Potential 1st Round Picks

[AustinJB]

I compiled this list of players that I have seen considered to have 1st Round potential. I have seen most, if not all, of them projected in the 1st Round by at least one mock draft.

I tend to agree with most players on this list. What do ya'll think? Agree, disagree, and discrepencies?

Obviously, there are 43 players on this list which means that at least 11 of these players will drop into the 2nd Round. That means that we get to look forward to getting at least TWO of the below players playing on our team next year. And that is if we stay pat at our current draft positions.



1. Brady Quinn QB/Notre Dame
2. JaMarcus Russell QB/LSU
3. Brian Brohm QB/Louisville

4. Adrian Peterson RB/Oklahoma
5. Marshawn Lynch RB/California
6. Michael Bush RB/Louisville

7. Calvin Johnson WR/Georgia Tech
8. Dwayne Jarret WR/USC
10. Ted Ginn Jr. WR/Ohio State
11. Jeff Samardzija WR/Notre Dame
12. Sidney Rice WR/South Carolina
13. Dwayne Bowe WR/LSU
14. Robert Meachem WR/Tennessee

15. Joe Thomas OT/Wisconsin
16. Levi Brown OT/Penn St.
17. Jared Gaither OT/Maryland

18. Justin Blalock OG/Texas
19. Ben Grubbs OG/Auburn
20. Josh Beckman OG/Boston College

21. Alan Branch DT/Michigan
22. Quinn Pitcock DT/Ohio State
23. DeMarcus Tyler DT/N.C. State
24. Amobi Okoye DT/Louisville

25. Gaines Adams DE/Clemson
26. Jamaal Anderson DE/Arkansas
27. Quentin Moses DE/Georgia
28. LaMarr Woodley DE/OLB/Michigan
29. Adam Carriker DE/Nebraska

30. Patrick Willis ILB/Ole Miss
31. Buster Davis ILB/Florida State

32. Paul Posluszny OLB/Penn St.
33. Rufus Alexander OLB/Oklahoma
34. Earl Everett OLB/Florida

35. Leon Hall CB/Michigan
36. Darrelle Revis CB/Pittsburgh
37. Marcus McCauley CB/Fresno State
38. Daymeion Hughes CB/California
39. Aaron Ross CB/Texas

40. Reggie Nelson FS/Florida
41. Laron Landry FS/LSU
42. Michael Griffiin S/Texas
43. Brandon Meriweather S/Miami

 

[YoungTexanFan]

Good list, but you need to replace Cason with Meachem. Cason is unfortunatly returning to school and was the only CB I thought talented enough to challenge Revis for first off the board. Meachem AJ 2.0 and is ahead of most of the recievers listed.

Other that that, great list. You might want to watch out for Kailh as well, he is creeping up the boards into first round territory apparently.

 

[baba ganoush]

Reggie Nelson and Rufus Alexander!

or

Reggie Nelson and Ben Grubbs!

 

[AustinJB]

Good list, but you need to replace Cason with Meachem. Cason is unfortunatly returning to school and was the only CB I thought talented enough to challenge Revis for first off the board. Meachem AJ 2.0 and is ahead of most of the recievers listed.

Other that that, great list. You might want to watch out for Kailh as well, he is creeping up the boards into first round territory apparently.

You're right...nice catch. I made the changes.

BTW, just heard that Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio St. declared. He supposedly runs a 4.40, the fastest of all the others that I have listed. Do you think there's any chance that he may be a 1st Rounder?

I think he would have to be considered at this point, but the combine will shed more light on the subject.

 

[MorKnolle]

Pretty solid list, as has been mentioned Cason is returning to school, I'd add Brandon Meriweather and find somewhere to add Chris Houston (CB, Arkansas). Meriweather has some character concerns, mainly the FIU incident, but he is a very good player on the field. Chris Houston is also a very good prospect, I've seen a decent amount of hmi in my recent studying of prospects and really like what I've seen so far. He has decent size, he is fast, he is very strong for a CB and very physical (usually played straight man to man coverage, practically shut down Dwayne Jarrett), has good ball skils and is good in coverage. I like him a lot better than Aaron Ross or Daymeion Hughes.

