So with the "HogsHaven Mock Draft" posts going up, I was inspired to do a little armchair GMing myself.  I don't know whether you guys are familiar with it or not, but there is a great website (www.drafttek.com) that has a free online draft simulator.  It is a black-box logic engine that uses the site's Big Board player rankings and team needs to simulate a 7-round mock draft.  Suffice it to say--you could burn an entire working day playing around with this thing.

So what I did was run a draft simulation based on the site's projections.  I then looked at the pick that it made for the 'Skins, decided which player that was available at the pick that I'd rather have, and input this selection as a "grab" parameter.  Then I ran the simulation again, only this time the simulator would use my pick instead of its own.  I did this for all 7 rounds.  So basically, I put myself into Shanahan's place, but didn't manipulate the other team's picks--just like I was running the Redskin's War Room.  

So here's what we ended up with:

1.  Aldon Smith, OLB, Missouri.  The way the top-10 played out in this simulation, Bowers, Peterson, Fairley, Green, Miller, Jordan, Quinn, Amukamara, and Costanzo were all gone.  I was basically left with a choice:  3-4DE Dareus or 3-4OLB Aldon Smith.  I went with Smith because I think a dynamic pass-rusher to complement Orakpo will have a bigger impact, although Dareus would've been a great pick as well.

2. Jason Pinkston, OG, Pittsburgh.  Wiz went in the 1st to Chicago (ahead of Solder and Carimi, actually.)  Locker was gone too, just so you know.  Baldwin and Hankerson were still available, as was Pouncey, Adrian Clayborn and Phil Taylor.  I really only considered Pinkston, Pouncey, Clayborn and Taylor.  Everyone knows we really need help on the OL, and I decided to respect DraftTek's player evaluation here.  They have Pinkston as the best pure guard in the draft, so I went with the value and took Pinkston.

5. Greg Little, WR, North Carolina.  I saw him still on the board and had to grab him.  Maybe I overrate him because I saw him burn UVa's secondary in person a couple years ago, but I couldn't pass up his size and soft hands.  He definitely would've gone higher than this if he came out before the NCAA suspension.

5. Bilal Powell, RB, Louisville.  I actually had my choice of Powell and Darren Evans here.  The value here cannot be ignored.  Powell is more of a feature back than a change-of-pace back, but I love how hard this guy runs.  He never gives up on a play and rarely goes down on the first tackle.  Given our inability to block the inside zone play, we need this kind of runner.

6. Marcus Gilchrist, FS/CB, Clemson.  Total value pick here.  We need someone to back up OJ Atogwe (cough) and I'm still mad at Kareem Moore.

7. Eddie Jones, OLB, Texas.  I love Texas OLBs!  Seriously, though, this guy will probably never be anything more than a backup/insurance now that we're set for the next ten years with two future HOFers in Orakpo and Smith.  What Jones is though is a player who is graded higher than where we drafted him and will be a special teams body.

If anyone is still reading, this really is more fun than it looks.  Go over to drafttek.com and try it for yourself.  How do you think I did?