The long and bumpy road to Super Bowl XLVII

Sport
101

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Guardianā€™s live text coverage of the draft has a bit of detail on the picks: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/apr/26/nfl-draft-2012-andrew-luck-rg3[/font]
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Summary article:[/font]
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As expected, Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III were the Number One and Two picks in the 2012 NFL Draft.[/font]
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The Indianapolis Colts kicked off the annual draft party by taking Stanford quarterback Luck with the No.1 pick. The Washington Redskins followed by selecting Griffin, aka RG3, the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback from Baylor.[/font]
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There then followed a string of trades as teams jockeyed into position. The Cleveland Browns swapped picks with the Minnesota Vikings to take Alabama running back Trent Richardson with the third pick. Minnesota, who got added picks in the fourth, fifth and seventh rounds in the deal, took offensive tackle Matt Kalil of Southern California.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers traded the fifth pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars, who selected Oklahoma State wide receiver Justin Blackmon.[/font]
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The Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns also picked QBs - Ryan Tannehill and Brandon Weeden respectively.[/font]
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Luck will be taking over the reins of the Coltsā€™ offense from four-time NFL MVP Peyton Manning, who has joined the Denver Broncos.[/font]
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Luck said: ā€œHe was my football hero growing up. I realize you donā€™t really replace a guy like that. Those shoes to fill are huge. If one day I can be mentioned alongside Peyton in quarterback history, it would be a football dream come true.ā€[/font]
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The second and third rounds of the draft will be held on Friday, with rounds four through seven conducted on Saturday.[/font]
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All the first round picks:
1 Indianapolis Colts - Andrew Luck, quarterback, Stanford
2 Washington Redskins (from Rams) - Robert Griffin III, quarterback, Baylor
3 Cleveland Browns (from Vikings) - Trent Richardson, running back, Alabama
4 Minnesota Vikings (from Browns) - Matt Kalil, offensive tackle, Southern California
5 Jacksonville Jaguars (from Buccaneers) - Justin Blackmon, wide receiver, Oklahoma State
6 Dallas Cowboys (from Redskins via Rams) - Morris Claiborne, defensive back, Louisiana State
7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (from Jaguars) - Mark Barron, defensive back, Alabama
8 Miami Dolphins - Ryan Tannehill, quarterback, Texas A&M
9 Carolina Panthers - Luke Kuechly, linebacker, Boston College
10 Buffalo Bills - Stephon Gilmore, defensive back, South Carolina
11 Kansas City Chiefs - Dontari Poe, nose tackle, Memphis
12 Philadelphia Eagles (from Seahawks) - Fletcher Cox, defensive tackle, Mississippi State
13 Arizona Cardinals - Michael Floyd, wide receiver, Notre Dame
14 St. Louis Rams (from Cowboys) - Michael Brockers, defensive tackle, Louisiana State
15 Seattle Seahawks (from Eagles) - Bruce Irvin, defensive end, West Virginia
16 New York Jets - Quinton Coples, defensive end, North Carolina
17 Cincinnati Bengals (from Raiders) - Dre Kirkpatrick, defensive back, Alabama
18 San Diego Chargers - Melvin Ingram, linebacker, South Carolina
19 Chicago Bears - Shea McClellin, defensive end, Boise State
20 Tennessee Titans - Kendall Wright, wide receiver, Baylor
21 New England (from Bengals) - Chandler Jones, defensive end, Syracuse
22 Cleveland Browns (from Falcons) - Brandon Weeden, quarterback, Oklahoma State
23 Detroit Lions - Riley Reiff, offensive tackle, Iowa
24 Pittsburgh Steelers - David DeCastro, guard, Stanford
25 New England (from Broncos) - Dontā€™a Hightower, linebacker, Alabama
26 Houston Texans - Whitney Mercilus, linebacker, Illinois
27 Cincinnati (from Saints via Patriots) - Kevin Zeitler, guard, Wisconsin
28 Green Bay Packers - Nick Perry, linebacker, Southern California
29 Minnesota Vikings (from Ravens) - Harrison Smith, defensive back, Notre Dame
30 San Francisco 49ers - A.J. Jenkins, wide receiver, Illinois
31 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (from Patriots via Broncos) - Doug Martin, running back, Boise State
32 New York Giants - David Wilson, running back, Virginia Tech[/font]

102

Poor Justin Blackmon. I bet his heart sunk when he was picked by the Jags.

103

Broncos traded down with their two possible picks, Elway says they didnā€™t really miss any of the targets they were hoping for, realistic ones anyhow.

The Browns are going all out between trading up for Richardson, and giving the Vikes a pile of picks, and then taking a risk on Weedan as well.

