Lou Pickney's 2025 NFL Mock Draft

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your right about the dolphins needing alot of things, and i know Saban already said hes going to give feeley another chance and watch he just screw up agin and agin. The smart thing to do would for the dolphins is get a QB. everyone is makeing a BIG deal that ricky left, and without him the fins are nothing. not true at all feilder has always been a OK QB with a 80 something rating, until last year, him and feeley were embarassing! you have to omit that they are the worse QB's starting and your saying that the RB postion needs to be fixed now. dolphins havent had a QB since dan marino franchise QB are worth more and harder to find. Travis henery averaged 4.0 per carry he just didnt get the ball enough. dolphins have great WR chambers, boston, booker and mcmicheal. if they could just have a QB who can throw it to them. what is a RB going to help anyways. you never hear about a team making it to the super bowl b/c the the runnig back its b/c they have a good QB. a RB cant carry a team like a QB can. QB is the most important position!!!!!!!!!!! almost every team has their franchise QB. miami hasnt had a chance to get a good draft pick. what caused miami to lose is b/c most of their games were close then feeley would screw up just like i know he would and throw a int. Feeley didnt show any arm strength or any accuratcey at all. they would be deffenitly better off with aaron rodgers from the draft. i dont know why you have alex smith as the number 1 choice. and if the fins do get a RB it will be cederic benson no doubt he is the better pick. i dont know how his stock got so high. benson fits miamis offence more. brown want be able to last long.

Lou: First off, Miami lost David Boston in the off-season, so he's out of the picture. More on that later.

It is easy to criticize without providing a solution. So with that said, here's what I'd do in Miami's situation, presuming that no other team is willing to trade with me.

This situation is going to take more than one year to fix. But I'd come right out and say that the starting QB in 2005 is going to be the man who makes the fewest mistakes in practice and the pre-season. That doesn't exactly get fans excited, but when the Dolphins were competitive just two years ago it was in large part because Jay Fiedler played smart, utilized Ricky Williams to his maximum potential, and minimized his turnovers. If A.J. Feeley can do that, then great. If not, Gus Frerotte and Sage Rosenfels should be given every opportunity. Just because management made a bad trade to get Feeley doesn't mean that I should be forced to be stuck with him. With my QB, I want to minimize turnovers.

How would I score? The running game, which in turn would (hopefully) open up some play-action opportunities for Chris Chambers.

Round 1 (#2 overall): Ronnie Brown, RB, Auburn. He'd be the franchise back for the rest of the decade and beyond (I'd hope).
Round 3 (#70 overall, via CHI): Wide Receiver. I hope that someone like Fred Gibson drops, or maybe I'd snag someone like Indiana WR Courtney Roby.

Somewhere in there will be an extra pick from trading Patrick Surtain. But because Miami signed CB Mario Edwards to a one-year deal, they'll have Surtain replaced for this season, at least. If you really think a QB is necessary, maybe you hope that someone like Jason Campbell or Kyle Orton falls to #70 (especially if Gibson is gone) and you hope you can get Roby with Kansas City's third rounder (if that's what ultimately comes in return for Surtain).

As for Alex Smith, right now I see it as a dead heat with him and Aaron Rodgers of Cal. Mel Kiper thinks Rodgers is going to the 49ers, but Smith hadn't yet met with the 49ers when he said that (today is when that's taking place).

From: James C. McKenzie
Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 10:41 PM
To: LouPickney@hotmail.com
Subject: Browns #3 Pick If you have time, check out this message from the ESPN.com message boards...

(Link to a form on ESPN's page)

Unless this guy is lying, he claims to have been told by Aaron Shea at the Indians home opener that the Browns were going after Braylon Edwards.

I just thought I'd share that with ya, Lou. Keep up the good work.

Lou: While Aaron Shea might think that Edwards is who Cleveland is targeting, I'd suggest that the players have very little, if any, actual knowledge of what the team's management is contemplating regarding draft day. Remember how surprised Travis Henry was two years ago when Buffalo drafted Willis McGahee in the first round? Well he wasn't alone, but my point is that players aren't always in the loop. Shea is a Michigan grad, and I strongly suspect that this may be just wishful thinking on his part. He and Edwards never played together (since Shea has been in the NFL since 2000), but I'm sure he'd love to have Edwards (another Wolverine) on his team.

I've heard so much about what the Browns will or might do, but at this stage of the game it's too early to tell. A Cleveland/Minnesota trade still is a distinct possibility, but if Cleveland doesn't move it appears that they'd go either QB or WR. I don't think QB is what they'll go for, so Edwards would make sense. But I think Cleveland trading back is the most logical thing that could happen.

From: Rhett Schwartzkopf
Sent: Monday, April 11, 2005 10:58 PM
To: loupickney@hotmail.com
Subject: Cowboys Draft

Lou, here's what I think. The boys are gonna trade one of their picks...but which one? Both...why? Unless D. Johnson is there (unlikely), they will try to trade down one or two to pick up wr T. Williamson. If that won't work, they'll take S. Merriman or Williamson. I think the WR. Then when they get to 20, they will look to move down acouple of spots again, this time to take DE D. Ware, or maybe S B. Poole. I hear Chuck Haley comparisons here in Dallas with Ware (who knows), and rumor has it that the Cowboys are high on him. I think if the Cowboys can, they'll trade both picks, b/c they need that 3, and they have alot of holes to fill. We both know that they're gonna trade at least one though.

