Here's a little exercise for the next day or two:

I've been on-and-off following the NFL draft process of late through various websites, newspapers and other media, trying to get a read on the process and what different people think of the various college players that are eligible for this year's draft.  After sifting through the maze of information for a few weeks, I've come up with a list of around 50 or so players who might be taken in the first round of this year's draft.  What follows in the next day or two will be the list of those players, by position, and their PS rankings.

What is a PS ranking and why am I adding that bit of information?  Well, the PS ranking is a numerical rank of a player, assigned to him by college football preseason magazine publisher Phil Steele.  The ranking signifies the player's rank at his position coming out of high school, as calculated through Steele's own formula based on the combined rankings that player inherited from a handful of recruiting services and publications.  It's a good way to determine how highly regarded that player was, coming out of high school.  I am using those rankings because it's a good way to look at first rounders after college relative to their rankings before entering college.

Now, some words of caution:

The list of players has been assembled through a variety of publications and for a few rare players, my own projections.  I have found in looking over other peoples' mock drafts and projections a heavy tilt towards players in big-name and Division-IA schools.  Recent drafts have trended towards the big school guys, but it's very likely a handful of lesser-known guys will slip into the first round or second round, making all the mock draft guys look stupid.  We have to assume that most NFL scouting departments do their homework and pore over a lot more film and have many more sources than the average fan and the variety of internet publications with unknown sources.  Also, many teams take a secretive approach to the draft and either send out smokescreens or manage to suffocate internal information leaks.  Therefore, what is available to both casual and obsessive fans isn't "perfect" information, and must be taken with at least a few grains of salt.

There is at least one gentleman on the internet who is a known source to NFL types and has seen many of the draft eligible players and is in a position to offer legitimate insight---his name is Lannie Julias.  However, Lannie's been fairly light on the draft insight so far so we don't have a lot to go on from him.  Maybe I'll put in a call and see what he thinks of what will follow on here, but for now what's on here has its own modest, systematic flaws that hopefully can be overcome.

Alright, now that I've said all that, let's get to it.  First up, the potential pool of first round NFL draft picks on defense (see the following post).

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