NFL Draft 2012: Schedule, News And Rumors For Day 2

Check out the complete list of best players available at Mocking The Draft.

For more Draft coverage, check out our NFL Draft grades, Round 2 mock draft and the complete first round NFL Draft results.

Both players were projected by many to land in the mid-to-late 1st round. Instead, they will be regarded as very good value picks for whatever team is lucky enough land them. Upshaw was rated as the 11th best prospect in the draft, and the best at his position. Still is the 13th-ranked overall prospect, and best defensive tackle in the draft according to MTD.

Check out the complete list of best players available at Mocking The Draft.

That means the Rams probably know the player they’re going to take. They’ve been connected to some receivers, so that’s a possibility. Brian Quick, Rueben Randle, Stephen Hill or Alshon Jeffery could be in play if the Rams choose to go receiver.

The best player available, according to Mocking The Draft, is Alabama LB Courtney Upshaw. The complete list of best available players shows plenty of options for the Rams.

For more on the Patriots, head over to the SB Nation blog Pats Pulpit. For more Draft coverage, check out our NFL Draft grades, Round 2 mock draft and the complete first round NFL Draft results.

The 2012 NFL Draft moves into the 2nd and 3rd rounds where there are lots of good players remaining. The first round is filled with the superstars while the 2nd and 3rd rounds are usually considered solid starters.

For teams looking for offensive line help, there are a number of quality offensive linemen remaining, including the best center in the draft.

34. South Carolina WR Alshon Jeffery, 6’4, 232 pounds

45. Rutgers WR Mohamed Sanu, 6’2, 215 pounds

Every now and again we hear from some old-timers that the NFL Draft has changed so much from the way it used to go down. The whole thing is televised with months of pre-draft coverage and there’s significantly more media covering the event.

We’ve got some video proof to show you just how much it’s changed. If you like grainy YouTube videos from the 1980s, please make the jump.

Upshaw would give the Colts a much-needed pass-rushing defensive end, who can also play the run well, according to his scouting report via Mocking The Draft. He is arguably the best prospect available at the hybrid OLB/DE spot and can only help a Colts defense that ranked 25th in the league last season.

Head over to the SB Nation blogs Turf Show Times and Stampede Blue for more on the Rams and Colts, respectively. For lots more on the 2012 NFL Draft, check out Mocking the Draft or head on over to SB Nation’s dedicated draft hub.

Despite those two going in the first round, there’s still plenty of running back talent available as we enter the second and third round. SB Nation’s NFL Draft blog, Mocking The Draft, has six running backs remaining in its top 100 draft prospects.

39. Miami RB Lamar Miller

For more on the Jets draft, check out the SB Nation blog Gang Green Nation. For lots more on the 2012 NFL Draft, check out Mocking the Draft or head on over to SB Nation’s dedicated draft hub.

A few minutes later, TV cameras showed NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell walking up to the podium and he announced the Bengals pick, and it wasn’t Sanu. It was Wisconsin G Kevin Zeitler.

Apparently, someone played a very cruel joke on Sanu, who is projected as a 2nd round pick. Mike McCartney, Sanu’s agent, tweeted out after the pick that someone apparently pranked Sanu.

The first pick in the second round has become a little more valuable since the NFL changed the draft schedule to Round 1 on Thursday and Round 2 and 3 on Friday. That extra day gives the team holding the first pick of the second round time to shop the pick around.

The object of some teams’ affection is Georgia Tech WR Stephen Hill, whom many teams had rated as a first round pick. Other players, like Courtney Upshaw, could draw interest at the top of the second round.

The1st round of the 2012 NFL draft is over. 27 teams made 32 selections in the 1st round, and there were plenty of surprises along the way. Check out the full first round NFL draft results.

Here’s our take on what went down Thursday night:

The 2012 NFL Draft had a few surprises near the end of the first round -- one that saw 19 trades, the most in at least four decades -- that have left a ton of talent on the board at the beginning of the second round.

The biggest name on the list is Alabama’s Courtney Upshaw, a hulking linebacker who can play defensive end, and who helped the Crimson Tide’s defense shut out LSU in the 2012 BCS National Championship, but four of the top 16 players on Mocking the Draft’s board are still available: No. 11 Upshaw; No. 13 Devon Still, a defensive tackle from Penn State; No. 15 Jonathan Martin, a Stanford offensive tackle; and No. 16 Peter Konz, a center from Wisconsin.