Day Before the Draft, FINAL Mock Draft picks 1-13.

[Oldskool]

OK, last mock draft before the big day tomorrow. Lots of new information has lead me to update this.

Save the until you read the whole thing please.

1.Detroit Lions: Matt Stafford, QB, Georgia

Yes, the Lions are this dumb. Instead of taking a sure fire OT that will be the cornerstone of a rebuilding franchise, they will take a poster boy and hope he can be the next Matt Ryan. As usual, I feel sorry for Lions fans (are there any left?).

2.St. Louis Rams: Jason Smith, OT, Baylor

With Orlando Pace finishing his career in the windy city, the Rams are now more than ever going to take the best OT on the board with this selection. Smith overall is a better run blocker and pass blocker than Eugene Monroe, so he will be the selection.

3.Kansas City Chiefs: Aaron Curry, ILB, Wake Forest

No Brainer. Curry lit up the combine and is generally regarded as the best pure athlete, let alone LB, in the draft. Chiefs get a day one starting 3-4 OLB with this pick.

4.Seattle Seahawks: Michael Crabtree, WR, Texas Tech

There really is no other choice for the Seahawks but Crabtree. Houshmandzadeh really is the only true threat at WR on that team. Koren Robinson was not resigned and Deion Branch has played in 19 games over the past 2 years.

5.Cleveland Browns: Brian Orakpo, DE/OLB, Texas

Orakpo is exactly what the doctor ordered for the Browns anemic defense that produced a league second to worst total of 17.0 sacks last year. Added to the fact is that last years starting OLB/DE Willie McGinnest is a UFA and 37 years old.

6.Cincinnati Bengals: Eugene Monroe, OT, Virginia

Bengals address the worst of their major problems and take Monroe over Raji. Two big things factor here:

1. Levi Jones is beat up, has a huge salary and is nearing 30.

2. Raji's work ethic has come into question. With the issues that Cincy has had with malcontents and miscreants in the locker room, they will surely pass on Raji.

7.Oakland Raiders: Darrius Heyward-Bey, WR, Maryland

This is the hardest pick to select due to the insane nature of Al Davis. Word coming from the Raiders late this week is that they will take a WR with this selection. With this pick, the Raiders take the fastest 40 time WR and someone that they think that they can get to start from day 1.

8.Washington Redskins: Mark Sanchez, QB, USC

Washington moves up to get their QB of the future. They trade their 3rd round selection this year to Jax to move from #13 to #8 which is what is needed per the handy-dandy draft value chart:

http://www.draftcountdown.com/features/Value-Chart.php

9.Green Bay Packers: B.J. Raji, DT, Boston College

Packers are another team this year that will be moving to a 3-4 base defense and are going to be in need of players to make the system work. They have the linebacker cadre to make it work but they lack size on the D-line. Starting DE Kampmann will be moved to OLB, DT Jolly is in legal trouble and DE Montgomery is listed at 273 lbs. Raji is athletic enough to play DE in this system and when starting NT Ryan Picket retires or moves on, his heir apparent will already be on the roster.

10.San Francisco 49ers: Everette Brown, DE, Florida State

With Sanchez off the board, Singletary takes the best, purest athlete on the board that will not cause him sleepless nights. With Brown starting from day 1 in the 49ers 3-4 defense, the team gets an immediate upgrade from DE/LB Parys Haralson and a terror on the D-line opposite Manny Lawson.

11. Buffalo Bills: Andre Smith, OT, Alabama

The Bills were set to fix their D-line with this selection but in a typical bonehead move by Buffalo, they traded one of their starting Tackles to the Eagles. Now, they have to take the best OT left in the draft to shore up their offensive line. Expect either a TE or a DE with their #28 selection

12. Denver Broncos: Tyson Jackson, DE, LSU

Denver has been rumored to be in the hunt for Sanchez for a while now, but I believe that this is a smokescreen. McDaniels will go into the season with Simms and Orton as their 2 headed QB situation and probably address the situation again next year when the QB class is deeper and the Denver defense is “fixed”.

