With the big day finally upon us, what is your one bold prediction for the 2014 NFL Draft?
I like to know that my bold prediction is wrong right away. Houston has a ton of needs to fill on both sides of the ball, and they would be happy to move down a few picks considering the surplus of top-tier talent in this draft. Their most likely trading partner: Atlanta. The Falcons are not afraid to pay a big price for franchise-changing talent, and Jadeveon Clowney qualifies.
The San Francisco 49ers have two accomplished starting wide receivers in Michael Crabtree and Anquan Boldin. What they don't have at the position is a player who can stretch the field and give Colin Kaepernick a truly dynamic gameplan-wrecker.
That changes tonight when the Niners use their surplus of draft picks to trade into the top half of the first round to land LSU speedster Odell Beckham. The Seattle Seahawks' secondary is the single biggest difference-maker in the rugged NFC West. Pairing Beckham with Crabtree, Boldin and tight end Vernon Davis allows the Niners to fight fire with fire.
New England desperately needs help along the defensive line, but I'm expecting Bill Belichick to dial up a surprise under center early in this year's draft. Tom Brady is entrenched at the position, but backup Ryan Mallett is entering his walk year and should draw interest on the open market next March. Look for the Patriots to go for a passer with their second-round pick -- Tom Savage comes to mind at No. 62 -- or even at the end of Round 1 if someone they love falls into their lap.
Ohio State's Ryan Shazier plays faster than any linebacker since Brian Urlacher entered the NFL as a freakish safety/wide receiver/kick returner prospect out of New Mexico. Shazier has the look of prototypical perennial All-Pro weakside linebacker in the Derrick Brooks mold. C.J. Mosley is a great prospect in his own right, but his injury history will give teams pause early in the first round.
Today's first round is going to get an extra dose of crazy early on. Teams in the lower end of the top 10 are hot to move up -- the Atlanta Falcons, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions -- while teams holding the top three picks are all willing to move down to add picks in a deep draft. The difference between teams that see themselves as one player away from the playoffs and those with multiple holes to fill will lead to action at the top of the draft, with the Texans, Rams and Jaguars all trading their first pick.
Four top-shelf players are being highly targeted (Jadeveon Clowney, Khalil Mack, Sammy Watkins and Mike Evans), with Johnny Manziel as the ultimate wild card. Once the first domino falls -- the Texans trading the No. 1 pick -- teams will get desperate to move up to land their man.
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- Chase Goodbread College Football 24/7
Expect an Aggie run
Amazingly, for the second year in a row, three players from the same school could be chosen with back-to-back-to-back draft picks: Texas A&M's Jake Matthews, Mike Evans and Johnny Manziel. While my final mock draft has the trio falling in a four-pick stretch, it wouldn't be a surprise if they went off the board consecutively. Last year, Alabama's Dee Milliner, Chance Warmack and D.J. Fluker were chosen at Nos. 9, 10 and 11.
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- Mike Huguenin College Football 24/7
A&M stars will fly off the board
Three Texas A&M players -- Johnny Manziel, Jake Matthews and Mike Evans, in that order -- will go in the top seven. Manziel will go to Jacksonville, energizing a moribund franchise on and off the field. Matthews will go to Atlanta and step in at left tackle, providing a security blanket of sorts for Matt Ryan. And Evans will go to Tampa Bay, where he will team with Vincent Jackson to give the Bucs (and whomever is at quarterback) the biggest receiving duo in the league.
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- Bryan Fischer College Football 24/7
Hyped QB will have long wait
With as much talent as there is in this draft, one-third of the general managers in the league will be fired based on mistakes they make Thursday and Friday. My bold prediction, however, is that quarterback Tom Savage won't go in the first two rounds of the draft. In addition to other signal-callers dropping in a loaded positional draft, I think teams don't have Savage graded as highly as some think, despite all the hype.
