Five Round Mock Draft...

[Jom112]

If we stick with the 4-3:

1st Round - Vernon Gholston, DE
2nd Round - Dre Moore, DT
3rd Round - Frank Okam, DT
3rd Round (Comp for Steiny) - Martin Rucker, TE
4th Round - James "Beau" Bell, OLB
5th Round - John Sullivan, C

Sedrick Ellis and Glenn Dorsey would be good as well but I think Dre Moore and Frank Okam will still be available in the later rounds so we should go for Gholston with the 1st round pick instead.

Adding Gholston, Moore, Okam and Bell to our front seven would be a huge upgrade, IMHO. Rucker will finally give us the pass catching TE and Sullivan I'm hoping will drop to the 5th round because of his senior year struggles. We definitely need someone at Center because Ghichiuc isn't getting it done.

If we switch to the 3-4:

1st Round: Sedrick Ellis, DT
2nd Round: Quentin Groves DE
3rd Round - J Lehman, ILB
3rd Round (Comp for Steiny) - Martin Rucker, TE
4th Round - James "Beau" Bell, OLB
5th Round - John Sullivan, C

It's hard to find a good DT that fits into the 3-4, Ellis might be one of those players. Jackson should be a good replacement for Smith. Lehman and Bell should add depth to the LB position which we will need if we switch to the 3-4...

EDIT: I modified by picks a bit to be more realistic

[Bech72]

If we stick with the 4-3:

1st Round - Vernon Gholston, DE
2nd Round - Dre Moore, DT
3rd Round - Frank Okam, DT
3rd Round (Comp for Steiny) - Shawn Crable, OLB - If he's not around maybe James "Beau" Bell, OLB
4th Round - Martin Rucker, TE
5th Round - John Sullivan, C

Sedrick Ellis and Glenn Dorsey would be good as well but I think Dre Moore and Frank Okam will still be available in the later rounds so we should go for Gholston with the 1st round pick instead.

Adding Gholston, Moore, Okam and Crable to our front seven would be a huge upgrade, IMHO. Rucker will finally give us the pass catching TE and Sullivan I'm hoping will drop to the 5th round because of his senior year struggles. We definitely need someone at Center because Ghichiuc isn't getting it done.

If we switch to the 3-4:

1st Round: Sedrick Ellis, DT
2nd Round: Lawerence Jackson, DE
3rd Round - J Lehman, ILB
3rd Round (Comp for Steiny) - Shawn Crable, OLB - If he's not around maybe James "Beau" Bell, OLB
4th Round - Martin Rucker, TE
5th Round - John Sullivan, C

It's hard to find a good DT that fits into the 3-4, Ellis might be one of those players. Jackson should be a good replacement for Smith. Lehman and Crable should add depth to the LB position which we will need if we switch to the 3-4...

Nice draft, gotta love the idea of building up that DL.

[Jom112]

Nice draft, gotta love the idea of building up that DL.

We really need to build up our D-Line. We used some top picks in the secondary the last couple of seasons but they will be ineffective if we can't get pressure on the QB. Too many games this season I saw our defense step up on first and two downs, only to see our D-Line not get any pressure on the QB on 3rd down; allowing the opposing QB to pick our secondary apart...

[franchise]

I'm not sure why you have us picking Ellis and Jackson for the 34 and Gholston and Crable for the 43 they seem to be better fits in the other system

I'd be surprised if Rucker falls to the 4th right now, anyones stock can drop but where his is at right now you can't predict him for the 4th until he does something to fall like that.

I'd be a little weary of drafting Okam and Moore in the same draft because they've both been known as underachievers.

Okam is not the run stuffer that people assume based on his size. He plays extremely high and is more worried about making plays on the ball on every play than holding his gap.

Moore has some intriguing talent, but I'm concerned that he showed up out of shape at the senior bowl because you have to know that every scout in the business is there to watch you and I would think that if you have any work ethic that wouldn't happen. He also wasn't real productive in college until his senior year. If he shows up at the senior bowl in better shape and puts up good numbers I'll be calling for him too.

