2015 NFL Draft Predictions: No.1-5

  The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are on the Clock!
  
The NFL draft is only two months away and the NFL combine has come and gone. The players still have pro-day and private workout's ahead of them. The draft this year looks to be filled with a lot of young promising talent.

I love the NFL drafting process, I would say it's my favorite part of the off season. I've decided to do a mock draft of my own.

These are my NFL draft predictions for draft picks 1-5:

 1. Tampa Bay:
 Jameis Winston, Quarterback

  This is almost the same story for every draft. You have the No.1 pick, you take the best player on the board. Winston has done everything in college football there is to do. He has a national championship (2013), won the Heisman trophy (2013), and he walked away with only one loss, giving him a college career record of 27-1. His only loss of his college career was to the Oregon Ducks in the newly acquired, college football playoffs. Winston was criticized about being out of shape, months before the combine. When he showed up to the combine, he not only looked to be in great shape, he performed great. Winston showed on the field that he's deserving of the No.1 overall pick, I believe his attitude shows the same. I believe Bucs' head coach, Lovie Smith will finally get his franchise quarterback.

 2. Tennessee:
 Leonard Williams, Defensive End

  Let's face it. The Titans are in serious trouble in a couple of spots. The don't have a sure quarterback of the future, the "Jake Locker project" is now done in Tennessee after four years, the receivers there show flashes and a lot of promise, and the defense had a hard time stopping almost everyone last season. Leonard Williams is a freak-of-nature and true defensive end. He is a physical specimen and his toughness is just what that defensive front needs to get going. He can stop the run, chase down any quarterback (as he had the fastest 40-time of every defensive lineman). This should be a very productive draft for them, they need a lot of pieces. But in order to compete with the Colts in their division, they have to stop Andrew Luck. Williams will help them do that.

 3. Jacksonville:
Shane Ray, Defensive End/ Linebacker

  It seems like every year the Jaguars are in the same position. And it's been that way for about half of a decade, or so. They've usually had a top-5 draft pick and failed. Gus Bradley may have broken that pattern, last year. After drafting quarterback, Blake Bortles out of the University of Central Florida in 2014 there seems to be a lot of positive things to look forward to. However, they've taken care of the offensive side, acquiring a lot of young pieces. Bradly is still a defensive guy and I believe that he's still missing a few pieces to defensive puzzle in Jacksonville, he can solve that puzzle with one player, Shane Ray. Ray, who won 2014 defensive player of the year in the SEC, is a very physical, fast and explosive pass-rushing linebacker-lineman hybrid player. With 14.5 sacks in 2014 at Missouri that is highly impressive and I don't think this is a player that he can pass up with the no.3 draft selection.

 4. Oakland: 
Amari Cooper, Wide Receiver

  It isn't very hard to figure out which position the Raiders should go after with their first-round selection. It's more of a question of, who should they take? This early in the draft, you have to take the best pure receiver ... that is... Amari Cooper. Cooper was a Heisman finalist (2014), Biletnikoff award-winner (2014), SEC offensive player of the year (2014). That a pretty solid resume, in my opinion. In 2014, Cooper had 124 receptions (1st in NCAA), 1727 receiving yards (2nd in NCAA), and 16 receptions for touchdowns (2nd in NCAA). Stats via ESPN.com. He did all of this while at a school known for its defense. Cooper has to be your pick here. He went into the combine and performed how they believed he would, he still has his pro-day ahead of him but I'm positive he'll perform at high level on that day, too. They have a solid quarterback to build around, in Carr. Cooper is the piece that is missing to this offense. Well, one of the many pieces, but he's a good piece to start with. If Oakland doesn't draft Cooper, they'll be dropping the ball. Literally.

