2012 SB Nation NFL Mock Draft: Round 2, Pick 48

The SB Nation two-round NFL mock draft continues along with each lead NFL team blogger making the pick for their team. We continue the second round with the New England Patriots with the No. 48 pick.

Greg Knopping of PatsPulpit.com made the pick. Find some discussion of it after the jump.

Greg Knopping explains: Having picked up two pieces for the front seven at picks 27 and 31 (Whitney Mercilus and Kendall Reyes), my original plan was to address another area of need with the 48th pick: safety. However, my planned selection, S Harrison Smith, came off the board the pick before me, and I decided to go with the best available player. That player, in my opinion, was outside linebacker / defensive end Shea McClellin. McClellin provides a lot that the first two selections do not. Unlike Mercilus, McClellin is more of a natural fit at linebacker. In addition to playing outside linebacker in the 3-4 and defensive end in sub-packages, McClellin could probably even play strong-side linebacker similar to Rob Ninkovich in the Patriots’ 4-3 sets. On third downs, Patriots coach Bill Belichick could use McClellin in a variety of different spots. In an ideal world, I probably would have traded up from 48 to ensure getting Harrison Smith. However, considering Smith came off the board right before my pick and the safety talent left on the board, I felt the best decision was to go best player available here, and that was McClellin. The plan going forward is to select a safety at the 62nd spot, and there should be a few options available at that spot, a few of whom include Markelle Martin, Brandon Taylor, and George Iloka.

Dan Kadar analyzes: The Patriots have long been associated with McClellin. If for no other reason, it’s because the team direly needs pass rush help. In the first round, Knopping added Whitney Mercilus, which was a great pick. While I’m not so high on McClellin, this is a much better spot for him than the first round.

I question his on-field athleticism, which is a key to playing 3-4 outside linebacker. When New England goes with 4-3 sets, he would be fine. He gets off the line smoothly and in a hurry to beat linemen. While he does have some experience rushing out of a two-point stance, he’ll be better initially with his hand in the ground.