With The 2nd Pick In The 2011 Stampede Blue Community Mock Draft, The Denver Broncos Select...

by mgrex03 on Feb 9, 2011 11:01 AM EST in Community Mock Draft

Pick made by chad72:

Da'Quan Bowers followed Ricky Sapp, who attended the same high school, and the late Gaines Adams in the school's tradition of outstanding defensive ends. He stepped in as a true freshman (though he graduated early to take part in spring practices), earning freshman All-American honors after starting six games, making 37 stops, eight for loss, one sack, and numerous QB pressures. Bowers missed some time in 2009 due to a knee injury, but still managed 46 tackles (11 in the ACC Championship game loss to Georgia Tech), 10.5 for loss, and three sacks.

The knock on him is that he has had only one great year. He was ACC Defensive Player of the Year as a junior with 25 tackles for loss and 15.5 sacks. His play was actually fueled by the death of his mentor, Adams (cardiac arrest) and his father (seizure) in the span of 12 months. His strength at the point of attack as run-stopper and sack-master gives him the potential to be a long-time playmaker like Shaun Ellis or possibly even a game-changing 4-3 strong-side end in the Michael Strahan mold.

The Broncos finished dead last in the NFL with just 23 sacks. That figure will rise next year with Elvis Dumervil back in the lineup, but Denver still needs another pass-rusher up front.

New head coach John Fox has a thing for athletic defensive ends. In his first year with the Panthers, he selected Julius Peppers at No. 2 overall in the 2002 NFL Draft. With Denver presumably moving back to the 4-3, Fox will really consider Bowers with this pick, as Bowers will remind him of Peppers from a pure athletic standpoint. Like Peppers, Bowers is stout at the point of attack as a run stopper too and given the Broncos' run D and pass rush woes, Bowers seems like the best fit.

If Bowers is taken #2 overall, it'll be the 3rd time in the past 4 years that a DL was chosen second overall (Chris Long, Ndamukong Suh), and the highest draft pick in Clemson history (4th, Gaines Adams).

Da'Quan Bowers Scouting Report from Mocking the Draft

The Bills, and Buffalo_Bill_Cody, are on the clock...

Pos	Team	Player	Pos	School	Drafter
1	Carolina	Nick Fairley	DT	Auburn	palco
2	Denver	Da'Quan Bowers	DE	Clemson	chad72
3	Buffalo				Buffalo_Bill_Cody
4	Cincinnati				beerbrunch
5	Arizona				JesusNinja13
6	Cleveland				nickfromnaptown
7	San Francisco				nopuntintended
8	Tennessee				Aerostar193
9	Dallas				Addai Another Aday
10	Washington				TouchdownColts
11	Houston				SupermanWearsBobSander'sPJs
12	Minnesota				Mr. Indianapolis Colts
13	Detroit				Bradman721
14	St. Louis				VolsnCards5
15	Miami				metallicolts
16	Jacksonville				Collin McCollough
17	New England				mgrex03
18	San Diego				ColtsFanFromHawaii
19	N.Y. Giants				erockrap
20	Tampa Bay				Sir Sci
21	Kansas City				FreeneyAteYourLunch
22	Indianapolis				BlueVol03
23	Philadelphia				AnotherWriter
24	New Orleans				ushoe
25	Seattle				Vikings55Thunder
26	Baltimore				JaredCounterman
27	Atlanta				fiftycal2004
28	New England				mgrex03
29	Chicago				DClark#44
30	N.Y. Jets				Eltoasto
31	Pittsburgh				emiller17
32	Green Bay				sanders_fan89

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Looking at the coaches the Broncos interviewed

If you look at the coaches the Broncos interviewed:

John Fox (Carolina), 4-3
Perry Fewell (NY Giants), 4-3
Eric Studesville (RB’s coach), 4-3/3-4
Dirk Koetter (Jacksonville, OC), 4-3
Mike Mularkey (Atlanta, OC), 4-3
Gregg Williams (New Orleans), 4-3
Ron Rivera (San Diego), 3-4 and 4-3
Rick Dennison (Houston), 4-3
Jim Fassel (Giants, Locomotives), 4-3
Jim Harbaugh (49ers), 3-4

The majority of them have run a 4-3 and a big reason for the Broncos’ run D woes could be that their defensive middle was not good enough and their LBs, while Dumervil produced pass rush numbers, their run D with Dumervil in the lineup was still not as good (26th against the rush with Dumervil in 2009, 31st against the rush with Dumervil in 2010). So, their 3 down linemen were not getting it done, that is why it seems like going back to the 4 down linemen made sense.

Besides, the competition for 4-3 players has gone down a bit with more teams adopting the 3-4, so maybe they felt that they could succeed with a 4-3.

by chad72 on Feb 9, 2011 11:44 AM EST reply actions