 5. Washington:
Dante Fowler Jr., Linebacker

  Head Coach, Jay Gruden, entering his second season has to start making some better decisions. He had, what looked to be like a very good off-season, last year, with the acquisition of Desean Jackson from the Eagles, and a returning, "healthy" Robert Griffin III at quarterback. This was a team sure to win the NFC East, right? Wrong, this team may have been the most disappointing of 2014. Gruden still has some pieces in place to make this thing work, but he has to take some positive steps to do so. His first positive step could be helping to fix this defense, which has struggled for some years now. With Brain Orakpo being very injury-prone it's time to move on from him and go younger. Linebacker, Dante Fowler Jr., should be the best defensive player on the board at that time. I believe he's right behind Shane Ray, on a talent level. He has the toughness and all of the physical attributes this defense needs to get turned around. Granted, Florida didn't have the best season last year, but they had a few bright spots. One of the bright spots was Fowler. He can do anything from rushing the passer to cover. He's the ideal height and build for a pro linebacker and he had an AMAZING combine performance. Gruden has some things to fix in Washington, but if he wants to keep his job, drafting a player like Fowler will surly help him clean up the "mess" in Washington.

Why 2014 Was A Bad Year In Sports For Me

  2014 was looking to be promising for me in the world of sports. I was almost certain all of my teams would make a huge leap. The Philadelphia Eagles were the favorites in the NFC East going into their second season with head coach Chip Kelly; The Sacramento Kings have a rough year, but they made a lot of progress with young but experienced players; The Michigan Wolverines seemed to be ready to compete with Ohio State and Wisconsin in the Big Ten conference, which has struggled the passed couple of years; And the Yankees in Derek Jeter's final season just had to send the captain out on top, or at least with a playoff appearance.

I'll start with the Eagles. They didn't have a bad year, just not a great one. When quarterback, Nick Foles went down at the beginning of the season, backup, Mark Sanchez was up, nobody knew what to expect. Despite being known over the past few years for his abysmal play, Sanchez actually played well in his first couple of games as the starter for the Eagles, people in Philly were actually excited for him, at one point they were sitting atop the NFC East at 9-3. Well, that changed fast! in the month of December the the Eagles went 1-4, which involved a three-game losing steak- Seattle, Dallas, Washington. I can't just blame Sanchez, the Eagle defense is still the bad. Even though I believe they have one of the best defensive front seven in the NFL, their secondary couldn't stop anyone's passing attack. They finished 31st (second to last) in the NFL in passing defense, giving up and average of 265 yards per game through the air, they might have finished last had it not been for the Panthers game. They finished with a win over the New York Giants, but still managed to give up 400 yards passing to Eli Manning, and they ended the season with a 10-6 record which wasn't good enough to make the playoffs in the NFC.

2014 was suppose to be the year the Kings and Demarcus Cousins made the leap, become a good team that was young and could just run the floor, similar to a Golden State or Oklahoma City. At the start of the NBA season, it appeared that's was going to happen through the first five games. But, as more games passed they began to show their true colors. So far, the Kings have had three streaks where they had three or more losses- including a five-game losing streak in the first week of December. Demarcus Cousins suffered from a virus and was absent from the court for twelve games and Rudy Gay couldn't do it all and the team suffered from it. But it's still a lot of basketball to be played and the Kings are still contention in the division at 13-18, only the Thunder and Pelicans are ahead of them in the division, hopefully the Kings can figure it out, now that Cousins is healthy. I won't give up on them yet but history with this team tells me otherwise and the fact they still don't have a head coach since Firing Mike Malone bothers me- MARK JACKSON IS STILL AVAILABLE.

The 2014 college football season was suppose to be a good one in the Big Ten for the Michigan Wolverines, they had Brady Hoke who was coming off of two very mediocre seasons, but this was suppose to be similar to the 2011 Sugar Bowl year, this team was ready, they had potential, so at least I thought. Week two was their first real big test, it was a prime time game, at Notre Dame. Could the Wolverines beat the Fighting Irish two years in a row? ...NO... Not only did Michigan lose, they got embarrassed 31-0. 2014 was the first time that either either team had been left scoreless in this rivalry since 2007 (Michigan won 38-0). Following the loss to Notre Dame the Wolverines went 4-6 in their last 10 games- meaning only a 5-win season and no bowl game for the Wolverines for the first time since 2009; first time in the Brady Hoke era. Devin Gardner, once again had a very mediocre season and didn't live up to his potential. Gardner in 2014 had 1,896 passing yards, 10 touchdowns passing and 15 interceptions.

