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You got the sense that when everyone agreed to trades in this mock draft, Tim’s eyes lit up; because oh brother did this guy wheel and deal. When all was said and done, he took a 1st round pick and a 3rd round pick and turned them into a 1st, 2nd, and two 3rd round picks. He managed to address the #1 issue for the Texans (o-line) by snagged OT Joe Staley with the #21 pick and he caught WR Jason Hill in the third round. Very impressive. Tim knew what his team needed and wanted, and he went out and got them. Bravo!
Worst Draft: Seattle Seahawks (Shrug at Field Gulls)
That’s right, cats and kittens! Our host for the draft had the worst mock draft of all of us. Man, does he suck! I mean, he sucks harder than a Thai hooker during Fleet week. He is so bad he… oh, who am I kidding. Literally everyone that voted had a different selection for worst. Some even voted THEMSELVES as the worst. The only reason Shrug falls here is he really, really wanted a first round pick, but couldn’t swing a trade to do it despite interest in WR Darrell Jackson. Teams like the Colts and 49ers were involved in such trade talks, but as usual everything BigBlueShoe touches turns to ashes and dust. When Shrug’s picks did comes up, he drafted a questionable RB (Michael Bush) and a DT (Paul Soliai) that some think was a reach. Again, in fairness, the draft is especially tough this year for Seattle, and Shrug was in a no win situation. However, since we are all brutal, savage sports bloggers who spit on weakness and mock futility, we will place Shrug in the Worst Mock Draft of 2007 category because we are evil I tell you… EEEEEEEEEEEEVIL!
Steal of the Draft: Jon Beason (LB) drafted by Kirkendall at Cincy Jungle
Jon Beason is listed in just about every mock draft as a mid-late first round pick. Beason fell in our mock draft all the way to pick #49. With so many loses at the LBer position for the Bengals, finding Beason there at pick #49 was a coup. Kirkendall entertained offers to trade Beason for additional picks later in the draft, but instead decided wisely to keep him. Beason might be the second best linebacker in the draft, and to get him in the mid-second round was the steal of this mock draft.
Biggest Reach: Eric Weddle (S) drafted by Tommasse at Pats Pulpit
This was near unanimous. Weddle is projected by many as a third round pick. Tommasse drafted him with New England’s #24 pick, bypassing better safeties like Michael Griffin or a corner like Chris Houston. To be fair, Tommasse was not the only mock drafter to think Weddle would get picked early, and the whole point of this mock draft was to act the way your team’s GM would act on draft day. It seems, with that in mind, Tommasse did his job, but that was not enough for the voters. Tommasse’s reasoning for taking Weddle was a Belichick guy, and that with no second round pick, it was likely Weddle would be gone by the time New England drafted again. The problem with this is New England picked again just four picks later, at #28. At #28, Tommasse selected OG Ben Grubbs. It would have made more sense to take Grubbs at #24 and then Weddle at #28. Because Weddle is drafted at #24, he must be paid first round money… more money than Grubbs, Houston, and others drafted after him (which to many makes no sense). The bottom line here is if safety was the "need," Michael Griffin was a better option. If Weddle was New England’s target, a trade was necessary. Many teams would have traded second and third round picks for the #24th overall (maybe even Tim at Battle Red Blog). Again, in fairness, Tommasse isn’t the only one saying Weddle will go early. And even though the "experts" say Griffin is a better safety, the "experts" also said Ryan Leaf was going to be a great QB in 1998. You can read Tommasse's reasoning for picking Weddle here.
There you have it, the Best and Worst of the 2007 SB Nation Mock Draft. We SB Nation football bloggers hope you enjoyed this little experiment on our part. Very few community sports blogs can manage to get their writers to do a one round mock draft. We squeezed three rounds out of our writers, and painted a very unique picture of what the draft could be. This draft was organized by the taskmaster himself, SkinsPatrol at Hogs Haven, and hosted by Shrug at Field Gulls. SeanYuille at POD provided excellent charts for tracking the mock draft, especially in the later rounds. TheSportsGuru, JasonB, BrianG, and Grizz helped a great deal in organizing things when SkinsPatrol was busy yelling at people to get their damn picks in. BigBlueShoe wrote the Best and Worst thread. Special thanks to the LSU college bloggers at And The Valley Shook for drafting the New Orleans Saints for us and to our guest Arizona Cardinals blogger for drafting the for desert red birds. Thanks to all that helped and everyone that participated. If you weren’t named, it is BigBlueShoe’s fault, and you can go on hating him per usual.
