Yes, clearly, it's a terrible pick to take the big, athletic tight end with killer hands and incredible upside for a team that lacks offensive weaponry. Silly me!

Oh, and incidentally, because of his size, he fits well with the blocking scheme too.

I think it's actually kind of unavoidable on sites like this once you get out of the first round.  The expertise of most us is focused mainly on teams in our area (in my case, the Big 12 and KU in particular), we don't have hordes of scouts at our disposal and there's probably a great disparity between the number of games we watch in our area of interest versus the number we watch outside our area of interest.  Simply put, most of us wouldn't know enough about the players outside our area to start picking wisely once the big name talent disappears so we start overrating the talent of players at schools that we do know.

rarely do these guys get more than a handful of picks actually right.

the nfl draft is so fluid and whimsical, it is impossible to accurately predict. so, if you just glanced at a list of the prospects generally accepted to be at the top, somebody who has watched all of zero games or tape or any of that could probably get close to as many right as the "experts" do.

so, with this being a "fun" mock draft, lets leave the blatant call-outs to a minimum.

...was a consistently productive player at KU during his time there.  Honestly, I'm not sure where the "he takes plays off" criticism comes from...it wasn't a gripe I ever heard among KU fans, I saw most of the games and I never noticed him doing anything blatant that got his QB blown up (as the Chiefs' linemen very often did), and frankly Mangino wouldn't tolerate somebody who didn't put out effort on the field.  KU ran a very productive offense and Collins was a major factor in that.

If you're arguing that he's raw for the NFL level or that his technique can be sloppy, that I can understand because you can be very productive in college based on athleticism alone (and I'm not enough of an expert on the finer points of lineman technique to argue foot chops and slides) but I think the claims that he doesn't put out an effort are pretty unfounded.  He's rated the 65th best player in the draft on ESPN's boards, which indicates he's a high third-rounder and they're seeing the same things anyone else is seeing.

Does that answer your question, Tom? :)

In the spirit of magnanimity and because we're both Chiefs fans I promise not to hold your Tiger fandom against you, though...despite the fact that Missouri fans were a bunch of rude fuckers at the Border War this year :)

...I don't like weak schedules, I think we would have whupped Texas year, and I doubt we would have lost by as much to Oklahoma as Missouri did :)  And, of course, we did beat an excellent team in the Orange Bowl this year, so I think the "fraud" argument's been pretty much discredited.  Like the Border War showed, I think Missouri and Kansas are comparable in football...which is why I'm looking forward to next year's matchup. :)

Meant to say "would have whupped Texas last season".  Four months into 2008 you'd think I'd have figured out that the 2007 season was last year...

Some people from schools that didn't go to a BCS bowl seem to believe 2007 was a fluke :) but frankly if it hadn't been for Kerry Meier being injured in the 2006 season (and us having to rely on Adam Barmann for a long stretch at QB) KU could easily have been 8-4 that year instead of 6-6 (with away victories in Lincoln and Toledo).  Mangino's assembled a competitive squad for the last three years and I think they'll hold their own against the Big 12 South just fine next year...even without Talib and Collins.  So long as they're able to find a competent replacement for McClinton on the defensive line (which was our weakest spot last season).

...you were never going to get Hansbrough.  Roy Williams had Hansbrough going to his clinics since he was a kid so he was going to UNC no matter what.

Also, let's not lose our heads here and assume that a trip to the Elite Eight was indicative of an impending national championship.  Problems with Clemons aside, Snyder was a good coach but he didn't do anything to prove he was a great coach on the cusp of a national title.  The entire Clemons situation, in fact, indicated that Snyder's and Missouri's problems went deeper than one guy (although I doubt anyone would have had much success with Clemons).

I think your current coach, Anderson, is going to be decent, though...he's had a lot to deal with but I think he's handling it the right way.  Not many guys would be able to go 16-16 after having that many off-court problems.  But I think he's going to create a better culture around there in the long term by cracking down on the troublemakers now.