3/6/2014 – by James Fedewa

The gray area… The dip, purgatory, gap-ville. Hurry up and wait… It’s the term between the Super Bowl and the NFL Draft (the area where football fans dread). Its three long months of boiling, and a good time to predict.

So what does a football fan do to ride the boil, other than avoid the NBA and read about spring training? These fans look to the NFL Draft. And if you like the draft, like thousands of other Americans, you are a DRAFTNIK. So assuming who would make NFL teams better, by watching hundreds of clips of on-line player video footage, is within this gray area.

Here my latest NFL Mock Draft of 2014. I’m not going to write stories about every selection (yet), but I will say that Jadeveon Clowney is clearly the number player in this draft and Houston should not reach with their number one overall selection. Houston does need a quarterback, and Teddy Bridgewater could be that choice, but he is just not a prototypical QB, so therefor he is not an A.) #1 selection. Blake Bortals has the tools and the body, but he was virtually unknown three months ago. Bortles stock is currently at its peak, but he is very raw and success may be a reach (and that equals gamble). Johnny Manziel is a huge wild card (and crazy talented), but Manziel’s rock-star attitude, reckless play and small size could lead him to a crash and burn. All three top tier quarterbacks have too much of a gamble to be a #1 overall pick.