2011 NFL Draft News and Notes: What’s Mayock Doing with Newton? Russ Lande’s Controversial top 40. Kolb and the Bengals? And More

It’s another day and another edition of draft news and notes. The draft is rapidly approaching, which is exciting since there has been absolutely no development towards an actual NFL season.

Stay tuned for the best collobration of draft news from around the web after the jump.

First up, according to NY Time Fifth Down blog, Rex Ryan and Wes Welker have traded jabs many times before:

We text back and forth and rip each other back and forth before we ever play. That’s what we do, ‘Who’s going to be on me’ “””We’re going to put Sione Fuha on you”

But we have fun with each other, trust me we’ve said a lot worse to each other than what was reported. But I think he just went public with those comments, and that’s probably what upset Belichick

Ryan Mallett has a two day visit scheduled with the Seahawks set to start today. Mallett will also visit with Vikings, The Panthers, Dolphins, Panthers, and Titans.

Nate Solder will visit the Colts it’s been expected for awhile that the Colts will target an OL in the early rounds, but another position to watch our for the Colts is Quarterback. They may be drafting a young QB prospect to be the heir apparent soon.

From Profootball talk 19 players who have been invited to the N.F.L. draft are

Danny Watkins, OL, Baylor, Auburn quarterback Cam Newton, Cal defensive end Cameron Jordan, Texas A&M linebacker Von Miller, Alabama receiver Julio Jones, Iowa defensive end Adrian Clayborn, Alabama running back Mark Ingram, Missouri quarterback Blaine Gabbert, Georgia receiver A.J. Green, Wisconsin defensive end J.J. Watt, Missouri defensive end Aldon Smith, Auburn defensive tackle Nick Fairley, Nebraska cornerback Prince Amukamara, Alabama defensive tackle Marcel Dareus, USC tackle Tyron Smith, Clemson defensive end Da’Quan Bowers, UCLA linebacker Akeem Ayers, Florida center Mike Pouncey and Illinois defensive tackle Corey Liuget.

According to Adam Schefter (via PFT): The Bengals could be in the mix for Kevin Kolb because one of the Bengals was the former Eagles QB coach last year.

From draftinsider.net

Sayre is in tune with this and has mentioned it:

Sources have told us a while ago they expect the Denver Broncos to draft a quarterback this year and it could be early.  Many familiar with the situation told us Tim Tebow is not the quarterback for John Elway- and with the future Hall of Fame passer calling many of the shots for the franchise a signal caller is a priority.  Colin Kaepernick of Nevada at the top of round two makes the most sense. Sources have also said the team will draft a playmaking tight end at some point in the draft. Julius Thomas is one of the players they seem to be targeting. 

Jeez. If Elway convices the team to  draft a QB early in the draft, despite having Kyle Orton and Tim Tebow he’s got one huge pair. Tebow hasn’t even had his chance to fail/succeed yet. I wonder if there would be any sort of serious market for Tebow considering most people, the buzz last year was that he was considered a 3rd round prospect. I can’t imagine they’d get much more than a 2nd round pick for him, which is unfortunate. Weird weird stuff.

  This week we can tell you the Seattle Seahawks presently have Dalton as a round one target.  We understand the team still likes cornerback Jimmy Smith in the first as well.

continue to hear the Dallas Cowboys are looking to do to things in the draft with their first pick 1) trade down and 2) grab an NFL ready right tackle.  If they cannot move the ninth pick we understand Tyron Smith presently sits atop their draft board

Thoughts on this: I’ve been reading, hearing rumblings around that Andy Dalton is getting some first round love, I don’t get it, except for Seattle. When I interviewed  Wes Buntin he spoke very highly of Ponder, and I think Ponder is better than Daltona s well.  Dalton could be a good fit in Seattle and their short passing game, still though I’m not sure how many teams would consider Dalton in the early 2nd round so it could be a reach.

Mike Mayock has moved Cam Newton up to his #2 QB prospect in this draft, because “he has done great in team interviews. (…) I’m starting to buy that the kid cares”

Mockingthedraft takes a look at the success rate of DE early in the draft recently

SportingNews takes a look at some risers and fallers in the upcoming draft

And Russ Lande’s top 40 NFL Draft players. Lande is always a bit controversial.

And he didn’t dissapoint here.

Cameron Jordan at #5 overall (I like Jordan and he reminds me of Justin Tuck, but he’s not the 5th best prospect in the draft).

Jabaal Sheard is in at #10 overall (we’ve mentioned countless times that Sheard can make it into round one and go higher than most people expect, but he’s not the 10th best prospect in this draft class-ahead of players like Mark Ingram.

Others of interest:

Ryan Williams at 17. I actually like Williams a lot and he’s in my top 32 prospects overall, but 17 might be a little high, especially over Ingram.

 Drake nevis at 19-This is the second biggest surprise in this list. Nevis is a very solid player, a kind of Tyson Alualu player with great effort and solid measurables (though I think alualu is better). A player that seems bust proof, I’d love him in the second round though.

Amukamara at 22-Well one thing you can’t say is that Lande is afraid to go against the grain. Amuakarama is almost universally considered a top 15, top 10 pick, but he’s much lower here. I like Amukamara and I’m surprised to see him this low, I’m going to try and figure out what Lande doesn’t like in Prince Amukamara.
All right onto Analysts I actually enjoy.

Wes Bunting takes a look at prospects who could land in the second round, but have first round talent. can’t argue with this list at all.

They’d all be good values in the second round.

Wes Bunting also tweeted that Marcus Gilchrist is a rising prospect and is looking like a 2nd or 3rd round prospect. Clink on the name to see our interview with Marcus earler this year.

Matt Bowen of NFP gives insight into what to look for when breaking down CB Prospects

And lastly Joe Fortenbaugh takes a look at the AFC draft trends.

An interesting note for each team:

Chiefs-1. The Chiefs have selected exactly zero centers since 2001, but have spent two draft picks on kickers and one on a punter

Raiders: Since 2001, defensive backs have constituted 22.8% of the Raiders’ overall draft picks. On the offensive side of the football, Oakland has dedicated 13 selections (16.5%) to the wide receiver position.

I’m not a math genius or anything, but that’s nearly 40 precent of players drafted for the WR and CB positions which seems really really high.

Broncos: The Broncos have only drafted three linebackers since 2001, with all three of those players getting selected within the top 100 picks.

Chargers:  San Diego has spread out their 76 draft picks over a wide variety of positions. Over the last ten years, the Chargers have drafted four or more players from 11 different positions.

All right, peeps. Leave your thoughts in the comment section.

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