What Are The Deepest Positions in the 2012 NFL Draft.......................

**soulman** · 02-10-2012, 10:02 PM

What are the deepest positions in the NFL draft?

Taking a look at which position groups have the most talent and depth. Wes Bunting

February 10, 2012 Share
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Ranking the top five deepest positions in the 2012 NFL Draft…

5. Wide Receiver
The wide out position isn’t nearly as talented at the top end as in past years with potential blue chip prospects early. However, Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon offers teams a potential top-ten prospect. Then there is a nice mix of receivers in the mid-first/third round range with either elite speed, a massive frame or natural route runner ability. The lack of big time size/speed prospects hurts the class somewhat as a whole, but there are still a number of second/third round options that offer the upside to mature into effective starting NFL wide outs.

ICONWright is one of those speedsters who can make plays vertically.

Potential Top-100 Picks…
Justin Blackmon: Oklahoma State (6-1, 215)
Kendall Wright: Baylor (5-10, 190)
Michael Floyd: Notre Dame (6-3, 224)
Mohamed Sanu: Rutgers (6-2, 215)
Joe Adams: Arkansas (5-11, 190)
Jarius Wright: Arkansas (5-10, 180)
Alshon Jeffery: South Carolina (6-4, 229)
Marvin Jones: California (6-3, 202)
Rueben Randle: Louisiana State (6-4, 208)
Stephen Hill: Georgia Tech (6-5, 205)
Nick Toon: Wisconsin (6-3, 220)
Devon Wylie: Fresno State (5-9, 185)
Chris Givens: Wake Forest (6-0, 195)
Brian Quick: Appalachian State (6-3, 215)

4. Quarterback
Not only does the quarterback class feature a pair of potential blue-chip guys at the top end of the draft in Stanford’s Andrew Luck and Baylor’s Robert Griffin III. But there’s also a number of late first/second round wild cards who have the skill set to mature into potential starters as well, giving teams a number of opportunities to find their potential future franchise signal caller in the top-100 picks.

Potential Top-100 Picks…
Andrew Luck: Stanford (6-4, 235)
Robert Griffin III: Baylor (6-2, 220)
Ryan Tannehill: Texas A&M (6-4, 222)
Brandon Weeden: Oklahoma State (6-4, 218)
Nick Foles: Arizona (6-5, 240)
Brock Osweiler: Arizona State (6-8, 240)
Kirk Cousins: Michigan State (6-3, 205)

3. Running Back
The running back crop looked a bit weak during the regular season. However, it’s seen a major upgrade ever since the onslaught of junior backs decided to declare early and add some top end talent to the class. Alabama’s Trent Richardson is far and away the cream of the crop. But there is the potential to see a number of second round picks emerge into starters over the next couple years as well.

ICONRichardson instantly improved the running back class.

Potential Top-100 Picks…
Trent Richardson: Alabama (5-11, 224)
David Wilson: Virginia Tech (5-10, 205)
Lamar Miller: Miami (5-11, 212)
Doug Martin: Boise State (5-9, 215)
Robert Turbin: Utah State (5-10, 216)
Chris Polk: Washington (5-11, 222)
Isaiah Pead: Cincinnati (5-11, 200)
Bernard Pierce: Temple (6-0, 218)

2. Offensive Guard
From top to bottom this might be the most impressive offensive guard class I’ve seen since I’ve been doing this. There is a pair of potential first round picks in Stanford’s David DeCastro and Georgia’s Cordy Glenn, with a number of potential second/third round options who have the ability to come in and play at a high level early in their NFL career.

Potential Top-100 Picks…
David DeCastro: Stanford (6-5, 310)
Cordy Glenn: Georgia (6-5, 348)
Brandon Washington: Miami (6-4, 320)
Amini Silatolu: Midwestern State (6-3, 324)
Brandon Brooks: Miami (Ohio) (6-5, 343)
Kelechi Osemele: Iowa State (6-6, 347)
Kevin Zeitler: Wisconsin (6-4, 315)
Lucas Nix: Pittsburgh (6-6, 310)
Jeff Allen: Illinois (6-5, 315)
Senio Kelemete: Washington (6-4, 301)

1. Cornerback
With the number of early entries declaring at the cornerback position, it allowed some of the top ranked senior corners to slide down boards a bit and create not only a very solid class toward the top end of round one, but improved the overall depth throughout rounds two/four. Therefore, you can now find solid corners capable of playing in both man and zone concepts throughout the top-100 picks.

Potential Top-100 Picks…

ICONThere isn't much Claiborne can't do.