I like Sullivan and I think he has as much upside as any Center in the draft, but right now he ways less than 290 pounds so I wouldn't expect a big strength upgrade over Ghiuchic since that's what everyones been complaining about for him.

If all of these guys turned out this could be a good draft, but it'd be a bit risky.

[Jom112]

I'm not sure why you have us picking Ellis and Jackson for the 34 and Gholston and Crable for the 43 they seem to be better fits in the other system

I'd be surprised if Rucker falls to the 4th right now, anyones stock can drop but where his is at right now you can't predict him for the 4th until he does something to fall like that.

I'd be a little weary of drafting Okam and Moore in the same draft because they've both been known as underachievers.

Okam is not the run stuffer that people assume based on his size. He plays extremely high and is more worried about making plays on the ball on every play than holding his gap.

Moore has some intriguing talent, but I'm concerned that he showed up out of shape at the senior bowl because you have to know that every scout in the business is there to watch you and I would think that if you have any work ethic that wouldn't happen. He also wasn't real productive in college until his senior year. If he shows up at the senior bowl in better shape and puts up good numbers I'll be calling for him too.

I like Sullivan and I think he has as much upside as any Center in the draft, but right now he ways less than 290 pounds so I wouldn't expect a big strength upgrade over Ghiuchic since that's what everyones been complaining about for him.

If all of these guys turned out this could be a good draft, but it'd be a bit risky.

1. My reasoning for picking Ellis instead of Gholston for the 3-4 isn't because I don't think Gholston would be good for the 3-4 but because I don't think Dre Moore or Frank Okam will be. Finding a 3-4 DT is tough. Ellis needs to bulk up a bit but I'm sure even Casey Hampton wasn't 315 right out of college which is why I split up the draft that way. The key to a 3-4 defense IMHO is the DT, so I think we should get the best DT available to us in the 1st round.

2. As for Crable, I'm taking him no matter what (if he's still around at that position) regardless of if it's a 3-4 or 4-3 defense that we use.

3. Jackson and Gholston have similar measurables (Excluding speed), but Gholston won't be around in the 2nd round which is why I went with Jackson in the 3-4 draft.

4. Rucker might not be around, I'll give you that. If he isn't I would take Jacob Tamme or Jermichael Finley in the 4th. One of those 3 TE's should be there.

5. As for Sullivan, I'll bet the house that he weighs more than 290 by the time the combine comes around. We definitely need a center and out of all the top centers in the draft Sullivan is on the bigger side. Also it's a 5th round pick so I don't think it's that much of a risk for us.

[rkellydugan20]

1. My reasoning for picking Ellis instead of Gholston for the 3-4 isn't because I don't think Gholston would be good for the 3-4 but because I don't think Dre Moore or Frank Okam will be. Finding a 3-4 DT is tough. Ellis needs to bulk up a bit but I'm sure even Casey Hampton wasn't 315 right out of college which is why I split up the draft that way. The key to a 3-4 defense IMHO is the DT, so I think we should get the best DT available to us in the 1st round.
2. As for Crable, I'm taking him no matter what (if he's still around at that position) regardless of if it's a 3-4 or 4-3 defense that we use.

3. Jackson and Gholston have similar measurables (Excluding speed), but Gholston won't be around in the 2nd round which is why I went with Jackson in the 3-4 draft.

4. Rucker might not be around, I'll give you that. If he isn't I would take Jacob Tamme or Jermichael Finley in the 4th. One of those 3 TE's should be there.

5. As for Sullivan, I'll bet the house that he weighs more than 290 by the time the combine comes around. We definitely need a center and out of all the top centers in the draft Sullivan is on the bigger side. Also it's a 5th round pick so I don't think it's that much of a risk for us.

I agree whole heartedly with the points I bolded and underlined.

[zanetdaniels]

Good pick with Martin Rucker! HAHA! I want him in Stripes soo bad!

[Jom112]

Good pick with Martin Rucker! HAHA! I want him in Stripes soo bad!

Hopefully he'll be around in the latter part of the 3rd round...