College Football-NFL Comparisons: Blake Bortles

        Some are saying Bortles will now go second overall, if the Browns trade up for the pick. Houston is another likely suitor, and with all the permutations there are even mock drafts where he goes first overall. This is a quarterback coming off one hell of a season, in which he took a mid major (read: mediocre) program to a BCS bowl game, and there stunned the 5 ranked Bears in the Tostitos Fiesta bowl. A great end to a great career for Bortles, and since then (and really the whole stellar season he had, with well north of 3,500 passing yards) everyone has realized that he may well become pretty important pretty quickly in the NFL. That said, a comparison I recently saw drawn with Andrew Luck is one of the silliest symptoms of draft hype I have seen in recent memory. Blake Bortles does not have the athleticism (a 4.93 40, vs a 4.6 from Luck), passing ability, composure in the pocket, or big game experience of Andrew Luck. That list could easily go on for a paragraph. Of course, Luck sets a shockingly high bar, as he has already proved to be a Pro-Bowl caliber player at his age. Luck played on a vastly superior team outside of Palo Alto and simply had much more to his résumé going into the draft. He may be an all time great; That can't be said at all about Bortles.

        A much more reasonable comparison to make would be with Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan. This is generous, certainly, but both players are slow, fairly accurate, and struggle with the long ball. Ryan wins games, and Bortles has proven he can do that, even on a team like UCF. Game management matters, and that I am happy to give to Bortles. Both quarterbacks excel in the quick, short game, and are just athletic enough to occasionally extend plays with their feet, but surprise everyone when they do so. In sum Bortles is a good player, in fact he may have won the best quarterback of the draft status, but most have rightly pointed out that we can by no means call him elite. He will go very high in the draft, and likely have a solid career as a starter in the NFL. Wherever he goes, he will almost definitely be starting as soon as he arrives, so we don't have long to wait to see how a good college season (and player) translates into the NFL.

(His girlfriend, I will give elite status. A ludicrous amount of hits on google.)

2014 NFL Mock Draft: Pre-Combine

1. Houston Texans: QB Teddy Bridgewater: Throughout the college football season, quarterback Teddy Bridgewater seemed like the clear first overall pick, even when he was no longer a part of the Heisman race. Now, Johnny Manziel and Blake Bortles are both becoming legitimate contenders for the first overall pick in the upcoming draft. The NFL Combine will be a clear sign of who will be drafted by the Texans this year, but as of right now, Teddy Bridgewater remains the favorite.

2. St. Louis Rams: OT Jake Matthews: The offensive line is not a major problem for the St. Louis Rams, and I would think that the Rams will trade this pick away seeing that they will likely stick with quarterback Sam Bradford, therefore are in no need of drafting a quarterback. If they were to keep this pick, an improved offensive line would be a good idea in order to protect the healing quarterback.

3. Jacksonville Jaguars: QB Blake Bortles: Blake Bortles is quickly rocketing up mock draft boards, and may be giving Teddy Bridgewater a run for his money as the first overall pick. Bortles' size, standing at 6'4", 230 pounds, is comparable to that of Colts' quarterback Andrew Luck. Not only can Bortles throw the ball (163.4 passer rating in 2013), but he rushed for 15 touchdowns while at UCF.

4. Cleveland Browns: QB Johnny Manziel: Looking at Johnny Manziel's passing statistics, it is obvious that Manziel had a better year passing the ball. Manziel had career highs this past season in completions (300), completion percentage (69.9), passing yards (4,114), touchdowns (37), and passer rating (172.9). The Browns are a mess, and Brandon Weeden has made it clear that he wants out of Cleveland. In the words of Johnny Manziel, "If something happens, and it's the Cleveland Browns, I'm going to pour my heart out for the Dawg Pound and try to win a Super Bowl for Cleveland."



5. Oakland Raiders: DE Jadeveon Clowney: Clowney is bound to have an excellent performance in the combine, and his well-rounded numbers are sure to attract an abundance of NFL teams; however, his draft stock has fallen since the start of the season due to a relatively disappointing year in 2013. His three sacks in 2013 is a huge drop-off from his spectacular sophomore season in 2012. Clowney's inconsistency may even drop him out of the top 5 considering all of the talented quarterbacks.

6. Atlanta Falcons: OLB Khalil Mack: Khalil Mack is coming out of a small school, where he recorded 10.5 sacks with 100 combined tackles in 2013. His most important accomplishment in 2013 was the 9 tackles with 2.5 sacks in the season opener against Ohio State. The Atlanta Falcons ranked 29th in the league in defensive sacks, so a skilled pass rusher is an absolute must for the Falcons.

