Lessons Learned From Mock Drafts

[The Pencil Neck]

So, we've done our Texans Talk mock and some of us have done mocks with different approaches. What have we learned?

I drafted as the Saints and Panthers in the Texans Talk mock and took over the Vikings late. And I learned a couple of things:

1. The Saints don't have very many picks and they've got a lot of holes they'd like to fill. They really need to retool their defense for their new DC. They're going to be wanting to trade down even more than we are. They've got a lot of incentive to pick up more picks in the middle rounds where the strength of this draft is. As much as they could use a Malcolm Jenkins or a Clay Matthews/Brian Cushing or a Beanie Wells, they need to get back to the 2nd/3rd round and plug more holes. This is going to make it harder for us to trade back. Anyone looking to trade with us may get a better deal from the Saints.

2. Only having a few picks like the Saints and Panthers is teh suck; I am now a staunch believer in not trading picks away unless it's for someone really, really good. I was able to hit the Panther's holes pretty good with their mid-round picks but only having 4 of them doesn't help much. But there is no way that Robert Ayers falls to pick 59 like he did in our mock. No freaking way.

[Honoring Earl 34]

I think you identify your top three needs to start . When your pick comes you make a choice based on based player at need positions plus depth at need positions . In other words ( picking for Miami ) is it better to go Heyward-Bey and DJ moore or Darius Butler and Brian Robiskie . I chose CB then WR because a. I think a CB can start and make an impact as a rookie and B. Robiskie is a more polished WR than Bey and I was betting Robiskie would be there in the 2nd .

For the Cowboys I tried to fill needs in the secondary while picking some players of value along the way . In the 3rd I thought Fili Maola was a good value plus he could play DE or maybe NG in the 3-4 . I think the key is stay flexible and don't fall in love with a player when there's others rated better . I also took chances on players from smaller schools later on in the draft while early on it was ... SEC , Pac 10 , Big 10 , Big 12 , and The Big East .