My Pre-Combine 2013 mock draft

[datruth55]

Thank god the nfl still has free agency.

Can't sign every free agent out there and we've gone the free agent route time and time again and it's never worked. What does work is drafting your own players and developing them, that's been proven. Where do you think the Ravens got Dennis Pitta, Joe Flacco, Ray Rice, Torrey Smith? The core of their offense was drafted. Where do you think the 49ers got Colin Kaepernick, Frank Gore, Michael Crabtree, Vernon Davis? Again it was the draft not free agency. Free agency, if done correctly, is supposed to be used to supplement the draft...sign free agents where the draft is weak and draft players to develop in your system. Free agency shouldn't be used to get the core of your team on offense or defense.

[2413fanphins]

Can't sign every free agent out there and we've gone the free agent route time and time again and it's never worked. What does work is drafting your own players and developing them, that's been proven. Where do you think the Ravens got Dennis Pitta, Joe Flacco, Ray Rice, Torrey Smith? The core of their offense was drafted. Where do you think the 49ers got Colin Kaepernick, Frank Gore, Michael Crabtree, Vernon Davis? Again it was the draft not free agency. Free agency, if done correctly, is supposed to be used to supplement the draft...sign free agents where the draft is weak and draft players to develop in your system. Free agency shouldn't be used to get the core of your team on offense or defense.

Who said it was?

Id say its a pretty good chance we sign a wr or two... i.e. jennings and hartline. Add them in and i dont feel like drafting keenan allen or robert woods. Jake long walks???? Than what sign patterson over johnson or fisher??? I decided to not go that route.

I guezz i should have included some dreamed up scenario of free agency so some wouldnt have to hit the panic button.

I compared my board to other boards like draft teks and a handful of mocks, and tried to get a consensus value and picked guys based on my research.

Of course i would like a patterson over johnson. But im not sold on martin at lt. Johnson got the nod.
Eiffert is gone by 42, and im not high on ertz... so lacy gets the nod. So on and so forth...

Mingo is my preference at 12, and i have him gone before 12. To me its not all that realistic if you just peg who you want in where, without.considering other teams that pick close to our pick.

[datruth55]

Who said it was?

Id say its a pretty good chance we sign a wr or two... i.e. jennings and hartline. Add them in and i dont feel like drafting keenan allen or robert woods. Jake long walks???? Than what sign patterson over johnson or fisher??? I decided to not go that route.

I guezz i should have included some dreamed up scenario of free agency so some wouldnt have to hit the panic button.

I compared my board to other boards like draft teks and a handful of mocks, and tried to get a consensus value and picked guys based on my research.

Of course i would like a patterson over johnson. But im not sold on martin at lt. Johnson got the nod.
Eiffert is gone by 42, and im not high on ertz... so lacy gets the nod. So on and so forth...

Mingo is my preference at 12, and i have him gone before 12. To me its not all that realistic if you just peg who you want in where, without.considering other teams that pick close to our pick.

Hartline was here last year and didn't help us put up any points. Adding Jennings is a start but not enough and not having a seam threat TE in the WCO is bad business. What does Jennings add to our scoring...two points per game maybe so we go from 18 ppg to 20 ppg...not good enough. You're still putting too much pressure on Tannehill to be perfect and carry the team.

When the Packers took Jennings, James Jones and Jordy Nelson in consecutive years it showed that they weren't content with just good enough, they wanted more. I hope Philbin brings that with him to this draft. Jennings would be a start but it's not good enough. IMO the entire WR corp, TEs included, needs to be redone completely...right now it's not even good enough.

[2413fanphins]

Hartline was here last year and didn't help us put up any points. Adding Jennings is a start but not enough and not having a seam threat TE in the WCO is bad business. What does Jennings add to our scoring...two points per game maybe so we go from 18 ppg to 20 ppg...not good enough. You're still putting too much pressure on Tannehill to be perfect and carry the team.

When the Packers took Jennings, James Jones and Jordy Nelson in consecutive years it showed that they weren't content with just good enough, they wanted more. I hope Philbin brings that with him to this draft. Jennings would be a start but it's not good enough. IMO the entire WR corp, TEs included, needs to be redone completely...right now it's not even good enough.

Cant really disagree on hartline not putting the ball in the endzone, but I like him as a #2... hes pretty sure handed and moves the chains and tannehilll is obviously comfortable with him. I think you really discount how much impact eddy lacy would have as far as scoring points goes, but thats perhaps thats an entirely different thread.
I still am not sold on ertz as a seam busting tight end and like I said eifert is probably gone, so where do you pencil in your next tight end at? In what round, and over what prospects? I haven't heard or read anything from philbin or ireland that says we are in the market for or considering a TE in the draft, so I have to think that they have hitched their wagon to egnew and possibly fasano coming back... what else are we to think?

I realize what the packers did, and I'd be all for it... but this is one draft, I don't know how you can expect to take a jennings, nelson and jones all at one time, it took green bay three years to do what you are saying.

If you say jennings is a start adn the entire WR and TE corps need replacing, I ask, how on earth you do that all in the draft since we can't just go signing every free agent and should build through the draft...

do you draft a replacement for hartline, matthews, and bess, and a replacement for clay and fasano, and throw an entire offense full of rookies out there and hope the fanbase gets behind that?

Like I said before, I tried to make the mock coincide with talent that would be available at the spot we are pegged in correlation with who might go to other teams within 5 or so picks of us.

