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Lou Pickney's 2024 NFL Mock Draft


National Football League
Draft King Analysis

April 20, 2009
Lou Pickney, DraftKing.com

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According to this article from ProFootballTalk.com, which cites an NFL source, Boston College DT B.J. Raji did not test positive for marijuana at the February NFL combine. The site goes on to report that fewer than 10 players failed their drug tests at the combine.

Demetrius Byrd
Demetrius Byrd spent two years at LSU. (Icon SMI)
Best wishes for a speedy recovery go out to LSU WR Demetrius Byrd, who was injured in a car wreck while going to church yesterday. Byrd, as of this writing, is in intensive care. He should make a full recovery, but the timing of the wreck less than one week out from the draft is tough. Byrd had been expected to be a late round pick in the 2009 Draft. It's unclear if his accident will cause him to instead end up as an undrafted free agent.

A note to anyone who has ever considered a career in broadcasting (or who currently works in "the biz"): ALWAYS treat every mic like it's hot (meaning on the air). Some people working for Blakeney Communications, which broadcasts Southern Miss football games on Rock 104 WXRR, made some inappropriate comments during an internet webcast of the Southern Miss spring football game this past Saturday. Oops.

Easy segue for me here, as I have some radio interviews slated for the next few days on a variety of stations from Honolulu to Albany. The list of stations where I'm slated to do interviews is on the main page here on Draft King. With my radio background I enjoy getting on the air, particularly to talk about a great topic like the NFL Draft.

Darren Heitner (one of my favorite people on Twitter along with Shaquille O'Neal and Mark Cuban) wrote an interesting article about the perceived dominance of Creative Artists Agency in landing a large number of likely first-round picks. I don't know that I necessarily agree with Heitner's headline that CAA is going to "kill the NFL draft", but Heitner keeps close tabs on the connection between athletes and agents more so than anyone else out there who I've been reading.

There look to be some great value players on the board in the #20-32 range, with likely spillover into early-mid round two. I anticipate plenty of BPA (best player available) approaches for many of the teams in that range, or at least the best player on defense who is not an outside linebacker for Detroit at #20. Some matchups make a great deal of sense, like Arizona going with a running back (be it Pitt RB LeShon "Shady" McCoy or Connecticut RB Donald Brown or Iowa RB Shonn Greene) at #31, though even that isn't a given.

Teams looking for a wide receiver toward the top of round two may be in luck. There are some who think that Florida WR Percy Harvin might fall out of the first round, which would be surprising to me but not inconceivable. If not Harvin, then perhaps North Carolina WR Hakeem Nicks or Rutgers WR Kenny Britt might be available. Seattle at #37 and/or Jacksonville at #39 could opt to go for a young wide receiver in round two, even with both teams having signed a veteran wide receiver this off-season. Just today Jacksonville signed free agent WR Torry Holt to a three-year deal, but it will take more than a receiver in the twilight of his career to fix Jacksonville's wide receiver issues long-term.


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