News: BTB: BTB Community Mock '14: Speed Kills For Cleveland, New Orleans And Carolina

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Our community mock continues with picks 26 through 28.

The 2014 BTB Community Draft continues!

This is our favorite opportunity to interact with our community and allow them some front-page limelight, while simultaneously getting our first in-depth look at several candidates for the draft's first round.

This will be much more than just one community member's idea of how to help out their assigned teams. After each selection is forwarded to me, I will gather all of the pertinent information about this prospect from some of the internet's best draft resources. We will try to highlight the profile's best and worst traits, so that our reader's are highly educated come May 8th when these guys names are called.

To keep things simple, no trades are allowed; I think for a one round exercise that does little to actually project how things are going to turn out. Three GMs, three teams, three picks. Let's get it on!

BTB Community Mock Draft: Selections 26-28​

Pick Player GM
26. Cleveland Browns Brandin Cooks, WR, Oregon State mfoster​

I know. "High powered Offense" and "Cleveland Browns"...? Try saying that 5 times fast. With the premium talent off the board at Tackle and CB, the only pause I had headed up to the podium was "Cooks or Lee...?". Philly's FO will be scratching their heads for years to come with Mr. Cooks coming off the board just a few picks after taking Beckham. Cooks shows incredible burst and route running ability.

This pick will really Help Cleveland to attain the player they'd hoped of getting when they brought Bess on board. Think Beasley with elite athleticism.

Tate? Gordon? Cameron? Cooks? Though, Bortles is a rookie and he'll get his mulligans. I think Cleveland is finished with their losing ways(Where is my sarcasm font when I need it?) and a supporting cast like this is not going to leave a lot of room for excuse with the young man.

27. New Orleans Saints Marqise Lee, WR, USC Trufus​

New Orleans wasn't a team that I knew a lot about so this was a fun exercise. Turns out that the days of New Orleans having one of the better lines in the league is a thing of the past. They could use help at almost every line position, especially the right side. Unfortunately the best lineman left on the board is Su'a-Filo and he's a bit of a reach at pick 27. New Orleans' defensive needs include a pass rusher, inside linebacker and corner. While there aren't any inside linebackers of value at 27, Jason Verrett is available and is a decent value at this point but at 5'9" he's too undersized for me. Dee Ford is definitely a possibility here but has injury concerns isn't be best value. Thus I leaned back to offense and grabbed the best wide receiver on my board, Marqise Lee. Not only is Lee good value at this spot but hits a need of New Orleans, who lost Lance Moore in free agency (to Pittsburgh). Lee did have a nagging knee injury last year which is a definite negative against him but has Pro Bowl potential when healthy. He's not the tallest receiver at 6'0" but really excels at route running and particularly at picking up yards after the catch. He played against major defenses in the Pac-12 and would probably have been a top 10 pick if he was able to come out last year. Add all that up and New Orleans would be quite satisfied with Marqise Lee as its first round pick.

28. Carolina Panthers Jason Verrett, CB, TCU DEL1SLE​

While the most glaring need for the Panthers is the gaping hole at receiver, all the top prospects have flown off the board. With the depth at the position throughout the draft the Panthers look in a different direction in the first. With Verrett still on board they look to add to a secondary that lost many players to free agency and has no real playmakers. Were he a few inches taller many may be looking at him as a top 15 pick.

However, the Panthers have fielded smaller corners such as Captain Munnerlyn (5'9") before and love Verrett's combination of athleticism, aggressiveness and ball skills. After secondary coach Steve Wilks visited TCU's pro day Verrett told the Charlotte Observer "in [the Panthers'] cover two scheme (..) it's going to be hard for [him] not to make plays" and the coaches agree, making him the 28th pick in the draft. They also considered bolstering an offensive line that lost long time left tackle Jordan Gross to retirement, or preparing for potentially not being able to re-sign Greg Hardy after the season. However, they felt 28 was too rich for Morgan Moses or Cyrus Kouandjio and had Verrett rated higher the defensive end Dee Ford.

Prior Picks Selections 1-25 Review
Houston, Jadeveon Clowney,
St Louis Rams, Greg Robinson,
Jacksonville Jaguars, Johnny Manziel,
Cleveland Browns, Blake Bortles,
Oakland Raiders, Khalil Mack
Atlanta Falcons, Jake Matthews,
Tampa Bay Bucs, Teddy Bridgewater,
Minnesota Vikings, Aaron Donald
Buffalo Bills, Sammy Watkins
Detroit Lions, Anthony Barr
Tennessee Titans, Justin Gilbert
New York Giants, Taylor Lewan
St. Louis Rams, Mike Evans
Chicago Bears, Darqueze Dennard
Pittsburgh Steelers, Eric Ebron
Dallas Cowboys, Kony Ealy
Baltimore Ravens, Zack Martin
NY Jets, Calvin Pryor
Miami Dolphins, Ryan Shazier
Arizona Cardinals, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix
Green Bay Packers, CJ Mosley
Philadelphia Eagles, Odell Beckham, Jr
Kansas City Chiefs, Rashede Hageman
Cincinnati Bengals, Bradley Roby
San Diego Chargers, Timmy Jernigan​

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Poll
Which GM did the best for their respective team?

• Cleveland - Brandin Cooks, WR
• New Orleans - Marqise Lee, WR
• Carolina - Jason Verrett, CB

12 votes | Results

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