Patriots will probably trade down today. Jenkins might be a decent upgrade on the secondary but heā€™s a bit of a risk character wise.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1159418-2012-nfl-mock-draft-updated-round-2-and-3-projections

104

I still donā€™t get the buzz that happened around Ryan Tannehill. I barely heard his name mentioned last year watching College football. He seems like a super reach.

http://cnnsi.com/football/nfl/draft-2012/tracker/draft_analysis/index.html##

105

The issue was that the Dolphins need a QB having failed to capture anyone in free agency, theyā€™ll be kicking themselves for letting Flynn slip away to Seattle yet, and were not in a position to move up for Luck or RG3.

Pretty much every commentator has him down as a guaranteed bust. Itā€™s sad for him as the pressure on him is going to be unreal now and thereā€™s little chance of him living up to the billing of such a high QB pick. Dolphins probably would have been as well to trade down and take Weedan, who is thought to be NFL ready if a little old at 29.

106

Did they really need a QB though?
Matt Moore did a good job at the end of last season. And itā€™s not like all they need is a QB. If they were so locked in on taking a QB there were much more rounded available. Guys like Kirk Cousins, Kellen Moore, Brandon Weeden all looked much more obvious picks than Tannehill. And they could have got them much later.

107

I agree with you on Moore. Admittedly I only saw a little of him last year heā€™d be no worse than Tannehill and represent no risk for them. A QB was a need but not so high.

Theyā€™d probably have been better taking Osweiler in the second round maybe Foles or Cousins as a project. Itā€™s not like theyā€™re in a win now mode.

108

While the Rams must have been gutted to see the Jags leapfrog them to take Blackmon Iā€™d love to be in their shoes today. 1st pick and 3 of the first 13 picks. Today could define the Rams franchise for years to come.

109

I hope Jim Harbaugh knows what heā€™s doing, not sure what to make of him drafting an unheralded WR, to add to the arrivals of Randy Moss & Manningham. Itā€™s also telling that he passed on the much more touted TE Coby Fleener who he coached at Stanford. Maybe he thought that Luck made him look better than he is.

110

49s dont need a tight endā€¦ they need someone to help them stretch the field vertically jenkins 40 time is 4.39 the quickest in this years combine i think.

what needs have they at tight end with vernon davis already there?

111

I wouldnā€™t fall in love with 40 times, Iā€™d prefer to see evidence of productivity. Where is their need to stretch the field? Not sure that stretching the field was an issue last year, and is unlikely to be this year, especially with Randy Moss & Mario Manningham on the books and Michael Crabtree, Ted Ginn Jr & Kyle Williams still there.

The 49ers biggest weakness last year was an inability to convert in the Red Zone. Stretching the field isnā€™t going to be a huge need when the ball is on the opponents 20.

Vernon Davis is there alright and is great at what he does, but he offers little to the running game, heā€™s great to catch a spectacular pass and make a play but thereā€™s more to being a TE than that.

Also, the majority of successful offenses are lining up with 2 and sometimes 3 TE sets, so you need multiple assets here.

Fleener has been singled out by multiple scouts as being excellent at getting open in a crowded end zone, (10 Redzone TDs last year) and at 6 foot 6 and 250lbs he could mature into an asset on the line of scrimmage also. I see him in the Rob Gronkowski mould.

112

Weeden is 29?! The Bryan Cullen of the NFL draft.

113

And Fleener is picked by the colts in round 2 to reunite him with Andrew Luck. Luck would surely have had an input there.

114

Is he a WR?

115

Tight end

116

Clever stuff from Colts. Thatā€™ll help both settle quicker.

117

Iā€™d agree with that, they have definitely improved their chances.

Left scratching my head again at Harbaughā€™s second round pick. James is a quality RB prospect and was on a lot of peoples Heisman shortlist at the start of the year, but itā€™s a position the 49ers are already well loaded at. One aspect that was poor last year was pass protection, Iā€™d like to have seen them pick someone like Cordy Glenn in the first round, Jenkins would must likely still have been on the board second time around and if not and they still really wanted him it would have been pretty easy to move up in the 2nd round.

118

Yeah I know where your coming from mad, with Jacobs and Gore its hard to see the need.

Harbaugh has been a fan of his for a while apparently. Gore has only 2 years left on his contract and is 29 so its hard to know how long heā€™ll
Lastā€¦
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119

Colts take Hilton & Ballard in 3rd & 4th picks. Looks like we are concentrating on offence only again.

120

4 Saints players who took part in the bountygate scandal have been suspended. Vilma got the worst suspension, he has a full year without pay as he was a captain of the defence and put up $10k in the 2 playoff games to take out Warner and Favre.