NFL Draft Rumors: Patriots, Jets, Vikings, Lions & Seahawks

Here’s a collection of some of the days rumors regarding the upcoming draft which just happens to 9 days away!

New England Patriots:

Bill Belichick discussed some of the teams options during the first-round with Sirius NFL Radio on Monday, per Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald.

“We’ve definitely been contacted by teams below us, offering [us] to move back, and [teams] seeing if we want to move up into a better position,” said Belichick. “Of course, that usually doesn’t get finalized until draft day, but there definitely seems to be a lot of interest in our draft picks.”

“As you know, we’re not afraid to trade them,” he added. “We’ll do what’s best for the team. We’ll evaluate those opportunities if they come up on draft day and take it from there.“

No surprise that the Patriots are fielding offers considering that they’re one of most interesting teams to watch during the draft.

Minnesota Vikings:

Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star Tribune takes a look at some of the tight end prospects in this years draft.

The Vikings will have a good shot at getting one of: Wisconsin’s Lance Kendricks, Nevada’s Virgil Green, Tennessee’s Luke Stocker and Florida Atlantic’s Robert Housler. Zulgad lists Notre Dame’s Kyle Rudolph as another possibility but his stock is rising which makes it tough to assume that Minnesota to have a shot at him.

New York Jets:

Rich Cimini of ESPNNewYork.com writes that Colorado CB Jimmy Smith could be an intriguing option for the New York Jets.

“This would be a risk-reward pick for the Jets, who aren’t afraid to take chances. Ryan believes he can coach anyone, and he’d be confident his veteran leaders could keep Smith in line, but it’s buyer beware. If the top pass rushers and nose tackles are gone, and Smith still is on the board, it’ll be late-night drama on Day 1 of the draft.”

Certain teams can afford to chances on players that with “character” issues and the Jets are one of those teams especially since the arrival of Rex Ryan. Players buy into his coaching are willing to make a better effort than they’ve made in the past for other coaches.

Smiths effort isn’t whats being questioned nor is his ability. Adding him would give them an amazing secondary but the teams has other needs and when you consider that Braylon Edwards, Santonio Holmes, Jason Taylor, Shaun Ellis and Antonio Cromartie could all be free agents, not likely but possible. Whoever they take should fit a need for the years to come which is why taking a DT makes a lot of sense for the Jets.

Detroit Lions:

As strange as it sounds the Lions could be considering a trio players all of  whom happen to have the last name “Smith.”

NFL draft analyst Gil Brandt discusses the possiblity of Detroit taking Tyron Smith at No. 13 by saying that “everybody seems to think it’s an offensive lineman,” Brandt said, per Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “I have a little bit of a connection with your head coach there [Jim Schwartz], and I don’t think that they will take an offensive lineman. I personally don’t know who it’s going to be, but I think it’s probably going to be a defensive player,” adds Brandt,

Tom Kowalski of MLive.com sees Missouri LB Aldon Smith as a great fit for the Lions and we happen to agree.

Smith is one of the best LB prospects in this years draft and would help Detroit expand their defensive scheme. The only issue is that the team’s biggest need happens to be at CB which makes Nebraska’s Prince Amukamara a tough player to pass on if he’s available to them.

Seattle Seahawks

Seahawks GM John Schneider talks about the teams desire to trade down in the draft with Danny O’Neil of the Seattle Times. Schneider also mentioned that the team will continue their search for a quarterback.

“We’ll be looking for a quarterback every single year,” Schneider said. “I’ve been blessed to be around some pretty talented people, and it’s just a philosophy: You can never have enough of those guys.”

Seattle’s insistent search for a quarterback has tied them to a whole list of quarterback prospects. Andy Dalton, Christian Ponder, Jake Locker, Ryan Mallett and Colin Kaepernick have been linked to Seattle at some point in the last few months. The Seahawks also expressed interest in retaining Matt Hasselbeck so this is pretty fluid situation that could go any number directions. At least we know that they’re looking for the best possible deal.