DRAFTX.com MOCK DRAFT I created Jan 20th, 2007 This is the NFLfans' Experts Mock Draft. Our panel of NFL enthusiasts study both team needs and NFL Draft prospects. A rountable-like discussion is conducted and the Mock Draft commences. In future iterations, more rounds and more information about teams improve the accuracy. Sel# Team Player Selected Discussion 1 AFC East Dolphins Dolphins War Room Discussion: Chris Long brings a lunchpail work ethic and an impeccable pedigree from his father, Hall of Fame end Howie Long. The Tuna opts for the safe pick here, but there is no doubt Long is a great talent who can be the cornerstone of a rebuilding defense with great pass rush skills and 2-gap experience. 2 NFC West Rams Rams War Room Discussion: The Rams consider an OT here, but Orlando Pace isn't ready to hang it up yet so they address the defensive side of the ball. Their aging defense desperately needs playmakers and Ellis should provide one. He's a very solid run stuffer who has the skills to push the pocket as well. Adding Ellis allows Adam Carriker to move to his more natural end spot. 3 NFC South Falcons Falcons War Room Discussion: The Falcons had a disasterous season, and seek a new beginning with the top offensive prospect in the draft: the electric Darren McFadden. With elite speed and cutback skills, he resembles a bigger Reggie Bush. While QB remains a major need, the Falcons look to address their other holes with their two second round picks. Not only will he excite the fanbase, but he will make things much easier on the Falcons future QB. 4 AFC West Raiders Raiders War Room Discussion: Al Davis loves great athletes, and Dorsey definitely fits the bill. Add to that the need to replace Warren Sapp, and this pick works out great for Oakland. Glenn is the rare player that can eat up double teams in the run game yet provides a dangerous pass rushing threat as an every-down DT. 5 AFC West Chiefs Chiefs War Room Discussion: Herm Edwards has drawn the ire of fans after the Chiefs once dominant offense has faded quickly into just a memory. A big cause of this however was the retirements of key offensive linemen that formed one of the best OL groups in recent years. Bringing in a stud OT like Jake Long is a dream pick for this franchise. 6 AFC East Jets Jets War Room Discussion: The Jets lost a bundle of close games this season after last year's surprise playoff run. There were multiple problems with the team, but the most glaring weakness was a pass rush that at times was non-existant. Enter pass rusher extrordinaire Vernon Gholston. He will need time to adjust to OLB, but should be a force right away bringing the heat on opposing QB's. 7 AFC East Patriots Patriots War Room Discussion: With the expected departure of Asante Samuel, the Pats will have a glaring hole in the secondary that needs to be filled. While some might consider this a reach, the Pats front office has rarely cared about the pundits, and draft the players that fit their needs and system. CB Jenkins should grow into another fine Patriots DB in the mold of Law and Samuel. 8 AFC North Ravens Ravens War Room Discussion: Out with the old and in with the new in Baltimore. The new coaching staff is elated to find the top QB prospect still on the board and waste no time sending the card in to be announced. Matt Ryan comes into a great situation where he has a chance to start and win right away. 9 AFC North Bengals Bengals War Room Discussion: It would be hard to be much worse on defense than the Bengals were this year. While things may improve as their young secondary gains experience, the fact remains they are woefully thin at LB. A chance to get a stud LB and local talent like JL is just too good to resist. 10 NFC South Saints Saints War Room Discussion: While many expected the Saints to go defense last year, they gambled on some suspect defensive free agents and drafted offense early on. This was a disaster as their secondary was probably the worst in the NFL and the team bumbled to a 7-9 finish. An elite man-to-man cover guy like Mike Jenkins fits their system well and provides an instant upgrade for the their lackluster defense. 11 AFC East Bills Bills War Room Discussion: Buffalo has a dynamic deep threat in Lee Evans, but they have lacked a solid possession receiver ever since Eric Moulds departed. This might be a bit high for Kelly, but he is arguably the best WR in the draft and would provide the perfect complement to Lee Evans with his great size and clutch hands. 12 AFC West Broncos Broncos War Room Discussion: With Matt Lepsis' recent retirement, the Broncos suddenly have a huge hole at LT. Mike Shanahan will not want his young QB spending half the game on his back, and so jumps at the chance to draft a potential franchise LT in young Ryan Clady. Ryan has rare agility and good size, and should start quickly. 13 NFC South Panthers Panthers War Room Discussion: The loss of Mike Minter turns an already weak secondary into a unit in desperate need of reinforcements. The Panthers braintrust would be overjoyed to see an elite physical specimen like Phillips fall into their slot. Sam Baker gets a look, but safeties like Kenny are few and far between. While he is raw and underacheived a bit in his junior season, he compares well athletically with other Miami studs like Ed Reed and Sean Taylor. 14 NFC North Bears Bears War Room Discussion: Word out of the Bears War Room is the man they wanted was Ryan Clady to shore up a rapidly aging OL, but with him off the board they go with Plan B and take a chance at a potential franchise QB in Andre Woodson. While there are major concerns with his slow release, he has all the tools you look for in an elite signal caller. 15 NFC North Lions Lions War Room Discussion: While some voices on the Lions staff argue strongly here for a prototypical Cover-2 MLB in the person of Dan Connor, the disaster in the secondary must be addressed. Cason doesnt bring elite speed, but with his superb instincts in a Cover 2 system he can be a longterm fixture of the caliber of a Ronde Barber, CB Tampa Bay. 16 NFC West Cardinals Cardinals War Room Discussion: The Cardinals could go several directions here depending on how their complex offseason situation resolves itself, but its clear they could use an explosive pass rusher to take their young defense to the next level. The raw but very gifted Harvey steps into a good position, learning from veteran Bertrand Berry while being groomed as his eventual replacement. 