Jackson starts the rebuilding process on the defensive line and starts the transition to a 3-4 defense for Denver. Raji would have been a better selection, but GB took him earlier, leaving McDaniels and Bowlen with player 1a on their board.

13.Jacksonville Jaguars Vontae Davis, CB, Illinois

Now that the Jags have moved out of the top 10, they have some wiggle room as to who they take at this position.

Left tackle: The value for taking a LT is gone here. There aren't any starters left and they were only in a position to take one if they stayed at #8. However, they are more worried about paying top 10 money than they are about their LT situation.

Wide Receiver: With the addition of Tory Holt, they can stop worrying about WR for the next 2-3 years.

Defensive Tackle: I don't see them reaching for one at #13, as the value for the players remaining are deeper in the 1st round.

Mind you, this is not what I think would be ideal for the team, but the feeling i'm getting. I'm still all for taking a OT and having Jansen and Heyer play tiddily winks with one another on the bench.

[Burgold]

Not digging the Redskins' pick, but it sounds like a reasonable draft to me. I thought they liked HB as the successor to Fletcher though. RM doesn't really fill the outside need, does he especially when we have decent tackle prospects available at that point.

[THE HAMMER'IN HOG]

Not a bad job Pro, but I just can't go with Rey M. in our spot, you don't take him to play OLB he's a guy you put in the middle and leave him there, I am just not big on drafting LB's that high unless their elite, get some big D-lineman and they will make your LB's much better.

We have to go O-line here, probably our whole draft should be O-line, unfortunately we don't understand winning football and it all starts with a powerful offensive line, they make everyone better!

Oher, or Smith, take your pick.

[Oldskool]

Not a bad job Pro' date=' but I just can't go with Rey M. in our spot, you don't take him to play OLB he's a guy you put in the middle and leave him there, I am just not big on drafting LB's that high unless their elite, get some big D-lineman and they will make your LB's much better.

We have to go O-line here, probably our whole draft should be O-line, unfortunately we don't understand winning football and it all starts with a powerful offensive line, they make everyone better!

Oher, or Smith, take your pick.[/quote']

I'm not disagreeing with you about Maualuga at all. He's better suited for MLB from day one, but we were at the SC pro day along with 29 other scouts from other teams and I can see Vinny and the FO being wowed by his workout and his tape.

I'd love more than anything for us to get Smith (Oher not so much), but that's not how this FO works.

[Veretax]

how does the news about the juicing of Cushing, matthews, and pot by Raji affect things? You are expecting Thompson of the Packers to make a 'smart' pick and take a DT, but I think he will surprise you by taking something else. a RB, a CB, or an OT.

[Oldskool]

how does the news about the juicing of Cushing, matthews, and pot by Raji affect things? You are expecting Thompson of the Packers to make a 'smart' pick and take a DT, but I think he will surprise you by taking something else. a RB, a CB, or an OT.

I wrote this before I read the news about Matthews and Cushing. All things considered, Thompson may just take the news and round file it. GB is a team without many needs other than D-line.

[HogNose]

A pretty good mock. If you have time give us your 14-32.

[THE HAMMER'IN HOG]

I wrote this before I read the news about Matthews and Cushing. All things considered, Thompson may just take the news and round file it. GB is a team without many needs other than D-line.

Any Roid talk will be round filed by all teams, who we kidding, the powers that be in the NFL all know these players are juiced to the moon, the only thing they want to be careful of is acting like they don't care about a player testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. So the proceed with caution signs will be out as these teams do pick who they want regardless of positive tests, they can all point to Warren Sapp as their inspiration for the risk involved with the pick.

[Tastes Like Chicken]

Not exactly what we need. I'd prefer a T or true SLB.

Considering who's calling the pick, my prediction:

TE

:doh:

[That Redskins Fan]

if this pick does not get taken

it should smith or oher

also thanks to dan and vinny playing for Cutler, Does anyone think Jason Campbell will Say I need O-lineman

Like a tackle??

[KDawg]

I know you said that isn't what you'd want, but...

