Kiper also said that the Cardinals are the most likely candidate to move down with a team like Houston.
Best interview by far among the top guys is Prince Amukamara. The guy is smart, confident, and has a dry sense of humor, and in every interview I've heard, he's turned the questioning around and needled the interviewer with a few pointed questions. In fact, he interviews like he plays - talented and agressive, but a little overconfident.
I don't think we have a legit shot at getting our hands on Miller. I do think that if Peterson drops to the Cards and Miller is already gone, they might trade with us. I don't think Aldon Smith is going to be anything near DeMarcus Ware. I think the Texans do love Peterson, but are petrified that Amukamara might struggle out of the gates and bring on hordes of criticism for Kareem Jackson 2. If Denver is really <strike>dumb enough to</strike> interested in swapping places for Okoye....why not just draft for each other and consummate the trade post lockout? Happens all the time in the NBA. Not sure what precludes it here.
#1 in 2011 and 2012 + Okoye for Peterson? I think I might have to go with it and see how it goes. Okoye is definitely not in the plans going forward.
If we do trade up, I'm assuming we'll give up a 1st, next years 1st (hopefully a really low first) and a 3rd rounder at the minimum?
I think that's sort of a no-brainer. Given the fact that this regime knows their days are numbered if they don't produce THIS season, they'd probably be more willing to give up on a guy like Okoye, who has had ample time to show that he's not just a sack of potatoes.
I don't like the idea of trading next year's #1. There is no way, given this team's history, that you can expect that it would be in the bottom half of the first round. In fact, given this team's luck, the moment they traded the pick, Schaub would suffer a career ending injury and the team would go 1-15 to win the Andrew Luck sweepstakes.
I did not see one time in these clips where Smith went to the outside around a tackle, he seem to go inside every time. He looks athletic and a very good INSIDE pass rusher, but where is the outside rush?
It's mainly different from the NBA were there is a rookie pay scale. As of right now, it's a big risk for a team to draft a player in hopes of trading him in the future because if the trade falls through (or a stay is granted), the drafting team will be stuck with a player whom they didn't really want in the first place. When you're dealing with players drafted in the Top 3-5, you start dealing with ridiculous contracts and the risk of hold outs. But I don't think we're seeing clearly through the smokescreens. It's almost impossible to believe anything you hear so close to the draft. Every year we hear about teams wanting to trade up into the Top 5 and teams wanting out but it almost never happens. As much as us fans want certain players and trade ups, most teams aren't willing to pay the HUGE contracts demanded by Top 3 picks on top of the future picks + players. It's exciting to hear and think about big draft day deals, but they don't happen nearly as often as they do in the NBA.
My draft ranks for the Texans: 1. Nick Fairley (if they really want to trade way up for a defensive difference maker, this is the guy) 2. Von Miller 3. Patrick Peterson 4. Prince Amukamara Those guys are the can't-miss defensive prospects.
I would not trade next year's #1 for anything. I don't have enough faith in this team's talent evaluators, coaching staff, ownership, etc. to think that one first round pick this year made by THIS TEAM is worth more than two first round picks.
This is me until draft day: Spoiler I honestly don't get the point of mock drafts and I don't know why anyone takes them seriously. I don't know how/why Mel Kiper even pulls a paycheck.
Switch out Dareus for Fairley and I'd agree with your rankings. As far as "can't-miss prospects," I wouldn't have Fairley in the Top 5. You're talking about a JUCO transfer who had 1 good season with Auburn, an inconsistent motor, and questionable work ethic on top of that. If Fairley fell to us at #11 (which I honestly wouldn't be all that surprised), then I wouldn't mind taking him but he's far from a "can't miss prospect" and I think teams are starting to cool off on him.
It's incredible that the mock draft guys even have jobs considering how awful they've been over the years. The only one who ever comes close is Mike Mayock
You watched a handful of clips from two games, the first of which came less than a month after breaking his leg and both of which came after Mizzou's starting DT went down for the year. Between Aldon not being 100% and a gaping hole inside, maybe that's why he didn't have as many opportunities to edge rush in those two games?
It's a fair question. I know I didn't watch any Mizzou games. I don't know how my here really did. So we're relying on highlight clips and accounts from others. If we would draft him to be an edge rusher, it'd be nice to know how effective he was in that role in college.
It's silly to form a concern over where the outside rush is when you're basing it on a non-complete film study of two games (out of 22 in his college career, I think). I've watched every snap he's played in college, do I count? It's definitely a fair question. He does play a little high, but part of that is due to injuries on the Mizzou line pushing him inside a little more than he'd like. I'd like to think that could be worked out. He does have tremendous edge speed and I've seen him blow by quite a few tackles in his day - the person questioning his speed is just being ridiculous. I'm fine with the questioning. But most accounts from people who have actually scouted him - that is, watching MORE than a YouTube reel - are pretty damn positive. Yet you have several know-it-alls here screaming bloody murder over the Texans drafting him, all because they hadn't heard of him three months ago. I'd wager most haven't even watched Mizzou play a full game. I just wish folks would keep an open mind to it, as opposed to closing their minds on his entire career because they watched a random two-minute clip of two games on YouTube.
Unless I'm missing something, dude did not "form a concern". He asked a question. You've provided an excellent answer (and thanks for the excellent information/analysis), but don't you think you could have done it without all the condescending drama?
