Mel Kiper’s current prediction on how the draft will turn out (* means underclassman):
1. Houston — *Reggie Bush, RB, USC
2. New Orleans — Matt Leinart, QB, Southern California
3. Tennessee — *Vince Young, QB, Texas
4. New York Jets — D’Brickashaw Ferguson, OT, Virginia
5. Green Bay — *Mario Williams, DE, NC State
6. Oakland — A.J. Hawk, LB, Ohio State
7. San Francisco — DeMeco Ryans, LB, Alabama
8. Buffalo — *Haloti Ngata, DT, Oregon
9. Detroit — Jay Cutler, QB, Vanderbilt
10. Arizona — DeAngelo Williams, RB, Memphis
11. St. Louis — *Vernon Davis, TE, Maryland
12. Cleveland — Chad Greenway, LB, Iowa
13. Baltimore — Tamba Hali, DE, Penn State
14. Philadelphia — *Santonio Holmes, WR, Ohio State
15. Atlanta — Michael Huff, DB, Texas
16. Miami — *Winston Justice, OT, USC
17. Minnesota — *LenDale White, RB, USC
18. Dallas — Jimmy Williams, DB, Virginia Tech
19. San Diego — *Ko Simpson, DB, South Carolina
20. Kansas City — *Ashton Youboty, CB, Ohio State
21. New England — Bobby Carpenter, LB, Ohio State
22. Denver (from Wash.) — Mathias Kiwanuka, DE, Boston College
23. Tampa Bay — Derek Hagan, WR, Arizona State
24. Cincinnati — Claude Wroten, DT, LSU
25. New York Giants — *Ernie Sims, LB, Florida State
26. Chicago — *Leonard Pope, TE, Georgia
27. Carolina — *Anthony Fasano, TE, Notre Dame
28. Pittsburgh — *Antonio Cromartie, CB, Florida State
29. Jacksonville — Thomas Howard, LB, UTEP
30. Indianapolis — *Laurence Maroney, RB, Minnesota
31. Denver — *Darnell Bing, DB, USC
32. Seattle — *Chad Jackson, WR, Florida
Personally, I do not believe that Matt Leinart will go above Vince Young, and it is hard for me to see Vince Young falling any farther than the 2nd spot of the draft. I feel that Reggie Bush and Vince Young knew a little something about how draft day would turn out before they declared themselves eligible to be drafted.
Other notable slots:
Jay Cutler being picked as high as #9 (VANDY!)
Laurence Maroney dropping as far as #30 (could be the best true RB)
It should end up being a very fun draft to follow. Take note to see which players sign which agents and what kind of deals (signing bonuses) are awarded per player. Did the agent get too little, the right amount, or even exceed the player’s value in negotiations.
[tags]NFL, draft, bush, cutler, young, maroney, sports agent, signing bonus[/tags]
3 replies on “Mel Kiper’s initial prediction”
Gosh, I don’t see Marcus “New Mexico” Vick on there. I kid. I wonder how far down in the draft he goes, if he goes at all. That could be a subject for an entry: What do you do when the player you represent is a major league screw up?
“That could be a subject for an entry: What do you do when the player you represent is a major league screw up?”
Ah, I see you actually have already touched on this subject, a while back, with the post about Ron Artest.
Well actually, that is not necessarily true. I think that it is important to really understand the player that you represent entirely (personality, likes, dislikes, mental state, etc.) before ever signing a representation agreement. I feel that Ron Artest may not be as bad as the press makes him out to be, but then again, I do not know Ron Artest personally.
As far as Marcus Vick is concerned, from reading articles and watching ESPN, as an agent, I would stay as far away from him as possible. There are many certified agents who never receive one client. My personal philosophy, though, is that I would rather not have any clients in my lifetime than have one extremely sour apple. I would also become a very poor man writing this blog and begging for donations