Mock draft database for Heisman night

The 2013 college football regular season is officially wrapped up, with bowl games set to begin next Saturday, December 21. The close of the season means it is once again time for the presentation of the Heisman Trophy. Jameis Winston is a monster favorite, with absolutely ridiculous odds in his favor. I recall seeing one place having him installed at 1/150. That means you have to bet $150 just to win $1.

While we enjoy the Heisman presentation, I thought now was as good a time as any to start up our seventh annual mock draft database. We've been running out the database since 2008, and it is generally a fun little project. The value of mock drafts is more in the discussion than in whether or not they accurately predict the players to a team. I think better value comes in the positions involved, as opposed to the specific players. We have no idea how one team values a given player over another. However, we can often figure out the specific areas of need that can impact the draft.

As we did last year, you can go in to our database and sort by each column. For now we have 21 drafts mixed in. We'll expand that as we get into January and more sites are doing mocks. Last year we had 40, so I am aiming for that once again in January and beyond. Plenty of folks are getting out mock drafts, but draft season really picks up after bowl season ends.

It is no surprise that most of the mocks have the 49ers selecting a wide receiver or a cornerback. There are ten wide receiver picks and seven cornerback picks. The bigger surprise comes with those who go for another position. For the four sites that did not pick a wide receiver or cornerback, we have selections that include running back, outside linebacker, offensive guard and defensive tackle.

The 49ers could do plenty to surprise me, but I really can't see a running back coming off the board in the first. Given that they get Marcus Lattimore back, and still haven't figured out how to use LaMichael James in the offense, I just don't see a running back going that high. I could see maybe a later pick, but even that would be a bit of a surprise.