Lou Pickney's 2025 NFL Mock Draft

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The Dolphins have three games left: home vs. Baltimore, at New England, and home in the season finale against Cincinnati. Unless they win out, they will be assured of the top pick in the 2008 NFL Draft. And there is a chance that Miami could win out and still end up with the #1 pick, depending on what happens with the remaining three win teams (of which there are four going into Atlanta's Monday night game with the Saints.)

Lou Pickney's 2025 NFL Mock Draft

The debate has already begun as to who Miami should take at #1. Two names come to mind: LSU DT Glenn Dorsey and Arkansas RB Darren McFadden. Dorsey is a major impact player who would fill a massive need for Miami (who gave up 100+ yards to *two* Buffalo RBs today, Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson), and I think the Dolphins will end up drafting him, barring any serious injury between now and April. While adding Darren McFadden would be very nice, the Dolphins have a wealth of needs, and with two second round picks and a likely strong RB crop in the upcoming draft, Miami should be able to land a quality RB in round two if they are so inclined, with such a decision likely hinging on the status of Ronnie Brown's recovery from the ACL tear in his right knee.

The Chargers and Titans played a thriller in Nashville today. San Diego LB Shawne Merriman drew a ton of heat from the crowd after he waylaid Vince Young on a running play. I'm not sure how it came across on TV, but fans were as angry about that as I've ever heard people get in person at an NFL game. Merriman missed most of the second half with an injury, but he made a strong impact in his time in there.

From a defensive standpoint, the Chargers do quite a bit of rotating on the defensive line, more than might be expected. The 3-4 defense more often looked like a 5-2, with the OLBs playing up near or on the line of scrimmage on most plays. The Chargers were without injured DE Luis Castillo, a fact which the Titans were, at times, able to take advantage of today.

At DT, Jamal Williams is a known quantity as an anchor on the defensive line, but the Chargers worked backup DTs Ryon Bingham (6'3" 303) and Brandon McKinney (6'2" 320) into the mix. McKinney in particular was impressive, taking part in six tackles, and I'd suggest that the Chargers are fine as far as depth at that spot goes.

At safety, Utah rookie SS Eric Weddle played a great game, making five tackles but also making his presence known on other plays. The other strong safety for the Chargers, Clinton Hart, was also active and should provide the team with good depth at the position through next year (the 30-year-old Hart is a bargain with just a $605,000 contract in 2008, the final year of his deal.)

What the Chargers opt to do with free safety Marlon McCree, who turns 31 in March, should be interesting. McCree is making $650,000 in base salary this year, but the base balloons to $2.765 million in 2008 and $3 million in 2009. Weddle has had some playing time at free safety, and while I'm not sure if Weddle is someone who the Chargers want to have playing free safety long-term, at the very least he allows for an underrated rotation in the secondary.

San Diego's comeback was inspired; they trailed by 14 with less than eight minutes to play. Philip Rivers was impressive running the two minute drill, particularly after he looked dizzy like a character in Street Fighter II in the first half. If it was a cartoon, he would have had stars or birds flying around his head. But Rivers hulked up and returned, leading the Chargers to a gutsy comeback and a hard-earned victory.

The overtime win by the Chargers left the crowd deflated; while some daring fans wearing San Diego jerseys were cheering, the mass of people leaving LP Field departed in stunned silence. Even the shuttle bus back to the remote parking at Greer Stadium had an eerie quiet, with the people on board in disbelief about what they had just seen.

I'm not sure how healthy San Diego center Nick Hardwick was, but the Chargers had trouble blocking on their interior line. The presence of Albert Haynesworth, even with a bum hamstring, was clear, and Kyle Vanden Bosch flat-out outplayed Chargers OT Marcus McNeill (who normally performs quite well.) With only one draft pick until the fifth round, I don't think that the Chargers would stretch to take an interior offensive lineman. But in the event of San Diego dealing down to get multiple picks, it might be something to keep in mind.

New England was amazing to see in the late game (which I only got to see from the second half on from my buddy Nick's apartment, since the Titans game went late and traffic wasn't exactly moving quickly, as per normal on game day.) But the Patriots, even while barely running the ball at all, picked apart a strong Pittsburgh team and silenced whatever criticisms might have been lingering from the Monday night thriller in Baltimore.

Just think if Darren McFadden is in there next year. I ran across even more people today who are terrified by the prospect of McFadden being on the Pats next year, and there are some who think that the Patriots might take McFadden if, for nothing else, to spite the Jets. Ridiculous? Perhaps, but I think McFadden is worthy of selection on his own merits, and if it allows the Pats to spite the Jets in the process, that's gravy.

Of course, a "spited" Jets team could still end up with someone like Virginia DE Chris Long, which could turn out just fine for them as well.

The Bills are 7-6, which is intriguing, particularly with rookie QB Trent Edwards playing worlds better than what I expected of him. Edwards is proof positive of how an NFL prototype QB who didn't necessarily have much success in college (he played for some bad Stanford teams) can end up being drafted higher and have more success than smaller guys who tore it up at QB in college.

The flip side is that four of Buffalo's wins are over the Jets and the Dolphins, which may make for a misleading situation. They can prove their worth down the stretch, with road games in Cleveland and Philadelphia sandwiched around a home game with the Giants. While I still think Buffalo's best move is going to be adding a linebacker or a corner with their first round pick in 2008, they have managed to fill some big departures (CB Nate Clements, LBs Takeo Spikes and London Fletcher) with lesser-touted players who have done a good job.

Two major quarterback situations to watch going into the off-season are what the Eagles do with Donovan McNabb (who may end up being traded away) and how the Browns handle the impending restricted free agency of breakout QB star Derek Anderson. I anticipate that the Browns will give Anderson the highest tender possible in order to potentially extract a first-and-third round draft pick bonanza from whatever team signs Anderson to an offer sheet. It will be interesting to see if any teams (particularly those that may be looking toward the QB spot in the first round of the draft) take a shot at landing Anderson, and how the Browns handle what could be a tricky situation.

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