Maualuga is NOT a fit for an outside linebacker role. He has decent hips at best and is decent (again, at best) in coverage.

He has great hit stick potential, for sure. He lays the wood, but he's semi careless on the field. He misreads things, from the games I've seen and ends up having to chase down the play from behind. Which works wonders in college, but not so much in the NFL.

He'd be a good fit at the MLB position. He seems to fill holes inside fairly easily, but when he has to move laterally he makes mistakes.

If I were the Redskins, I'd stay away from Maualuga. That said, I think you may be right.

[Dah-Dee]

7.Oakland Raiders: Michael Johnson, DE, Georgia Tech

10.San Francisco 49ers: Everette Brown, DE, Florida State

13.Washington Redskins: Rey Maualuga, ILB, USC

Thanks for the thoughtful commentary on each pick, Oldskool. These are the picks I'm thinking could be different.

7. Raiders: I think they'll pick Darrius Heyward-Bey here. He's big, blistering fast and shouldn't go this high -- in other words, the perfect Al Davis wideout. The #1 and #2 WRs on the Oakland depth chart each had 15 catches last year. Yikes.

NFL.com analysis:

Positives: Exceptional straight-line speed. Opponents must account for his deep speed on every play. Too fast off the snap for most defenders to challenge him in press coverage. Long, lean athlete with long arms and strong hands. Has the agility to make plays in space. Reads the field and can follow his blocks to generate yards after the catch. Can snatch the ball out of the air. Learning to better use his height as an advantage. Good leaping ability and has become more consistent in timing his leaps.

Negatives: Bit of a one trick pony at this time. Might be the draft's most dangerous vertical threat, but offers little else. Long-legged and struggles to generate consistent separation out of his cuts. Not as consistently effective on jump balls as he should be, considering his natural size advantage. Too often double-clutches the ball. Questionable toughness running across the middle. Lacks strength and consistent effort as a downfield blocker.

10. 49ers: Singletary loves Rey Maualuga, apparently the way Ditka loved Ricky Williams; which means I fully expect to see a picture of the two in wedding attire on the cover of SI immediately after the draft.

NFL.com analysis:

Positives: Good initial quickness off the snap. ... Quickly gets to top speed, flashing rare downhill explosiveness for the position. ... Reads the action quickly. ... Willing to take on blocks and has the strength and hand technique to shed quickly. ... Good lateral quickness to evade blockers and has the speed to beat backs to the flanks. ... Gets good depth on his pass drop and is quick to close on the ball. ... Punishing hitter with four career forced fumbles. ... Productive pass rusher with the speed to close on even mobile quarterbacks. ... Can break down in space to make the secure open-field tackle.

Negatives: Has a tendency to overpursue, opening holes in the defense for quick and savvy ballcarriers to exploit. ... Too often relies on his explosive hitting to knock down ballcarriers, rather than wrapping up to make secure tackles.

13. Redskins: The Danny swung big and missed on the wacky Denver QB, but he doesn't know any better so he'll swing big again, this time on the wacky Bama OT, Andre Smith.

NFL.com analysis:

Positives: Flashes rare initial quickness for such a large man, especially on the down block. ... Surprisingly quick getting to the second level as a run blocker or on screens. ... Explosive upper-body strength and can pancake defenders when he keeps his feet. ... Massive man with the deep kick-step and long arms to hold off pass rushers. ... Allowed only one sack in 2008. ... Can absorb the bull rush. ... Intuitive football player. ... Recognizes and reacts well to surprise blitzes. ... If presented with two rushers, chooses his correct assignment and effectively neutralizes at least one of the defenders, instead of trying (and failing) to handle both. ... Good effort downfield. ... Never missed a game due to injury in three seasons at Alabama.

Negatives: Inconsistent initial quickness. ... Can be a step slow off the snap in pass protection, though his deep kick-step and massive frame allow him to catch up to the defender quickly. ... Inconsistent hand punch. ... Might be more passive than scouts would like. ... Too often absorbs blows from the defender, rather than initiating the contact. ... Allows defenders to slip free from his blocks when he gets fundamentally lazy and leans, rather than driving his feet. ... Suspended for his final game, the Sugar Bowl against Utah, due to contact with a sports agent.

