JACKSONVILLE – Home at last.
At the very least, we made it to the final day of the 2013 jaguars.com reader mock draft. We're officially through the first round, 32 selections – for better or worse, in sickness and health and all that.
In just about any year we would be done. But this is not any year.
This is 2013, and in the 2013 NFL Draft, the Jaguars hold the No. 33 overall selection. That's the first selection of Round 2, and seeing how this is a Jaguars website it would be plain silly to go through 32 selections and not make a selection for the home team the following day.
So, that's where we are.
We'll wrap this up Wednesday with the results of the Jaguars' selection, but first there's the not-so-insignificant task of putting a bow on an oft-criticized, just-as-often-dismissed first round of this reader mock. After starting at a reasonable, one-selection-a-day pace, we pushed it to a torrid pace of 22 players in four days, blistering through Nos. 11-32.
It may not have been a noble task, exactly, but it was our task, and we got it done.
For better or worse and all that . . .
And for better or worse, we started on Day 14 in the same place we had started on many days – with talk of West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith and the overall horrible job this senior writer and his loyal band of reader mockers had done mocking the draft's top-rated player at his position.
As it turns out we mocked him to the Vikings at No. 25 on Day 13, and far from making all readers happy it seemed to only bring up bad feelings among some observers.
One such observer was Ed Bynum, who failed to see the logic in the selection.
"Geno to Minny? They have a QB..." Bynum wrote.
Others figured that with the Vikings perhaps not completely committed to third-year veteran Christian Ponder there was at least a touch of "maybe" logic involved.
"The coaches have been talking about how they don't believe Ponder is the solution for the Vikings," Ryan Nearhood wrote. "Look at why Percy Harvin left.
"If Geno falls that far you bet they take him in a heartbeat."
"Heartbeat" seemed a bit strong, but the support was appreciated, and gave us the confidence to move on to the final day of the first round, which in our corner of the mockiverse went as follows:
*No. 27, Houston | DeAndre Hopkins, wide receiver, Clemson. The senior writer had offered up Hopkins as the selection here. Some agreed and some didn't, but enough did that this made sense. "For the third straight time, I'm going to put Hopkins on here, so hopefully this is the day he finally goes (he's definitely first round material)," Matt B wrote.
*No. 28, Denver | Johnathan Hankins, defensive tackle, Ohio State. Brian L. Jones correctly noted that Hankins could have gone to the Colts the day before, with him receiving as many or more votes as the player we mocked to the Colts, cornerback Johnthan Banks of Mississippi State. The Banks selection just made sense, as did the selection of Hankins here.
*No. 29, New England | Margus Hunt, defensive end, Southern Methodist. "Everything about this guy screams Bill Belichick – unknown-ish prospect from overseas, raw freakish talent, on the older/more "mature" side," J.School Corby wrote.
No. 30, Atlanta | Tyler Eifert, tight end, Notre Dame. The senior writer originally mocked Eifert to the Packers a few selections earlier. The reader mockers kicked that to the curb, and it's a good thing. He makes more sense here. "Falcons have one more year of Gonzalez," Brian L. Jones wrote. "They'll take the top tight end in the draft."
No. 31, San Francisco | Matt Elam, safety, Florida. The senior writer doesn't hit often. He did here – at least according to the readers. Well, hooray for him.
No. 32, Baltimore | Kevin Minter, ILB, Louisiana State. Yes, this was the senior writer's selection, but that wasn't what tipped the scales. What pushed him into the spot was Jones' entry here, "selecting" LSU punter Brad Wing with the following comment: "The Jags finally shake the monkey of selecting a punter in the 3rd round. (But if that doesn't work I'll go along with another LSU product, Kevin Minter at ILB.) "
Ha, ha, but why not, right? And with that, we come to the end of the first round. It was a round that reader Alex Ryzewic called "laughable," and one in which Randy Surles accused the senior writer of at various times napping and throwing darts at a board. And while that begs the question, "What's wrong with a little nap and a whole lot of darts?" the big picture is we now have a complete first round that looks like:
1.Kansas City | Luke Joeckel, OT, Texas A&M
2.Jacksonville | Dion Jordan, DE/ LB, Oregon
3.Oakland | Sharrif Floyd, DT, Florida
4.Philadelphia | Eric Fisher, OT, Central Michigan
5.Detroit | Dee Milliner, CB, Alabama
6.Cleveland | Ziggy Ansah, DE, Brigham Young
7.Arizona | Lane Johnson, OT, Oklahoma
8.Buffalo | Cordarrelle Patterson, WR, Tennessee
9.New York Jets | Barkevious Mingo, DE/LB, LSU
10.Tennessee | Chance Warmack, OG, Alabama
11.San Diego | Jonathan Cooper, OG, North Carolina
- Miami | Xavier Rhodes, CB, Florida State
- Tampa Bay | Desmond Trufant, CB, Washington
- Carolina | Star Lotulelei, DT, Utah
- New Orleans | Jarvis Jones, LB, Georgia
- St. Louis | Tavon Austin, WR, West Virginia
- Pittsburgh | Bjoern Werner, DE, Florida State
18, Dallas | Sheldon Richardson, DT, Missouri
- New York Giants | Manti Te'o, LB, Notre Dame
- Chicago | Alec Ogletree, LB, Georgia
21.Cincinnati | D.J. Fluker, OT, Alabama
- St. Louis | Kenny Vaccaro, S, Texas
- Minnesota | Keenan Allen, WR, California
- Indianapolis | Johnthan Banks, CB, Mississippi State
- Minnesota | Geno Smith, QB, West Virginia
- Green Bay Packers | Eddie Lacy, RB, Alabama
- Houston | DeAndre Hopkins, WR, Clemson
- Denver | Johnathan Hankins, DT, Ohio State
- New England | Margus Hunt, DE, Southern Methodist
- Atlanta | Tyler Eifert, TE, Notre Dame
- San Francisco |Matt Elam, S, Florida
- Baltimore | Kevin Minter, ILB, Louisiana State
That means we've made it to the Jaguars' selection at No. 33. No offering here. None necessary. Let the readers have their say, which as we know beyond question they will.
Have at it.
