Hey guys - Matty I here from The Phinsider.  Besides being a a Dolphins fan, I'm also a huge fan of the NFL Draft.  For as long as I can remember, I've been watching every round of the draft.  I can even recall years when I was in elementary school and some friends would come by to see if I wanted to play whiffle ball and I passed because the draft was on and I wanted to see how my first round predictions fared (when I was that young, I didn't know it was referred to as a "mock draft").

So why am I tell you all this?  Well over the years, I've done pretty well with my mock one round mock draft.  Since joining SBN in 2006, my past two mock drafts - 2007 and 2008 - have fared particularly well.  In fact, using the scoring system that The Huddle Report uses for its media mock draft rankings, my 2007 mock scored a 52 - which would have tied me for 3rd with Jay Glazer - and my 2008 mock scored a 50 - which would have been good enough for 1st place, 5 points better than the next highest.

In light of this, Dan asked me to share my 2009 mock draft here at MTD.  I, of course, told him I'd be happy to.

Before I get into my mock, though, I wanted to make a couple of points.  First, I think the reason why I've had such good luck recently with my mocks is because I don't over-think it.  I know I have some friends who obsess over their mock drafts - probably because we have a little "friendly competition" ourselves.  But I think the key is to not out think yourself when putting together your final mock.  Don't make out your mock draft based on your own personal rankings of draft prospects.  Just because you have Josh Freeman rated higher than Matthew Stafford on your own board is no reason to have him being selected earlier than Stafford.  That's just not going to happen.  You need to make your mock based on how you think each team will draft - not how you feel they should.

So just pay attention to all of the latest news and rumors coming out of each NFL city.  I'd suggest paying closer attention to those beat writers who cover each particular team day in and day out rather than focusing on what the big national "draft experts" are saying.  After all, it's the beat writers who are in and around the team's facility every day.  If anyone is going to have a decent idea on what direction a team might be leaning, it'll more than likely be the beat writers and not the national guys.

And lastly, you need to consider things like team needs and a front office's past draft history (if they have one) and their tendencies.  Of course, being able to decipher all of the misinformation that is purposely circulated by NFL teams would be helpful, too.  But, again, don't over-think it.  When in doubt, go with your gut.  That's worked best for me.

This year's draft, however, is probably one of the toughest I can ever recall in terms of attempting to draw up an accurate first round mock.  It's as unpredictable as ever and, worse yet, as fluid as I have seen in many years.  One pick early in the top 5 or 10 could change the entire complexion of round one and make all of our mocks completely inaccurate.  Throw in the likelihood of some draft day trades and what you have is the potential for a total mock draft disaster.

And with that said, let's get to my mock draft.  Note that I don't have any trades predicted - because it's so hard to accurately predict them.  Instead, I have focused more on getting the player and team matched up rather than the player and his actual draft slot.

Continue reading this post »

After a long wait, and several edits and restarts, there is new mock up on the site. Apparently it's a bad idea to attempt a mock at the start of free agency. Who knew?

A couple guys in the top 64 didn't make it into the mock. They were Shonn Greene, Javon Ringer, Jonathan Luigs, Nate Davis and Rashad Jennings. Three are running backs, a position not heavily in need this year. 

So, tear this thing apart. There will probably be at least two more mocks before the draft. And don't forget, if you've got a mock, toss it in a fanpost and have at it!

CHECK IT OUT

Hello fellow draftaholics! Welcome to the NFL's true "second season," a season where we all huddle around our PCs, laptops, and Macs, searching every website possible for information on college players who have decided to enter the 2009 NFL Draft. In many ways, the NFL Draft almost exceeds the Super Bowl in terms of fan interest and excitement. For many, the draft means hope. Look no further than the two 2009 Super Bowl participants. Two years ago, both these teams were out of the playoffs. Now, they are playing for a championship.

A big reason for their recent success is the NFL Draft.

Because of your demand for more and more information on players and NFL Draft coverage, we at SB Nation are very excited to re-introduce you to the new Mocking the Draft, SB Nation's new-NEW NFL Draft blog. We are also happy to introduce MTD's new lead scout and head writer, Mocking Dan.

Mocking Dan takes over for Matt Miller, who is still working his draft magic over at New Era Scouting. While we miss Matt and wish him all the best, Mocking Dan brings to MTD and SB Nation a strong knowledge of draft prospects and a keen eye for evaluating talent. We are very excited to have him on board, and as you can see, he is already blogging up a storm.

Under Mocking Dan's direction, we have also assigned five contributing writers to the site. These writers will cover specific NFL divisions (and the teams in those divisions) leading up to the April draft. These writers may look familiar to many of you. They have been contributing to several of our current NFL team blogs, like Mile High Report and Stampede Blue. Like Mocking Dan, we are ecstatic these talented and hard-working writers have taken on these writing duties by covering these teams and their draft needs. The writers and their respective NFL division beats are:

• hoosierteacher- AFC East and AFC South
• shake n bake- AFC North
• Styg50- AFC West and NFC West
• BigBlueShoe (me!)- NFC East
• mgrex03- NFC North and NFC South

These NFL division writers will cover the draft needs of the teams in their respective divisions using scouting reports, insight, and other information from Mocking Dan, our NFL blog community, and readers like YOU! We will also have a site Mock Draft with writers offering their picks for their teams. Mocking Dan will post his mock drafts as often as possible.

We will also offer coverage of the various college pro days, the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, and (of course) the 2009 NFL Draft itself from Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

We hope you love our new format, using SB Nation's 2.0 blogging platform. We will also implement more navigation features here at MTD, making it easier for you to get player information and scouting reports based on position and ranking. As always, we look forward to your comments on our draft coverage. So, on behalf of the SB Nation NFL community, welcome to the Nation!

Take a moment to welcome Mocking Dan and his merry band of contributing writers. We hope you enjoy and contribute to the new-NEW Mocking the Draft! For a quick taste of Mocking Dan's first mock draft:

1. Detroit Lions
	Matt Stafford, QB, Georgia: With five picks in the first three rounds, the Lions can take Stafford with the No. 1 pick and build the line later in the draft. Starting offensive tackles are much more readily available in this draft than quarterbacks, so Detroit can still pick up a tackle later.

For more, click here and comment away.