As most of you know, a colleague and I have been conducting a mock draft over the course of the last two weeks at SB Nation Bay Area, and we've just made it through the first round. It's been fun thus far, and we feel good about the first round and where all of the players went, so it's onward through the second and potentially further at this point. First, I wanted to post a little bit of a recap of what went on.
So, I was picking for our San Francisco 49ers at seven, and the board ended up shaping up with Dareus, Amukamara, and Quinn available, and I feel like the 49ers would be fine with any of those guys. Aukamara is a number one corner on the 49ers and would be a starter for years to come, Quinn would be a fantastic outside linebacker and Dareus is just a beast all around. There's not really any ways it could have turned out badly for San Francisco at that point. When I think about the 2011 NFL Draft and who we could end up with, I really do feel good because in almost any scenario, Amukamara is there as a fallback option. He's a legitimate top ten talent and would be great in San Francisco.
Only three quarterbacks went in the first round, but I imagine there will be a run of them soon here. In my opinion, the winners in the first round are the Chargers, who get Tyron Smith at the eighteenth pick. The Buccaneers landing Ryan Kerrigan and the Falcons ending up with Adrian Clayborn are also great scenarios for them, as well. The biggest problem, for me, is that I think all NFC West teams had a great first round. So let's take a look at the top seven picks (and here's a link to the full first round):
1. Carolina Panthers: Blaine Gabbert, QB
2. Denver Broncos: Nick Fairley, DT
3. Buffalo Bills: Von Miller, OLB
4. Cincinnati Bengals: Cameron Newton, QB
5. Arizona Cardinals: Patrick Peterson, CB
6. Cleveland Browns: A.J. Green, WR
7. San Francisco 49ers: Marcell Dareus, DE
Make the jump for the rest of the results.
8. Tennessee Titans: Da'Quan Bowers, DE
9. Dallas Cowboys: Prince Amukamara, CB
10. Washington Redskins: Julio Jones, WR
11. Houston Texans: Robert Quinn, DE
12. Minnesota Vikings: Jake Locker, QB
13. Detroit Lions: Cameron Jordan, DE
14. St. Louis Rams: Aldon Smith, DE
15. Miami Dolphins: Mark Ingram, RB
16. Jacksonville Jaguars: J.J. Watt, DE
17. New England Patriots: Muhammad Wilkerson, DT
18. San Diego Chargers: Tyron Smith, OT
19. New York Giants: Anthony Castonzo, OT
20. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Ryan Kerrigan, DE
21. Kansas City Chiefs: Mike Pouncey, G
22. Indianapolis Colts: Gabe Carimi, OT
23. Philadelphia Eagles: Brandon Harris, CB
24. New Orleans Saints: Phil Taylor, DT
25. Seattle Seahawks: Jimmy Smith, CB
26. Baltimore Ravens: Torrey Smith, WR
27. Atlanta Falcons: Adrian Clayborn, DE
28. New England Patriots: Derek Sherrod, OT
29. Chicago Bears: Nate Solder, OT
30. New York Jets: Cameron Heyward, DE
31. Pittsburgh Steelers: Ben Ijalana, OT
32. Green Bay Packers: Brooks Reed, OLB