17 NFC North Vikings Vikings War Room Discussion: While HC Brad Childress has publicly supported incumbent QB Tavaris Jackson, they are clearly one player away from being a playoff team. Brohm is a potential franchise QB. Combining a great arm with ideal size, Brian could prosper in the NFL with the Vikes strong line and powerful running attack giving him support. 18 AFC South Texans Texans War Room Discussion: With Peyton Manning and Co at the top of the division Houston has geared up to stop the high powered attack in Indy with their recent draft picks. In this case, it's time to compliment that young, improving defense with an elite young back to grind out yards and add another dimension to that offense. Enter Jonathan Stewart who combines power, speed, good hands, all into a stocky 235 lb frame. 19 NFC East Eagles Eagles War Room Discussion: With Jevon Kearse's career derailed by age and injury, Andy Reid stays true to form and drafts in the trenches early. Here the pick is the mammoth DE Calais Campbell. His sheer size and speed may demand double teams, and he could be a force at LE stopping the run in the offense heavy NFC East. 20 NFC South Buccaneers Buccaneers War Room Discussion: HC Chucky Gruden has been working to rebuild the Bucs OL thru the draft for several seasons now. At LT however, they tried to patch in the injury riddled ex-Giant Luke Petitgout. This failed, so now Tampa looks to seasoned USC OT Sam Baker to fill this key spot. Sam is an experienced LT with the all the skills, but needs to build consistency. 21 NFC East Redskins Redskins War Room Discussion: The Redskins had been hoping a top DE would fall to them in this spot, but lacking that they opt for a top talent in Dan Connor. Connor represents great value at this point, and should be able to step in right away as a starter at OLB, and has the ability to move inside if London Fletcher runs out of gas in the future. 22 NFC East Cowboys Cowboys War Room Discussion: The Cowboys appear poised to return to the glory years, but there remains work to be done in Dallas. Terrell Owens has done a good job filling the Michael Irvin role, but the team is old and thin at WR. In the old days, the Cowboys had the speedster Alvin Harper, and hope the explosive Jackson can reprise this role in the 21st century with his 4.3 speed and great return skills. 23 NFC West Seahawks Seahawks War Room Discussion: With former all-pro Shaun Alexander on the roster, this may seem like a strange pick, but Mike Holmgren already did the same thing when he drafted the young Alexander to replace the aging star RB Rickey Watters. Mendenhall is a potential franchise back with a rare combination of power, speed, and vision at his disposal. He is also a great receiver, something Alexander never was. 24 AFC North Steelers Steelers War Room Discussion: While they had problems in the secondary, the offensive line play really held back Pittsburg much of this season, with Big Ben running for his life much too often. A mammoth OT from nearby Pitt, Otah combines the size and power of a great RT with the feet of a LT, perfect for the Steelers power offense. Whether he ends up at RT or LT, he should be a major addition. 25 AFC South Titans Titans War Room Discussion: Vince Young had a down year by any account, but jinxes and injuries aside, there is a definite lack of downfield weapons. After passing on Dwayne Bowe last year, the Titans make the move and grab Early Doucet III in the first. Early is a solid possession receiver with good hands and solid skills who could step into a starting role right away. 26 NFC East Giants Giants War Room Discussion: Rivers serious knee injury clouds his prospects a bit, but even if he isn't back to 100% by drafttime, when healthy he was a probable top 20 pick and would fill a huge need for the LB-starved Giants team. He has tremendous speed and is a solid tackler with Pro-Bowl potential. 27 AFC West Chargers Chargers War Room Discussion: While the Chargers have solid talent at CB with Cromartie's emergence, Jammer has had problems in man coverage and seems like he might be a better fit at safety. The Chargers consider a LB here, in the end they see Thomas as a steal at this point. He has ideal size and speed, and with some technique work can be a solid starting CB. 28 AFC South Jaguars Jaguars War Room Discussion: The Jags defense has been one of the best in the NFL, but an upgrade at the Mike spot would be very welcome. Rey is a top-flight talent with ideal size and good speed who can come in and play right away in the center of the Jags defense. 29 NFC North Packers Packers War Room Discussion: The Packers put a lot of pressure on the CB's in their defensive scheme. They need to be able to lock up in single coverage against the bigger receivers in the NFL, yet be good enough tacklers to support in the run game and bring down ballcarriers in the secondary. Talib comes off a great bowl game and brings great size, speed and athletic ability to infuse the aging Packers secondary with youth. 30 NFC West 49ers 49ers War Room Discussion: Since there are no #1 WRs on the board, the 49ers are forced to look elsewhere. Some might say go OT here, but there are plenty on the board and the 49ers pick again in 8 picks, with Bell maybe not lasting that long. 9ers go with what worked last year and pick the perfect complement to Pat Willis by selecting ILB Beau Bell from UNLV. Bell is big, fast, flies to the ball, forces turnovers, and is very good in coverage - a weakness in Willis' game. 31 NFC East Cowboys Cowboys War Room Discussion: The Brady Quinn trade gave them the opportunity to upgrade their WR situation, here with the second first Jerry Jones looks to his alma mater for a replacement for the departing Julius Jones. Felix has world class speed, but can run between the tackles and catch the ball as well. With some work on blitz pickup, he should impact right away. 32 AFC East Patriots Patriots War Room Discussion: Forfeited