Three Round Mock Draft 4/26

Pick	Team	Player
1	Houston Texans	Jadeveon Clowney
2	St. Louis Rams	Greg Robinson
3	Jacksonville Jaguars	Johnny Manziel
4	Cleveland Browns	Sammy Watkins
5	Oakland Raiders	Khalil Mack
6	Atlanta Falcons	Jake Matthews
7	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Mike Evans
8	Minnesota Vikings	Blake Bortles
9	Buffalo Bills	Eric Ebron
10	Detroit Lions	Justin Gilbert
11	Tennessee Titans	Derek Carr
12	New York Giants	Anthony Barr
13	St. Louis Rams	HaHa Clinton-Dix
14	Chicago Bears	Aaron Donald
15	Pittsburgh Steelers	Taylor Lewan
16	Dallas Cowboys	Calvin Pryor
17	Baltimore Ravens	Marquise Lee
18	New York Jets	Darqueze Dennard
19	Miami Dolphins	C.J Mosley
20	Arizona Cardinals	Zach Martin
21	Green Bay Packers	Ryan Shazier
22	Philadelphia Eagles	Brandin Cooks
23	Kansas City Chiefs	Odell Beckham Jr.
24	Cincinnati Bengals	Kony Ealy
25	San Diego Chargers	Kyle Fuller
26	Cleveland Browns	Teddy Bridgewater
27	New Orleans Saints	Dee Ford
28	Carolina Panthers	Morgan Moses
29	New England Patriots	Louis Nix III
30	San Francisco 49ers	Timmy Jernigan
31	Denver Broncos	Joel Bitonio
32	Seattle Seahawks	Xavier Su’a Filo

 

Pick	Team	Player
1	Houston Texans	Jimmy Garappolo
2	Washington Redskins	Jason Verrett
3	Cleveland Browns	Carlos Hyde
4	Oakland Raiders	Ra’Shede Hageman
5	Atlanta Falcons	Austin Seferian-Jenkins
6	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Bradley Roby
7	Jacksonville Jaguars	Kelvin Benjamin
8	Minnesota Vikings	DeMarcus Lawerence
9	Buffalo Bills	Cryus Kouandijo
10	Tennessee Titans	Bishop Sankey
11	New York Giants	Scott Crichton
12	St. Louis Rams	Allen Robinson
13	Detroit Lions	Cody Latimer
14	Pittsburgh Steelers	Marcus Roberson
15	Dallas Cowboys	Jeremiah Attaochu
16	Baltimore Ravens	Jimmie Ward
17	New York Jets	Jace Amaro
18	Miami Dolphins	Jeremy Hill
19	Chicago Bears	Chris Borland
20	Arizona Cardinals	Stephon Tuitt
21	Green Bay Packers	Troy Niklas
22	Philadelphia Eagles	Kyle Von Noy
23	Cincinnati Bengals	Weston Richburg
24	San Francisco 49ers	Donte Moncrief
25	San Diego Chargers	Jordan Matthews
26	New Orleans Saints	JaWaun James
27	Indianapolis Colts	Deone Bucannon
28	Carolina Panthers	Davante Adams
29	San Francisco 49ers	Dominque Easley
30	New England Patriots	Kareem Martin
31	Denver Broncos	Phillip Gaines
32	Seattle Seahawks	Martavis Bryant

 

Pick	Team	Player
1	Houston Texans	Tre Mason
2	Washington Redskins	Trent Murphy
3	Oakland Raiders	Tom Savage
4	Atlanta Falcons	Marcus Smith
5	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Daquan Jones
6	Jacksonville Jaguars	Bashaund Breeland
7	Cleveland Browns	Shayne Skov
8	Minnesota Vikings	Paul Richardson
9	Buffalo Bills	Bruce Ellington
10	New York Giants	Telvin Smith
11	St. Louis Rams	Tom Savage
12	Detroit Lions	Craig Loston
13	San Francisco 49ers	Marcus Martin
14	Dallas Cowboys	Will Sutton
15	Baltimore Ravens	Carl Bradford
16	New York Jets	Lache Seastrunk
17	Miami Dolphins	Jarvis Landry
18	Chicago Bears	Lamarcus Joyner
19	Cleveland Browns	Gabe Jackson
20	Arizona Cardinals	A.J. McCarron
21	Green Bay Packers	Jared Abbrederis
22	Philadelphia Eagles	Jaylen Watkins
23	Kansas City Chiefs	Trevor Reilly
24	Cincinnati Bengals	Stanley Jean-Baptiste
25	San Diego Chargers	Ego Ferguson
26	Indianapolis Colts	Dontae Johnson
27	New Orleans Saints	Ka’Deem Carey
28	Carolina Panthers	Keith McGill
29	New England Patriots	C.J. Fiedorowicz
30	San Francisco 49ers	Louchiez Purifoy
31	Denver Broncos	Andre Williams
32	Minnesota Vikings	Billy Turner
33	Pittsburgh Steelers	Zach Mettenberger
34	Green Bay Packers	Christian Jones
35	Baltimore Ravens	Antonio Richardson
36	San Francisco 49ers	Ahmad Dixon

