Rick Gosselin's Position Rankings

Rick Gosselin is one of the best mock draft men out there. Gosselin has good connetions within the league and as such makes his mock drafts and positon rankings based on good sources in the NFL. How good is he? Well, he currently tops TheHuddleReport’s 5 year average for mock drafts and Top 100 big boards. If you want to know who he took for your favorite team with his mock draft leave a comment and I’ll let you know.

I’m going to run down some of the surprise position rankings since it’s a paid subscription content and I don’t want to over-step bounds and get in trouble, though I wish it wasn’t paid.

QB-Nothing too interesting or varied from the “consensus”. Mallett at #5 and Andy Dalton at 8, so the Dalton in the first round could all be smoke-screen.

RB-

The surprise here is that Daniel Thomas is 3rd overall just ahead of Mikel Leshoure who is fourth and that Dion Lewis appears on the top 10 list right at number 10, even though he has been often seen as a 7th round-F.A. pick, Gosselin’s ranking suggest he could go higher.

Full Backs-

Anthony Sherman is The top FB.

Wide Receiver-

These were a little different for me.

WIDE RECEIVER

1. A.J. Green, Georgia 6-3½ 211

2. Julio Jones, Alabama 6-2½ 220

3. Jon Baldwin, Pitt 6-4 228

4. Torrey Smith, Maryland 6-0½ 204

5. Titus Young, Boise State 5-11 174

6. Edmond Gates, Abilene Christian 5-11½ 192

7. Randall Cobb, Kentucky 5-10 191

8. Tandon Doss, Indiana 6-0 201

9. Vincent Brown, San Diego State 5-11 187

10. Leonard Hankerson, Miami-F 6-1½ 209

Rising: Randall Cobb, Kentucky

Falling: Greg Little, North Carolina

Sleeper: Ricardo Lockette, Fort Valley State

Edmund Gates comes in as the 6th best wide receiver in this draft. And Leonard Hankerson comes in at #10th overall. This was the biggest surprise for me so far through the first four positions.

I’ve thought Hankerson had a slim chance of slipping into the tail end of the first round as a surprise pick, but if he’s only #10 on Gosselin’s rankings, and again, these come from good sources within the league and not his own personal evaluations, Hankerson could be looking for a surprise slide.

Tight End

Again nothing too different at the top. Rudolph, Kendricks, Stocker, so on. Julius Thomas comes in at number 10, while Virgil Green comes in at #9.

Offensive Tackle

1. Tyron Smith, USC

2. Nate Solder, Colorado 6-8 319

3. Anthony Castonzo, Boston College 6-7 311

4. Gabe Carimi, Wisconsin 6-7 314

5. Derrick Sherrod, Mississippi State 6-5 321

6. James Carpenter, Alabama 6-4 321

7. Orlando Franklin, Miami-F 6-5½ 316

8. Marcus Gilbert, Florida 6-6 330

9. Jah Reid, Central Florida 6-7 321

10. James Brewer, Indiana 6-6 323

Rising: Jah Reid, Central Florida

Falling: Demarcus Love, Arkansas

Sleeper: David Arkin, Missouri State

Guard

GUARD

1. Danny Watkins, Baylor 6-3 310

2. Marcus Cannon, TCU 6-5 358

3. William Rackley, Lehigh 6-3 309

4. Ben Ijalana, Villanova 6-3½ 317

5. John Moffitt, Wisconsin 6-4 319

6. Clint Boling, Georgia 6-4½ 308

7. Andrew Jackson, Fresno State 6-5 299

8. Ray Dominguez, Arkansas 6-4 334

9. Caleb Schlauderaff, Utah 6-4 305

10. Carl Johnson, Florida 6-5 361

Rising: Mike Berry, Auburn

Falling: Steve Schilling, Michigan

Sleeper: Cameron Bradfield, Grand Valley State

My take:

The surprise here is that Mike Pouncey is not listed. I’ve long though of him as a guard prospect, but it appears that the N.F.L. might be focusing in on him as a primarily a center prospect. I’m not sure why Steve Schilling is falling either I kind of like his game and am surprised a bit he’s not in the top 10 guard prospects based on his sources.

Centers

The usual at the top. Where it gets interesting is Jason Kelce out of Cincinnati comes in at #5 and Tim Barnes, a player usually considered a 4th round prospect int he draftnik community is listed as the 10th best center prospect,which would probably be in the 7th Round-F.A. area

Defensive End-

The thing I don’t like about this list is that there is no distinction between 43 Defensive ends and 34 defensive ends.

