Monday, April 25, 2011

2011 Stock Lemon NFL Mock Draft: Picks 25-32


The draft is fast approaching, and we have our final eight picks to dish out before Thursday's first round of the 2011 NFL Draft.

25. Seattle Seahawks: Jake Locker, QB, Washington

26. Baltimore Ravens: Jimmy Smith, CB, Colorado

27. Atlanta Falcons: Cam Heyward, DL, Ohio State

28. New England Patriots: Akeem Ayers, LB, UCLA

29. Chicago Bears: Marvin Austin, DT, North Carolina

30. New York Jets: Phil Taylor, DL, Baylor

31. Pittsburgh Steelers: Derrek Sherrod, OT, Mississippi State

32. Green Bay Packers: Brooks Reed, LB, Arizona

As one would expect, the end of the first round is filled with question marks. Guys like Jimmy Smith and Marvin Austin carry a lot of baggage to their new teams, but their talent is worthy of first round money (whatever the new CBA decides that is). These last eight teams are really all about boom or bust, except for the Seahawks, who go all for bust with the local quarterback. Expect Andy Dalton from TCU to go off the board early in the second, and possibly be the best quarterback from this draft. The Patriots once again draft smart, and Ayers could be the best of this bunch.

That does it for our 2011 NFL Mock Draft. As of Thursday, we will no longer be known as Mock Lemon. Instead, we'll just be pissed off NFL fans like the rest of you, getting a small taste of football while waiting for the lockout to end.

The good news? We STILL plan on whipping out some Free Arena Football League Picks.

Can't wait.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

2011 Stock Lemon NFL Mock Draft: Picks 17-24


Our 2011 Stock Lemon NFL Mock Draft continues on with picks 17-24, the third part of our look at the first round. We'll leave it to you math geniuses out there to figure out how many more installments this first round mock draft will have.

17. New England Patriots: Anthony Castonzo, OL, Boston College

18. San Diego Chargers: Aldon Smith, DE, Missouri

19. New York Giants: Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama

20. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Adrian Clayborn, DL, Iowa

21. Kansas City Chiefs: Gabe Carimi, OL, Wisconsin

22. Indianapolis Colts: Corey Liuget, DT, Illinois

23. Philadelphia Eagles: Nate Solder, OL, Colorado

24. New Orleans Saints: Ryan Kerrigan, DE, Purdue

Another round filled with... well... round men. the lineman--both offensive and defensive--continue to be at a premium in this draft, at it helps that its so deep. The biggest name of this group is Mark Ingram, who won't fall as far as some fear as running backs are de-valued more than ever. One player who does fall, though, is Ryan Kerrigan. Not for any particular reason, he just doesn't do anything spectacular and is simply a victim of circumstance.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

2011 Stock Lemon NFL Mock Draft: Picks 9-16


It's time four our second installment of the 2011 Stock Lemon NFL Mock Draft

9. Dallas Cowboys: Tyron Smith, OT, USC

10. Washington Redskins: Ryan Mallett, QB, Arkansas

11. Houston Texans: Robert Quinn, DE, North Carolina

12. Minnesota Vikings: Cameron Jordan, DE, California

13. Detroit Lions: Prince Amukamara, CB, Nebraska

14. St. Louis Rams: Ryan Kerrigan, DE, Purdue

15. Miami Dolphins: Mike Pouncey, OL, Florida

16. Jacksonville Jaguars: J.J. Watt, DE, Wisconsin

We smell a run! After a curveball thrown at the 10-spot with Ryan Mallet going three rounds higher than he should (alright, fine, one round), defensive lineman are taken off the board in a hurry. Many of the best athletes in this year's draft belong to this stellar group of D-lineman, and this DE run will be both based on need and reaction. All the defensive lineman being plucked up will leave for some great players at other positions to slide, as will be the case with Prince Amukamara, who is the steal of our fictional draft thus far.

The second half of our mock draft is still to come, so stay tuned!