Has the season started yet? Because it sure feels like it!
Shrug of Field Gulls hosted the mock draft, posting our picks, with writeups, at his site. He was chosen under the pretense that the Seahawks had no first round pick and thus he'd be able to devote his time towards picks and what have you. That was nothing but a cover. Shrug is one of the best writers on the network and predictably did an outstanding job of representing us in our first Mock Draft. I could not have asked for a better host and would happily vote for him again next year.
Sean Yuille of Pride of Detroit went above and beyond providing this incredible table of all the picks through all three rounds. I don't even know how to make tables in HTML, so I am awestruck.
Grizz of Blogging the Boys was the man foolish enough to put me in charge (kind of sort of but not really). It was an honor to have been chosen to do so, one I probably would not repeat.
A lot of my colleagues, who had no special reason or interest in doing so, assisted me in contacting bloggers, finding suitable subs, providing picks for those teams unrepresented by SBN, and overall being helpful little elves. At the risk of forgetting to mention some deserving persons, the ones that jump out at me are: TheSportsGuru of Mile High Report, SteelerFan of Behind the Steel Curtain and Burnt Orange Nation, BigBlueShoe of Stampede Blue, BleedGreen of Bleeding Green Nation, and WCG of Windy City Gridiron. I am certain that deserving persons were left off the list, so let me blanket them when I say: Getting nearly 30 someodd people -- spread out across the country with varying schedules -- to select on behalf of 32 teams is a daunting task that would be impossible if not for the cooperation of all involved. I was blessed to have been put in charge of something that really needed no one in charge since my Blogging amigos did such a wonderful job of helping me throughout. Thanks to everyone.
And of course thanks to our subs: And The Valley Shook, SBN's LSU blogger, handled the Saints for the draft and The Big Red Sheet covered the Cardinals. Both did an admirable job and we appreciate you.
Now let's sling some mud. Stampede Blue is hosting a Best/Worst of SBN Mock Draft and I'm happy to provide reader(s) with my votes to that end.
Best overall mock draft (team that had the best overall mock draft): I wasn't so focused on the players chosen as I was on who made the best use of their draft resources in general. As I failed to trade down and thus realize the difficulty of doing so, I was very impressed with our Houston Texans Blog Battle Red Blog who turned a 1st and 3rd rounder into a 1st, 2nd, and two 3rd rounders. I cannot recount the specific details, but I know that over the course of the first round the Texans traded from #8 to #10 with Atlanta, then from #10 to #12 with Buffalo, and then from #12 to #21 with Denver. They ultimately drafted a great Tackle prospect in Joe Staley anyways, and picked up (at least) a 2nd and a 3rd rounder along the way. This Mock Draft was unique in not only allowing trades, but putting each team's Draft in the hands of a super informed, passionate fan. I felt that Houston moving down best represented the spirit of SBN's Mock Draft and think they made oustanding use of their picks. Kudos.
Worst overall mock draft (ie, What the fuck was he thinking?): I would love to point out a fellow blogger who had a piss poor draft though it's obvious Your Washington Redskins are an early favorite here. Having just 1 pick through 3 rounds affords the least data on which to award me big points on my selections. My inability to trade down contrasts poorly with Houston's wheeling and dealing and they deserve all the credit in the world, and I all the derision, for doing/failing to do so. I am comfortable with my pick of Jamaal Anderson at #6, despite Okoye and Landry taking over as the consensus among the Mocks. Still, I'm honored by good company in my Jamaal Anderson pick and you are what you do. Feed me to the lions, reader(s).
Finally:
Best steal of the draft (ie, Man, was he lucky to get that guy there):
Biggest reach (ie, Wow, a jar of peanuts and a spoonful of toe jam are worth more at that pick than that guy.):
I'm not answering either here as I think such things are better decided over the coming years. I'd love to hear who you thought was the biggest reach/steal. Take a quick look at gander at all the picks, come back, and let me know.
Thanks to everyone involved and thanks that it is over. Tomorrow could not come any sooner.