Mr Pressbox Pre-Draft: Mock this

Opting to forgo a traditional mock draft that will be as useless as most people’s NCAA tournament brackets after the top five picks tomorrow night, I decided to add a little more foresight into my pre-draft analysis instead of a simple mock draft.

So, here are a few views from the Pressbox about what to expect from the draft:

1. Trades and trade rumors will intensify Thursday during the day leading up to the draft. During the draft, the trades will slow to a minimum. Then overnight Thursday leading up to the draft on Friday will hit a fever pitch heading into the second round. Overall, most of the trade action will take place during the downtime between days, not during the active draft rounds.

2. Sam Bradford will be the No. 1 pick by the St Louis Rams.

3. Ndamukong Suh will only escape being drafted by the Detroit Lions if someone trades up to the #2 spot (not likely)

4. Gerald McCoy will wear Warren Sapp’s old number for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

5. The Washington Redskins will draft a quarterback in the first two rounds. The stupid thing to do would be draft Jimmy Clausen at #4. The smart move is to draft OL Russell Okung with their first pick and then draft a quarterback with their 2nd round pick.

6. The 1st round will be top-heavy with OL picks.

7. The 2nd round will be a quarterback clearing house. Expect Colt McCoy (if available), Tim Tebow, Tony Pike, Dan LeFevour, and others, to go once the run on quarterbacks starts.

8. The Kansas City Chiefs fans will want the Chiefs to draft S Eric Berry, but Scott Pioli will choose a safer investment for the money paid to a #5 pick either drafting OL Bryan Bulaga or Trent Williams.

9. C. J. Spiller will most likely be drafted by a team trading up to get him. (Favorites: San Francisco, Oakland, Seattle or San Diego).

10. Tim Tebow WILL be drafted by a team who trades for the pick to select him. (Favorites: Seattle, Washington, New England or Minnesota).

11. The San Diego Chargers and San Francisco 49ers will both draft running backs in the first or second round.

12. Tim Tebow will be mentioned at least once during every selection discussion of the first round on both the NFL Network and ESPN coverage.

13. One big name player will be traded during the actual selecting of the first round (involving either Washington or New England).

Follow Mr Pressbox on Twitter for pick by pick analysis during the first and second rounds, and comments all weekend.

With the first pick of the 2010 NFL Draft ….

Mr Pressbox Out!!

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Big Ten Expansion (part 3): The Contenders

After discussing some of the  outside contenders for the 12th spot in the Big Ten, lots of noise has been made to cut to the chase and get to the real teams (already). This installment will cover the teams with good chances, but not the front-runners. The top two teams for expansion will follow soon.

Some bloggers and so-called experts have been casting doubt on the “East Coast Media Theory” for Big 10 expansion. The problem is, it is too logical not to apply. The conference wants to send a serious statement to the college football community that it is THE top conference in football by adding a conference championship game as well as gain exposure in the ESPN (Eastern Sports Publicity Network) dominated media market on the East Coast.

Two major teams accomplish this feat; the Syracuse Orange and Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

Syracuse has an established football program that has had very strong times, and very weak times – a perfect fit for the Big 10. Other than Ohio State, the Big 10 standings can be highly volatile on a yearly basis. And the basketball team has also had established success. Plus Syracuse is about as close to New York itself as the Big 10 can get.

About the only university closer is Rutgers, another likely option. The Scarlet Knights have had a solid football program over the last decade joined with an increase in credibility as a quality opponent. Joining the Big 10 offers Rutgers a larger stage than the Big East and gives the Big 10 a 12th team that will not be a threat to upset the apple cart immediately in the conference.

Again, major prospects like Texas,  Nebraska and Notre Dame would not consider a move t the Big 10 because they want to be conference championship contenders from the start. The truth is, the conference would not want a drastic shake-up immediately – the individual athletic directors within the conference would not allow it. The team needs to ease itself into conference contention.

Two other very unlikely names to also consider at this point would be the University of Connecticut and the Naval Academy. With recent success for both programs, their presence on the East Coast at least puts them on the Big 10 radar.

Coming up next: The Semi-finalist. Who will take second place in the chase for the 12th spot in the Big 10?

Mr Pressbox Out!!

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