If they bring in a Wr and TE in free agency, I dont know how many WR's or TE's they will follow up with in the draft. So based off my assumption that they are at least targeting jennings, I thought austins playmaking ability would complement the offense well, and that mixed with an eddy lacy and lamar miller we'd be in better shape than we were last year.
I suppose you could look to woods and patton and guys like that, jordan reed was in some of my mocks... but it's just what I went with for now. I like how it shakes out I guess. to each his own.

[datruth55]

I realize what the packers did, and I'd be all for it... but this is one draft, I don't know how you can expect to take a jennings, nelson and jones all at one time, it took green bay three years to do what you are saying.

If you say jennings is a start adn the entire WR and TE corps need replacing, I ask, how on earth you do that all in the draft since we can't just go signing every free agent and should build through the draft...

do you draft a replacement for hartline, matthews, and bess, and a replacement for clay and fasano, and throw an entire offense full of rookies out there and hope the fanbase gets behind that?

It took the Packers three years to do that..(and they weren't done cause two years later they drafted Randall Cobb in the 2nd) but we're alway going to be three years away from doing the same if we never start...always.

You can't replace them all at once, you replace them one at a time, two if the draft falls right. Jennings is important because he would provide leadership and he's the type of veteran that would bring younger players along and show them how to be professionals...who do we have that can do that now? We haven't had that player in our receiving corp for more than a decade...Chris Chambers? Please. Hartline? Don't think so. I would say not since O.J. McDuffie probably and he had no one to teach.

Lets say Eddie Lacy scores the 6 TDs Reggie Bush scored plus the 4 TDs that we gave Daniel Thomas on his goal line runs...10 TDs...our scoring still hasn't gone up because he's essentially taken the scoring away from those two players...we added nothing. Lacy would make Thomas obsolete...I think we can agree on that. Thomas is basically used in short yardage and goal line situations and Lacy would take his place. I think maybe you overestimate what he would do for the offense.

[utahphinsfan]

I have seen Bahktiari play for Colorado, my alma mater, and read reports on him in the Denver Post. He was really frustrated with CU, and being on a team that only won one game, but he played hard till the end, and was probably their best overall player. He decided to make himself eligible for this year's draft rather than trying to go through another rebuilding year in Boulder.

I too was impressed w/ Bakhtiari in the few CU games I saw.

Curious; do you know if he's related to Rudi who used to broadcast for Headline News?

[finfan54]

i like taking care of the long dilemna. it takes balls around here. i like lacy too but do like mine better.

really dig wheaton since seeing senior bowl practices and highlights. thinking he will run a 4.4 40. go to his youtube stuff and check out the 10 meter dash in college too. screw getting mike wallace, this kid is mike wallace but maybe better.

i believe trufant blew off another player in order to get another rep w/ wheaton. wheaton blew him up for a nice long ball.

[2413fanphins]

i like taking care of the long dilemna. it takes balls around here. i like lacy too but do like mine better.

really dig wheaton since seeing senior bowl practices and highlights. thinking he will run a 4.4 40. go to his youtube stuff and check out the 10 meter dash in college too. screw getting mike wallace, this kid is mike wallace but maybe better.

i believe trufant blew off another player in order to get another rep w/ wheaton. wheaton blew him up for a nice long ball.

I dont dislike your mock at all. I rather like it to tell you the truth. I think we addressed similar needs in a different fashion. I am curious though how others received it. Using some peoples logic we need to find 20 touchdowns from this draft or its a failure.

[luduporcu]

I would start w/F-A. I'd sign BOTH WALLACE and JENNINGS, as well as re-signing HARTLINE, FASANO, CLEMONS, SMITH, STARKS and BUSH. I'd also try to sign at least one of LEVITRE, KELLER and COX (prefer COX). To those who say it's impossible, capwise, I say "b-s". We're going to have to get rid of MARSHALL, a savings of $4.7 Million, I believe. And I'd move ODRICK to DT where he belongs (the ODRICK-at-DE experiment was a failure, i/m/o), and cut McDANIELS, saving something like $4 Million more (if I remember correctly). That brings us at/close to $55 Million , w/o doing ANYTHING else. And i/m/o, there's A LOT more that can be done: too many players on the MIAMI roster aren't worth what they're getting paid... so either they take less or good-bye. I/m/o, MIAMI can be c. $65 Million under the "cap", w/o hurting its chances at all.

And I would NOT re-sign J LONG, at any price. You can't dominate ANYONE from a hospital bed or the "I-R" list. He didn't even look good when he DID play last season.

As for the Draft, there would be no need to draft a WR. Nor a TE, although if we got an early Christmas gift, fine. MIAMI is in the AFC East, and that means N.E.. Until we can get at least a split w/N.E., we won't be going very far, i/m/o. Beating N.E. is "Job One". The GIANTS (twice) and BALTIMORE (just recently) showed everyone how to do just that. It's called extreme pass pressure. BRADY just isn't nearly as good w/o a running game and under intense pressure. THAT should be MIAMI's goal! MIAMI's already very good against the run. But the MIAMI pass rush has only WAKE as a game-changing playmaker.There are quite a few very good-looking pass rushing DEs and OLBs in this year's Draft class. So, DRAFT a couple of them. Use our late 3rd, 4th, and 5th Round Picks to move up as much as we can w/our two 2nds. And draft at least 2 pass-rushing DEs...along w/a T at either 2b or 3a, and a CB w/the pick we didn't use on a T. Our 7th Round Pick is for a "flyer", as PHILBIN and IRELAND judge best: ditto, any "compensatory" pick. I'm NOT interested in quantity: I'm looking for quality, especially at a position of true need, if MIAMI is to ever be competitive w/N.E.