This mock is based on the official NFL Draft second round order. Here it is- our first second round mock of 2011!
For round one go here
1. New England Patriots (from Car) Leonard Hankerson, WR, Miami
Had a monster Senior Bowl week to propel himself up this far. Pats seriously need more receivers who can get vertical and stretch opposing defenses. Wes Welker just wasn’t the same since without Moss complementing him
2. Buffalo Bills Justin Houston, OLB, Georgia
3. Cincinnati Bengals Martez Wilson, LB, Illinois
Cincy needs an inside linebacker and despite the fact that he really only had one solid season of starting under his belt, the Illini Wilson is the #1 guy on the charts at this position. He’s still more potential and measurables than he is stats, but man has he overcome a lot during his years in Champaign-Urbana just to get here.
Much of Wilson’s growth stems from the now-infamous stabbing incident in December 2008, when he was out at a local bar called Fubar with one of his former teammates – Eastern Illinois standout running back D’Angelo McCray – and two of McCray’s friends from Eastern. The following year, he missed pretty much all of 2009 due to a neck injury.
Wilson’s health made the defense automatically more athletic and dangerous than they were last season, and allowed fellow junior Ian Wilson to move back to his natural Will position.
For more on Wilson go here
4. Denver Broncos Luke Stocker, TE, Tennessee
5. Cleveland Browns, Stephen Paea, DT, Oregon St
6. Arizona Cardinals, Jimmy Smith, CB, Colorado
7. Tennessee Titans, Aaron Williams, CB, Texas
8. Dallas Cowboys, Torrey Smith, WR, Maryland
9. Washington Redskins, Danny Watkins, OG, Baylor
10. Houston Texans, Phil Taylor, DL, Baylor
11. Minnesota Vikings, Quinton Carter, S, Oklahoma
12. Detroit Lions, Marcus Cannon, OT, Oklahoma
13. San Francisco Rahim Moore, S, UCLA
Moore who picked off ten passes last fall, and has all the skills to play “centerfield” in the NFL.
14. Denver (from Mia) Cameron Heyward, DL, Ohio State
Nice prospect to pair with Bowers from round one. But Heyward could have been picked somewhere in the #15-#25 range in the NFL Draft had he come out last spring. His stock is rising for 2011; even though people don’t often talk about him. He’s the “sneaky hot” player in the Big Ten. I guess you could call him the Pam Beesly/Jenna Fischer of the NFL Draft.
How high he gets drafted will depend on his ability to flourish in both the 3-4 and the 4-3 schematics. The new hot trend these days is for collegiate defensive ends to transition into 3-4 outside linebackers. I asked Heyward about playing in both base defenses.
“I think the 4-3 is a better fit sometimes for running and physical teams, but in the 3-4 you can mix it up too, you can bring a couple linebackers up on the edge and bring your d linemen down in the middle,” he responded.
Any preference? “I’m pretty confident in both of ‘em.”
And Heyward’s greatest strength? (according to him) “I think my bull rush is pretty good, but the thing I’m most confident about is just finding the ball and not giving up on the play.”
For more on Heyward go here
15. St. Louis Lance Kendricks, TE, Wisconsin
16. Oakland Steve Schilling, OL, Michigan
17. Jacksonville Jaguars Christian Ponder, QB, Florida St
Local kid groomed to be Garrard’s understudy?
18. San Diego Chargers Terrence Toliver, WR, LSU
19. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Chimdi Chekwa, CB, Ohio State
20. NY Giants, Christian Ballard, DE, Iowa
21. Indianapolis Colts, Greg Jones, ILB, Michigan State
22. Philadelphia Eagles Tyler Sash, S, Iowa
Tyler Sash a 6-1, 210 junior from Oskaloosa, Iowa is the starter on the strong side. And he’s about the same size as starting free safety Brett Greenwood, a 6-0 200 pound senior from Bettendorf.
23. Kansas City Chiefs Karl Klug, DT, Iowa
Part of the reason this 2009 All-Conference first team pick is so overlooked, is ironically the same reason he has so much productivity; he plays next to one of the best players in the nation, and a likely top 10 NFL Draft pick in Adrian Clayborn.
24. New Orleans Saints Mark Barron, S, Alabama
25. Seattle Jake Locker, QB, Washington
Despite all the on-the-field issues Locker has shown this season, there’s no way the Hawks pass up on the hometown boy. This pick is a mutually beneficial relationship. Locker is the poster child for “if you can leave early do it! You’ll be kicking yourself later.”
How far has this guy fallen? Well it fell even more after the Senior Bowl. The day after the 2010 NFL Draft I received a Jake Locker promotional postcard from the Univ. of Washington in the mail. Here are some of the more interesting quotes included in it. “”If he’s not the number one pick in 2011, it’s an upset,” Mel Kiper Jr. “If I didn’t have to coach against him, I’d be a bigger fan,” Jim Harbaugh. Since then I’ve gotten two more promotional and informational postcards from UW, but both came before his 4 of 20 passing disaster in week two. The luster is off Locker now.
His Senior Bowl week didn’t go so well.
26. Baltimore Ravens Drake Nevis, DT, LSU
27. Atlanta Falcons Titus Young, WR, Boise St
28. New England Patriots, Ryan Williams, RB, Virginia Tech
How many freaking picks in the first two rounds do they have? How can they not win the Super Bowl when you take a 14-2 team and give them 4 picks in the first two rounds?
29. San Diego (from NYJ) Jeremy Beal, DE/OLB, Oklahoma
30. Chicago Bears Clint Boling, OT, Georgia
They seriously should consider taking a OL in all seven rounds, just so they can get at least one or two to pan out
31. Pittsburgh Greg Romeus, DE/OLB, Pitt
32. Green Bay Allen Bailey, DT, Miami
Bailey has all the natural gifts and skill sets, but he’s been quite inconsistent over his collegiate career. And his Senior Bowl week was so abominable, I’m wondering if he deserves to be here at all.
For round one go here
Carolina -> New England: Armanti Edwards
Miami -> Denver: Brandon Marshall
New York Jets -> San Diego: Antonio Cromartie
This mock draft is listed at Walter Football, Football Fan Spot, Fantasy Football Toolbox and DC Pro Sports Report
Written by Paul M. Banks, President and CEO of The Sports Bank.net, a Midwest webzine. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, the Tribune’s blog network, Walter Football, Yardbarker Network, and Fox Sports
He does a weekly radio segment on Chicagoland Sports Radio.com and Cleveland.com
You can follow him on Twitter @thesportsbank