Dustin James' NFL Draft Guide: 11th Edition

It's officially draft season here at the Ultimate Football Blog and here is all the information you need to keep you up-to-date on all the latest happenings in the NFL.......

The Ultimate Football Blog: 

NFL Draft Guide

11th Edition

Bleacher Report's Matt Miller's Updated Big Board:

People knock on the Bleacher Report all the time and I get it. However, I think people fail to realize that this website actually has a group of talented football writers that may be the best in the world at what they do, especially Matt Miller. For those of you unfamiliar with Miller, he's a lot like you and me. He's just a regular dude who started writing about football on a blog one-day and he eventually blossomed into one of the best NFL scouts on the web (his Twitter handle is "@nfldraftscout" for those interested in following him). He's been offered jobs from multiple NFL teams but has refused their offers in order to continue being an independent scout, a job he is fantastic at. With that said, it's not hard to believe that I value his opinion on draft prospects in high regard. The guy just knows what he's talking about. So anyway, here are the draft prospects he currently has sitting at the top of his big board following the NFL Combine last weekend. Pay attention. These guys are likely the guys you are going to see drafted when the first-round of the draft rolls around in April...
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1. Jameis Winston (QB) Florida State
2. Leonard Williams (DE) USC
3. Marcus Mariota (QB) Oregon
4. Kevin White (WR) West Virginia
5. Dante Fowler (Edge Rusher) Florida
6. Randy Gregory (Edge Rusher)  Nebraska
7. Amari Cooper (WR) Alabama
8. Brandon Scherff (OT) Iowa
9. DeVante Parker (WR) Louisville
10. Danny Shelton (DT) Washington
11. Shane Ray (Edge Rusher) Missouri
12. Marcus Peters (CB) Washington
13. Todd Gurley (RB) Georgia
14. Malcolm Brown (DT) Texas
15. Landon Collins (S) Alabama
16. Shaq Thompson (LB) Washington
17. Arik Armstead (DE) Oregon
18. La'El Collins (OT) LSU
19. Alvin Dupree (LB) Kentucky
20. Jaelen Strong (WR) Arizona State
21. Vic Beasley (Edge Rusher) Clemson
22. Cedric Ogbuehi (OT) Texas A&M
23. D.J. Humphries (OT) Florida
24. Eli Harold (Edge Rusher) Virginia
25. Jalen Collins (CB) LSU
26. Ronald Darby (CB) Florida State
27. Duke Johnson (RB) Miami
28. Maxx Williams (TE) Minnesota
29. Trae Waynes (CB) Michigan State
30. Eddie Goldman (DL) Florida State
31. Bernardrick McKinney (LB) Mississippi State
32. Devin Funchess (WR/TE) Michigan

It's Mock Draft Time!

Here is MY official mock draft.....

Updated as of February 27, 2015

1. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Jameis Winston - QB (Florida State)

2. Tennessee Titans: Marcus Mariota - QB (Oregon)

3. Jacksonville Jaguars: Leonard Williams - DE (USC)

4. Oakland Raiders: Kevin White - WR (West Virginia)

5. Washington Redskins: Dante Fowler - EDGE (Florida)

6. New York Jets: Amari Cooper - WR (Alabama)

7. Chicago Bears: Randy Gregory - EDGE (Nebraska)

8. Atlanta Falcons: Trae Waynes - CB (Michigan State)

9. New York Giants: Vic Beasley - EDGE (Clemson)

10. St. Louis Rams: DeVante Parker - WR (Louisville)

11. Minnesota Vikings: Shane Ray - EDGE (Missouri)

12. Cleveland Browns: Arik Armstead - DE (Oregon)

13. New Orleans Saints: Marcus Peters - CB (Washington)

14. Miami Dolphins: Brandon Scherff - OT (Iowa)

15. San Francisco 49ers - Dorial Green-Beckham - WR (Oklahoma)

16. Houston Texans: Shaq Thompson - LB (Washington)

17. San Diego Chargers: T.J. Clemmings - OT (Pittsburgh)

18. Kansas City Chiefs: Landon Collins - S (Alabama)

19. Cleveland Browns: Andrus Peat - OT (Stanford)

20. Philadelphia Eagles: Jalen Collins - CB (LSU)

21. Cincinnati Bengals: Danny Shelton - DT (Washington)

22. Pittsburgh Steelers: Bud Dupree - EDGE (Kentucky)

23. Detroit Lions: Malcolm Brown - DT (Texas)

24. Arizona Cardinals: Eli Harold - EDGE (Virginia)

25. Carolina Panthers: La'El Collins - OT (LSU)

26. Baltimore Ravens: P.J. Williams - CB (Florida State)

27. Dallas Cowboys: Owa Odighizuwa - EDGE (UCLA)

28. Denver Broncos: Maxx Williams - TE (Minnesota)

29. Indianapolis Colts: Cameron Erving - OL (Florida State)

30. Green Bay Packers: Jaelen Strong - WR (Arizona State)

31. Seattle Seahawks: Ronald Darby - CB (Florida State)

32. New England Patriots: Jordan Phillips - DT (Oklahoma)

In the weeks leading up to the NFL Draft, you will see a certain selected prospect a week here (mainly the top recruits in the draft) with my personal scouting report on that prospect. I took professional scouting classes at the Scouting Academy, so this is my way of giving back.....