I like Meriweather a lot too, he's possibly the most athletic S in this draft and he's played all over the field, from matching up man to man on Calvin Johnson and holding his own against him, to playing up in the box almost as a LB against Louisville, to playing the usual safety position. He has very good speed and explosion, he can cover people in man on man coverage quite well or can sit back in a zone, and he's a fairly solid tackler and is willing to make hits. He will likely fall to the 2nd round becuase of his off-field concerns, but from what I've seen I like his on-field performance better than Reggie Nelson.

As for Gonzalez, he's a good prospect but I don't think he's 1st round talent, especially with a very solid group in front of him in Johnson, Rice, Jarrett, Samardjiza, Bowe and Meachem. As it is I think Bowe and Meachem could last to the 2nd round, depending on when the big run on WRs starts.

 

[AustinJB]

Pretty solid list, as has been mentioned Cason is returning to school, I'd add Brandon Meriweather and find somewhere to add Chris Houston (CB, Arkansas). Meriweather has some character concerns, mainly the FIU incident, but he is a very good player on the field. Chris Houston is also a very good prospect, I've seen a decent amount of hmi in my recent studying of prospects and really like what I've seen so far. He has decent size, he is fast, he is very strong for a CB and very physical (usually played straight man to man coverage, practically shut down Dwayne Jarrett), has good ball skils and is good in coverage. I like him a lot better than Aaron Ross or Daymeion Hughes.

I like Meriweather a lot too, he's possibly the most athletic S in this draft and he's played all over the field, from matching up man to man on Calvin Johnson and holding his own against him, to playing up in the box almost as a LB against Louisville, to playing the usual safety position. He has very good speed and explosion, he can cover people in man on man coverage quite well or can sit back in a zone, and he's a fairly solid tackler and is willing to make hits. He will likely fall to the 2nd round becuase of his off-field concerns, but from what I've seen I like his on-field performance better than Reggie Nelson.

As for Gonzalez, he's a good prospect but I don't think he's 1st round talent, especially with a very solid group in front of him in Johnson, Rice, Jarrett, Samardjiza, Bowe and Meachem. As it is I think Bowe and Meachem could last to the 2nd round, depending on when the big run on WRs starts.

Yeah, I actually meant to include Meriweather so I'll go back and edit that.

I'm not too sure about Chris Houston b/c I haven't seen much of him (just read a little bit about him) or even seen him mentioned in any mocks. But as we know, after the combine and workouts, he could shoot up the boards.

 

[MorKnolle]

Yeah, I actually meant to include Meriweather so I'll go back and edit that.

I'm not too sure about Chris Houston b/c I haven't seen much of him (just read a little bit about him) or even seen him mentioned in any mocks. But as we know, after the combine and workouts, he could shoot up the boards.

I definitely think we will, I really hope by some miracle he would fall to the 3rd round but I'd be fine with us taking him in the 2nd round. I hadn't heard a whole lot about him until I started watching tape on him and I really like him a lot, I think many people don't know a whole lot about him because he just recently declared and wasn't particularly expected to declare before that. Either way I definitely think he's better than Ross and Hughes and after the Combine I think he will fly up many draft boards.

 

[YoungTexanFan]

Good to see you posting again Mork. Have you finshed your scouting wrap yet?

 

[YoungTexanFan]

You're right...nice catch. I made the changes.

BTW, just heard that Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio St. declared. He supposedly runs a 4.40, the fastest of all the others that I have listed. Do you think there's any chance that he may be a 1st Rounder?

I think he would have to be considered at this point, but the combine will shed more light on the subject.

In short, no. He is not a first round talent right now. I'm not overly fond of him and I have about 6 WR's ahead of him right now. So unless the run on WR's starts at like 10, we won't see more than 4 go 1st round.

 

[YoungTexanFan]

I definitely think we will, I really hope by some miracle he would fall to the 3rd round but I'd be fine with us taking him in the 2nd round. I hadn't heard a whole lot about him until I started watching tape on him and I really like him a lot, I think many people don't know a whole lot about him because he just recently declared and wasn't particularly expected to declare before that. Either way I definitely think he's better than Ross and Hughes and after the Combine I think he will fly up many draft boards.

