Path to the Draft, 3/8

Did anybody notice that NFL Network has taken Sam Bradford out of the intro of Path to the Draft? Yet Mark Sanchez is still in there?

* Team news.

Vikings at 3: um, Matt Kalil? And though they need a corner badly, their radio announcer made a good argument for not trying to fix everything in one year and focus on building an offense around Christian Ponder.

Bears at 19: had their eyes on wideouts, but this was before they traded for Brandon Marshall. Peter Konz or Jonathan Martin appear to be on their radar now, their offensive line is still bad off. Also looking for a DE to complement Julius Peppers.

Lions at 23: biggest needs are defensive back and offensive line. Looking at Janoris Jenkins and bigger backs like Dre Kirkpatrick and Stephon Gilmore. Cordy Glenn has the size they like at o-line. Even with these needs, don't rule out a straight best player available pick like Nick Fairley last year.

Packers at 28: defense, defense, defense. They're coming off a season where they gave up the most passing yards in league history. They're blaming lack of pass rush and will look at pass-rushing OLBs like Nick Perry of USC.

Michael Lombardi correctly predicted Washington making the move up for Griffin, with the bonus prediction that the Browns will be interested in Ryan Tannehill. Nice work.

* Player news.

Show opened with a stupid, pointless, I could care less even when the Rams had the #2 pick overall, Luck vs. Griffin III debate. Next!

During the Vikings' preview, Bucky Brooks made a strong case for Morris Claiborne, who definitely figures into the Rams' picture at #6. Lockdown corner with great feet and great ball skills. Can press, play off, play zone. Will be a bonafide star in the league. Jamie Dukes calls him out – apparently “lockdown” corner is a step down from “shutdown” corner. Brooks thinks Claiborne will be perfect for a Tampa-2 system, I assume Tampa's Tampa-2 system at that. More technically sound than Patrick Peterson last year.

I won't run down Brooks' mock draft since it's from before the Rams-Redskins trade. The interesting moment was when he compared Justin Blackmon to Terrell Owens as a runner after the catch. (Despite that, he said at the end of the show that Michael Floyd will prove to be the best receiver in the class in a few years.) Also had Dontari Poe going to Carolina at #9, and Trent Richardson not in the top 10 at all.

Dukes says that people who criticize that Poe looks bad on tape need to account more for all the spread offenses he faced that don't give him a chance to shine at his position. He did acknowledge, though, that Poe does seem to take plays off and end up on the ground more than he should.

* Pro days.

Clemson: Andre Branch looked good enough in 3-4 linebacker drills to be considered scheme-diverse. He's ideally a 4-3 RDE but 3-4 teams will be comfortable with his ability to drop into coverage. Mike Mayock projects him for the Mayock Zone. Brandon Thompson got gassed by the end of his defensive line workout but ran a 5.16 40 with a 1.77 10-yard split that should confirm his second-round status. Dwayne Allen, very questionably, did not run a 40, standing on his awful Combine 4.9. Looks quicker than that, though, and ran good routes and caught the ball well. Shouldn't be relied on for blocking. Didn't hurt or help his second-round grade. Dings on Coty Sensabaugh are that he started just one year and is light at 189, but the corner looks like a 3rd-4^th round pick to Mayock. Rennie Moore is an undersized, one-gap DT, but he gets upfield very well, and ran a 4.94 today. As quick as Dwayne Allen, in other words.

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