Question and Answer with Dan Kadar of Mocking the Draft

When we get around to it, usually every week, Dan Kadar and I have a little question and answer session about all things draft. This week Dan took a few of my questions.

1). Recently PFW released their draft value chart which is based on input from all their team sources about the values of players

These are the players that are not automatic mocks into the first round: Bobby Massie, Rueben Randle, Harrison Smith, Chandler Jones, which one do you think is most likely to actually be selected in the first round?

1. I don’t really envision any of them being first-round picks. The Massie hype has been peculiar. Ole Miss fans were happy to see him leave a year early. I understand he’s athletic, but he was a right tackle on a bad team for a reason. If I had to pick one of those four, it would be Jones. Pass rushers are at a premium in the NFL – especially now – and Jones has high upside. A team late in the first could fall in love with his length and potential and grab him.

2). Now that proday season is over who improved their stock the most during prodays, could be a early round guy or someone who put themselves on the map with a terrific proday.

2. Auburn’s Neiko Thorpe really helped himself. The knock on Thorpe throughout his career is tackling issues. But at his pro day, he ran a 40-yard dash around 4.45 seconds, had an 11-foot-5 broad jump, a 38-inch vertical and has good size at 6-foot-1, 198 pounds. You wonder if he’s going to be a cornerback convert in the NFL. His coverage skills are solid and now we know he’s a good athlete.

3). The player who ends up in the top 15 that no one saw coming is?

3. That’s always a tough question. If I knew with any certainty, I’d be touting him a high first-round pick more. The player that could sneak in there is Alabama safety Mark Barron. Some people seem to think he’s overrated because the safety class is so poor. That may be the case, but Barron is quite good. It wouldn’t be too much of a surprise if the Cowboys drafted him at 14.

(I agree with Dan–that it is inherently a bad question. If no one saw it coming how would you see it coming? But I like the answer. I’ll go even further out on a limb and say the player that wouldn’t surprise me to see go top 15, even though it’d shock everyone is TE Coby Fleener. If a team really thinks he is Jimmy Graham he could end up top 15–seems like a huge long-shot, but that’s why it’s no one saw it coming).

Home/NFL Draft