The Senior Bowl is over, which means NFL teams will have to use non-football performances to evaluate players from here on out. There will be a lot of players who move up and down draft boards when the Combine and various pro days come around. But for the vast majority of players, the lion's share of the evaluation process has come to a close. So let's refer to this as the first Mock Draft of the rest of your life.
SB Nation just released their first Mock Draft of the next era of speculation, and the result is still the same for the Redskins as it was last week. They have the 'Skins taking Alabama wide receiver Julio Jones. Here is what they have to say about the fit.
This would be an intriguing scenario for Mike Shanahan, who would have his pick of the quarterback crop here. They'd still give serious consideration to Jones, one of the draft's most under-appreciated prospects that some believe will be a better pro than Georgia's Green.
I'll say again what I said last week. I think Jones would be a very good fit with the Redskins, and that they would be a much better team for having him. But I'm not sure that he represents the most possible improvement the Redskins acquire with a top ten pick. Some help on the offensive and defensive line might be a more stabilizing force.
An interesting thing to note about this particular mock is that SB Nation doesn't have a quarterback going before Blaine Gabbert to the Minnesota Vikings at 12. They had the Redskins taking a quarterback for the first few mock drafts before assigning them Jones in the last few. It's odd that there aren't any quarterbacks in the top 11 picks, but none of the premier prospects set themselves apart in the post season all-star process. After the Senior Bowl it might make more sense for the Redskins to wait and take a different prospect, like game MVP Christian Ponder, in one of the later rounds.