I’ve never known enough information about how teams choose selections to do a true mock draft. (ed. note– that never stops the rest of us!) I leave that for others. Instead, I like to rank the players in the order I’d put them on my Big Board if I was in the draft room. So, this is my “Big Board” for tonight’s draft. I’ve only done my top 40, plus noted where I ranked a couple of guys many people once considered first-rounders.

1. Star Lotulelei, DT, Utah
2. Shariff Floyd, DT, Florida
3. Chance Warmack, OG, Alabama
4. Luke Joeckel, OT, Texas A&M
5. Eric Fisher, OT, Central Michigan
6. Bjoern Werner, DE, Florida State
7. Dee Milliner, CB, Alabama
8. Jarvis Jones, DE/OLB, Georgia
9. Tavon Austin, WR, West Virginia
10. Geno Smith, QB, West Virginia
11. Tyler Eifert, TE, Notre Dame
12. Jonathan Cooper, G/C, North Carolina
13. Deandre Hopkins, WR, Clemson
14. Arthur Brown, LB, Kansas State
15. Dion Jordan, DE/OLB, Oregon
16. Barkevious Mingo, DE/OLB, LSU
17. Sheldon Richardson, DT, Missouri
18. D.J. Fluker, OT, Alabama
19. Jamar Taylor, CB, Boise State
20. Larry Warford, OG, Kentucky
21. Menelik Watson, OT, Florida State
22. Lane Johnson, OT, Oklahoma
23. Ziggy Ansah, DE/OLB, BYU
24. D.J. Hayden, CB, Houston
25. Alec Ogletree, LB, Georgia
26. Justin Hunter, WR, Tennessee
27. Tank Carradine, DE, Florida State
28. Cordarrelle Patterson, WR, Tennessee
29. Xavier Rhodes, CB, Florida State
30. Kenny Vaccaro, S, Texas
31. E.J. Manuel, QB, Florida State
32. Datone Jones, DE, UCLA
33. Matt Elam, S, Florida
34. Zach Ertz, TE, Stanford
35. Travis Frederick, C, Wisconsin
36. Sylvester Williams, DT, North Carolina
37. Ryan Nassib, QB, Syracuse
38. Eric Reid, S, LSU
39. Justin Pugh, G/T, Syracuse
40. Margus Hunt, DE, SMU
~50th. Manti Teo, LB, Notre Dame
3rd Round+. Damontre Moore, DE/OLB, Texas A&M

Quick Hits:

• Star would have probably been my #3 pick last year over Kalil.
• Floyd would have as well.
• Warmack is the best OL I’ve watched on college tape… maybe ever.
• My opinion on Milliner has changed so much… from a low ranking of ~19ish to a high of 5.
• Out of Jordan, Mingo and Ansah, I think Mingo has the highest ceiling and lowest floor.
• Lane Johnson reminds me of Robert Gallery.
• Jamar Taylor is fun to watch and has a terrific jam.
• Arthur Brown is technically sound.
• Cordarelle Patterson has dropped for me, though I think he will have a lot of viability on a competent offense.
• I wouldn’t draft Damontre Moore in the 7th round, don’t know why I said 3rd round plus… I really hate his game.
• Teo isn’t as bad as some say and nowhere near as good as those hyping him say.

Enjoy the draft. I’ll be rooting for Jacksonville to not take a kicker in the 3rd round this year.