{"id":34963,"date":"2011-03-03T11:23:51","date_gmt":"2011-03-03T19:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.capperspicks.com\/blog\/?p=34963"},"modified":"2011-03-08T14:30:59","modified_gmt":"2011-03-08T22:30:59","slug":"olb-ratings-2011-draft-projections-8311","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/nfl\/olb-ratings-2011-draft-projections-8311\/","title":{"rendered":"2011 NFL Draft Predictions \u2013 Outside Linebacker Rankings"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>2011 NFL Draft Coverage \u2013 Outside Linebacker Preview<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Hey folks &#8212; Looking for Online 2011 NFL draft prospects, positional analysis, draft order, sample 2011 NFL mock drafts and more? Keep checking out CappersPicks.com NFL draft pages as we&#8217;ll keep you posted on draft activity and the fantasy impact these rookies will have.<!--more--><\/p>\n<h3><a href=\"http:\/\/record.bettingpartners.com\/_TcMlrmSOeQxhg6WO2I1rgWNd7ZgqdRLk\/1\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Looking for 2011 NFL Betting Futures? Bodog.com Has You Covered With an Assortment Of 2011 NFL Gambling Lines &amp; Future Odds. CLICK HERE TO JOIN THEM TODAY!!!!<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>The <a href=\"\/nfl\/\"><strong>NFL draft<\/strong><\/a> moves to primetime for the second time in 2011.  The first round will be in PRIMETIME, and is scheduled to take place Thursday, April 28, 2011; the second and third rounds on Friday, April 29; and the final four rounds on Saturday, April 30, 2011. <\/p>\n<p>The Panthers with the worst record for 2010 have the right to the 1st pick in 2011. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note<\/strong>: A provision in the current NFLPA-CBA ensures that this draft will still take place even with the current labor dispute.<\/p>\n<h3>OLB Rankings <\/h3>\n<p><strong>VON MILLER, Texas A&amp;M<\/strong><br \/>\n6\u201d2, 240 lbs<\/p>\n<p>Miller is, overall, one of the best players in the 2011 NFL Draft crop. He could be a little bigger, but other than that, Miller is a bona fide playmaker and possesses every building piece you need to be a great NFL pass-rusher. He\u2019s got the first step, the moves, the speed, the strategy, the tenacity, the versatility to play with a hand down in the DE position. He\u2019s a fluid athlete that can cover, he\u2019s instinctive, he\u2019s a leader that hasn\u2019t yet hit his ceiling. Want to know what else he is? A Top 5 pick.<\/p>\n<p><strong>May remind you of: DeMarcus Ware, Cowboys<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>AKEEM AYERS, UCLA<\/strong><br \/>\n6\u201d3, 254 lbs<\/p>\n<p>Ayers grades as a first-round pick because of his versatility. He is strong at stopping the run and very strong in coverage. The short-coming of his game is the pass-rushing skill set, but there are coaches out there who will believe they can coach that. He\u2019s a competitor and though his Combine 40 time was a tad slower than expected, he\u2019s got a lot of game film in his corner. <iframe allowtransparency='true' src='http:\/\/ff.connextra.com\/Bodog\/selector\/client?client=Bodog&#038;placement=Ext_RS_Sports_250x250&#038;cxt_aff_id=151627&#038;tclk=http:\/\/www.bodog.eu\/welcome\/151627\/' class=\"alignleft\" style=\"margin: 1px; border: 3px solid #FFFFFF;\" width='250' height='250' scrolling='no' frameborder='0' style='border-width:0'><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>May remind you of: Julian Peterson, FA<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>BROOKS REED, Arizona<\/strong><br \/>\n6\u201d3, 263 lbs<\/p>\n<p>The man with the dirty blond flow spilling out of his helmet could also be regarded as a rush DE, but he looks well-suited as an OLB in a 3-4 scheme. He\u2019s a true pass-rusher with a constant motor. At the Senior Bowl, Reed made OT Anthony Castonzo \u2013 one of the top tackle prospects and a likely first-rounder \u2013 look like a child. He also ran a 4.66 forty at the Combine, faster than expected. Some teams will like Reed\u2019s potential and he should go in the second round.<\/p>\n<p><strong>May remind you of: Clay Matthews, Packers <\/strong>(for both the dirty Grunge-era hair and the never-say-die motor)<\/p>\n<p><strong>BRUCE CARTER, North Carolina<\/strong><br \/>\n6\u201d2, 241 lbs<\/p>\n<p>Carter was earlier considered a first-round talent, but he didn\u2019t participate in the Combine and a lot of players have made late pushes with strong Combines and Senior Bowls. He joins Robert Quinn as a Tar Heel with oodles of NFL upside. Carter is a big hitter with plenty of range and athleticism for pursuit in space and coverage. He projects strongest as a weakside 4-3 \u2018backer and is a likely second rounder.<\/p>\n<p><strong>May remind you of: Chad Greenway, Vikings<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>SAM ACHO, Texas<\/strong><br \/>\n6\u201d2, 262 lbs<\/p>\n<p>Acho is another one of those DE\/3-4 OLB &#8216;tweeners that has gained notoriety in recent weeks. Earlier, scouts might have said Acho was too much of a finesse player. But he looked excellent at the Senior Bowl, registering a sack and two TFLs against elite offensive line prospects. Granted, he is a raw player that will need to study in the NFL, but his lethal quickness is indeed a desired trait in NFL locker rooms. Acho will probably go in Round 2.<\/p>\n<p><strong>May remind you of: Osi Umenyiora, Giants<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Honorable Mention: MASON FOSTER, Washington <\/strong>The best Huskies prospect not named Jake Locker, Foster exhibits productivity, consistency and undeniable talent. He looks like a 4-3 OLB and ought to go in the second or third round.<\/p>\n<p><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2011 NFL Draft is rapidly coming up on us, and James Hayes brings you his projections.  Read on for the top Outside Linebackers in the 2011 NFL Draft&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":31877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[45363,45364,46187,45365,45366,45368,45369,46192,46193,46194,46196,7351,25663,839,27342,46188,46189,46195,45894,1317],"class_list":["post-34963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl","tag-2011-draft-predictions","tag-2011-mock-draft-predictions","tag-2011-nfl-draft-olb-rankings","tag-2011-nfl-draft-picks","tag-2011-nfl-draft-predictions","tag-2011-nfl-mock-draft","tag-2011-player-projections","tag-akeem-ayers","tag-brooks-reed","tag-bruce-carter","tag-mason-foster","tag-nfl-draft","tag-nfl-draft-prep","tag-nfl-news","tag-olb","tag-outside-linebacker","tag-outside-linebacker-rankings","tag-sam-acho","tag-von-miller","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34963"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35260,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34963\/revisions\/35260"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}