Fantasy Sports Outlook

Signed up for the Predict The Draft challenge over at NFL.com. I’m going to try and add some comments on why I think it may flow this way, suffice it to say I don’t consider myself an expert in any sense of the word when it comes to this. But I do think I’m going to hit on some of these. Luckily I have until the morning of the draft to continue to tinker with this mock.

Over at the contest site they have a aggregated community picks list that is updated every 24 hours. You can see my picks against the community picks on the NFL Draft Links page. Can see I’m not in line with a lot of the picks, but not far off on some.

Predict The Pick

This is my first round mock draft.

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All over Raider Nation the masses are trying to get inside Al Davis’ head and figure out who we’re going to take with the No. 4 pick in this year’s draft. And we’re not the only team. This is the time of year where unless you do an infomercial along the lines of Miss Cleo, the smoke screens that get laid down by the Owner’s, GMs and HCs won’t get you any closer to who the pick’s might be. As fan’s we can make somewhat educated guesses by who we think will be selected, but it’s more an emotional thing with fan’s.

While some of the moves Oakland has made during the off season will undoubtedly help them, I’d like to think Al Davis will still go after the best player sitting on the board at pick 1.4, regardless of who it is. Looking around at a handful of NFL draft websites, there’s a general consensus on the top 5-10 players in this years class.

Went through a few draft site’s to see who they had Oakland taking with the 4th pick. Pretty much the big five in the mix, Darren McFadden, Vernon Ghloston, Chris Long, Jake Long, and Glenn Dorsey.

Here’s a couple of news items that will have some effect on the Raiders pick if true. If this first one is true and Chris Long falls to us I say take him. I can see something like this in the first four picks:

1. Miami Dolphins OT Jake Long
2. St. Louis Rams DE Glenn Dorsey
3. Atlanta Falcons RB Darren McFadden
4. Oakland Raiders DE Chris Long

From KFFL.com

Dolphins Team negotiating with J. Long’s agent
Jeff Darlington, of The Miami Herald, reports the Miami Dolphins have begun contract negotiations with University of Michigan OT Jake Long’s agent, Tom Condon, regarding the prospect of selecting Long with their first overall selection in the 2008 NFL Draft. The Dolphins would prefer to have a contract in place with their first pick before the draft on April 26, to avoid a potential holdout.

Patriots Team could move up for Gholston
Dave Hutchinson, of The Star-Ledger, reports the New England Patriots could consider moving up to No. 5 in the 2008 NFL Draft to pick Ohio State DL Vernon Gholston.

Check out what some of the top draft site’s are say about the Raiders pick.

Fantasy Football NFL Draft, Oakland Raiders

Good stuff by Drew Boylhart from thehuddlereport.com with his talent top 10 list. You can check out what he has to say about each player here.

If you are a THR member then you know by know that my personal top ten have nothing to do with who will actually be drafted in the top ten. Rob’s value board will give you that information. The first year I did this I listed Nick Mangold OC Jets - in my top ten and believe me the reaction to naming a center, as one of the top ten players in a draft was unbelievable. But I guess the Jets felt the same way about his talent as I did because they drafted him in the first round. I don’t go out of my way just to shock people and list players that have no chance of being picked in the top ten of this draft. The list consist of who I feel will have the greatest impact based on what I see on film.

1. Jake Long OT
2. Vernon Gholston DE/OLB
3. Darren McFadden RB
4. Matt Ryan QB
5. Chris Long DE/OLB

Those are my top five picks and as far as I’m concerned you can but them in any order that you want to. Every one of these top five players is worthy of being the first pick in this draft. The needs of my team would dictate the order.

• Branden Albert OL
• Sedrick Ellis DL
• Malcolm Kelly WR
• Antoine Cason CB/S
• Ray Rice RB

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