1. Robert Quinn, North Carolina 6-4 265

2. Da’Quan Bowers, Clemson 6-3 280

3. J.J. Watt, Wisconsin 6-5 290

4. Aldon Smith, Missouri 6-4 263

5. Cameron Jordan, Cal 6-4 287

6. Ryan Kerrigan, Purdue 6-3½ 267

7. Adrian Clayborn, Iowa 6-2½ 281

8. Cameron Heyward, Ohio State 6-4½ 294

9. Brooks Reed, Arizona 6-2½ 263

10. Christian Ballard, Iowa 6-3½ 283

Rising: Brooks Reed, Arizona

Falling: Jeremy Beal, Oklahoma

Sleeper: Bruce Miller, Central Florida

J.J. Watt and Aldon Smith ahead of Cameron Jordan is a bit surprising I’ve thought that the league was in-love with Jordan and while they still may like his abilities, it’s possible he’ll fall further than the draftnik community thinks.

Defensive Tackles

The big surprise with the defensive tackles is that Stephen Paea is ranked as the 9th best defensive tackle in the class, behind Jarvis Jenkins and Phil Taylor is 4th overall. I’m wondering if he’s getting overvalued because he’s one of the few good nose tackles. Kendrick Ellis is 7th overall, also ahead of Paea.

Outside Linebackers

No surprises with the outisde linebackers except for Kelvin Sheppard who is listed as an OLB. I’ve always thought he fit best as an inside linebacker in the 34. Mason Foster is also a bit of a deviation from consensus as the 9th best OLB, but I’ve seen Foster anywhere from the 2nd to the 4th round.

The Inside Linebacker Positional Rankings is the most interesting rankings in the draft.

INSIDE/MIDDLE LINEBACKER

1. Akeem Dent, Georgia 6-1 242

2. Ross Homan, Ohio State 6-0½ 240

3. Casey Matthews, Oregon 6-0½ 231

4. Nate Irving, North Carolina State 6-1 240

5. Chris White, Mississippi State 6-2½ 240

6. Quan Sturdivant, North Carolina 6-1 241

7. Greg Jones, Michigan State 6-0 242

8. Jeff Tarpinian, Iowa 6-2 235

9. Greg Lloyd, Connecticut 6-1 246

10. Elijah Joseph, Temple 6-1 243

Rising: Jeff Tarpinian, Iowa

Falling: Greg Jones, Michigan State

Sleeper: Matt Berning, Central Michigan

Cornerback Rankings

Surprise Patrick Petersons 10th! Well, not really. The usual suspects at the top. PP, Amukamara, Smith.My man, Brandon Harris, is 6th overall. Sherrece Wright is 7th overall. I haven’t been in love with Wright as a prospect. Jalil Brown is 10th overall, and the falling prospect is Kendric Bruney. I know he has terrible measurables, but he’s a ball hawk and an example of a guy who just knows how to play football. I think he could be a steal if he ends up in the 6th or 7th round range.

Safety

SAFETY–No Deunta Williams

1. Rahim Moore, UCLA 5-11½ 202

2. Quinton Carter, Oklahoma 6-0½ 208

3. Jaiquawn Jarrett, Temple 5-11½ 198

4. Tyler Sash, Iowa 6-0 211

5. Chris Conte, Cal 6-2 197

6. DeAndre McDaniel, Clemson 6-0 217

7. Robert Sands, West Virginia 6-4 217

8. Jermale Hines, Ohio State 6-1 219

9. Da’Norris Searcy, North Carolina 5-10½ 223

10. Joe Lefeged, Rutgers 5-10½ 210

Rising: Chris Prosinski, Wyoming

Falling: Ahmad Black, Florida

Sleeper: Isa Abdul-El Quddus, Fordham

This just confirms what everyone’s been expecting for awhile. Ahmahd Black is a player that the casual fan is going to be surprised goes so late in the draft, but teams are definitely worried about his size/speed ratio. Is the league looking too much at speed at the cornerback position? The nature of the game is speed now. but Black and Bruney are players I’d take a chance on late in a heart-beat.

Anyone care about the Kicker, Punter, Long Snapper rankings? Leave a comment and I’ll let you know about those too.

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Rick Gosselin’s Position Rankings

By Jesse Bartolis | Apr 21, 2011