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If you've been paying attention to our writer's mock's infrequent posts, you'd know that Dallas is in the midst of of a classic draft. After trading down a whopping 10 spots in the first round, Dallas was still able to land DE Fletcher Cox of Mississippi State. Now remember, this occurred more than a few weeks ago, so whether or not Cox would slip this far at this date is irrelevant (although there are still quite a few mocks that have him in the 20's still).
Under the guidance of Rabblerousr, Dallas was able to secure help for the front seven on two different occasions; selecting fast-riser Shea McClellin out of Boise State to be Anthony Spencer's eventual (immediate?) replacement. Dallas isn't done yet though. The trade down netted Dallas Pittsburgh's second and fifth rounders; with the second falling in this section of our exercise.
So what did Rabble do with the third pick under his watch?
Draft Pick # 56
Team Name: Dallas Cowboys
GM: Rabblerousr
Selection: (OG) Brandon Brooks, University of Miami (Ohio)
After watching their top two targets for the 56th pick--Josh Robinson and Kevin Zeitler--go off the board right before their pick, the Cowboys have to pause and regroup. Looking over their board, they narrow the field to a handful of picks: OC Ben Jones; OG Brandon Brooks; TE Orson Charles; NT Alameda Ta'amu; CB Jamell Fleming; CB/FS Trumaine Johnson and FS Markelle Martin. From this group, Brooks and Fleming emerge as the best options and optimal fits for Dallas' schemes. In looking at the drop-off at these respective positions, they decide that they can find a good corner in round three (where Fleming and Johnson will be joined by Brandon Boykin, Casey Hayward, Josh Norman and Chase Minnifield), but that Brooks represents the last of the elite guards. The huge (6'5", 343 lb), naturally powerful Ohioan will need some coaching help with his footwork, sets and hand use. When he cleans these up, the Dallas warroom believes, they just might have found another Larry Allen--a ridiculously strong small school man with a big-time game. - Rabblerousr
Follow the jump for more analysis of the rest of the two-round exercise.
So there the Cowboys are with:
#14 - DE Fletcher Cox, Miss. State #45 - OLB Shea McClellin, Boise State #56 - OG Brandon Brooks, Miami (OH).
Are you not entertained?
But there was a lot more going on than just the Cowboys selections, even though that's what we were all focused on. A lot of teams had some great drafts as well. When I was on the clock for Philadelphia's last pick of the process I commented to my fellow FPW's that they were making it too easy for me to improve a team I couldn't stand. Here's the haul I managed for Philly:
#15 - CB Dre Kirkpatrick, Alabama #46 - OLB Bobby Wagner, Utah State #51 - RB LaMichael James, Oregon
Now my Philly haul wasn't the only one I was particularly proud of. I was also in charge of New England (I swear, teams were assigned to writers on a seniority basis: OCC pick 1, Rabble pick 2, etc etc) and forced Bill Belicheck to stay put and use all of his early draft picks to the following effect:
#27 - LB Zach Brown, UNC #31 - WR Stephen Hill, Georgia Tech #48 DE Kendell Reyes, Connecticut #62 - CB/S Trumaine Johnson, Montana
That's just disgusting. Yes, it is probably unfair that I have two of the five teams that had three or more selections (Cincy, Cleveland and St. Louis being the others).
Now, the other FPW's did great jobs as well; some with the lesser wiggle room of two picks and some are deserving of special notice.
Writer | Team | Selections | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
O.C.C. | Indianapolis | Andrew Luck + Coby Fleener | Fleener becomes the new Dallas Clark for the next 12 years |
Archie | Tennessee | Nick Perry - Josh Robinson | Everyone's favorite sleeper CB replaces Finnegan and Perry goes 4-3 where he wants to be. |
Archie | Cincinnati | Janoris Jenkins - Cordy Glenn - Mohamed Sanu | Major help to three important positions, good value for position |
Tom | Green Bay | Mark Barron - Bruce Irvin | Yuck. Irvin across from Matthews with Barron learning from Woodson? I don't like Tom for this at all. |
Rabble | St. Louis | Trent Richardson - Kendall Wright - Jerel Worthy | Wouldn't every one in St. Louis do backflips if it worked out like this? |
Coty | Chicago | Whitney Mercilus - Bobby Massie | Chicago is the definitive ground and pound team and their trenches just got deeeeep. |
Tom | Cleveland | Justin Blackmon - Courtney Upshaw - Doug Martin | Pair Blackmon with Little, replace Hillis with Martin and Upshaw is just a flat out upgrade. |
O.C.C. | Pittsburgh | Luke Kuechly | One player. Traded up for a linebacker that fits their standards like it was written in a novel. |
Here's a look at the complete two-round exercise.
