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Bills select Rodgers-Cromartie in MVN Writers Mock Draft

By Dan Goldman | April 15th, 2008

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With the eleventh pick in the MVN NFL writers’ mock draft, the Buffalo Bills select CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie out of Tennessee State.

I was a bit surprised to see New Orleans take Aqib Talib at No. 10 instead of DRC, so I couldn’t pass him up. If Sedrick Ellis didn’t go to the Bengals, I would’ve picked him though.

Due to Malcolm Kelly’s slow 40-yard dash, there are no wideouts worth taking this high. Buffalo may look to trade down, but if they can’t, Rodgers-Cromartie is a great fit.

In 2007, Buffalo’s pass defense ranked 29th in the league, allowing 238.4 yards-per-game. This came after the team lost it’s No. 1 corner, Nate Clements, to free agency. Terrence McGee is a solid starter and Jabari Greer showed signs of being a good cover corner, but the team needs someone to compete with the likes of Randy Moss.

The current Buffalo corners aren’t very big, McGee is 5-9, Greer and Ashton Youboty are 5-11 and newcomer Will James is supposedly 6-0. Rodgers-Cromartie is 6-1 and ½ and had the best vertical among corners at the combine with a leap of 38.5-inches. He also possesses great speed, as Rodgers-Cromartie showcased a 4.33 40-time in Indianapolis.

You may recognize the name, as he is the cousin of Chargers Pro Bowl corner Antonio Cromartie. The big knock on Rodgers-Cromartie is that he comes from a Division 1-AA school. However, Rodgers-Cromartie showcased his ball skills at the Senior Bowl against top talent and was named defensive MVP.

In 44 career games, he finished with 11 interceptions, averaging 28.5 yards a return and brought back four for touchdowns. Of the 161 passes thrown his way, only 55 were completed (34.16 percent) making for an average of 3.54 yards per pass attempt, which is the best for any college corner over the last three years.

Buffalo special teams coach Bobby April has to love the fact that he blocked eight kicks.

Troy corner Leodis McKelvin is also a viable option, as is Florida’s Mike Jenkins, but I think Rodgers-Cromartie’s athleticism is a good fit for the cover-2.

Now the top of the draft looks like this:

1. Miami - Jake Long
2. St. Louis - Chris Long
3. Atlanta - Glenn Dorsey
4. Oakland - Vernon Gholston
5. KC -Brendan Albert
6. NYJ - McFadden
7. NE - Keith Rivers
8. Baltimore- Matt Ryan
9. Cincinnati - Sedrick Ellis
10. New Orelans - Aqib Talib
11. Buffalo - Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie

The mock draft will continue with all of the first round, keep checking in with it.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 at 8:29 am and is filed under Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Sedrick Ellis, Aqib Talib, Malcolm Kelly, NFL Draft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 Responses to “Bills select Rodgers-Cromartie in MVN Writers Mock Draft”

donnie says:

April 15th, 2008 at 1:35 pm

i dont think so about that 11 pick it will be devin thomas
Dan Goldman says:

April 15th, 2008 at 1:43 pm

I think that would be a reach Donnie.
carlos cruz says:

April 15th, 2008 at 5:17 pm

DAN, DAN, DAN, what do I keep telling you. The Bills will take Thomas, and when the season is over people won’t be saying we reached for him. Hey, don’t you remember what everyone said when we took Whitner. They all said,”Oh, they reached a little for him.” And what did they say when his ROOKIE campaign was over,”The Bills got a steal!” I’m sick and tired of people saying this team and that team reached a “little” for a player in the draft. LOOK, either you draft a player and he’s productive or not. There is no reaching a “little”, to me people who say that don’t even make sense.
Dan Goldman says:

April 15th, 2008 at 5:36 pm

We shall see if you are right Carlos. I like Thomas, but I’m still a bit concerned about his one-year wonder status.

I think we can get a comparably good wide receiver in the second round while picking up a great CB.
carlos cruz says:

April 15th, 2008 at 8:00 pm

To me though, DRC is not Great though. He had only 2 int last year in Div-1AA, that’s not GREAT by any means. A good combine to me doesn’t mean much except that your solidly athletic. There have been tons of players that had a ton of athletic ability that never panned out. There are better CBs that are scheduled to go in the 2nd round than DRC. He’s too much of a risk to me, and people forget we signed CB Will James, who is going to be productive for us. Even if he was decent I think it would be a waste of the 11th pick to me. I love that you put one-year wonder in the post though, I always use that term. I often call players one-year, and one-game wonders- so I’m just glad someone else out there is using the term, and I’ll agree that it is suspect- but he had one hell of a year, didn’t he though. DRC is getting more hype than he should because of his cousin Antonio, and his 2(count em’, 2only)int went for TDs. Yippedee DO-DA, Yippedee Day! Don’t draft DRC, and it will be a marvelous day. Yaa! Yipeedee Do-DA, Yippedde Day! Ok, I’ll stop now.
matt says:

April 16th, 2008 at 1:26 pm

Why do they keep saying Whitner was a reach. What does that exactly mean when they see, the bills reached in a draft? And why would DRC be a reach?