FanSpeak.com's "On the Clock 2018" tool is the best there is for doing team mock drafts. It'll be different every time and you can't predict the picks, just like the real draft. For this draft, I used Matt Miller's rankings, so if you have issue with some of the guys who were or weren't available, take that up with him.
Pick 1:23 - Leighton Vander Esch, LB, Boise State The Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year filled up the box score. 141 tackles, 8.5 of which were for a loss, four sacks and four forced fumbles. Vander Esch is also supposed to be very good in coverage. We haven't had a linebacker who is good in coverage in a long time. Pick 1:31 - Marcus Davenport, Edge, Texas San Antonio A guy who some believe could be an early first round pick fell to the Patriots at the end of the first. Davenport had 8.5 sacks as a senior to go along with three forced fumbles. At 6'7", 265 lbs., he looks the part. Mel Kiper Jr. has labeled him as the second beset pass rusher in the draft. Pick 2:11 - Christian Kirk, WR, Texas A&M The Patriots have showed interest in Kirk. Kirk said at his pro day that he had a visit with the team lined up. Having lost Danny Amendola to free agency, and you don't know how Julian Edelman will be in his first season back from a torn ACL, especially as he is going to be 32 for the season and has taken a lot of big hits, a slot guy like Kirk could be the next guy in a long line of valuable slot receivers in New England Pick 2:31 - Brian O'Neill, OT, Pittsburgh Really, what this comes down to is depth more than anything. Kolton Miller and Mike McGlinchey went before pick 23 in the first. O'Neill was the best tackle left on the board and the Patriots, after losing Nate Solder and Cam Fleming to the NFC East, need to add a body at the position. Pick 3:31 - Kerryon Johnson, RB, Auburn This feels like the part part of the draft when the Patriots take a running back. They lost Dion Lewis to Tennessee. James White, while very valuable at it, is just a receiving back. Mike Gillislee is no guarantee to get a lot of carries after being a healthy scratch as often as he was in 2017. Red Burkhead is the best of the bunch and has never been a featured guy. The Patriots don't usually go with one featured back, so they may look to add another guy to the mix. Note: I totally forgot the Patriots signed Jeremy Hill when I made this pick and wrote about it. But Hill is not very good and no guarantee to make the team anyway so I'm ok with this. Pick 6:24 - Isaac Yiadom, CB, Boston College Eric Rowe is set to be a UFA after the season. Jason McCourty is another year old. Who knows what they'll get out of the two Jones'. He also can play on special teams, which we all know Bill LOVES. Pick 6:36 - Cole Madison, OT, Washington St. The team lost two tackles so we're going to add two tackles. It's that simple. Pick 7:1 - Oren Burks, LB, Vanderbilt When you get to this point in the draft (really, we go there a few picks ago), it's a crap shoot. Burks has coverage skills and the team is week in that department so may as well take a shot on a guy at a position of weakness. Click here to view the entire draft.
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SAMUEL PERICOLOSam is a graduate of Assumption College where he studied History, Marketing, and Political Science and was a Co-Producer on a weekly sports talk television show. Archives
March 2018
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