I've started studying film on him more now. I didn't expect him to declare. I wasn't overly impressed with him at first, but after breaking down what tape I have on him, I would take him on the first day if CB still is a need. He is extremely strong but plays VERY aggressive and that is usually his downfall. If we draft him, he needs new cleats and he needs to learn to shift his weight on his plants better. He didn't have a great bowl game, but had a good season.

Mork, what is your take on the Maryland CB? I posted my scouting report on him in a stickied thread at the top of this forum. Wanted to see if you had anything else to add. Also, Gaither. It's good to have another top eye back on the board. I look forward to Coach C coming back soon as well.

 

[MorKnolle]

I've started studying film on him more now. I didn't expect him to declare. I wasn't overly impressed with him at first, but after breaking down what tape I have on him, I would take him on the first day if CB still is a need. He is extremely strong but plays VERY aggressive and that is usually his downfall. If we draft him, he needs new cleats and he needs to learn to shift his weight on his plants better. He didn't have a great bowl game, but had a good season.

Mork, what is your take on the Maryland CB? I posted my scouting report on him in a stickied thread at the top of this forum. Wanted to see if you had anything else to add. Also, Gaither. It's good to have another top eye back on the board. I look forward to Coach C coming back soon as well.

I haven't watched much of Josh Wilson yet, I'm trying to finish up watching all the CBs I'm interested in and should finish that by this weekend then I'm going to work on finishing up my FS/SS evaluations. I've watched a pretty good amount of 8-9 of the top CBs and 5-6 of the top S, but I haven't quite had the chance to finish up my preliminary evaluations yet. I'll let you know when I do, hopefully I'll have a good feel for at least my top 10 list of CBs by tomorrow, by Saturday at the latest. I'll keep you posted on that.

 

[YoungTexanFan]

I haven't watched much of Josh Wilson yet, I'm trying to finish up watching all the CBs I'm interested in and should finish that by this weekend then I'm going to work on finishing up my FS/SS evaluations. I've watched a pretty good amount of 8-9 of the top CBs and 5-6 of the top S, but I haven't quite had the chance to finish up my preliminary evaluations yet. I'll let you know when I do, hopefully I'll have a good feel for at least my top 10 list of CBs by tomorrow, by Saturday at the latest. I'll keep you posted on that.

Wilson just intrigues me. Physical guy who lacks top height. Unhearlded Newman maybe? Lightning quick though.

Gaither is the guy I'm more interested in hearing about from you and Coach. I have him ranked just below JT on where they are in terms of now, but ahead of him by a good bit on where they both should be in 2 years.

 

[MorKnolle]

Wilson just intrigues me. Physical guy who lacks top height. Unhearlded Newman maybe? Lightning quick though.

Gaither is the guy I'm more interested in hearing about from you and Coach. I have him ranked just below JT on where they are in terms of now, but ahead of him by a good bit on where they both should be in 2 years.

I haven't seen hardly any of him yet, I have been concentrating on watching defensive guys first and in the process I haven't seen much of Maryland's offense as they weren't especially good this year. I plan to make sure I at least study a couple tapes on all these guys before the Combine comes around so I have a pretty good idea of my rankings just from games then after I see some of the workout results I can go back and re-evaluate some from there, I'm trying to stay on top of things better this year than I did last year. I was hoping to watch a lot more of these guys before the Senior Bowl and such came around so I could watch a lot of that stuff on TV that week already having a pretty good idea on a lot of them, but I've gotten a little behind of where I was hoping to be. From what I've heard of Gaither it sounds like he's very raw at this point but is a good athlete and could be drafted high because of his potential. In that way he sounds somewhat similar to Eric Winston last year who had a lot of very good athletic abillity but was a little raw still and may end up dropping a lot because of it, but all it takes is one team to fall in love with a guy. OLine is pretty high on my priority list among offensive players, but I kind of want to finish up defensive guys first, so it will be a couple weeks before I get to him.

