jabaal Sheard	Pittsburgh	DE
80	D.J. Williams	Arkansas	TE
81	Johnny Patrick	Louisville	CB
82	Shane Vereen	California	RB
83	Orlando Franklin	Miami	OT
84	Tandon Doss	Indiana	WR
85	Will Rackley	Lehigh	OG
86	Luke Stocker	Tennessee	TE
87	Allen Bailey	Miami	DE
88	Clint Boling	Georgia	OG
89	Greg Little	North Carolina	WR
90	Brandon Burton	Utah	CB
91	Jarvis Jenkins	Clemson	DT
92	Greg Salas	Hawaii	WR
93	Taiwan Jones	Eastern Washington	RB
94	Vincent Brown	San Diego State	WR
95	Dontay Moch	Nevada	OLB
96	Jerrel Jernigan	Troy	WR
97	Bilal Powell	Louisville	RB
98	Owen Marecic	Stanford	FB
99	Edmund Gates	Abilene Christian	WR
100	Austin Pettis	Boise State	WR

First Mock Draft of the 2011 Season

Carolina	Blaine Gabbert	QB	Missouri
Denver	De'Quan Bowers	DE	Clemson
Buffalo	Marcell Dareus	DT	Alabama
Cincinnati	AJ Green	WR	Georgia
Arizona	Robert Quinn	OLB	North Carolina
Cleveland	Von Miller	OLB	Texas A&M
SF	Patrick Peterson	CB	LSU
Tennessee	Nick Fairley	DT	Auburn
Dallas	JJ Watt	DE	Wisconsin
Washington	Julio Jones	WR	Alabama
Houston	Prince Amukamara	CB	Nebraska
Minnesota	Cam Newton	QB	Auburn
Detroit	Cameron Jordan	DE/OLB	Cal
St. Louis	Akeem Ayers	OLB	UCLA
Miami	Mark Ingram	RB	Alabama
Jacksonville	Aldon Smith	DE	Missouri
New England	Tyron Smith	OT	USC
San Diego	Adrian Clayborn	DE	Iowa
NY Giants	Anthony Castonzo	OT	Boston College
Tampa Bay	Ryan Kerrigan	DE	Purdue
Kansas City	Stephen Paea	DT	Oregon St.
Indianapolis	Aaron Williams	CB	Texas
Philadelphia	Brandon Harris	CB	Miami
New Orleans	Corey Liuget	DT	Illinois
Seattle	Jake Locker	QB	Washington
Baltimore	Torrey Smith	WR	Maryland
Atlanta	Jimmy Smith	CB	Colorado
New England	Cameron Heyward	DE	Ohio St.
Chicago	Nate Solder	OT	Colorado
NY Jets	Phil Taylor	DT	Baylor
Pittsburgh	Gabe Carimi	OT	Wisconsin
Green Bay	Mike Pouncey	OG	Florida

The CBA, I got Questions, No one has Answers

As if this will come as a surprise to anyone, I am not an NFL owner nor an NFL player. But I am an NFL fan. So with that said there are few questions that I’d love to have someone answer for me regarding the upcoming lockout, or should I say, the upcoming potential lockout.

First, regarding the proposed 18-game schedule. I support the idea of the 18-game schedule for a few reasons. First off, by their own admission (Thank you for making my point Nate Jackson), the marquee players currently play about 4 quarters of football during the preseason, yet the NFL fan must pay the full price for these tickets. The average ticket price in the NFL? $75. So in August the fans get to watch the players on their team play about 15 minutes, then get to watch a glorified practice and evaluation period of unknown players for the next 45. Not a great value for any NFL fan.

Right now, go ask any NFL player if they want to play 18 games in 2011. Because it is a talking point that has been hammered into their head, the answer will be a resounding “NO”. Follow that up with this one, “So what you’re telling me is, you don’t want to go to the playoffs?” Oh wait a minute, that wasn’t the question, but in fact it was. As it stands now, NFL players play their 16-game schedule, then if they’ve earned it, play games 17, 18, 19 and possibly 20 throughout the playoffs, into the Super Bowl and hold up the Lombardi trophy. Yet somehow I haven’t heard the Patriots, Steelers, or any number of other teams bemoaning the fact that they’ve had to endure the hardship of playing so many more games while teams like the Lions, Browns, and Bills get to rest and relax after only playing their 16.

