Lou Pickney's 2025 NFL Mock Draft

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It started yesterday with a phone call at noon, Central Time. Groggy and still waking up, I rolled over in bed and answered my phone. On the other end was my brother, Matt, wanting to know how Mississippi State scored their first touchdown against Kentucky.

Lou: I just woke up.
Matt: What?!? Lou, I'm ashamed of you!

To be fair, Matt had woken up in Nashville, showered, finished packing, had my parents give him a ride to the airport, gone through security, waited, flown to New Orleans, travelled from Kenner, LA (where the airport is located) to Bourbon Street, and just settled in at a bar with his first hurricane drink when he called.

Soon enough, I caught myself up to speed via the power of the internet and cable television... and the day didn't end until Arizona State had knocked off Cal in the shadow of 1 a.m. CT.

Was there any more surprising of a development than Andre Woodson throwing three interceptions against M-State? Granted, UK was on its fifth-string running back (Moncell Allen) by the second half, was without top WR Keenan Burton, and had injuries to receivers Dicky Lyons, Jr. and Steve Johnson (who played through their injuries), but it didn't look good.

Woodson has been a personal favorite of mine to watch this year, with his audible calls at the line showing shades of Peyton Manning, but yesterday was not one of his better days.

I'm still not ready to move Matt Ryan past him on the draft board though, not yet. As good as Ryan is (and as dramatic as the comeback he lead was on Thursday night), Woodson is something special. He just failed to deliver the goods against an underrated Bulldogs defense.

Virginia lost to NC State yesterday, which I was glad to see since I've thought they were vastly overrated ever since witnessing them play MTSU and nearly blowing that one. But Chris Long remains very, very impressive, and he may move past Calais Campbell on my DE list when I do the next Draft King mock on Monday.

For all the defensive talent that USC has, the Trojans had no answer for RB Jonathan Stewart, who broke tackle after tackle, and Ducks QB Dennis Dixon played a tremendous game and helped his own draft stock immensely (though it's going to be tough to navigate past the likes of John David Booty and Colt Brennan into that second tier of QBs.)

To this point, I've hesitated to put Stewart in the first round of my mock because of the numbers game; will there really be four RBs taken in round one? But it might not matter, as the 5'11" 235 pound Stewart is looking more and more like not only the genuine article, but also a unique type of RB that will likely have NFL teams scrambling to land him on draft day. There is no one else like him going into the draft. NO ONE! Between him, Darren McFadden, Mike Hart, and Steve Slaton, there could be some major RB talent in the 2008 Draft.

Of course McFadden, Slaton, and Stewart could all potentially return to school for 2008 and throw everything off course, but the odds of that scenario happening are low. But Oregon is the real deal.

Felix Jones belongs in that conversation as well, but stuck behind McFadden on the Arkansas depth chart, he might opt to play his senior year, when he'll have a chance to fully showcase his talents. That's unless McFadden shocks the world and returns to school, in which case everything changes.

Last night the ESPN crew was bemoaning the fact that much of the country hasn't had a chance to see much of Oregon. Though, when Oregon played Cal, that was an ABC game that did NOT air locally here in Nashville, so to that end I have to disagree with Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso (both of whom I like as broadcasters) as far as them not playing enough on ABC/ESPN being a big factor in that, which was a point that Herbstreit made (taking a veiled shot at FOX.)

Tennessee senior offensive lineman standout Eric Young suffered what the Maryville, TN Daily Times described as "what appears to be a season-ending knee injury" last night in UT's thrilling 27-24 overtime win over South Carolina. No matter who you root for, that is disheartening to see, particularly with Young having the potential to be a first round pick. Now, depending on the severity of the injury, his draft status has to be entirely reconsidered. But it appears that his playing days for the Vols are over.

With so much good talent at corner potentially entering the draft, I've been watching some of the elite guys to try and find where there might be some differentiation. Mel Kiper is very high on USF corner Mike Jenkins, but I saw a play late against Connecticut (once my local ABC affiliate, WKRN, was kind enough to switch to that game from the Clemson/Maryland tilt) where Jenkins tried to make a tackle by simply running his shoulder into his opponent, who simply brushed it off and kept going. That won't fly in the NFL.

Meanwhile, I've been surprised to see some players get the best of Penn State CB Justin King. Last week it was Indiana WR James Hardy, who I'm a big fan of at 6'6", but it's not the 6'1" King's fault that he couldn't stop Hardy in single coverage in the corner of the end zone on a ball thrown perfectly high, going past King and into Hardy's outstretched hands. It wasn't like King was out of position, he just looked like a DB trying to cover Plaxico Burress or Randy Moss in the NFL. Good luck.

But yesterday King, and the rest of the Nittany Lions secondary, was burned deep on several plays. To be fair, it wasn't like Penn State managed to put much pressure on Ohio State QB Todd Boeckman, but it wasn't a good day for Penn State's defense. The one exception might be LB Dan Connor, who made his presence felt with an early interception, but Connor is all but a lock to be a first round pick regardless of what happens.

On the other side, Ohio State CB Malcolm Jenkins, another guy in the running for one of those coveted top CB slots (and first round NFL money), took an INT back for a touchdown. Playing for the #1 team in the country helps, to be sure, but individual efforts like that don't go unnoticed.

If you didn't stay up to watch the Cal/Arizona State game, you missed an exciting comeback by the Sun Devils in Tempe, who trailed at one point 20-7 before rallying to win 31-20. It's still tough for me to get a clear read on Cal WR DeSean Jackson relative to where he might go in the draft; he's the Ted Ginn, Jr. of 2008, provided that he comes out early. He is an impressive athlete, but he could go in the top ten or fall out of round one and I wouldn't be surprised either way. An inconsistent performance by Cal QB Nate Longshore didn't help things, but Jackson didn't help his own cause with a first half punt fumble (which was nullified due to an inadvertent whistle.)

Today should be fun for me, as I'm going to the Titans/Raiders game. My buddy Gary (of my 2003 Las Vegas trip fame) is in town from Florida, and we're going to the game with my parents. Gary is a big Raiders fan (as longtime site readers might recall from his cameo in my 2004 running draft commentary.) As always, I listen closely to fans of any particular NFL team when they talk about the team's strengths and weaknesses, and Gary has made a strong case for the Raiders needing to take a first round offensive lineman. To say that he's bitter about Robert Gallery would be an understatement, but he feels the time is right to spend another high pick on either an offensive lineman or a wide receiver.

He's high on DeSean Jackson for the Raiders; I pointed out that Jackson is just 6' and 180 pounds, but Gary asked about his speed. "He's fast," I responded (Jackson runs a near 4.3 40) and Gary hearkened back to Raider history with how Al Davis likes track star speed at wideout. Point taken. That's why I like talking with fans of many different teams; often they have insight that I might not have, which can come in handy.

Enjoy the NFL games today, including the Giants/Dolphins game from London. I have the Giants in my knockout pool (after surviving last week's nailbiter with Washington lucking out over Arizona after that bizarre sequence of events with the onside kick recovery and the Cards having a chance to win it at the gun.) If the Patriots and Colts both win, that will put them at 8-0 for New England and 7-0 for Indianapolis going into that game. I've tried unsuccessfully to find the latest in the season that two unbeatens have played in the NFL, but this has to be right up there, if not at the top, of the all-time list. And with Richard Seymour coming off of the PUP list, a scary Pats team is now even more intimidating.

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