The NFL draft is less than two months away. I spend most of my days from mid-January to late April watching as many NFL draft prospects as possible. I find myself racing the sand that quickly funnels down the hourglass as months turn to weeks, weeks to days and finally days to hours. Before you know it, its live from New York City Chicago for the 2015 NFL Draft.
From May to mid-January, Im consumed with gathering every minor detail on all 32 NFL teams. I attempt to marry my knowledge of the NFL with my passion of evaluating NFL hopefuls each year in an attempt to give my listeners / readers a unique glimpse behind the curtain. Its the primary reason that KBME, SportsTalk 790 in Houston, TX gave me an NFL Draft / Texans show on their airwaves at this time of year.
In The Front Office I have internal dialog as if Im the General Manager of all 32 teams. I share my thoughts on the discussions that I believe are ongoing behind closed doors that the fans and most media never get to hear. In this mock draft I dont try and guess what each NFL team will pick. I make the decision based off their current personnel, offensive and defensive schemes and talent available based solely off my evaluation of each prospect.
WARNING: This mock draft isnt going to be a consensus of what you may hear on radio, TV or around the water cooler. Its
solely based on my personal evaluation of each prospect and view on what would be in the best interest of the team long-term. Ill also include some of my front office discussion on other players that were considered and why I passed.
1) Tampa Bay (FRONT OFFICE DISCUSSION) QB Jameis Winston (FSU), DE/DT Leonard Williams (USC), and OT DJ Humphries were all heavily discussed. Leonard Williams was our top rated player in the draft. We felt like he could provide us a 2 for 1″ by not only producing early and at a high level but also by the combination of him and our All-Pro DT Gerald McCoy elevating the game of our 2014 prize free agent DE, Michael Johnson.
DJ Humphries hasnt received a lot of notoriety in the media but we felt like he was a franchise LT cut in the mold of Tyron Smith. His struggles mirrored that of Tyron while at USC. We would have loved to place DJ at LT for the next 10-15 years but who would he be protecting.
No matter where we went in our discussions, it always brought us back to the most important position in the game, QB. Jameis is by far the most talented QB in this class and we view him as not only a franchise QB but one that has the DNA to win Super Bowls. Bucs select QB, FSU, Jameis Winston
2) Tennessee (FRONT OFFICE DISCUSSION)...