But let’s go back to Nate Jackson for a moment. He said that “Every player knows that during the four combined preseason games, the starters barely play a total four quarters…” OK, last time I checked, 4 quarters was a full game, so what the league and the fans are asking the players to do, is play 1 more game. You would have thought people asked the players to donate a kidney or something they way they are belly-aching.

Speaking of donating a kidney, let’s talk about how this will impact the health of players. Does the IR list start getting pretty full come the end of the season? Yes. But these players are portraying themselves as tires, at their strongest at the beginning of the season and slowing breaking down throughout it. And while there is no doubt a wearing-down effect to the players, they of all people should know that ligaments, tendons or bones can be torn, stretched or broken at anytime. Go ask Tom Brady if it mattered if there was a 16-game season, an 18-game season or a 2-game season when he got his ACL ripped apart in the first quarter of the first game in 2008. This is just one example of guys getting hurt no matter the situation.

The average NFL salary is 2009 was $990,000. Or to put it in Average Joe terms, nearly 19 times more then the average American Household. So before anyone cries poverty, can we at least understand that even the 53rd man on an NFL team, making the league minimum of over $300,000 is far-and-away better off, if only for a year, then many people will be in several years.

And before I get hit over the head with the fact that I’m anti-player, let me tell you that I do believe the players should be getting a majority of the money that is brought into the league. They are the product. They should be taken care of with long ranging health insurance, and benefits well beyond their playing days. More money should be paid to proven veteran players to help keep the overall product of the NFL at the highest level.

And finally, with the NFL getting a check for $2 BILLION simply for Monday Night Football, one game a week, the NFL and the owners appear to have more then enough money to make it through the lean times. Not to mention the fact that the shrines that house these millionaire athletes and billionaire owners is built, thanks in many cases, by public funding.

I wish the CBA were more like Osh, I have questions, but no one seems to have the answers.

Week 4 preview

We’ve reached the first Sunday that a few teams will have the week off. Bummer for fans in Dallas, Kansas City, Minnesota and Tampa Bay (Although considering the blackouts going on in Tampa, I doubt anyone is really too upset.) And it’s really too bad that the other three have this week off since they seem to all have some moment after last week.

As for the teams that will be on the field, there are some interesting storylines to follow. How about the debacle in San Francisco? Division title expectation have turned into 0-3 and staring 0-4 in the face as they head to Atlanta. But that’s not the worst part. Starting SS Michael Lewis decided that it was a better option for him to not get on the plane and simply ask for his release. This coming on the heals of former 1st rounder Kentwan Balmer going MIA in training camp and demanding a trade. Heck, Glen Coffee didn’t even bother asking for a trade, he quit football all together. What happened to everyone wanting to play for Mike Singletary?

Donavan McNabb returning to Phily, with Michael Vick as the Eagles starting QB. How will the fans react to McNabb? All those wins, all those playoff wins, the trips to the NFC title games. Will those matter or will Phily fan live up to their reputation? As for Vick, this is a huge game. He’s always been an incredible talent, including having stretches where he’s looked out of this world. But the issue was always his inability to string a group of these games together. Will he return to that inconsistent QB that he’s always been, or will this be game #3 in a row that showcases Vick’s unbelievable ability? We’ll find out soon!

I’ll tell you, I feel bad for the Carolina Panthers. The Panthers are tying to see what they have in QB Jimmy Clausen, and the Saints are coming off a tough loss to the Falcons. I can see Drew Brees and his folks putting up a huge number against the struggling visiting Panthers.

Detroit has played some really good football so far this year (if you can say that about a 0-3 team) and it has been without Calvin “Megatron” Johnson at his best and backup Shaun Hill taking the snaps. It doesn’t get any easier as the Lions head to Lambeau to take on a Packers team that should be pretty ornery after their loss on Monday Night Football.

I’d look for another team to get back on track this week, the San Diego Chargers. San Diego should get on track this week at home against the Cardinals.

Fantasy Alert – Maurice Jones-Drew may have a shot at having a good day. Even though the Jags should be crushed, the Colts run defense isn’t very good and MJD may have a chance to get on track this week. Which would be helpful considering his lack of production and his most likely high first round selection.

Same can be said for Shonn Green. The Jets are a run-oriented team and they are going against the Bills, an opportunity to get healthy if I’ve ever heard it.

And this may be the week that T.O. and Ochocinco finally do something as they go against their cross-state rival Browns.