 

[YoungTexanFan]

I haven't seen hardly any of him yet, I have been concentrating on watching defensive guys first and in the process I haven't seen much of Maryland's offense as they weren't especially good this year. I plan to make sure I at least study a couple tapes on all these guys before the Combine comes around so I have a pretty good idea of my rankings just from games then after I see some of the workout results I can go back and re-evaluate some from there, I'm trying to stay on top of things better this year than I did last year. I was hoping to watch a lot more of these guys before the Senior Bowl and such came around so I could watch a lot of that stuff on TV that week already having a pretty good idea on a lot of them, but I've gotten a little behind of where I was hoping to be. From what I've heard of Gaither it sounds like he's very raw at this point but is a good athlete and could be drafted high because of his potential. In that way he sounds somewhat similar to Eric Winston last year who had a lot of very good athletic abillity but was a little raw still and may end up dropping a lot because of it, but all it takes is one team to fall in love with a guy. OLine is pretty high on my priority list among offensive players, but I kind of want to finish up defensive guys first, so it will be a couple weeks before I get to him.

Winston wasn't really "raw" in the sense that we normally hear it. He was recovering from an injury and had a noticalbe gait in his play. He was fairly polished and had played well enough to be top 15 material and the top LT in his class prior to his injury. Gaither is raw in a sense that he is just tapping his potential which is scary, but he domminated EVERYONE. He allowed 1 sack over 2 years to guys like Mario, Lawson, and Wimbly. He is like McNeil in that everyone has him dropping but he domminated in college and will use his huge frame to do the same in the NFL. He ran a 4.7 prior to enrolling at Maryland and is 6'9 345ish. Long arms and quick feet, plants well. The one sack he gave up was a move to the inside that I blame on the G this year, but o well.

 

[MorKnolle]

Winston wasn't really "raw" in the sense that we normally hear it. He was recovering from an injury and had a noticalbe gait in his play. He was fairly polished and had played well enough to be top 15 material and the top LT in his class prior to his injury. Gaither is raw in a sense that he is just tapping his potential which is scary, but he domminated EVERYONE. He allowed 1 sack over 2 years to guys like Mario, Lawson, and Wimbly. He is like McNeil in that everyone has him dropping but he domminated in college and will use his huge frame to do the same in the NFL. He ran a 4.7 prior to enrolling at Maryland and is 6'9 345ish. Long arms and quick feet, plants well. The one sack he gave up was a move to the inside that I blame on the G this year, but o well.

Yeah, he wasn't in the same sense that it sounds like Gaither is and he's a smart player and was the signal caller on Miami's OLine, but at the same time he started his collegiate career as a TE and did miss a good deal of time with that injury. I personally thought he'd be a 1st rounder, was a little disappointed when we passed on him at 33, then delighted when he fell to us in the 3rd round, I was just comparing that I think he could end up falling in the same way as he hasn't proven top skills thusfar and is largely liked due to his potential. A lot of those offensive players I've seen a decent amount of in viewing the defensive players on the other side of the ball, but I don't think Maryland is one of those teams. I've seen a lot of LSU, Louisville, USC, and some other offenses like that. I'll see what I think of Gaither when I watch their offense. Anyways, I'm calling it a night, I'll be happy to continue posting my comments on players I think I have a decent feel for tomorrow after a decent night's sleep.

On a side note I heard from a buddy of mine that Randy Moss was in town today doing some kind of talk for the teams in this north/south classic thing that they have going on this week, I wish I had heard that earlier in the day, I might have tried to find out where that was going to be at and mingle around outside to see him, but it's too late for all that now.

 

[threetoedpete]

Well notice the wingman when you do. There has to be a reason Freidgen always put the wingman with him.

 

[Coach C.]

I have seen very little of Gaither, but from what I have seen he reminds me of a less talented Marcus McNeil at this point. When he played against Mario and Lawson he held his own against Lawson likely due to his size and very good athleticsm, but Mario got the better of him a couple of times. I think with a solid year and a half of coaching Gaither will likely be a great RT or good/solid LT in the league.

Josh Wilson and Chris Houston both intrigue me. At the moment I am hoping one of them falls to the 3rd round. Wilson is lightning in a bottle, but he has hands like Lewis Sanders. Ok they are not that bad, but eventhough he gets to a lot of passes he does not pick many. Wilson reminds me alot of Dunta, but not as polished. Chris Houston I like. He is physical, big, and plays a ton of man coverage. I think our defense will be going to more man next year as we become a more aggressive defense. I have a feeling Rick Smith is hard at work trying to add some new wrinkles to our scheme.

