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Draft King Analysis
March 26, 2015
Lou Pickney, DraftKing.com

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First things first: I want to thank Josh Pacheco for having me on his show on 1420 ESPN Hawaii (KKEA/Honolulu) on Tuesday to talk about the upcoming draft.

I love radio, and while I didn't do any radio or podcast appearances during the time I spent back in the TV news biz, now that I'm free from that I'm available to do them again. I have some long-term plans about potentially doing some audio-related things (be it for podcast or traditional radio or whatever) once I get set up at my new place when I move back to Nashville shortly after the draft in May.

Enough about me -- there are plenty of NFL Draft-related items to discuss:

• I'm contemplating how far down to adjust Nebraska DE/OLB Randy Gregory in my next mock update in light of news that he failed his piss test for weed at the NFL Combine. Attitudes are strongly shifting against cannabis prohibition in the United States, but marijuana is a banned substance in the NFL and Gregory knew he was going to be drug tested at the Combine. It's hard to be sympathetic for Gregory, who potentially cost himself hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process, if not millions.

At the same time, he's still a top-level Edge defensive prospect, and there's a sliding scale on these sorts of things when it comes to elite players. But it sure seems to make the projection of Florida DE/OLB Dante Fowler Jr. to Jacksonville at #3 overall look stronger and, in theory, should also help boost the stock of Clemson DE/OLB Vic Beasley (a personal favorite of mine) and Missouri DE/OLB Shane Ray. It's particularly noteworthy for Ray, who is coming off a rather lackluster pro day performance.

• It will be interesting to see what the reported severe penalties are that the NFL has in store for the Atlanta Falcons (piping in crowd noise) and the Cleveland Browns (illegal texting). The teams reportedly already know their punishments, which some have speculated could be a high draft pick, perhaps a second-or-third rounder.

• Chicago has given itself some latitude with its #7 overall pick after signing two free agents: former 49ers DL Ray McDonald and former Redskins DE Jarvis Jenkins. Particularly with McDonald's trouble involving alleged domestic violence from his San Francisco days, I don't think that necessarily precludes the Bears taking a defensive lineman in the first round. But it does give them some wiggle room at that spot.

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