The New York Yankees in 2014 were losing a great player and a part of the Yankees' organization of the past two decades. It was set in stone that after the 2014 season, "The Captain", Derek Jeter was going to retire. The Yankees had to send out the future hall-of-famer on a good note, they had to compete for a championship, or at least the division. Okay, they weren't that bad but they were still short of the division and a playoff spot. Going 84-78 and losing a crucial final series which kept them out of the playoffs was a hard blow. There were serious injury issues on the team and with mediocre pitching through the season and the Yankees ended up sending Derek Jeter, in his final season, out on a non-playoff appearance and disappointing season.

The worst part about the 2014 season, a lot of my teams rivals ended up having great season. The Dallas Cowboys won the NFC east, made the playoffs and Tony Romo, Demarco Murray and Dez' Bryant ended up having incredible seasons; The Ohio State Buckeye's ended up with another Big Ten title and they somehow made it in the very first college football playoffs; The Kings are struggling in the division now, the Thunder are facing serious injury issues with Kevin Durant but somehow are still managing to win games and are keeping the Kings from taking a lead in the division; Baltimore had a great season and never could I remember a time where the Oriels would beat out the Yankees for a division title.

But hey, I am glad that 2014 is coming to a close, I think 2015 will be more promising for me as a sports fan, or at least I hope it will.

The Eagles will hopefully work some things out during the off-season and can reclaim the division  title next year;  the Michigan Wolverines are once again seen as a contender, after signing head coach and former Wolverine, Jim Harbaugh; hopefully the Sacramento Kings figure something out by the end of the seasons. Cousins is the best center in the league, they know that. Now, if they can just get a head coach to complement the talent I believe they'll have something to work with and they could possibly be contenders in the division for the entire season; the 2015 season for the Yankees will feel completely different with no Derek Jeter in the line up but they still have a lot of young promising players to build around and they're the Yankees, they can "buy" players.

The "Lynch" Who Stole Christmas

  Seattle Seahawks' Marshawn Lynch shook up the University of Phoenix Stadium with an unbelievable 79-yard touchdown run, week 16 on Sunday Night Football as the Seahawks trampled the Cardinals, beating them 35-6. That victory put them in first-place on top of the Cardinals in the NFC West as both teams share and 11-4 record.

 After the game Lynch did his best Lynch impression during the post-game "interview". He was short with his answers and almost all of them sounded the same, for every question Lynch responded "thanks for asking". This was very similar to an interview that Lynch was penalized for earlier in the season.

Lynch, 28, is one of the most controversial guys in the NFL media, not for what he say's but for what he won't say.

Marshawn Lynch isn't very vocal when it comes to the media, he's been on record saying that he's not a guy who likes to do interviews and or interact with the media. Last year, during the Super Bowl media day, Lynch did interview only several times, not because he wanted to but because he was forced to and even his interviews were fairly short. The most interactive interview that I saw him in was the one with NFL Networks' Deon Sanders. In the interview with Sanders, he was asked about his silence with the media and he explained his reasoning, saying simply, "i'm just about that action boss". It's clear that Lynch is an old school type of player, he's all about just playing the game and every game he seems to be giving 100 percent. That's what's most important, right?

Lynch is currently third in the NFL in rushing yards with 1,246 yards and is tied with league-leading rusher, Demarco Murray for touchdowns on the season with 12. Also, he (Lynch) has just had his fourth consecutive season with 1,200 or more rushing yards and at least 10 touchdowns.

I'm not concerned about Marshawn Lynch not interacting with the media. I believe that he plays the game the right way and if he's not comfortable talking to the media it shouldn't be a big deal as long as he continues to "be about that action".

During the week of Christmas, not only did Marshawn Lynch manage to help take the lead in the NFC West, but he also helped to create more conflict for himself with his non-responsive post-game "interview".

Future of The 49ers?

