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Hello everyone welcome to the explanatory letter explaining and discussing some of the curious selections made in my (CJs) latest Mock draft for the 2009 NFL Draft. I usually update the Mock at the beginning of every month unless I have a huge workload to take care of.

To get started let me discuss the choice of Stafford over Bradford in this mock draft. While I think Bradford is the more polished, better performer I have a hard time moving a QB from a spread offense into the number one spot. Stafford has great arm strength, runs a pro style offense and has dealt with protection errors as well as plays where he’s had to improvise, this allows for a better transition into the NFL (Examples are Matt Ryan and Jay Cutler) because things never really go smooth for young QB’s. Bradford comes from a conference where defense isn’t real dominant and because of his massive offensive line he has time to progress through different reads. He has never really had to bring OU back from a deficit and he has not struggled often, this isn’t a bad thing but it is a minus in my mind because you cannot judge his character and fight when he performs like Dan Marino every game.

The St Louis pick of Oher over other athletes is simple in my mind, The Rams spent a lot of money on Bulger and Jackson, Orlando Pace is succumbing to injuries more often and the line is not holding up the way it used to. Teams need solid line play before any skill player can become dominant, hence Oher you’re off to St Louis.

I have Everette Brown going first among DE’s as of right now. Some might be asking why and the answer is he has speed and production, Brown also has decent size. One reason I have him highly ranked is because FSU’s defense is not as dominant as it has been in the past, with fewer studs great players stand out with production and this is what is happening in Brown’s case. The Raiders need a DE who can get after the QB, they spent a truck load on the offense but the defense needs some love to, I would not be surprised to see Macklin selected here though.

When I see the 49ers I see coach Singletary there as the head coach in the future and with that comes stout defense. Playing smash mouth blast you style of defense the defensive line needs to be dominant and Cody can be a huge part of compiling a line to do just that, Cody may not be William Perry but when healthy Cody can control the LOS.

I have Percy Harvin to the Bears for a one reason, injury history. Harvin is explosive with the ball in his hands and while the Bears do have Hester I must encourage everyone to remember Hester is still learning offense. With Chicago’s style of grind it out football it makes so much sense in my opinion to add a player who can do a lot with fewer touches. Why fewer touches? The Bears need to keep feeding Forte to be successful.

Junior OT Eben Britton going to the Patriots, I have already heard a few Pat fans complaining “we have Matt Light and talented backups”. That may be but everyone is witness to the Patriots line becoming mortal. When Brady is down or out and the word on the street trading Cassel to get some value for him the line will once again have a young gun slinger if Brady gets hurt or retires in the next few years (he will be 32 next Aug). Im not saying he will retire at any point but with exception for a few QB’s the average retirement age for a good talented NFL QB is 36 (Injuries don’t help either).

Some have might wonder why James Laurinaitis would be selected by the Vikings the answer is depth and versatility. Laurinaitis can play OLB like he did early in his career when Hawk and Carpenter were still playing at OSU. JL would make an excellent SLB forming one heck of a LB corp.

I know I left a fan favorite in Chris ‘Beanie’ Wells out of the first round, I did so because big backs are not coveted the way they were in the past. A recent trend of only drafting home run hitting RB’s in the first round has occurred, AP would be the exception but his forty time kind of places him in with the home run hitters. Wells will not run a 4.3 and he has injury concerns. For some reason bigger backs fall, nothing against him because I could foresee Cleveland taking in him the first round moving back in or getting him early second.

Look for the next Mock at the end of December. Take care everyone.