This Week In Mock Drafts
Whoever your go to NFL mock draft source is will certainly change their mind during the course of the mock draft season. Yes, mock drafts have become a beast so onto themselves that they have their own season.
That’s the culture of the NFL. There is no off-season. Unless there’s a lock out… That’s a story for another day though…
Ever since ESPN gave Mel Kiper Jr. and his hairpiece prominent talking airtime during their live NFL Draft telecasts way back when, mock drafts have become a regular part of the NFL world.
Most fans either can’t stand them or can’t live without them. I personally love them. Everything that revolves around mock drafts need to be a part of my constant NFL life.
Rumors, news, injury reports, combine results, Wonderlic test scores and, of course, the mocks themselves. I crave all of it. I’m kind of sick that way.
Since I know I’m not the only NFL fan out there that craves NFL draft and mock draft news I’ve been given the platform here at Musket Fire to write about anything NFL mock draft related.
Each Monday I’ll be posting this new regular feature that I like to call, “This Week In Mock Drafts.” Basically, what I’ll be doing is passing along various mock draft picks in regards to the Patriots from one featured writer each week.
Most mock draft picks change from time to time so after the draft I’ll post the mock picks and compare them to the real picks and see who got what mock pick right or wrong.
You might be wondering why this feature is only starting up a little over 3 weeks away from the actual draft and not 3 months ago. To that I say, don’t ask and I won’t tell.
Before the April 28th draft actually takes place I’ll make my own mock draft predictions/humiliations for the Patriots’ 2 first round picks.
Let’s get started, shall we?
This week, we’ll look at the man who put mock drafts on the map, Mel Kiper Jr. and his ESPN.com mock draft to see who he thinks the Patriots will take with their 17th and 28th overall first round draft picks.
In his Mock Draft 4.0 from April 6, his most recent mock draft, Kiper has the Patriots taking defensive end Cameron Jordan from Cal with the 17th pick and linebacker Justin Houston from Georgia with the 28th pick.
Now, how does that compare to his Mock Draft 3.0 dated March 9? In that mock draft, Kiper had the Patriots taking linebacker Ryan Kerrigan from Purdue and wide receiver Leonard Hankerson out of Miami with the 17th and 28th picks, respectively.
In his Mock Draft 2.0 from February 16, Kiper had the Patriots taking Cameron Jordan with their first of two first round selections and then Maryland wideout Torrey Smith with the latter of the two picks.
In the first 2011 mock draft Kiper conducted all the way back on January 19th he had Wisconsin defensive End J.J. Watt going to the Patriots at #17 and running back Mikel Leshoure from Illinois at #28.
So, as you can see, Kiper has the Patriots taking seven different players in his four mock drafts, with only Jordan making more than one appearance.
What that means is that the Patriots can go in whatever direction they want since they have so many picks and no major need. That gives them flexibility during the draft to go after the best available player and gives those making mock drafts fits, as they can’t predict what the Patriots will do.
Ah, mock drafts. Gotta love them, right?