  After being projected to be one of the favorites to represent the NFC West in the playoffs and even representing the NFC in the Super Bowl, the San Francisco 49ers are statistically eliminated from the playoff race, after losing Sunday to their division rivals, Seattle Seahawks 17-7.

The San Francisco started the season with very high hopes, after coming off of last season, losing to the Seahawks in the NFC championship game on a late-game interception in the end zone. And the previous year when they fell short to the Baltimore Ravens in the Super Bowl. They started out the season struggling with a 1-2 record. It looked to be a promising turn around, after going on a three-game winning streak and improving to a record of 4-2. Week 7, they had the biggest road test of the season, at Denver on Sunday Night Football. The game wasn't even close. San Francisco, know for their defense gave up 42 points to the high-powered Denver offense, Peyton Manning led the charge as he had four touchdown passes while making history in the night as he passed Brett Favre  for first place on the all-time touchdown list. Kaepernick and the San Francisco offense struggled to move the ball all game as he completed 24-39 pass attempts for 263 yards, one touchdown and one interception, The 49ers are currently on a three game losing streak.

San Francisco (7-7) are currently in third place in their division behind the Arizona Cardinals (11-3) and the Seattle Seahawks (10-4).

The 49ers' organization has had a lot of off-the-field issues this season. It began with early talks of head coach, Jim Harbaugh leaving at the end of the season, they later ran into one player in domestic violence trouble, another player being suspended for the first six games because of legal issues, over the summer and later reports coach Harbaugh having issues in the locker room. One thing I could note about the 49ers team is their age. They are aging wrong in all of the wrong positions. Their skill players are getting older. Running Back, Frank Gore, for example. He's a great talent. He could end up in Canton, Ohio, Maybe! He's in 9th season at age 31, he may need to be replaced or have less carries; wide receiver, Anquan Boldin, one of the strongest receivers to ever play the game, at age 34 he may need to consider retirement; Tight End, Vernon Davis, 30, they may need to consider finding his replacement soon. Even though I believe that Gore and Davis could still contribute on the field, I believe that San Fran may need to have them more role players than their star players. Carlos Hyde, rookie-running back out of Ohio State is not quit Gore in talent but he has a lot of upside to him. Maybe if they consider starting Hyde and making Gore a goal-line back or have him come in for third downs. Davis is very capable of Making plays still but at age 30, you have to think of how long he could continue to produce at the same rate.

I don't know the future of Harbaugh in San Francisco, nor do I know if Kaepernick will be able to produce at a higher level than he did the past two seasons. However, I do know that you want your quarterback to age and grow with the team, so he can mature and become a better decision maker. You don't want your skill positions to be older, they tend to "lose a step" as they get older and with that division, where every defense is young, tough & fast, you can't afford to lack in any position on offense. Especially at your skill positions.

Who's Dak?

  Rayne Dakota Prescott, quarterback of the no.1 Mississippi State Bulldogs and current Heisman trophy front-runner is leading MSU to one of the most magical seasons in the school's history. Dakota, better known as "Dak" has the Bulldogs sitting with a record of 9-0 (5-0 in the SEC), and has been doing it in an impressive fashion. Currently, Prescott has a combined 29 touchdowns- 18 passing, 11 rushing.

  Prescott, a Junior(RS) player, is proving to be one of the more dominant players in college football right now as he is leading the Bulldogs through, what is to be seen as one of the most difficult conferences in all of college football, maybe even sports period, in the SEC West. He hasn't had the easiest path thus far, either. Earlier in the season Prescott took the Bulldogs on the road earlier this season to beat the then-ranked no.8 LSU Tigers, he also led his team past last years last years SEC champion, then-ranked no.2 Auburn Tigers, who were projected to win the SEC again. In Both games combined, Prescott had over 500 yards passing, three passing touchdowns, and three rushing. And they also walked over the then-ranked no.6 Texas A&M team that started out very hot.

  Dak Prescott isn't the best passer as far as "mechanics" but he's not Tim Tebow (no disrespect to Tebow). He's playing like a Heisman front-runner should. Winning big games, and having impressive numbers while doing it.

