2011 NFL Mock Draft Version 2

      It’s been a few weeks since my last attempt. Player’s stocks have risen and fallen. Here’s how it see it as of this morning. I will again post a few observations after the chart.

Pick	Team	Player	Position	School
1	Carolina	Cam Newton	QB	Auburn
2	Denver	Marcell Dareus	DT	Alabama
3	Buffalo	Von Miller	OLB	Texas A&M
4	Cincinnati	A.J. Green	WR	Georgia
5	Arizona	Patrick Peterson	CB	LSU
6	Cleveland	Julio Jones	WR	Alabama
7	San Francisco	Robert Quinn	DE	UNC
8	Tennessee	Blaine Gabbert	QB	Missouri
9	Dallas	Tyron Smith	OT	USC
10	Washington	J.J. Watt	DE	Wisconsin
11	Houston	Nick Fairley	DT	Auburn
12	Minnesota	Jake Locker	QB	Washington
13	Detroit	Prince Amukamara	CB	Nebraska
14	St. Louis	Aldon Smith	DE	Missouri
15	Miami	Da'Quan Bowers	DE	Clemson
16	Jacksonville	Ryan Kerrigan	DE	Purdue
17	New England	Anthony Castonzo	OT	BostonCollege
18	San Diego	Cameron Heyward	DL	Ohio State
19	New York Giants	Gabe Carimi	OT	Wisconsin
20	Tampa Bay	Cameron Jordan	DL	California
21	Kansas City	Nate Solder	OT	Colorado
22	Indianapolis	Derek Sherrod	OT	Mississippi St.
23	Philadelphia	Adrian Clayborn	DE	Iowa
24	New Orleans	Muhammed Wilkerson	DT	Temple
25	Seattle	Jimmy Smith	CB	Colorado
26	Baltimore	Justin Houston	OLB	Georgia
27	Atlanta	Kyle Rudolph	TE	Notre Dame
28	New England	Akeem Ayers	OLB	UCLA
29	Chicago	Mike Pouncey	OG	Florida
30	New York Jets	Phil Taylor	DT	Baylor
31	Pittsburgh	Brandon Harris	CB	Miami (FL)
32	Green Bay	Corey Liuget	DT	Illinois

This scenario works out well for the Lions as they have their choice of Amukamara and Bowers. I would be happy with either despite Bowers’ knee concerns. The only way I would be happier is if they somehow traded up to get Patrick Peterson.

I thought about jumping on the 5 QB in the first round band wagon, but I think it will involve trading which I won’t try to predict.

Mark Ingram is free falling, but I think he will get taken in the first. He would offer great value late in the first if some team is willing to take the risk with his health.

There is still tremendous talent available, so keep an eye on New England to trade its 2^nd round pick. Some team will want a QB, and the Pats love to acquire more draft picks.

The Tigers never cease to amaze me

I am holding off on a Tigers status report because the season is so young. There are a few things we can be certain of to this point. Miguel Cabrera is the best hitter in the AL. The rotation has a few question marks. The bullpen is fine once you get to Benoit and Valverde. But there are some things that are up in the air. Is Al Alburquerque as good as his debut? Will Magglio play more than 100 games?  Beats the heck outta me. What do I look like, Miss Cleo? Call me nowww.

But no matter what happens this season, there are going to be moments that will be hard to forget. The back-to-back walkoff wins. Brayan Villareal's game from April 12th. 0.1 innings pitched. No pitches thrown. One pickoff. One hold. But last night tops them all... Verlander gave us this beauty.



I see you Verlander.

You take our MVP Award, we break your arm!!!!!!!!11!

Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton beat out Miggy Cabrera for the AL MVP last year. This despite only playing in  133 games last year. He led the league in most offensive categories, including nose hair. When this guy sneezes, he looks like a party favor. But that was last year. This year you try to score on a pop-foul? In Detroit? Child Please. Be thankful you only got a broken arm. Marcus Thames would have shanked you for less. And let's not think about what Ugeth Urbina would have done. Joel Zumaya would have rushed the field from the 'pen, but tear an ACL and miss 8 more months.

So thank your lucky stars Hamilton. We don't have much in Detroit at the moment. The Wings don't play til 7:30, the Lions are locked out, and the Pistons....are a "professional" basketball team.

