Now that all the major pro days have concluded, NFL scouts have a much better feel for the talent going into the 2014 draft. No more of this "Johnny Football First Overall" foolishness. More importantly, the post-bowl-game sugar high that we’re on at the end of the season has subsided and we’re able to accurately evaluate talent. We’re actually closer to kickoff for Sam Houston State vs. Eastern Washington than we were to when Jameis Winston did it big in the 2013 National Championship. Thank God.
ESPN’s NFL draft poobah Todd McShay released the fourth iteration of his 2014 mock draft and it better resembles the talent landscape.
We’re still a ways out from May’s draft and the Texans have been disciplined in not tipping their hand. The first pick comes down to a question every team is confronted with: draft for what's missing or take the best player available? Yes, Houston needs a quarterback, but they can't miss Clowney. He's been pro ready since high school.
Just make sure the Ol' Ball Coach gets a front row seat for when Clowney is drafted.
Now that every quarterback prospect has thrown at their pro day, the quarterback ranking has settled as I predicted. Despite evidence that he needs more collegiate seasoning, Blake Bortles has ridden a strong season and a stronger girlfriend to ascend to McShay’s top-ranked passer.
According to McShay’s rankings, he has Johnny Football tumbling to number 8. I brought up Manziel going to Minnesota with a source close to a league official and was told that the Vikings’ dome and a spot on the bench behind Christian Ponder would be preferable to being thrown to the wolves playing for the Jags or Oakland. I couldn’t argue against the reasoning, even in spite of DA RAAADUUUZZZ skipping Football, who seems born to be sacked in the Black and Silver.
The biggest loser in the quarterback slotting is Teddy Bridgewater, who McShay has at eleventh. That’s got to hurt since McShay had Bridgewater going first overall back in his first mock. J-Law would not approve.
One last takeaway from McShay’s top ten is his placing Sammy Watkins over Mike Evans. Watkins never quite matched his breakout freshman season in terms of dominance, but has recovered his stock enough for the Lions to pull the trigger on trading up to draft him.
I have Mike Evans as the top wideout available this year. Evans was so good some believe he turned Johnny Manziel into a collegiate legend.
Evans also had a fat target on his back since everyone in the stadium know Manziel would look to him first on passing plays.
That makes his phemonmal season even more impressive.