7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: OT Greg Robinson: Throughout Auburn's incredible run in the 2013 season, offensive tackle Greg Robinson gained a lot of attention, especially by creating excellent holes for star running back Tre Mason. Standing at 6'5" and 320 pounds, Greg Robinson shut down some of the best defensive players in college football, which is why Robinson will be one of the first offensive linemen to be drafted in this year's draft.

8. Minnesota Vikings: WR Sammy Watkins: Last year, the Minnesota Vikings signed Greg Jennings to a 5 year deal, but in his first season with the Vikings, he recorded just 804 receiving yards and 4 touchdowns. Greg Jennings is on the wrong side of 30, so in order to take pressure off of Adrian Peterson and the running game, Sammy Watkins would be the best option for Minnesota.

Sammy Watkins ran a faster 100m & 200m than Chris Johnson.
— Christopher Hansen (@ChrisHansenNFL) February 13, 2014

9. Buffalo Bills: OT Taylor Lewan: Buffalo's offensive line allowed 48 sacks in 2013, which ranked 28th overall in the league. Offensive tackle Erik Pears will be 32 at the start of next season, and his contract will expire in 2015. Meanwhile, Taylor Lewan is a large, powerful offensive tackle who played four years at Michigan, and was named to two All American teams. Most importantly, Lewan won back to back Rimington-Pace Offensive Lineman of the Year Awards, which is awarded to the best offensive lineman in the Big Ten.

10. Detroit Lions: DE/OLB Anthony Barr: Detroit's front seven sure has plenty of talent, and yet they  ranked 28th overall in terms of sacks. Detroit's outside linebackers have combined for 2 career sacks, even though both have played for 5 seasons. Anthony Barr is the most talented linebacker in this year's draft, but he is talented enough to play defensive end as well. In two seasons at UCLA, Barr recorded 23.5 sacks, which is why the Detroit Lions need to draft him in order to improve the pass rush.

Fiesta Bowl Preview: Baylor (11-1) vs UCF (11-1)

        Ok, this is going to be good. Before you dismiss this as one of the more lopsided BCS bowls in recent memory, (I was tempted to, before I did a little research) consider this: The 15th ranked Knights (not bad, you must admit) have dropped just one game this year, and have a couple big wins over decent opponents such as Louisville and Rutgers, in a 41-17 upset. So this isn't as laughable a matchup as it might immediately seem, if one were to only look at the conferences from which the teams hail, or their histories. This is the biggest game in Knight history, and by virtue of that fact they probably deserve some respect for getting here. All that being said, a 17 point spread is telling, even on such a big stage as a BCS bowl. I won't let the suspense kill you, dear reader. I go Bears, in a shootout for the ages.

Petty will put on a show, make no mistake.

      And I do so in large part because of one young man down in Waco. Bryce Petty did not get as much national or Heisman attention as most now feel he deserved, in retrospect. He was a great player on a great team, he had great moments, and his stats were stratospheric. But New York and the players who were there is now of no concern to the Bears, whose attention can now solely lie in Arizona. This is a high powered offense, a smooth running, well oiled, perfectly drilled machine. The Mercedes Benz of college football offenses, one might say. This isn't even an arguable point by now, as with the regular season in the books the Bears scored on average a whopping 53.3 points. Unheard of, and easily good enough for first in the nation. So  while I won't declare them the best offense in college football (strength of schedule is certainly questionable) it can't be denied that they are good at scoring points. They like doing it, they do it early, often, and they do it well, even against the occasional good team. If the Bears score under 40 points in this game I will be shocked. They should be firing on all cylinders, Petty on the same page as his happy band of talented, explosive receivers, and it will make good watching. Of course that's not to mention running back Lache Seastrunk (makes the list of great running back names, one of the best I'd say) who rushed for 1,000 yards again this season and had 11 touchdowns for the Bears. He will feature prominently as well, I should imagine.

       Now UCF's defense is a major cause of concern, to be sure. Little talent and almost no spine have me thinking Baylor will score when they want to, as stated above. However, this team as well can score points. They dropped 38 on the previously vaunted Louisville defense early in the season, and they scored 41 against Rutgers. Those are two good defenses there, in fact I seem to remember ESPN wanted to crown Louisville one of the best in the country. So both those wins are statement wins, testaments to this offensive power. They are led by junior Blake Bortles, a talented young lad who is actually projected to go top 10 in the 2014 NFL draft should he forgo his senior season. How's that for no name recognition, especially as a great player? So make no mistake, this is a good, well coached offense led by an excellent quarterback. They will score a lot of points as well. Let's say under 30 would have me genuinely, sincerely shocked.