Would you pass up merriman for williamson to try to get ware later? Is this whole scenario farfetched, or is it feasable? Can you give me some kind of answer?

Lou: I think the odds of Derrick Johnson being on the board at #11 are better than you might expect. It's not a given by any means (Arizona at #8 and Detroit at #10 could spoil those plans), but it is a possibility.

I must disagree with you about Dallas trading down to get Troy Williamson. With San Diego just one spot below needing a WR, I can't fathom the Cowboys wanting to move below them if the goal is to land Williamson. It seems to me that Dallas is in a nice position at #11; Washington at #9 might snatch up either a DE or a WR who Dallas wants (CB seems more likely to me, but one never knows for sure). But beyond that, it's not as if Detroit is going to take yet another WR at #10, and ditto for Arizona at #8. But moving down even one spot would be troublesome. San Diego's needs correlate quite well with Dallas' (except that San Diego has a 3-4 defense), but Dallas gets to "go first" both times in this odd situation with both teams holding first round picks.

The second of the first rounders for Dallas is where the real fun could land. Moving down to get Demarcus Ware is not outside the realm of possibility. Jacksonville at #21 is a threat to take a safety, particularly if the club can move Donovan Darius before draft day, so if Brodney Pool is the target then that is risky. If Dallas goes WR at #11, I could forsee a Dallas/Baltimore trade where Baltimore could leapfrog Jacksonville (which shares several team needs with the Jags) and perhaps get the jump on a CB or a WR that it really wants to land. But from there it's Seattle, Green Bay, Denver, and the NY Jets, all of whom could potentially go DE. So if Dallas wants to roll the dice, it should be careful not to get too bold... unless there are multiple prospects that would fit the bill.

From: OwlnaWndow@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 3:12 AM
To: LouPickney@hotmail.com
Subject: (no subject)

Hey Lou,

I'm a Browns fan and have been following you the last several weeks. I don't have a question (I'd LOVE Derrick Johnson at number three, but Braylon Edwards would be VERY nice), but wanted to say thanks for the reasoned and researched info you put into your draft column and mock draft. I check back constantly. You do a great job with this.

Dan "Anybody at # 3 but a Quarterback"

Lou: I appreciate the kind words. Normally I would just reply to a nice e-mail like this with a polite thank you response, but the comment about Derrick Johnson is worth mentioning on the website.

As mentioned here in the 3/25/2005 mailbag (and elsewhere), Cleveland already has two legit OLB starters for this season. Furthermore, rumors have circulated that, for whatever reason, the Browns aren't all that sold on DJ. I think that's crazy myself, but different teams have different assessments of players.

The way I see it, if Cleveland stays at #3, they'll take Braylon Edwards (though I think they'll end up regretting not taking Mike Williams five years from now, if not sooner). If they trade back to #7, they'll either take a CB such as Antrel Rolle or Pac-Man Jones or go DE/OLB with Shawn Merriman. Any diversions from that would surprise me, and that includes what some experts are predicting now, the team taking a QB at #3. If there are any Browns fans out there who want Cleveland to take a QB at #3, make yourselves known, because I haven't heard from a single one of you yet.

From: Brian J Wallin
Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 8:02 AM
To: LouPickney@hotmail.com
Subject: Vikings trade down.

Hi Lou, love the site. Not a vikings fan, but love the draft. Just wondering with the type of receiver Moss was, if the Vikings fail to get Edwards or Williams, could you see a scenario in which they trade down from eighteen into the early part of round 2 or maybe late in round 1 to draft Matt Jones. With Burleson, Robinson, Taylor, and Campbell; Jones would not need to be an everydown player right away, but would be very useful inside the red zone catching those Culpepper fades.

I think an ideal draft for Minnesota would be

#7 Shawne Merriman OLB/DE Maryland
Trade picks #18 and #80 to San Diego for #28 and #63 (assuming San Diego gets Williamson at 12, they could now get James or another pass rusher at #18)

#28 Matt Jones WR/TE Arkansas

#49 Mike Nugent K Ohio State

#63 Dan Beunning G Wisconsin (most underrated offensive lineman in the draft.)

Lou: San Diego would be ripping off Minnesota if that trade went through. To point: last year San Francisco traded the #16 to Philadelphia for the #28 and the #58. Perhaps if Minnesota took out the #80 part of it that could work. But for the sake of what you wrote, I'll go with it.

For me, if I'm Minnesota, I want a WR who is ready to go now. I think Matt Jones has great potential, but banking my WR future on a converted QB (albeit an amazingly talented one) is not a risk that I'd want to take. Minnesota's defense has the potential to be a breakthrough force in 2005, which is all the more reason why I think the Vikings will do everything possible to trade up and get either Braylon Edwards or Mike Williams. Edwards would probably get the nod since he actually played last year, and with him and Travis Taylor and Marcus Robinson on board, Vikings fans wouldn't forget about Randy Moss... but they'd certainly have reason to be confident about the team's chances for this season.

As for Mike Nugent, he'd be the icing on the cake. I don't see him lasting past San Francisco at the top of round three, so #49 would be the place to take him if he's still on the board...

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