Lou Pickney's 2025 NFL Mock Draft

National Football League
Draft King Mailbag

Reader feedback is always welcomed here at DraftKing.com. Send your thoughts to me at LouPickney@gmail.com.

I'm done with mail as it pertains to pre-2006 NFL Draft mail. Instead, I'm going to give some thoughts about the past few days.

Thanks to the Brian Noe and the guys at ESPN Radio 1490 (WNDV) for having me on their show on Thursday (4/27/2006) to talk about the draft. It's fun for me to get to talk about the draft, and those guys know their stuff, too, which made for a good segment. One tidbit I mentioned there, that I haven't on this site yet, is that I would not at all be surprised to see Chicago trade into the early second round and draft TE Anthony Fasano out of Notre Dame. He's an excellent blocker, and Bears coach Lovie Smith is on record saying that he wants a tight end who can block well to open up the rushing game. Fasano ranks above Dominique Byrd and Marcedes Lewis and even Leonard Pope when it comes to blocking, and he seems like an ideal fit for the Bears. It'd be a risk to wait for him until the Bears' pick in round two, but they can secure him by moving into the early second round. We shall see today, won't we?

In the big story of NFL Draft Eve: how quickly the sports world can turn. On Wednesday, ESPN.com's Michael Smith wrote this column advocating that the Texans take Mario Williams over Reggie Bush at #1. It was an idealistic piece, one of those opinion write-ups where an author decides to go against the grain and take the ying to the mainstream's yang. Usually those types of pieces are read, then quickly forgotten or dismissed. But, in this case, Smith was onto something.

Even back in the NFL Season, it seemed that Reggie Bush would be the #1 overall pick. Then a funny thing happened as Houston negotiated with Reggie Bush and Mario Williams. Smith's advice was taken, and the Texans signed Williams on Draft Eve. Suddenly, the floodgates opened, and the second-guessing was on. The sports press can be pretty ruthless when it wants to be, and in this case Charley Casserly and the Texans braintrust is being slammed hard right now. I've heard "Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan" thrown about by more than one writer/sportscaster. Wrong sport, and quite a billing for Reggie Bush to live up to, don't you think? The link to Smith's story disappeared from the ESPN.com main page (it was dated, having been written on Wednesday and all, but it was a counter-argument in a sea of "what were they thinking" stories.)

This is not the Lions taking three WRs in three consecutive first rounds. Houston saw, just as everyone else did, how Pittsburgh's constant pressure against Indianapolis in the playoffs left Peyton Manning flustered -- and the Texans face the Colts twice every year.

I'm not saying that it's the move that I would have made, myself, but it's too early (in my opinion) to start lambasting the Texans management for the decision made. Plus, Williams is signed, so he's guaranteed to be in there from day one, learning the defensive schemes and getting up to speed with what the Texans want from him at the DE position.

Enjoy the draft today, everyone. I know I will...

Draft King NFL Mock Draft

NFL Draft Prospect Profiles

Draft King is owned and operated by Lou Pickney. Copyright © 2003-2025, all rights reserved. Information on this website should not be used for any gambling purposes, nor does it constitute any sort of advice, financial or otherwise.