NFL Draft! My Attempt at a Mock Draft

It's that time of the year again! The day when all 32 teams of the NFL gather together in New York and players fresh out of college are walked past like paintings and auctioned to the best bidder - or rather in this case, the earliest in the draft.

Andrew Luck

The most obvious tip and foregone conclusion is Andrew Luck being the very first draft pick of 2012 by the Indianapolis Colts. But there are a few intriguing situations to look out for and not just in the first round.

Will Robert Griffin III go to the Washington Redskins? Probably to be honest as the Redskins are really just one quarterback away from winning the ever tough NFC East.

Anyway here's my attempt at a mock first round draft.

1 - Andrew Luck, QB (Stanford) to Indianapolis Colts
2 - Robert Griffin III, QB (Baylor) to Washington Redskins (traded from St Louis Rams)
3 - Matt Kalil, OT (USC) to Minnesota Vikings
4 - Trent Richardson, RB (Alabama) to Cleveland Browns
5 - Morris Claiborne, CB (LSU) to Tampa Bay Buccaneers
6 - Justin Blackmon, WR (Oklahoma State) to St Louis Rams

One of those for FedEx Field please!

7 - Stephen Gilmore, CB (South Carolina) to Jacksonville Jaguars
8 - Melvin Ingram, DE (South Carolina) to Miami Dolphins
9 - Luke Kuechly, ILB (Boston) to Carolina Panthers
10 - Chandler Jones, DE (Syracuse) to Buffalo Bills
11 - David DeCastro, G (Stanford) to Kansas City Chiefs
12 - Ryan Tannehill, QB (Texas A&M) to Seattle Seahawks
13 - Riley Reiff, OT (Iowa) to Arizona Cardinals
14 - Michael Brockers, DT (LSU) to Dallas Cowboys
15 - Fletcher Cox, DT (Miss State) to Philadelphia Eagles
16 - Cordy Glenn, G (Georgia) to New York Jets
17 - Quinton Coples, DE (North Carolina) to Cincinnati Bengals
18 - Mark Barron, S (Alabama) to San Diego Chargers
19 - Shea McClellin, OLB (Boise) to Chicago Bears
20 - Dontari Poe, DT (Memphis) to Tennessee Titans
21 - Shea McClellin, OLB (Boise State) to Cincinnati Bengals
22 - Stephen Hill, WR (Georgia Tech) to Cleveland Browns
23 - Dre Kirkpatrick, CB (Alabama) to Detroit Lions
24 - Janoris Jenkins, CB (Alabama) to Pittsburgh Steelers
25 - Jerel Worthy, DT (Michigan State) to Denver Broncos
26 - Michael Floyd, WR (Notre Dame) to Houston Texans
27 - Dont'a Hightower, ILB (Alabama) to New England Patriots
28 - Andre Branch, DE (North Carolina) to Green Bay Packers
29 - Mike Adams, OT (Ohio State) to Baltimore Ravens
30 - Kendall Wright, WR (Baylor) to San Francisco 49ers
31 - Courtney Upshaw, DE (Alabama) to New England Patriots
32 - Harrison Smith, S (Notre Dame) to New York Giants

SO HOW DID I GO? 

Hightower: the new Teddy Bruschi?

Well actually not very well at all! To be fair, I think a lot of punters would not have gotten the likes of Bruce Irvin to Seattle or Doug Martin to Tampa Bay Bucs. Nor would they have thought that the likes of Dallas and New England would trade to go up - in fact, the Patriots who haven't traded up in the 1st round since 2003, traded up twice.

But to good effect as it was all clear to see that the Patriots were conducting open bypass surgery on their leaky 31st-ranked-in-2011 defence signing the likes of Chandler Jones and Dont'a Hightower, two very highly rated defensive prospects.

Jones: Richard Seymour anyone?

And Dont'a Hightower along with Shea McClellin to Chicago and Luke Keuchly to Carolina were the only 3 picks I got correct - but not in the right order - after the more expected picks of Luck, RG3, Kalil and Richardson were selected.

So 7 out of 32. Obviously I'm not going to be a fortune teller in another life.