Hall is currently my top corner, yeah I have heard alot of people on this board dont like him, but he is very polished and has the best back pedal and turn of anyone in the draft. Hall is like a more athletic Ty Law.

 

[DenverBorn]

I'll try to find the link but I read somewhere that Rufus Alexander's stock has fallen dramatically and may become a second day pick.

 

[beerlover]

Hall is currently my top corner, yeah I have heard alot of people on this board dont like him, but he is very polished and has the best back pedal and turn of anyone in the draft. Hall is like a more athletic Ty Law.

I could live w/Texans drafting Leon Hall with the 8th pick over a FS like Nelson/Landry

 

[painekiller]

Meriweather has some character concerns, mainly the FIU incident, but he is a very good player on the field.

So you want to overlook his pulling a gun, much less him carrying a gun.

The kid is a thug wantabe. He is Sean Taylor with only half the talent. Sorry I'll pass, and I will be real shocked if he gets pick in the 1st.

We have two good guys from Miami on our team, but the quality of the people at Miami has been going downhill for some time, and it shows on the field. They lack discipline, and they would rather brawl than play the game properly. Reminds me of a Jerry Glanville team.


He will probable end up with the Bengals.

 

[AustinJB]

So you want to overlook his pulling a gun, much less him carrying a gun.

The kid is a thug wantabe. He is Sean Taylor with only half the talent. Sorry I'll pass, and I will be real shocked if he gets pick in the 1st.

We have two good guys from Miami on our team, but the quality of the people at Miami has been going downhill for some time, and it shows on the field. They lack discipline, and they would rather brawl than play the game properly. Reminds me of a Jerry Glanville team.


He will probable end up with the Bengals.

Very possible that he slips to the 2nd or maybe even 3rd due to his character issues.

However, in the mock draft that I'm putting together, I have the Cowboys taking him w/ their 1st round pick.

 

[threetoedpete]

I could live w/Texans drafting Leon Hall with the 8th pick over a FS like Nelson/Landry

I dunno beerlover. I missed Josh Wilson. But as coach said "Josh Wilson and Chris Houston both intrigue me."

I think Criss Houston is a ligitamate canidate at the two. He plays the same cover style I think Smith wants to run. He can lock down a guy when you send the blitz. I missed Wilson. But Houston fits I believe. Corners always go quicker than they should. Arkansas blitzed alot.

 

[bah007]

You might want to add Mike Jones (Iowa) at the Guard position.

He was a 3-year starter at Iowa and was named first-team all conference in the Big Ten and had a really good season despite playing for one of the most disappointing teams in the Big Ten.

I doubt that he will get picked in the first but it might happen and this is just a list of potential picks.

 

[MorKnolle]

So you want to overlook his pulling a gun, much less him carrying a gun.

The kid is a thug wantabe. He is Sean Taylor with only half the talent. Sorry I'll pass, and I will be real shocked if he gets pick in the 1st.

We have two good guys from Miami on our team, but the quality of the people at Miami has been going downhill for some time, and it shows on the field. They lack discipline, and they would rather brawl than play the game properly. Reminds me of a Jerry Glanville team.


He will probable end up with the Bengals.

He legally owned and carried a gun (no problem there, probably 90% of Texas residents own a gun, far fewer probably can legally carry it but do anyways, so at least he went thru the process of getting licensed) and returned fire at someone that was shooting at him and his friends. I don't have a problem with him owning and carrying a gun as long as it's done legally. I don't know where they were or why someone was shooting at them, maybe they were in the wrong place and they should have been smarter than to be there, maybe it was just being somewhere at the wrong time, I don't know on that. However, returning fire at someone who started shooting at you isn't a problem to me in and of itself. I will never know what all really happened there, hopefully NFL teams will get to the bottom of it, so until I hear more on it, that isn't a problem to me.

The whole FIU fracass concerns me, however everyone has some kind of skeletons in the closet and if the coaches and Rick Smith think his problems are something of the past and not a concern then I'm not worried about it. If the Texans are concerned about his past problems then I'd be fine with them passing on him too. All that remains to be seen, but I know he's a very good player on the field and from what I have seen on the field I'd be willing to use a 2nd round pick on him.