Can the Knights rise to the occasion? I suspect victory is beyond their grasp.

        They will score a lot, but it won't be enough. This one goes to the Bears, easily, but I will watch without a doubt, as this could easily be one of the highest scoring BCS bowl games in recent memory. Seriously, this might bring you back to West Virginia 70 -Clemson 33, or perhaps the less lopsided but no less exciting Boise St. 43- Oklahoma 42. It's definitely possible that this game would match, or even dare I say surpass, such ludicrous days of yore. So who doesn't want to see, as I predict, Baylor 53 UCF 38?

2014 NFL Mock Draft: Pre-Bowl Game Edition

1. Houston Texans: QB Teddy Bridgewater: Despite his many talents, quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was not even in contention for the Heisman Trophy. But even though Bridgewater is coming from a weak football school, as well as the fact that his team was not involved in the BCS Championship discussion, NFL teams are eager to draft Bridgewater first overall. Bridgewater is absolutely incredible in the pocket, and his ability to throw on the run makes it difficult for defenses to contain him even when they bring the blitz.

2. St. Louis (via Washington): OT Jake Matthews: Jake Matthews, by far the best lineman in this year's draft, would be be a great new addition to the Rams' offensive line. With Jake Matthews on one side of the offensive line, and Jake Long on the other, the St Louis Rams might be able to have the most talented O-Line in the National Football League. Apart from improving the offensive line, St. Louis may be tempted to draft a quarterback with the second pick in the draft; however, assuming that Sam Bradford can return from his injury by the start of next season, the offensive line must be upgraded as soon as possible.

3. Oakland Raiders: DE Jadeveon Clowney: The Oakland Raiders' defensive line has definitely improved since last season, but it will be extremely difficult to pass on the highly talented defensive end out of South Carolina, Jadeveon Clowney. Clowney's skill set will earn him extroidanary numbers at the NFL combine, so his draft stock will sky rocket upwards despite his sub-par play in 2013.

4. Jacksonville Jaguars: QB Derek Carr: This quarterback out of Fresno State flew under the radar throughout the 2013 regular season, and by the end of the year, Carr led the entire nation in both passing yards (4,866) and passing touchdowns (48). Similarly to Teddy Bridgewater, Derek Carr is coming from a relatively small football school, Fresno State, which may hurt his draft stock slightly.

5. Atlanta Falcons: LB Anthony Barr: After losing to San Francisco in the NFC Championship Game in 2012, many injuries in 2013 caused the Falcons to go 4-10 as of Week 15. Atlanta's defense, ranking 29th in total yards allowed, needs help with both their run and pass defense, and an athletic linebacker/defensive end like Anthony Barr will surely benefit this struggling team.

6. Cleveland Browns: QB Blake Bortles: After Marcus Mariota announced to the football world that he would be staying at Oregon for his senior year, Blake Bortles has rocketed upwards in the draft boards. Bortles, standing at 6'3" and 240 pounds, has been compared to the likes of Ben Roethlisberger, where both of them are similar in size yet very athletic quarterbacks. It is time for Cleveland to give up on second year quarterback Brandon Weeden.

7. New York Giants: OLB Khalil Mack: Not many players from the University at Buffalo are drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft, but Khalil Mack is an extraordinary talent. This season, Mack posted 100 tackles and 10.5 sacks, where 2.5 of those sacks came against Ohio State in the season opener. The New York Giants ranked 26th overall in defensive sacks, so Khalil Mack would be a great addition to this team.

8. Buffalo Bills: WR Samy Watkins: If the Buffalo Bills wish to build their offense around EJ Manuel, then a new wide receiver should be the first new addition in the offseason. Sammy Watkins from Clemson caught 83 passes for 1,237 yards and 10 scores in 2013, and he is clearly the best wide receiver in this year's draft. The Bills are still one or two years away from making the playoffs, and in order to turn around their game immediately, they must make a huge splash in free agency.

9. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: QB Johnny Manziel: There is no disputing that Johnny Manziel is an incredibly talented quarterbacks, but his lack of size and off the field troubles may cause several teams to pass. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a team that will be willing to take the risk, hoping that Manziel can rescue their franchise.

10. Minnesota Vikings: CB Ifo Ekpre-Olomu: As of Week 16, the Minnesota Vikings rank dead last in the NFL in passing yards allowed with 294.4 yards per game. The Vikings were hoping that rookie cornerback Xavier Rhodes could fix the problem with their pass defense in 2012, but obviously, there was no improvement. Ifo Ekpre-Olomu is one of the best defenders in this draft class, and hopefully, he can team up with Xavier Rhodes to form one of the best pass defenses in the league.