Aww...Youtube can't post the video because the MLB sucks. Imagine the video here. If you haven't seen it yet, imagine a duck riding a unicycle. That sounds almost as cool.

I watched the game, and saw the play. I didn't realize he was hurt until Mario and Rod mentioned it. In closing, Neftali Feliz better watch his P's and Q's. He edged out Austin Jackson for ROY last year. He had a front row seat to what we do when that happens. I won't argue who should have won what, because it is over and done with. But remember, you take our MVP Award, we break your arm.QED

Fantasy Update

The Official SEMS Fantasy Team is off to a great start. If the numbers aren't clear, I have 94 points. Second place is at 78.5. I know it's early, but I am still stoked.

Some moves that have been made include dropping Jesus Montero for Carlos Beltran. Dropping Beltran for Willie Bloomquist. Dropping Tsuyosi Nishioka and his broken leg for Brennan Boesch. And switching Anaheim closers, dropping Fernando Rodney for Jordan Walden. I figure with Heyward, Stubbs, Quentin, and Pence I can take fliers on Bloomquist (who is ranked number 1 by yahoo right now) and hope Boesch has a first half like last year and I can sell him high.

Areas for improvement include steals (I am ranked second to last, 5 behind the leader) and WHIP (ranked 6th). Everything else is at 8.5 or higher. Maybe I can swing a trade for someone to help in steals, or maybe Bloomquist has proven he needs to be in the lineup while filling in for Stephen Drew. He currently leads the majors with 5 steals.

All in all, I am obviously happy. I lead the league in 7 of 11 categories (5 outright and 2 ties) so I don't want to make any drastic moves. I also have several underachieving players like Buster Posey, Hunter Pence, and Brandon Lyon. I can't fault Lyon. It's hard to get saves when your team is 1-6.

More updates to come. I think I may try to make a trade just for the hell of it. Call me Brian Cashman.

2011 NFL Mock Draft

  Assuming there is an NFL season this year, I thought I would try my hand at a mock draft. I based mine on team needs and value, and didn’t attempt to predict any trades. With that said, here we go. I will provide some commentary after the chart.

	Team	Player	Position	School
1	Carolina	Cam Newton	QB	Auburn
2	Denver	Marcell Dareus	DT	Alabama
3	Buffalo	Blaine Gabbert	QB	Missouri
4	Cincinnati	A.J. Green	WR	Alabama
5	Arizona	Von Miller	OLB	Texas A&M
6	Cleveland	Da'Quan Bowers	DE	Clemson
7	San Francisco	Patrick Peterson	CB	LSU
8	Tennessee	Nick Fairley	DT	Auburn
9	Dallas	Prince Amukamara	CB	Nebraska
10	Washington	Robert Quinn	DE	North Carolina
11	Houston	Cameron Jordan	DL	California
12	Minnesota	Tyron Smith	OT	USC
13	Detroit	Aldon Smith	DE	Missouri
14	St. Louis	Julio Jones	WR	Alabama
15	Miami	Mark Ingram	RB	Alabama
16	Jacksonville	J.J. Watt	DE	Wisconsin
17	New England	Anthony Castonzo	OT	Boston College
18	San Diego	Cameron Heyward	DL	Ohio State
19	New York Giants	Gabe Carimi	OT	Wisconsin
20	Tampa Bay	Adrian Clayborn	DE	Iowa
21	Kansas City	Muhammed Wilkerson	DT	Temple
22	Indianapolis	Derek Sherrod	OT	Mississippi State
23	Philadelphia	Nate Solder	OT	Colorado
24	New Orleans	Ryan Kerrigan	DE	Purdue
25	Seattle	Jimmy Smith	CB	Colorado
26	Baltimore	Jon Baldwin	WR	Pitt
27	Atlanta	Torrey Smith	WR	Maryland
28	New England	Mike Pouncey	OG	Florida
29	Chicago	Ben Ijalana	OG	Villanova
30	New York Jets	Akeem Ayers	OLB	UCLA
31	Pittsburgh	Brandon Harris	CB	Miami (FL)
32	Green Bay	Danny Watkins	OG	Baylor

I gave Carolina Newton over Gabbert because I don’t feel there will be a rookie salary cap going forward. That allows teams to swing for the fences on a player like Newton. Newton will be the most polarizing figure in this year’s draft. Carolina may hate him, but they can’t afford to pass on him.