  The Bulldogs have two big games ahead of them still. Nov. 15 they go on the road to face-off against the no.5 Alabama Crimson Tide, and they close out the season against a very tough Mississippi (Ole Miss) team as well. Both games could both have NCAA playoff berths on the line.

  Dak has a very special story, like a lot of these players do.

Video courtesy of tube test

  Mississippi State is looking to have it's greatest season ever, and if they win out would be one of the four teams in the first ever, college football playoffs. Could Prescott do what Jameis Winston did last season, win the Heisman trophy and lift the NCAA National Championship as well? Only time will tell. Regardless if he does either, he and this Mississippi State team have had one heck of a season and have a bright future.

SportZone Podcast

Midseason Awards for NFL

  We are now halfway through the NFL regular season and I will give my prediction for who I believe deserves which award, as of right now, based off of their performance.

Mohamed Sanu

  Most Improved Player: Mohamed Sanu- With A.J. Green having injury problems this season and Marvin Jones being out for the entire season, Sanu had to step-up his performance and he answered. Currently, Sanu is in the top 20 in the NFL in receiving yards and leads the Cincinnati Bengals in every receiving category this season, he also has a passing touchdown to quarterback, Andy Dalton. The Bengals have been plagued by injuries all season but one thing has been consistent, Mohamed Sanu, who is showing that he could be a very good no.2-option opposite side of Green, 

Andrew Luck

  Offensive Player of the Year: Andrew Luck- The Indianapolis Colts started off this season 0-2, since, they've gone 5-1. I would say that Lucks' production has had something to do with that. in 7/8 games Luck has passed for 300+ yards and has a passing touchdown in every game, so far. Luck has over 2,700 passing yards and 22 touchdowns to 9 interceptions. He is currently leading the NFL in passing yards, passes of 20 yards or more, and is tied with Peyton Manning for most touchdown passes. The Colts aren't "lucky" they just have Luck. 

Luke Kuechly (#59)

  Defensive Player of the Year: Luke Kuechly- He won the award last season. He, again, is leading the league in tackles (97), has a sack and a forced fumble. . The Carolina Panthers aren't as good as what everyone believed that they would be early on, but Kuechly has been more than what people believed. He is maybe the most consistent defender in the league the past three season and looks to be on the verge of winning his second consecutive DPOY award.

Sammy Watkins (Right)

Offensive Rookiie of the Year: Sammy Watkins- Nobody believed the Bills would be a contender in the AFC East, this season. With the departure of Stevie Johnson (traded to 49ers), very average running attack, the Bills have found a comfort blanket in Sammy Watkins. He is the current leader of every receiving category on the team, and is on pace for over 1,000 receiving yards and double-digit touchdowns for the 2014-15 season. Watkins is almost a sure thing to win this award, especially if the Bills make the playoffs. 

Left: C.J. Mosley; Right: Ray Lewis

  Defensive Rookie of the Year: C.J. Mosley- Since hall-of-famer, Ray Lewis retired, the Baltimore Ravens have been looking for the replacement. I think Mosley is it. Currently, he is fourth in the league in tackles, has two interceptions, and a forced fumble. The Ravens have been known for their defense throughout history, Mosley is a player that will keep this team with that identity. Right now he's the best defensive rookie in the league hands down. 

DeMarco Murray 

  MVP: DeMarco Murray-  "How about them Cowboys"! Nobody saw this coming. NOBODY! Murray in previous years had shown flashes of greatness, the only issue is he has injury problems which held him back from showing all of his talents. Murray already has over 1,000 yards on the ground, 200 carries, and seven rushing-touchdowns. Murray is the first player in the history of the NFL to rush for 100 yards in the first seven games of the season, as well as a rushing-touchdown. The Cowboys are known for their great passing attack, led by Tony Romo and Dez' Bryant. This season, Murray has been the topic of conversation with the Cowboys. It's safe to say, Murray is on pace to break Erick Dickerson's' record for most rushing yards in a season. And if the Cowboys (6-2) stay on this pace they could end up with a playoff spot, and Murray could end up with the MVP award.