Miami has a real chance of getting Jake Long signed as the No. 1 pick. Here's the problem with mock drafts: I had my top 13 done Sunday morning. I was pretty happy with it. (The way I look at it is after the top 10 or 12, predicting the draft is fruitless anyway, like picking the Trifecta at a dog track, so I concentrate on trying to be remotely competent at the top.) But after talking to two teams' final-deciders in a 20-minute span, I decided that everything I knew was blown to smithereens. If Jake Long signs with Miami, every one of the smart guys on the planet is screwed. This is the most fluid draft at the top since 2004, when the Manning-Rivers stuff was swirling. So before I give you my first-round picks, understand the following things that I know to be true this morning make this draft hard to predict: • St. Louis doesn't want Vernon Gholston; so if Long does go to Miami, Gholston could slide. • This one really surprises me, and at first I didn't think it was true, but New Orleans is serious about trading into the top four -- preferably for LSU defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey but not only for Dorsey. Wish I could tell you the other apple of their eye, but I don't know who he is. • I have been saying Dorsey to Atlanta for a month. I heard two things this weekend that are shifting me northward, to Matt Ryan. • The Jets love Matt Ryan. If I were Kellen Clemens, that would be a worrisome thing. GOOD READ LINK http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/peter_king/04/20/mmqb/index.html
That is really a great read and Chris is still one of the 2 people I want us to get with the #1 pick. You've just got to love this kid. Quote: I think I love the perspective of Chris Long. Asked him the other day when he was on Sirius whether it would bother him if he sank like a stone in the first round of the draft and got a contract with, say, $10 million less in guarantees than he'd have gotten in one of the very top slots. "Twelve million, $25 million ... I can't spend that kind of money, whatever it is, in three lifetimes, never mind one," he said. "I just want to play football.''
As per King Mock 6. New York Jets. RB Darren McFadden, Arkansas. Think of the New York offense. Anything stand out? Nope. Laveranues Coles is a decent deep threat, but not the explosive playmaker you'd like. This team has spent $94 million guaranteed on five players this offseason (Calvin Pace, Kris Jenkins, Damien Woody, Alan Faneca, Kerry Rhodes), and Jenkins, Woody and Faneca are win-now signings. McFadden's a win-now pick. 7. New England. DE Vernon Gholston, Ohio State. I think the Patriots will sniff around a couple of guys this week, most notably Chris Long in the off-chance he makes it to No. 7, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them trade up to the Chiefs' pick if they think the Jets might be Gholston people. Remember how weak the Patriot rush was in the Super Bowl -- and fairly consistently weak at points late in the season? Richard Seymour's postseason: 12 quarters, zero quarterback pressures or sacks. New England has to address that. The one thing that would stun me is a cornerback. Bill Belichick, in Cleveland and in New England, has had 14 first-round picks, and only once did he take a cornerback -- Antonio Langham, the just-OK DB from Alabama in 1994, picked way too high at No. 9 overall. The Patriots plucked Asante Samuel in the fourth round. They're far more likely to help their front seven if they pick at No. 7, then take a cornerback down the line. Your thought?
If I were King, I wouldn't be so quick to say that the Patriots won't take a CB at the spot. After the horrible showing of their secondary in the SB, he's got to be cheesed and looking to upgrade that spot, especially because he's lost some good players.