Patrick Peterson is my favorite player in this draft, but have him falling to San Francisco at 7 due to the nature of the draft. The NFL is geared toward three things. Quarterbacks, protecting the quarterback, and rushing the quarterback. Just imagine how far he’d fall if this was a strong OT class…

The Lions will draft a player I don’t like. The only picks I have liked of theirs recently were Suh, Stafford, and Calvin Johnson. Top-2 picks. Whenever they stray outside the top 5, they seem to panic. See; Sims, Ernie and Cherilous, Gosder.

I have 11 defensive linemen and 8 offensive linemen going in the first round. I don’t think there are that many worthy O-linemen, but there will be at least 1 run, causing teams to reach.

Temple and Villanova each have a player drafted. Among the schools that have none are Michigan, Oklahoma, Florida State, Texas, Oregon, and Notre Dame.

Pistons are mercifully eliminated

I hate when math takes this long to confirm common sense, but any dwindling hope of the Pistons making the playoffs is D-E-D, dead. Despite a horrible roster, bad coaching, and anarchy in the locker room, they made it until April 1st. It's like a condemned prisoner going to the doctor. The fate was sealed long ago, but it was drawn out too long.

The upside of this is that draftniks like myself can start looking ahead to June 23. Detroit is currently in position to draft ninth, but anything can happen in the lottery. So assuming they can do no worse than 9th, let's see who could be sitting on the bench behind less talented players in October...

Players who will be gone...

This section is for the elite prospects that will be top 5 draft picks in alphabetical order. Keep in mind the NBA draft is much more about upside than the NFL draft.

Harrison Barnes-The number one player coming out of high school, he started slow for UNC but came on in the spring. He scored 40 against Clemson in the ACC tournament, and is an elite SF.

Kyrie Irving-The freshman PG from Duke missed most of the season with a foot injury, but has shown that he's an elite prospect. He averaged 17.5 ppg on a loaded Blue Devil team.

Perry Jones-Another player one year removed from high school, Jones didn't have the type of impact at Baylor that many people expected of him. He is still extremely athletic, and a top-5 lock should he declare.

Enes Kanter-Imagine how messy your situation is if Calipari can't get you into Kentucky. Kanter's status was different because he is from Turkey and already played some pro ball. He is big, athletic, and has huge upside.

Derrick Williams-A rare player who spent a whopping 2 years at Arizona. He is somewhat undersized at 6'8'' 240 lbs, but can score and rebound with anyone. He would have been a lottery pick last year, and should go top-5 this year.

Best of the rest


These are the players that could have an immediate impact, but are a notch below the players listed above.Once again, players are listed in alphabetical order.

Terrence Jones-Another Kentucky player in the top ten. He is slightly undersized, but has good range. He has a boom/bust aspect that is unmatched by the players listed.

Kawhi Leonard-Relatively unknown to most fans, he has been on NBA radars for 3 years. He became a bigger name as SDSU earned a 2 seed. He should be solid, if not unspectacular.

Donatas Motiejunas-One of two Lithuanian big men who should be lottery picks. I haven't seen him play, but he's supposedly good.

Jonas Valanciunas-The second Lithuanian Sensation. Again, I am trusting the mock drafts I have read. I am part Lithuanian, so I don't want to see him in Detroit.

Kemba Walker-The UCONN PG was the best player in college this season if you ask me. He dominated in the Big East, the Big East Tournament, and has UCONN in the Final Four. He can get his shot whenever he wants, and should be a good pro.

That would be my top 10. If I had to put money on who ends up a Piston, it would be on Jimmer Fredette. He would fit in with the rest of the Pistons in that he needs 30 shots a game to score 30. I would have included Jared Sullinger, but he says he's staying at OSU.

If I were to put them in order, it would be:

1. Irving
2. Kanter
3. Barnes
4. Williams
5. Perry Jones
6. Walker
7. Leonard
8. Valanciunas
9. Motiejunas
10. Terrence Jones

Let's hope the lottery works out, and they get a top-5 pick.