Mock Draft Simulater

[HPF Bob]

Originally Posted by chuck

I guess you haven't seen his tattoo.

No, but Brent Musburger and I have seen his girlfriend.

[chuck]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

No, but Brent Musburger and I have seen his girlfriend.

I thought we were talking about mistakes.

[painekiller]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

My "Clowney Draft" has a surprise fall into the second round that changed my whole approach. Unfortunately, I kept waiting another round for a QB until all the best ones were gone.

1. Jadeveon Clowney, DE, South Carolina
2. Cyrus Kouandjio, OT, Alabama
3. Kyle Fuller, CB, Virginia Tech
4. Lache Seastrunk, RB, Baylor
5. Lamin Barrow, ILB, LSU
6. Tajh Boyd, QB, Clemson
7. Walt Aikens, CB, Liberty

I'd walk away pretty happy with this. Kouandjio can be the new RT until Duane Brown is done. Seastrunk should be great insurance if Foster struggles and Boyd, in the sixth, is a low risk who might still turn into something outstanding someday.

If it fell this way, I would be pretty happy also.

The Texans have some inside information from former coaches of Clowney's on staff here now, and they would know about his desire and real work ethic.

[HPF Bob]

My "Clowney" draft:

1. Jadeveon Clowney, DE-OLB, S.Carolina
2. David Yankey, G-T, Stanford
3. Bradley Roby, CB, Ohio St. - Not sure why the drop. But if he's still there in the 3rd, I'll take him.
4. A.J. McCarron, QB, Alabama
5. Max Bullough, ILB, Michigan St.
6. Chris Davis, CB-KR, Auburn
7. Tyler Gaffney, RB, Stanford

My "Bridgewater" draft:

1. Teddy Bridgewater, QB, Louisville
2. Ryan Shazier, OLB, Ohio St.
3. Shayne Skov, ILB, Stanford
4. Anthony Steen, OG, Alabama
5. Bruce Ellington, WR, S. Carolina
6. Chris Davis, CB-KR, Auburn
7. Tyler Gaffney, RB, Stanford

[HPF Bob]

Fanspeak now has three big boards to choose from - Fanspeak, Walter Football and Optimum Scouting.

Here's the latest Clowney draft with the Fanspeak big board. Again, opportunity alters the projections:

1. DE-OLB Jadeveon Clowney, S. Carolina
2. DT Louis Nix III, Notre Dame (a big body to replace Earl Mitchell that amazingly falls to us).
3. OT Cyrus Kouandjio, Alabama (a massive tackle who can be RT now and LT later)
4. QB Jimmy Garoppolo, E. Illinois (he's up to #5 on numerous QB draft rankings - similar to Tony Romo)
5. ILB Max Bullough, Michigan State (help for Cushing)
6. CB/KR Chris Davis, Jr., Auburn (still like what I saw of him late in year)
7. CB Andre Hal, Vanderbilt (another corner with SEC experience)

Now the latest Bridgewater draft:

1. QB Teddy Bridgewater, Louisville
2. OLB Dee Ford, Auburn (trash-talking speed rusher off the edge)
3. OT Joel Bitonio, Nevada (OLs flew off the board this time. He was the best left)
4. DT Daquan Jones, Penn St. (O'Brien gets his pick)
5. ILB Max Bullough, Michigan State
6. CB/KR Chris Davis, Jr., Auburn
7. CB Andre Hal, Vanderbilt

[Roy P]

If you took those together and gave me ANYBODY (Watkins, Mosely, Gilbert, Ebron) in the first round I'd be happy with this:

2. OLB Dee Ford, Auburn (trash-talking speed rusher off the edge)
3. OT Joel Bitonio, Nevada (OLs flew off the board this time. He was the best left)
4. QB Jimmy Garoppolo

[HPF Bob]

Well, Fanspeak is getting even more creative. You can now choose between three different big boards and, for $4.95 charge to PayPal, you can have trades proposed and create your own plus access other resources.

So I tried the Walter Football Big Board and made two trades:

I traded our 1-1 to the Browns for their 1-4, 2-3 and next year's first (which ought to be first-half so you'd have two top-half #1s to go after a great player next year) then, when I saw so much available at 2-1, decided to trade it to the Rams for 2-12 and an added 4th-rounder.