[Thinking Skins]

I still think we're going to trade down.

[IbleedBnG83]

According to SI's Peter Gammond, the Broncos really like Orton and the defense is so bad, they will likely go defense with the first two picks.

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

By all accounts, the common consensus from the "experts", not least our veritable own draft whiz V. Cerrato Esq, :doh:, Oher and Smith will be long gone by the 13th pick.

I like the prospect of Maualuga, even though it's not the LB position of need, but I'd be more in favour of trading down, and picking up a center and one of the 340lb guards, like the kid out of OK, to strengthen the O-line depth.

If we can't be 100% certain the talent's there at 13 to start on day one, trade down and strengthen.

Hail.

[skinsdude]

If we stay where were at, I hope we go with an o-lineman. If we move lower, I hope we go QB. If we move higher, I hope we go with multiple lineman.

[RiggosMohawk]

Thanks for the thoughtful commentary on each pick, Oldskool. These are the picks I'm thinking could be different.

7. Raiders: I think they'll pick Darrius Heyward-Bey here. He's big, blistering fast and shouldn't go this high -- in other words, the perfect Al Davis wideout. The #1 and #2 WRs on the Oakland depth chart each had 15 catches last year. Yikes.

I have no complaints about the mock, except all the picks seem too smart for real life. Dah-Dee hits that mark with this one - you never get out of the top 10 without one "that was a reach" pick - and the Raiders seem like the most likely offender.

[SIXX99]

Why work on the D? We had a top 5 defence lets work on keeping the QB on his feet....

[TheLongshot]

According to SI's Peter Gammond, the Broncos really like Orton and the defense is so bad, they will likely go defense with the first two picks.

I tend to agree. They didn't pick up a couple of 1st round picks to go and send them back for another QB. Anyways, Sanchez could drop to #12 and they can feel free to pick him up if they want him.

Right now, the focus for them should be on their awful defense.

[ChiefPowhatan17]

Maualuga would be the best pick for us, I have no doubt in this, cause we have no one on the roster for that position at all. At least with RT we have a few guys who are already here. Not that they are that good, but we have a few. SLB not one on the roster. Blades is a serviceable guy, but not fast enough or big enough to cover TE's or RB's.

[heliKCx17]

Great draft...exactly what the broncos are going to do, 100%...only 2 problems...Packers will NOT take Raji, they need OLB/DE help, and the skins won't take Rey if 2 of the top 4 OTs are on the board...NO CHANCE

[Gibbsisgod2006]

No way Oakland will take Macklin at 7 Seattle will take Eugene Monroe at 4. Buffalo will take Aaron Maybin at 11. Crabtree will fall to Jax or San Fran. Denver will stay at 12 and select BJ Raji. Honestly will need to trade down or out of the first round in the high second Rd to pick up a RT who eventually move LT or a OLB. I like Maluagua and if the skins didn't have so many holes to fill I would draft him. But we do have a lot of holes to fill on this team.

[Veretax]

Great draft...exactly what the broncos are going to do, 100%...only 2 problems...Packers will NOT take Raji, they need OLB/DE help, and the skins won't take Rey if 2 of the top 4 OTs are on the board...NO CHANCE

Not only that, but Thompson will not take the risk on a Stoner.

However, don't assume they go Defense either, he has been a bit unconventional in his picks at times. Don't be surprised if he grabs a Tackle, or a running back.

[hiswadeness]

Great draft...exactly what the broncos are going to do, 100%...only 2 problems...Packers will NOT take Raji, they need OLB/DE help, and the skins won't take Rey if 2 of the top 4 OTs are on the board...NO CHANCE

Agreed. I can't see the FO passing on our most pressing need....Nevermind yea I can, but I don't think they would.

[deejaydana]

Rey will be a tremendous Pro. He has some freelancing downside to him but he can easily be coached up and away from that lack of discipline. I see him being a monster and would be perfectly happy if we landed him.