Milians

Here:

Here's my first-round projection for the 2006 NFL draft. I put this list together by taking a look at the general area where each player should go, then placing the player on a team where he filled one of that particular team's top three needs.

In this projection, there are 17 underclassmen in the first round, with Reggie Bush and Vince Young leading the way as the first and third picks of the draft. This is my first projection, but it won't be my last of this season. I will submit another first-round projection after the Senior Bowl, followed by one after the NFL Combine.


2006 Draft Projection
* denotes underclassman
1. Houston -- *Reggie Bush, RB, USC
2. New Orleans -- Matt Leinart, QB, USC
3. Tennessee -- *Vince Young, QB, Texas
4. New York Jets -- D'Brickashaw Ferguson, OT, Virginia
5. Green Bay -- *Mario Williams, DE, NC State
6. Oakland -- A.J. Hawk, LB, Ohio State
7. San Francisco -- DeMeco Ryans, LB, Alabama
8. Buffalo -- *Haloti Ngata, DT, Oregon
9. Detroit -- Jay Cutler, QB, Vanderbilt
10. Arizona -- DeAngelo Williams, RB, Memphis
11. St. Louis -- *Vernon Davis, TE, Maryland
12. Cleveland -- Chad Greenway, LB, Iowa
13. Baltimore -- Tamba Hali, DE, Penn State
14. Philadelphia -- *Santonio Holmes, WR, Ohio State
15. Atlanta -- Michael Huff, DB, Texas
16. Miami -- *Winston Justice, OT, USC
17. Minnesota -- *LenDale White, RB, USC
18. Dallas -- Jimmy Williams, DB, Virginia Tech
19. San Diego -- *Ko Simpson, DB, South Carolina
20. Kansas City -- *Ashton Youboty, CB, Ohio State
21. New England -- Bobby Carpenter, LB, Ohio State
22. Denver (from Wash.) -- Mathias Kiwanuka, DE, Boston College
23. Tampa Bay -- Derek Hagan, WR, Arizona State
24. Cincinnati -- Claude Wroten, DT, LSU
25. New York Giants -- *Ernie Sims, LB, Florida State
26. Chicago -- *Leonard Pope, TE, Georgia
27. Carolina -- *Anthony Fasano, TE, Notre Dame
28. Pittsburgh -- *Antonio Cromartie, CB, Florida State
29. Jacksonville -- Thomas Howard, LB, UTEP
30. Indianapolis -- *Laurence Maroney, RB, Minnesota
31. Denver -- *Darnell Bing, DB, USC
32. Seattle -- *Chad Jackson, WR, Florida


Breakdown by positions in first round


Quarterbacks -- 3
Running backs -- 4
Wide receivers -- 3
Tight ends -- 3
Offensive linemen -- 2
Defensive linemen -- 5
Linebackers -- 6
Defensive backs -- 6


Most by school in first-round projection

USC (5) -- Bush, Leinart, Justice, White, Bing
Ohio State (4) -- Hawk, Holmes, Youboty, Carpenter
Texas (2) -- Young, Huff
Florida State (2) -- Sims, Cromartie

D-buck47

Pretty good mock. Barring trades that is. I hope we move down. Also, I see Holmes or Veron Davis in a 49 uniform next year. Get Mr. Smith some targets

curlylouis

I would like to see the Saints take Vince Young. He seems like a better qb to me, correct me if I'm wrong.

D-buck47

That's the thing. Nobody knows who will be better. If we go into a rebuilding stage it has to be Young. If whoever our head coach is thinks we can compete it will either be Leinart(Who I really don't want), or we move down and don't go QB. We then sign a veteran and draft a QB in a later round. I'd love to see Omar Jacobs as a Saint

TheDeuce

You're wrong.

No reason for this, no hardcore evidence to why he'd be good except that he's the trendy alternative. Trust me, we already have enough QBs with all the talent in the world who are still trying to progress (AB and AMAC).

I like the mock a lot. Leinart has to be our guy, but that's my opinion, and I don't want to get into an arugment about it. Also, even though Kiper had 6 QBs going in the first round, which probably won't happen (which means that a few of those like Howard or Carpenter might be available at#34), even if all 6 of those guys were gone, we could still get the #1 ILB on the board in D'Qwell Jackson. Or even Abdul Hodge from Iowa.

papz

#5, 10, and 17 didn't make sense to me... but the rest didn't look bad.

Yea I think you're wrong also on Vince. Better athlete? Yes. Better quarterback? No way... but that's just my opinion for what it's worth.

D-buck47

Young could revolutionize the position. If I had to pick between the two it's Young. High risk/reward. He is not going to contribute right off either, but I think he will be a good pro. He has gotten better every year.

SAINTSFAN834

Leinart!!!

TheDeuce

So has Leinart, but nobody ever mentions this fact because he started off his first season throwing for more than 3200 yards while VY never reached 3000. The guy has still improved each and every season. Low risk/ High reward. That's what I'm talking about

D-buck47

We can go over this time and time again. We won't agree, but whoever we draft I will support