I figured I would then have to pick between Clowney and the three QBs with one or two options off the table. Instead, the choices were 2 WRs and Jake Matthews so I still had the same decision. I decided to go with Clowney at 1-4. The remainder were:

1-4: Jadeveon Clowney, OLB-DE, S. Carolina
2-3: Jace Amaro, TE, Texas Tech
2-12: David Yankey, G-T, Stanford
3-1: Jimmy Garrapolo, QB, Eastern Illinois
4-1: Christian Jones, ILB, Florida St.
4-10: DaQuan Jones, DT, Penn St.
5-1: Storm Johnson, RB, Central Florida
6-1: Lamin Barrow, ILB, LSU
7-1: Aaron Colvin, CB, Oklahoma

Now, let's try with Optimum Scouting big board:

Son of a duck, the same trade with the Browns happens and the Browns take Bortles but, at 1-4, the same choice of Clowney or Bridgewater is there. I guess I'll take Clowney again.

Amaro, Yankey and Garrapolo were all taken in the first round but there are a pair of well-known Aggies available and several other good choices. I traded down twice more to give me three picks in the 4th but no 7th.
I came out with:

1-4: Jadaveon Clowney, OLB-DE, S. Carolina
2-3: Kyle Fuller, CB, Virginia Tech
2-9: Mike Evans, WR, Texas A&M (too good to pass up here)
3-7: Joel Bitonio, OT, Nevada
4-1: DaQuan Jones, DT, Penn St.
4-9: A.J. McCarron, QB, Alabama
4-27:Lache Seastrunk, RB, Baylor
5-1: Jackson Jeffcoat, OLB-DE, Texas (too good to pass up here)
6-1: Max Bulloch, ILB, Michigan St.

In both cases, I also have next year's #1 from Cleveland.

[chuck]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

In both cases, I also have next year's #1 from Cleveland.

Good work. They have no quarterback and their running back will be injured most of the year so that should result in a great pick for us in 2015.

[Roy P]

Not bad, Bob. Just curious about how you would utilize Clowney though. Do you see him as a Two-gap DE in the 3-4 like Richard Seymour or an OLB like Willie McGinnist in Romeo's defense?

[nunusguy]

Originally Posted by Roy P

Not bad, Bob. Just curious about how you would utilize Clowney though. Do you see him as a Two-gap DE in the 3-4 like Richard Seymour or an OLB like Willie McGinnist in Romeo's defense?

I know your question was directed to Bob, but I'm going to take a shot at it here. Notwithstanding any reported non-football issues, Clowney is a tremendous football play, not just a tremendous athlete. And he's not one-dimensional because he's strong against the run beside being a truly elite pass-rusher: he's the consensous #1 talent in this very talented Draft.
Now to your question about how would O'Brien/Crennel play him in Crennel's defense ? If O'Brien and his DC would be incapable of knowing how to figure out how to employ/apply this most talented football player in this the 2014 NFL Draft in their defense, then Bob McNair made a major mistake when he hired O'Brien to be his new HC.

[HPF Bob]

The short answer is "like McGinnest". A talent like Clowney is all about creating mismatches and getting him upfield quickly to disrupt plays. Therefore, I would want him and Watt to line up all over the place - sometimes together and sometimes on opposite sides so defenses have to read both before reacting. He would be what Wade Phillips tried to do with Mario Williams but I think Clowney is better suited for it. I think Clowney and Watt will make the other even better and if a third guy (Mercilous, Reed, Cushing or a Jackson Jeffcoat I drafted in one mock) becomes a consistent rusher you've made the defense really tough for opponents.

[Roy P]

OK, I can go with that, but I like Barr in that role. He seems as if he could also not be a fish out of water when asked on those rare occasions to drop into coverage. That's why I'm so hoping that we can trade down and pick up extra picks. If Clowney didn't have the 'work ethic' baggage, we might be able to easily find someone to trade up for him.

[HPF Bob]

Guys like Barr and Mack are fine but they could also be liabilities against the run where a guy like Clowney can hold up at the point of attack in goalline packages because he has DE size to go with his OLB quickness. That's why he's a matchup headache which would give us a second one to go with Watt. Put those two on a front seven and everyone else, even Cushing, gets single coverage which means you just have to beat your man to make the play. Next you start mixing in some blitzers and you are giving the opposing team a lot of different stuff they don't have answers for.

If we pass that up for Bortles, he better be at least a Phil Simms-caliber QB or we have really screwed ourselves.

[Arky]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

1-4: Jadeveon Clowney, OLB-DE, S. Carolina
2-3: Jace Amaro, TE, Texas Tech
2-12: David Yankey, G-T, Stanford
3-1: Jimmy Garrapolo, QB, Eastern Illinois
4-1: Christian Jones, ILB, Florida St.
4-10: DaQuan Jones, DT, Penn St.

I only saw a couple of Texas Tech games last year but Jace Amaro looked dominant in both..... a man among boys.... Someone is going to get a good TE...