Monday, April 11, 2011

2011 Stock Lemon NFL Mock Draft: Picks 1-8


After weeks of teasing it, our 2011 Mock Draft has finally arrived... sort of. We'll roll this thing out into four easy parts of eight picks apiece, which, if our math is correct, should cover all 32 picks of the first round. So let's get to it!

1. Carolina Panthers: Cam Newton, QB, Auburn

2. Denver Broncos: Marcell Dareus, DE, Alabama

3. Buffalo Bills: Von Miller, LB, Texas A&M

4. Cincinnati Bengals: A.J. Green, WR, Georgia

5. Arizona Cardinals: Blaine Gabbert, QB, Missouri

6. Cleveland Browns: Da'Quan Bowers, DE, Clemson

7. San Francisco 49ers: Patrick Peterson, CB, LSU

8. Tennessee Titans: Nick Fairley, DT, Auburn

Looking at the top eight picks, there are a lot of pretty common sense moves in the bunch. Plenty of teams have a combination of need meeting best overall player, which could make the first eight relatively predictable. The biggest exception to that statement is the first overall pick. Cam Newton will not make a great quarterback in the NFL, but the Panthers need a quarterback and a ticket seller, and for a little while, Newton will be both in the NFL.

The Bengals could really swing things at the four-spot. We went with best player available for them, A.J. Green, which complements their need for a wideout. But let's face it, they have a need for everything. Patrick Peterson could be an option there, as he is one of the top three players in the draft but could slide all the way down to San Fran at seven, which we have him doing.

Despite concerns over Bowers' knees, we like the Browns to take the lineman at six, addressing a huge need for them. He is still the clear-cut No. 2 lineman behind Dareus, injuries and all.

That does it for the first of four installments for Mock Lemon, as we continue to refer to ourselves in hopes of it catching on.

Picks 9-16 will be up later this week, so be on the lookout for our next installment of our 2011 NFL Mock Draft!

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Mock Lemon Returns For the 2011 NFL Draft


In some parts, we're known not as Stock Lemon, but rather Mock Lemon. Why, you ask? Because beginning this week, we'll be mocking the first round of the NFL Draft, from picks 1-32.

After all, why did you think Mel Kiper always looks like he just ate a sour lemon!

LMAOROFLOL!

But really, stay tuned. It should be fun. And 100 percent accurate, give or take 99 percent.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

The 2011 Stock Lemon Fundraiser Event!


When we mentioned a few months ago that we had a paypal button on the left side of our blog that you could use at any time to donate to our cause here at Stock Lemon, we were merely trying to take advantage of the booming economy and pay for some of the costs we incur with this site.

Mainly, we were looking to add a little revenue in exchange for our time commitment to providing you with the otherwise completely free picks that you know and love, about 56% of the time.

While it's our promise to always keep our free picks just that--free--we have called upon any generous cappers (an oxymoron, we know) to help us out by simply donating any amount they so choose to the paypal account of stocklemonblog@gmail.com.

And we must say, the response has been expectedly underwhelming. But with your help, we can still reach our goal in the 2011 Stock Lemon Fundraiser!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Free 2011 NCAA Basketball Championship Pick


Monday's 2011 NCAA Tournament Championship Game concludes the 2010-11 season of college basketball, which for us really just began and March. We've had a successful run considering a) we hadn't bet on a college basketball game this season until the tournament and b) we bet on every single game in the tournament. Even with those two caveats, we've gone 55% during the tourney, proving yet again that we are pretty much awesome at whatever we do, regardless.

We'll try to continue our awesomeness with our championship pick:

Butler +3 1/2 over Connecticut

Given the lack of attractive girls from Butler posting scandalous pictures on the internet, please accept the above photo of Matt Howard bleeding his face off. Please, ladies of Butler, feel free to send along any such photos (scandalous, not bleeding) to stocklemonblog@gmail.com and we will ensure that you get the appropriate attention from our site.

For posterity's sake, here are our records thus far from the 2011 NCAA Tournament March Madness:

Round 1: 3-0-1
Round 2: 16-16
Round 3: 7-9
Sweet 16: 7-1
Elite Eight: 1-3
Final Four: 2-0
Total: 36-29-1... 55%