Week 3, our first GPS games

Here we go, into one of the most pivotal weeks of the year. You’ll start hearing all types of things about the percentage of teams that go to the playoffs after starting 0-3 or 3-0 etc. And all that’s fine, but let’s see which teams pass the all important eye test. Or as Ronnie Lott told the Saints last year on their way to the Super Bowl, can you “smell greatness”. So apparently many people in the NFL, including the fans, may be on sensory overload. But I digress.

Stealing a term from one of my favorite sports writers, Matt Maiocco of CSN Bay Area, these are GPS games. What are GPS games? They give a nice barometer of where a team sits on the NFL landscape, so let’s take a look at a few.

The Tampa Bay Bucs are 2-0 heading into a home game against the Steelers, this is really a “show me who you are game.” It is about this time in the NFL season that teams start picking up tendencies and patterns. If Josh Freeman can stay hot, and the Bucs can finish Sunday with a win moving to 3-0, they will be a team to keep an eye on and not nearly the walk-over many suspected. However, the could very well be taken to the woodshed despite the Steelers having a fluid QB situation. The Pittsburgh defense and running game could cause all kinds of problems and expose the currently undefeated Bucs. Keep an eye on Tampa this Sunday.

The Falcons head to the Superdome in New Orleans to take on a Saints team coming off a short week and an emotional win over the 49ers. Now this really is a GPS game for the Falcons. Which team is the real Falcons? The one that couldn’t move the ball and lost to Pittsburgh, or the one that kicked the stuffing out of the Cardinals? We’ll see this week. This is also a battle in the NFC South, meaning if the Falcons have any intention of making a push for the division, it starts in New Orleans.

The New York Giants host the Tennessee Titans, and this is a GPS game for both teams. The Titans just fell at home to the Steelers, a game in which they were favored. The Giants just got Peyton-slapped by the Colts. So which team responds? Can the Titans establish the run? The Colts, the team farthest away from being a run-oriented team, didn’t have a problem. So what will Chris Johnson and company do? Can Eli and his receivers get the timing back? I’m going with the Giants in this one. Playing at home should be a benefit, and the QB situation in Tennessee scares me. Even with Johnson running the rock, I don’t think the Titans have enough. We’ll see at the end of Sunday which team is for real, and which one was just pretending.

Another great game on tap will be the Cowboys and Texans. The Cowboys looking for their first win are in a little bit of a tailspin. While the Texans are feeling good about themselves after taking out the Colts in week one and coming from behind to beat the Redskins in week 2. This battle for Texas has huge implications. The Texans believe this is there year to make some noise in the playoffs, and if the Cowboys have any intention of living up to their Super Bowl expectations, it starts this week in Houston. Dropping to 0-3 won’t be the end of the world, but the seat’s temperature will surly be tuned up on Wade Phillips. Fantasy Alert – The Bears were able to get deep on the Cowboys multiple times in week 2, and with threats like Andre Johnson and Jacoby Jones, the Texans will try and expose that secondary some more. So look for another big day from Matt Schaub and his crew.

Quick hits

The battle in the AFC South looks to be for real. After the Texans mounted a comeback against Washington and the Colts completely destroyed the Giants, their next matchup will be a doozy.

Free trip to the playoffs. That’s the motto going around the NFC West. The Niners and Rams are 0-2, and the Seahawks and Cardinals are 1-1, with not just loses this week, but major beat-downs. Plus, the only wins for the Seahawks and Cardinals came against....you guessed it, the Niners and Rams. This will be a fight all year, but right now it doesn’t look like a good fight. Watch for the 49ers to win the division, especially if they can play like they did Monday Night against the Saints.

What is to be made of all the QB changes? Two things. 1) QB play is not nearly as good as it has been in the past and 2) Coaches and organizations are more likely to make a switch because they know their jobs are on the line. From an NFL standpoint it’s pretty tough, 10 QBs that were starters in week 1 are now no longer the starter, or were benched already this season. If QB is the most important position in the NFL, teams aren’t giving these guys much room to make mistakes. From a fantasy standpoint, how much does it suck to have drafted Kevin Kolb, Matt Stafford, Jason Campbell or Vince Young? And with the position in constant flux, I sure hope you headed my advice and secured one of the top 7 QBs in your draft. If not, time to play QB roulette.

Feel free to comment or contact me directly at nfldraftpros@yahoo.com. Until next week.