Reflections on Last Years Mock Draft and Expectations

Sports writers are often quick to make projections about an upcoming draft but rarely do you see them reflect on their previous articles, especially ones in which they were dead wrong. Here are a couple of whiffs from last year:

Sam Bradford - My stupid thoughts: I.R. before seasons end.

Yeah, I wasn’t even close on this one, but I usually slam the consensus best quarterback since they usually go high and to bad teams which offer few opportunities to succeed. Bradford showed tremendous ability and promise last year and their front office has one a terrific job of shoring up their tackle positions.

Mocking Sergio Kindle to the Dolphins at 12.

He is talented and productive, but scouts were wise to suggest teams wait until the second round to consider him, which the Ravens chose to do. He appeared in zero games of his rookie year due to a fractured skull sustained while walking down a staircase. There are apparent character flaws that I failed to notice.

Maurkice Pouncy - My Stupid Thoughts: Gotta love the kid, but you don’t have to love him at 18th.

I was pulling for Bryan Bulaga, who was considered a potential top ten pick. But Pouncy, a Pro-Bowl rookie, who helped Rashard Mendenhall reach his full potential is difficult to talk down, even at 18.

Mocked Jimmy Clausen to the Bills at nine.

While Clausen still had a tough rookie season, I didn’t see any other Carolina QBs tearing up the league. The whole situation was bad and I think that Clausen’s story is far from written. But I am willing to admit that Clausen at nine to the Bills makes no sense in retrospect. And while CJ Spiller makes arguably less sense than Clausen, I am STILL mocking Gabbert to them this year at three. Because eventually they will draft a franchise QB. They have to. Right?

Well, actually, so far I am not dead wrong about too much. There are various players for which the jury is still out, but if I am going the math right here I am have been correct on 72% of my predications so far. I was 28/32 on first round picks, 8/32 on specific picks including going 6/6 to start.