Pick | Team | Assigned Writer | Selection |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Indianapolis | OCC | QB Andrew Luck |
2 | Washington | Coty | QB RG III |
3 | Minnesota | KD | LOT Matt Kalil |
4 | Cleveland | Tom | WR Justin Blackmon |
5 | Tampa Bay | Archie | CB Morris Claiborne |
6 | St. Louis | Rabble | RB Trent Richardson |
7 | Jacksonville | Coty | OT Riley Reiff |
8 | Miami | Archie | QB Ryan Tannehill |
9 | Carolina | Tom | DE Melvin Ingram |
10 | Buffalo | KD | DE Quinton Coples |
11 | Kansas City | Rabble | DT Dontari Poe |
12 | Seattle | OCC | WR Michael Floyd |
13 | Arizona | OCC | OG David DeCastro |
14 | Pittsburgh | OCC | LB Luke Keuchly |
15 | Philadelphia | KD | CB Dre Kirkpatrick |
16 | NY Jets | Tom | OT Jonathan Martin |
17 | Cincinnati | Archie | CB Janoris Jenkins |
18 | San Diego | Coty | DE Michael Brockers |
19 | Chicago | Coty | DE Whitney Mercilus |
20 | Tennessee | Archie | DE Nick Perry |
21 | Cincinnati | Archie | OG Cordy Glenn |
22 | Cleveland | Tom | DE Courtney Upshaw |
23 | Detroit | Rabble | CB Stephon Gilmore |
24 | Dallas | Rabble | DE Fletcher Cox |
25 | Denver | OCC | DE Devon Still |
26 | Houston | Rabble | OT Mike Adams |
27 | New England | KD | LB Zach Brown |
28 | Green Bay | Tom | S Mark Barron |
29 | Baltimore | Archie | LB Don'ta Hightower |
30 | San Francisco | Coty | C Peter Konz |
31 | New England | KD | WR Stephen Hill |
32 | NY Giants | Coty | DE Andre Branch |
33 | St. Louis | Rabble | WR Kendall Wright |
34 | Indianapolis | OCC | TE Coby Fleener |
35 | Minnesota | KD | CB Jayron Hosley |
36 | Tampa Bay | Archie | RB Lamar Miller |
37 | Cleveland | Tom | RB Doug Martin |
38 | Jacksonville | Coty | CB Alfonso Dennard |
39 | St. Louis | Rabble | DT Jerel Worthy |
40 | Carolina | Tom | WR Rueben Randle |
41 | Buffalo | KD | TE Dwayne Allen |
42 | Miami | Archie | WR Alshon Jeffrey |
43 | Seattle | OCC | DE Chandler Jones |
44 | Kansas City | Rabble | OG Amini Silatolu |
45 | Dallas | Rabble | OLB Shea McClellan |
46 | Philadelphia | KD | OLB Bobby Wagner |
47 | NY Jets | Tom | OLB Lavonte David |
48 | New England | KD | DE Kendall Reyes |
49 | San Diego | Coty | SS Harrison Smith |
50 | Chicago | Coty | OT Bobby Massie |
51 | Philadelphia | KD | RB LaMichael James |
52 | Tennessee | Archie | CB Josh Robinson |
53 | Cincinnati | Archie | WR Mohamed Sanu |
54 | Detroit | Rabble | RB David Wilson |
55 | Atlanta | Tom | OG Kevin Zeitler |
56 | Dallas | Rabble | OG Brandon Brooks |
57 | Denver | OCC | DE Vinny Curry |
58 | Houston | Rabble | CB Brandon Boykin |
59 | Green Bay | Tom | OLB Bruce Irvin |
60 | Baltimore | Archie | WR Joe Adams |
61 | San Francisco | Coty | WR Marvin Jones |
62 | New England | KD | CB Trumaine Johnson |
63 | NY Giants | Coty | OT Zebrie Sanders |