[HPF Bob]

I doubt Amaro gets past the Patriots but I've said elsewhere that he is the next Gronkowski - big dude with good hands and downfield speed. And guess what? We now have the guy who developed the first Gronkowski. I doubt Amaro is there at 2-1 but, if he is, you have to put your other plans on hold and take him - especially now that we've released Owen Daniels.

On again, today's NFL is about creating mismatches and this guy is too fast for most LBs and too big for most safeties to cover. You can take an average QB (ie Fitzpatrick) and put a security blanket like Amaro around him and he will get instantly better.

[nunusguy]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

Guys like Barr and Mack are fine but they could also be liabilities against the run where a guy like Clowney can hold up at the point of attack in goalline packages because he has DE size to go with his OLB quickness. That's why he's a matchup headache which would give us a second one to go with Watt. Put those two on a front seven and everyone else, even Cushing, gets single coverage which means you just have to beat your man to make the play. Next you start mixing in some blitzers and you are giving the opposing team a lot of different stuff they don't have answers for.

If we pass that up for Bortles, he better be at least a Phil Simms-caliber QB or we have really screwed ourselves.

Clowney is such an obvious choice here especially when O'Brien can get the equivalent if not superior prospect in the second round to any of the "big 3" for his QB to groom for the future. Hey folks, just because you use a first round pick on a QB doesn't necessarily mean you get a first round QB.

[HPF Bob]

The Fitzpatrick signing convinces me about 85% sure we are taking Bortles at 1-1 so, using the Fanspeak big board and adding the 6-5 pick from Oakland, I stay at 1-1 and draft this way:

1-1 Blake Bortles, QB, UCF
2-1 Jace Amaro, TE, Texas Tech
I trade down from 3-1 and 4-1 to add extra picks in the 4th and 5th rounds:
3-7 Shayne Skov, ILB, Stanford
4-10 Jack Mewhort, OT, Ohio St.
4-27 Lache Seastrunk, RB, Baylor
5-1 Antone Exum, CB, Virginia Tech
5-13 Taylor Hart, DE, Oregon
6-1 Chris Davis, CB-KR, Auburn
6-5 Storm Johnson, RB, UCF
7-1 Jay Bromley, DT, Syracuse

Didn't do as much with the pass rush as I'd like but I'm pretty happy with my top 3 if Bortles is my decision at 1-1.

[chuck]

I'm trying to figure out if I think the signing means they're taking Bortles or if it means they're taking Clowney. You could certainly argue it either way.

[Nconroe]

I am thinking a tall CB similar to Seattle might be helpful on defense.
These two might be available in second to fourth round.

87 Stanley Jean-Baptiste CB 11 NebraskaSr 6-3 218 3
94 Keith McGill. CB 12 UtahrSr. 6-3 211 S

[HPF Bob]

Tried the Walter Football Big Board and was set to draft Bortles 1-1 but the Falcons stepped up and said they wanted it to draft Clowney. They offered the Texans their first (#6), second (#5), third (#4) and fourth (#3) to move up. I swallowed hard and said yes. Adding the Raiders 6th for Schaub, it gave us two picks near the top of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th.

The Falcons took Clowney. The Jags took Manziel. The Browns took Bridgewater and left me, at #6 with a choice of Bortles or Matthews. Observe:

1-6: Blake Bortles, QB, UCF
2-1: Jace Amaro, TE, Texas Tech
2-5: Dee Ford, DE-OLB, Auburn
3-1: Cyrus Kouandijo, OT, Alabama
3-4: Tre Mason, RB, Auburn

Having re-tooled the offense, the third day was all about defense:

4-1: Christian Jones, ILB, Florida St.
4-3: Jackson Jeffcoat, DE-OLB, Texas
5-1: Calvin Barnett, DT, Oklahoma St.
6-1: Walt Aikens, CB, Liberty (talented but kicked off two programs)
6-5: Antone Exum, CB, Virginia Tech
7-1: Preston Brown, ILB, Louisville

The secondary might still be a bit weak but the front seven is stacked. You've got Ford, Jeffcoat and Mercilous edge rushing, You've got Watt, Crick and some anchors in the d-line and ILBs like Cushing, Jones and Brown to clean up the middle. Then there's Brooks Reed to fit inside or outside as needed. That front seven will have depth and bring pressure.

Offensively, the problem spot is the guards but you have a lot of candidates and the guards can be hidden with good surrounding players. Bortles/Fitzpatrick will have Foster and Mason sharing carries, Graham and Amaro to work the short passing game and AJ, DeAndre, Posey and Martin available out wide.

So, there are some holes left but that's really a lot of talent and a lot of weapons for O'Brien and Crennel to sculpt.

I'm starting to see that the Texans are going to have a lot of good choices at 2-1 and if they could add another high second, you could get three guys who can make an instant impact on the ballclub.