Boston College in the 2011 NFL Draft: Mock updates

In the absence of anything else important to talk about – and while we count the hours until BC hockey’s regional semifinal against Colorado College on Friday – I think it’s time we take a look at our seven football players who have declared for the NFL Draft and where the draft braintrust thinks they will land. Just as a reminder, even though the league, owners, and players are basically playing with themselves right now and the NFL lockout could go on for a long time, there will still be a draft. The players won’t be able to sign or enter team facilities, but they can be drafted. It will be a truly unusual draft, but now that it’s a month away, we have some idea of where these men may land. We will do a few such updates between here and the draft.

Current prominent mock drafts have BC players being selected as follows:

Anthony Castonzo, OT

WalterFootball.com: Round 1, Pick 19 – New York Giants
Chad Reuter, CBS Sports: Round 1, Pick 19 – New York Giants
Rob Rang, CBS Sports: Round 1, Pick 21 – Kansas City Chiefs
MyNFLDraft.com: Round 1, Pick 19 – New York Giants
DraftTek: Round 1, Pick 17 – New England Patriots
DraftSite: Round 1, Pick 17 – New England Patriots
Draft Countdown: Round 1, Pick 19 – New York Giants
NFL Draft Dog: Round 1, Pick 29 – Chicago Bears

Mark Herzlich, OLB

WalterFootball.com: Round 6, Pick 24 (189) – Denver Broncos
DraftTek: Round 3, Pick 29 (93) – Chicago Bears
Draftsite: Round 4, Pick 28 (128) – New England Patriots

Alex Albright (DE), Thomas Claiborne (OG), Wes Davis (S), DeLeon Gause (CB), and Rich Lapham (OT) all go undrafted.

Not all of the mock drafts online go out to seven rounds, so there wasn’t a ton of insight on where Herzlich will go, but it seems to be all over the map. Being anything from a third round to a sixth round pick is a pretty wide zone of uncertainty, but it would appear that he does not have to fear his draft status. Where he ultimately ends up will be somewhat of a mystery and a surprise for us on draft day.

There is no doubt, however, as to Anthony Castonzo. He is universally agreed now to be a first-round selection, and in case you didn’t notice, there was a lot of repetition on the list. The majority have Castonzo joining Chris Snee, Mathias Kiwanuka, Tom Coughlin and all the rest with the New York Football Giants, while a few have New England snatching him at #17. I think it’s pretty clear to me that if Belichick doesn’t take him off the board at #17, Coughlin and Jerry Reese of the Giants will shortly thereafter. The offensive line is of concern to the Giants: this is a unit of guys that have played together for quite a long time, and as such, they are beginning to wear down. Furthermore, injuries have begun to weaken it to the point where quality depth is needed. Toss in the obvious Boston College connections (not only Snee, Kiwi, and Coughlin, but Giants co-owner John Mara is a BC alum) and you have a realistic possibility that Castonzo will be a Giant.

If the Pats pass on Castonzo two spots ahead of Big Blue, the only way that the Giants won’t take him is if Reese wants to shore up the faulty defense. In that case, he would likely fall to one of the other two teams mentioned, Kansas City or Chicago. I think it is unlikely that he will fall all the way down to the Bears and even more unlikely that he will fall out of the first round. Castonzo will get a call on the first night of the draft; the only question will be who’s on the other end of the phone.

As for our other five guys who were not selected in the online mock drafts, well, we can still hope that one more of them will find their way into the picks, but keep in mind as always that all is not lost. They can still get tryouts, sign as undrafted free agents, or even find gainful employment in another not-locked-out league like the UFL, home to such coaching greats as Jim Fassel and Jerry Glanville, and formerly Jeff Jagodzinski. I also hear that Canada is nice during football season, and a certain BC quarterback played up there for a while, eh.