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The bulk of the important free agency signings have been completed, and teams are now turning their full attention to draft preparations. Misinformation continues to leak out, and there may be a big move or two (Jay Cutler, Julius Peppers, Anquan Boldin, Brady Quinn) still in the offing. But for the most part all the pieces of the puzzle have been dumped out on the table; here’s the latest attempt to assemble them into the picture that is the NFL’s 2009 draft.
NFL Mock Draft - Version 1.0 | Mock Draft - Version 2.0
1. Detroit Lions — Jason Smith, OT, Baylor
Mock 2.0: Aaron Curry, OLB, Wake Forest
Mock 1.0: Matt Stafford, QB, Georgia
Three mocks, three different picks for the Lions—which likely means that in Mock 4.0 you can pencil them in for Eugene Monroe. To use a baseball analogy, the Lions—particularly new coach Jim Schwartz—seem like they’re going to try to drive the ball but not swing wildly for the fences.
2. St. Louis Rams — Eugene Monroe, OT, Virginia
Mock 2.0: Monroe
Mock 1.0: Andre Smith, OT, Alabama
The Rams are perfectly situated. Best-case (for them), the Lions take Stafford and the Rams get their choice of Monroe or Jason Smith; worst-case, they “settle” for whichever potential franchise left tackle the Lions don’t take.
3. Kansas City Chiefs — Aaron Curry, OLB, Wake Forest
Mock 2.0: Everette Brown, DE/OLB, Florida State
Mock 1.0: Brown
The Chiefs still need a pass rusher, but better to add Curry—probably the best player in this draft—than reach for an end or hybrid DE/OLB in a class where there doesn’t appear to be an elite cream-of-the-crop player.
4. Seattle Seahawks — B.J. Raji, DT, Boston College
Mock 2.0: Jason Smith, OT, Baylor
Mock 1.0: Michael Crabtree, WR, Texas Tech
Seattle would prefer to have one of the offensive tackles fall to them, but unless they’re sold on the commitment level of either Andre Smith or Michael Oher they’ll probably switch to the other side of the ball and take the fast-rising Raji.
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