NFL Network’s Albert Breer tweeted on Monday that there might be “a ton of trade action” involving quarterbacks at the bottom of the first round in this month’s draft.
Wrote this last week … But keep hearing — from everyone — that there’ll be a ton of trade action for QBs at bottom of Round 1.
Cam Newton and Blaine Gabbert should be long gone by the time the teams in the bottom of the first round are on the clock. The wildcards appear to be Jake Locker and Ryan Mallett, who could go anywhere in the top 15 to the top of the second round. Florida State’s Christian Ponder and Nevada’s Colin Kaepernick are starting to garner first round attention as well, so maybe the reports about there being “a ton” of late-first round trade action are on the money.
That said, how would Breer, or anyone else for that matter, know what teams are going to do at this point? Teams don’t even know whether or not the CBA will be signed by the end of the month, making the draft an even bigger crapshoot than it already is. Furthermore, teams can’t trade 2012, 2013 or 2014 picks because there is no CBA. Thus, trading selections would seemingly be a more difficult task than in years past.
If I had to guess right now, I would think that Newton and Gabbert will be off the board by pick No. 12, while Locker and Mallett will go in the bottom half of the first round. Ponder (who I think is a perfect fit for Cincinnati) will go in the second and Kaepernick will go in either the second or third. Of course, a lot could change from now until the end of the month though, so we’ll just have to wait and see.