Patriots Schedule Release Thoughts

            We all already knew the 2014 opponents for the Patriots and it was looking like this upcoming regular season would be one of the more difficult ones in recent years. The Patriots play the AFC West and NFC North this season along with division winners Indianapolis and Cincinnati. Here’s a look at the full schedule with some thoughts on it:

Sunday, Sept. 7	at Miami Dolphins	1:00 PM ET
Sunday, Sept. 14	at Minnesota Vikings	1:00 PM ET
Sunday, Sept. 21	Oakland Raiders	1:00 PM ET
Monday, Sept. 29	at Kansas City Chiefs	8:30 PM ET
Sunday, Oct. 5	Cincinnati Bengals	8:30 PM ET
Sunday, Oct. 12	at Buffalo Bills	1:00 PM ET
Thursday, Oct. 16	New York Jets	8:25 PM ET
Sunday, Oct. 26	Chicago Bears	1:00 PM ET
Sunday, Nov. 2	Denver Broncos	4:25 PM ET
Sunday, Nov. 9	BYE WEEK
Sunday, Nov. 16	at Indianapolis Colts	8:30 PM ET
Sunday, Nov. 23	Detroit Lions	1:00 PM ET
Sunday, Nov. 30	at Green Bay Packers	4:25 PM ET
Sunday, Dec. 7	at San Diego Chargers	8:30 PM ET
Sunday, Dec. 14	Miami Dolphins	1:00 PM ET
Sunday, Dec. 21	at New York Jets	1:00 PM ET
Sunday, Dec. 28	Buffalo Bills	1:00 PM ET

·         Looking at this schedule the Patriots open up yet another season on the road. This time it’s the division foe Miami. Speaking of division foes, the Patriots travel into Buffalo Week 6 to play loud mouth and "slave" Brandon Spikes and his Bills, then turnaround on a quick week and play Revis' old team the Jets in Gillette on a Thursday night.

·         Weeks 4-5 and 8-14 will be huge challenges each week, especially for Revis matchup wise. (Bowe, Green, Marshall, Thomas, Nicks, Megatron, Nelson, Allen)

·         There are 5 primetime games (KC, Cincy, Jets, Indy, San Diego), which I love, and only two 4:25 starts (Denver, Green Bay)

·         Season ends with 3 straight division games which could be blood baths or cakewalks depending upon what the Patriots record is and what the other teams' records are.

·         Biggest Games: 1. Denver 2. Green Bay 3. Indy 4. Cincinnati 5. Jets (Revis factor) 6. Bills (Spikes factor)

 

Some Fun Predictions:

Key Wins: Denver, Cincinnati

Key Losses: Indianapolis, Green Bay

Sleeper Games: Chicago, Detroit, Jets (Revis factor)

Record: 11-13 wins sounds about right when you have Brady at QB and BB at HC. This is one of the tougher schedules the Patriots have seen in a while but I see this as a good thing to test them for playoffs. The additions in the secondary (Revis/Browner) will be huge this year with the amount of high powered offenses on the schedule. Obviously a big factor in predicting the W/L is Gronk's health. If he can play 16 games, look out NFL. If he can’t play much (which I expect), the Patriots will still be fine. Can’t wait until the Draft!!!