This week's prospect:

Dante Fowler (EDGE RUSHER) Florida

Height: 6'3"

Weight: 261 pounds

Strenghts: Great athletic frame with extremely long arms that will help him on the next level. Very versatile player who can be moved around the field. Very quick on his first step. Has strong hands and a great arm extension. Can change directions smoothly. Fast-improving pass-rushing mechanics. Has a smooth swim move. Speedy linebacker who could blossom into one of the NFL's best pass rushers.   

Weaknesses: Very inexperienced as a pass rusher at the moment. Hand-eye coordination is a little off.  Needs to improve on tackling mechanics. Below-average lower body strength. Doesn't recover well when beaten off-the-snap. Looks lost at time against the run. 

Pro Comparision: DeMarcus Ware

Brief Synopsis: If your team is looking for a pass rusher in this draft, you could definitely do a lot worse than Florida's Dante Fowler. Fowler is a young player with a lot of upside. He's still a little raw on-the-field, but with some time, he looks like he could end up taking the league by storm. With a ton of NFL teams in the market for a pass rusher this off-season, players like Dante Fowler will be in high demand and if you can grab a guy like this who is extremely young, you pull the trigger. I'll be shocked if Fowler isn't the first edge rusher off-the-board when the NFL Draft finally arrives in April. Kid looks like he could turn into a mix of DeMarcus Ware/Justin Houston and which NFL team wouldn't want that?!?!?!

-Stop me if you've heard this before. I think it's a matter of time before the Philadelphia Eagles make a trade and end up with one of the top picks in the NFL Draft in hopes of drafting Oregon's Marcus Mariota. I've been saying it for months and it looks like that trail is finally being used as NFL experts everywhere see the same thing happening:

"Every day, with little things I hear, evidence continues to build that the Eagles are going to make a strong play for Marcus Mariota. To note, this is something I had previously thought to be unrealistic, so as bits of information have trickled in, they've been absorbed on my end with skepticism. But it appears the Eagles are determined to get their guy."

Look. This is how I feel about the situation. The NFL Draft is one GIGANTIC gamble. There are no guarantees. If Philly does a trade like "LeSean McCoy/2015 first-rounder/2016 first-rounder/2015 second-rounder/2016 fourth-rounder" as has been reported, that's fine with me. You have some people who say that price is too high, but I call malarkey. The one position that you need to fill on an NFL team is the quarterback. Every year when you look at the teams that are at the top of the NFL Draft, it's teams that had absolutely horrendous QB play. There should be no price that is too high if you think you found the right solution at the most important position on the field. What's the alternative?

Philly keeps LeSean McCoy (a player they've been talking about cutting anyway), gambles with a first-round pick in 2015, gambles with a second-round pick in 2015, gambles again with a first-rounder in 2016. The point that I'm trying to make is that either way....the Eagles are STILL gambling! Why not take a gamble on the biggest lottery out there? When you hit on a quarterback, you hit on the NFL's equivalent of PowerBall in my opinion. When you hit on a player like J.J. Watt (a FANTASTIC player that won't get you playoff wins based on his play alone, while a QB could...), you hit on your local state's lottery. That's not to say that's not good, it just may not be good enough for you to sit back and be comfortable for 10+ years. Do you get what I'm saying here?

Gambling on a potential franchise QB and nailing it = winning $500 million in PowerBall

Gambling on other potential starters and nailing it = winning your local state's $3 million lottery

Which one do you want to gamble on?



-The San Francisco 49ers look to be prepared to lose stud OG Mike Iupati in free agency. The market for Iupati is reportedly rumored to be out of the 49ers price range. The Washington Redskins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers have emerged as the early favorites to potentially land the free agent guard.



-NFL teams will be "franchise tagging" their important free agents this week. For those of you unfamiliar with how the franchise tag works, here's a brief explanation. In short, it's a way for a team to guarantee that a player that they can't come to an agreement with on a contract extension, doesn't leave the team high and dry in free agency. Here are ProFootballFocus.com's predictions as to which players could be getting tagged this week:

Randall Cobb - WR (Green Bay Packers)

Dez Bryant - WR (Dallas Cowboys)

Jason Pierre-Paul - EDGE RUSHER (New York Giants)

Jeremy Maclin - WR (Philadelphia Eagles)

Demaryius Thomas - WR (Denver Broncos)

Justin Houston - LB (Kansas City Chiefs)

Jerry Hughes - DE (Buffalo Bills)

Devin McCourty - S (New England Patriots)