Boston College in the 2012 NFL Draft: Predictions
By Joe Micik
The 2012 NFL Draft gets underway tomorrow night at Radio City, but Luke Kuechly won’t be there. Indeed, the Boy Wonder will be at home watching the draft on his sports network of choice while waiting for his cell phone to ring. It will, that much we know, but what we don’t is who will be on the other end of the line.
We can guess, though. Who calls Kuechly, and will Donnie Fletcher or the others get one of their own?
Prediction: Round 1, Pick 12: Seattle Seahawks
I went back and forth on this one. It seems fairly clear to me now that Kuechly is going to either Kansas City or Seattle, but the reason I went with the Seahawks is because defensive tackle is an area of desperate need for the Chiefs, and if Dontari Poe of Memphis is there, I suspect they will take him.
If Kansas City passes on Kuechly, Seattle will not. That is a team that does certainly need linebackers and with Luke being the best on the board, he goes no lower than #12. Some new mocks (as we will see tomorrow) have him sinking into the 20s, which would be practically insulting to me as a BC fan when he’s 7th or 8th on most big boards.
Buffalo is a wild card here, but I think they will go offense in the first round.
Prediction: Round 6, Pick 183-193
The late rounds are much more unpredictable and hard to nail down, so a ten-pick range is as narrow as you’ll get from me. Despite some full mocks taking Fletcher in the fifth round, I think he’ll sink deeper into the draft. Every now and then, it happens with late-round projected BC draft picks that they are expected to get taken but either don’t or go later than we figured. It happened last year with Mark Herzlich, who despite having special circumstances, was still considered to be a sure thing for the late rounds but he went unselected.
Fletcher had an unmemorable senior year and was spotty in the postseason exhibitions. His Senior Bowl performance was regarded as forgettable, he wasn’t invited to the Combine, and he has a recent injury history. To his credit, he reportedly performed admirably on BC’s pro day. I believe he’ll be taken, but there are teams that will pass on him and he’ll fall back.
All others
Prediction: Undrafted
Other Boston College Eagles in the draft are Max Holloway, Ifeanyi Momah, Nate Richman and Mark Spinney. The only one of those four that has gotten any attention whatsoever is Holloway, but as it stands right now, his odds are slim. As for the others, unfortunately, they will not be selected.