Boston Bruins Ready For A Run

Champs or Bust: 2014 Bruins

The Boston Bruins, or at least the fans, or well me, came into this season still sour after coming just mere seconds away from forcing a Game 7 to decide the Stanley Cup Champion. One of the most hectic and dismal endings I have ever seen in a game was that on the night on Game 6. I try to block it out of my memory, but the heartbroken flashes still creep in time and again. Even though the Bruins were so close to winning it all, they still made a great and entertaining run that included one of the best comebacks I had ever seen versus Toronto in Round One. Even though the Bruins didn’t win the Cup, they still set the standard of hockey that was going to be played in Boston. Since 2007 the Bruins have been progressively getting better by the year. Yes, I know they topped out and won the Cup in 2011, but the team keeps progressing. Claude Julien and Peter Chiarelli have built the Bruins up into a physical defensive system which maintains constant success. As the young players mature and become leaders the Bruins play as gotten even better with it.

            That’s where 2014 comes into play. After an off-season where the Bruins handed Tuukka Rask a huge contract and shipped out former top pick Tyler Seguin for All-Star Loui Eriksson and prospect Reilly Smith, the Bruins also brought in a familiar foe from the 2013 trade deadline: Jarome Iginla. We all know the BS debacle he caused by changing his mind at the deadline and deciding to go to Pittsburgh. But, nevertheless Iginla came to Boston, tail between his legs after Boston handed to Pittsburgh’s ass in the Conference Finals just a month before.  So the Bruins team that made its way to Game 6 of the Finals had improved. Imagine that. This team that has had so much success over the last five years has gotten even better.

            The season opener should have been a sign. That day Jarome Iginla looked like a Bruin and it was only day one. Day one of his Bruins tenure and Iginla fit right in already getting into a fight. The tone was set with Iggy from that day forth in my opinion. The Bruins continued to play their style hockey and grind out wins. Only this season, the offense looked to be clicking easier than normal too. As Loui Eriksson struggled with some concussion issues, Reilly Smith took his spot on the second line alongside Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand and became the delightful surprise of the season. Smith struggled down the stretch but overall his 51 point season was a huge plus, especially if we are counting up the Seguin trade. A little more than a quarter of the way through the B’s lost veteran defenseman Dennis Seidenberg to an ACL injury. With Seidenberg done and injuries to Boychuk and McQuaid, the Bruins would go through periods where the defense was lacking at times due to some very young defenseman in Krug, Hamilton, Miller and Bartkowski. But all in all it was enough to win a lot of games and the young guys gained great experience which will be needed come playoff time.

            After the Olympic break, we saw the Bruins go on a run that captivated the fan base. From March 2^nd to March 24^th, the Bruins would not lose a game, winning twelve in a row. During that streak, Iggy seemed to put everything he touched into the net and Bergeron was hot as well. The Bruins coasted the rest of season finishing 54-19-9 with 117 points and claiming the President’s Trophy for best team in the NHL during the 2013-14 season.

            That reason is why this Bruins team is the best ever. Ever. Tuukka Rask is the odds on favorite to win the Vezina Trophy for the league’s best goalie. Patrice Bergeron had the best season of his career, if that’s even possible, scoring 30 goals and racking up a total of 62 points. Jarome Iginla’s presence on the team as a Hall-of-Famer was evident as he had a 30 goal/60 point season as well. He also had an effect on fellow line-mates Milan Lucic and David Krejci who both had the most productive and consistent seasons of their careers. The surprises of the season were Reilly Smith, who mentioned above, had a 50 point season along with the much anticipated play from Carl Soderberg who added 48 points. The famous 4^th line for the B’s (Thornton, Paille, and Campbell) also had a great season being consistent contributors as enforcers and scorers. So, what’s that? About six Bruins players had career seasons and the other did what a HOFer normally does. That is why the Bruins easily earned the 1^st seed in the East and had their best season ever.

            This team, believe it or not, is better than last year’s squad or even the 2011 Championship team. The mix of youth and veteran leadership is just right, while everyone together runs like a well-oiled machine taking care of business. After such a great season, the expectations on this team have never been higher. If they don’t reach the Cup Finals, many will consider this season a bust, and they are right. This is the best Bruins team that has ever hit the ice and they have the best shot at bringing home another Cup for Boston. It’s time to gear up and get ready for the rollercoaster that is the NHL playoffs, because the Bruins are ready to make a run. This time, they’re not settling for second. Their eye is on the Cup. It is champions or bust for this 2014 Bruins team, because it’s the Cup. So, sit back and get ready for the fun. GO BRUINS!