Morris Claiborne: Louisiana State (6-0, 185)
Dre Kirkpatrick: Alabama (6-3, 192)
Janoris Jenkins: North Alabama (5-10, 182)
Brandon Boykin: Georgia (5-10, 183)
Jamell Fleming: Oklahoma (5-11, 191)
Chase Minnifield; Virginia (6-0, 185)
Casey Hayward: Vanderbilt (5-11, 188)
Josh Norman: Coastal Carolina (6-0, 190)
Alfonzo Dennard: Nebraska (5-10, 205)
Stephon Gilmore: South Carolina (6-1, 193)
Trumaine Johnson: Montana (6-2, 204)
Coryell Judie: Texas A&M (5-11, 190)
Asa Jackson: California Poly (5-10, 188)
Jayron Hosley: Virginia Tech (5-10, 171)
Leonard Johnson: Iowa State (5-10 202)

**soulman** · 02-10-2012, 10:33 PM

Probably some good news here in that at least two of the positions where we need some help have good depth.

Looking over the list of WR's there are quite a few bigger guys rated from the late first to the third round. If we can go out and get our "now" guy in FA it should be too hard to the "future" guy somewhere on this list. We know the Bears scouts spent some time with Brian Quick at the Senior Bowl practices and the way they scout Wisconsin and with the ties Tice has up there it would seem likely that they have a pretty good read on Nick Toon as well. Either one of them might make a good pick.

The real good news is that there's a load of CB talent just at a time when we really need a young CB. My guess is that somewhere on that list is second or third round guy we like. RB isn't a huge need unless Emery figures there's no way to come to an agreement with Forte. I wouldn't mind seeing us pick up another back somewhere in the mix just to add some depth or maybe to replace Barber as a power back.

I wish it was LT this draft was deep in rather than OG's. Last year we could have used one of each the guys we had playing did a pretty fair job at least in run blocking. If there isn't anybody we can grab in FA to challenge at LT and for some reason Tice decides to give CWill another try at LT (although I really doubt it) then it clears the path to draft an OG but otherwise we've got a logjam there already.

**lklrlolnlilklsox** · 02-10-2012, 11:07 PM

Said all along that Og is the deepest position in this draft. I disagree with CB, though, instead putting OLB at second on my board.

EDIT: Also, have these boards been SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW as shit for everyone else today, or just me?

**Dagan81** · 02-10-2012, 11:31 PM

Originally Posted by lklrlolnlilklsox

Said all along that Og is the deepest position in this draft. I disagree with CB, though, instead putting OLB at second on my board. EDIT: Also, have these boards been SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW as shit for everyone else today, or just me?

It's been slow for me too, sox. In fact, everytime I go to post on an thread and I click "Submit Reply", it takes forever to load up and I have to keep clicking on the icon in order to get it to work. As a matter of fact, I even said that this board has been acting up on me today. I was just hoping that I didn't catch a virus or some such shit as that.

**soulman** · 02-11-2012, 02:02 AM

I was slow all week for the most part. I'm working off of wireless so sometimes I think it's just my speed but there are times like earlier today when I lost a whole post when I go a server error. Happens every once in a while.

Don't know whether having the OG position that deep is a blessing or a curse. We don't have a big need but at some point one of then may simply be an overwhelming BPA. Hard to ignore talent for position if the difference is too huge.

Seems to me this whole draft has some solid second day players. There's a few guys that standout at almost every position and then a cluster at the next step down. Kind of glad we have that extra pick. This was probably a good year for it.

**Dagan81** · 02-12-2012, 12:31 AM

With that extra pick, we have a lot of options with what we can do with it. Trading up is one option. I would love to get into the first round and have that extra pick just so we can add a little quality to our team. While depth would certainly be nice, we can always address that with some acquisitions in free agency. As long as we have at least seven picks in this draft, I'll be happy as a June Bug.

**soulman** · 02-12-2012, 03:45 PM

Originally Posted by Dagan81

With that extra pick, we have a lot of options with what we can do with it. Trading up is one option. I would love to get into the first round and have that extra pick just so we can add a little quality to our team. While depth would certainly be nice, we can always address that with some acquisitions in free agency. As long as we have at least seven picks in this draft, I'll be happy as a June Bug.

June Bug................isn't she the one who's married to Adam Ant?????

**Dagan81** · 02-12-2012, 09:10 PM

Originally Posted by soulman

June Bug................isn't she the one who's married to Adam Ant?????

I don't know. It's just another one of my many very Southern Appalachian colloquialisms.

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