I'm happy to have finally acquired my favorite and only draft guide, The Sporting News Draft Guide '08. I've spent over a month going over team and individual stats and tracking free agency moves to reach my own conclusions on team needs. Now with my draft guide, I can finally go ahead and produce a mock draft.
As accurate past Sporting News draft guides have been in my opinion, this one raises questions. For example, their top quarterback is Louisville's Brian Brohm over Boston College's Matt Ryan. I could somewhat understand that because of the number of interceptions Ryan threw over the past two years in comparison to Brohm (28 by Ryan, 17 by Brohm). But this doesn't seem to weigh their performance last year. Brohm wasn't the same player without head coach Bobby Petrino, who padded his resume with the Atlanta Falcons before moving on to Arkansas. Ryan, on the other hand, led the Eagles offense when he wasn't surronded by much talent. Brohm had a much better supporting cast around him.
Also, they rate Ohio State DE Vernon Gholston as a second round pick. Just about everyone else disagreed, and Gholston's performance at the NFL Combine improved his stock.
While I understand everyone is entitled to their own opinions, The Sporting News' evaluations seem dated in some areas. Their scouting group, The War Room, is well established and may see things differently from other scouts. It could be just as simple as putting more value on a body of work instead of their final college season.
But I have a hard time believing Brohm is better than Ryan or Gholston is only a second rounder. It's a draft guide, but I'm free to make my own opinions.
By the way, they say the Patriots will draft a corner. That would be in agreement with most mock drafts I've seen, but I don't see it that way. The paper trail mock draft is coming soon.
Keywords: Brian Brohm, Matt Ryan, mock draft, Patriots, Vernon Gholston
