{"id":35120,"date":"2011-03-06T12:37:19","date_gmt":"2011-03-06T20:37:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.capperspicks.com\/blog\/?p=35120"},"modified":"2011-03-08T14:38:24","modified_gmt":"2011-03-08T22:38:24","slug":"ilb-ratings-2011-draft-projections-8311","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/nfl\/ilb-ratings-2011-draft-projections-8311\/","title":{"rendered":"2011 NFL Draft Predictions \u2013 Inside Linebacker Rankings"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>2011 NFL Draft Coverage \u2013 Inside 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>ILB Rankings <\/h3>\n<p><strong>MARTEZ WILSON, Illinois<\/strong><br \/>\n6\u201d4, 250 lbs<\/p>\n<p>Wilson was regarded as an excellent pro prospect before the NFL Combine, where he simply wowed scouts. At 250 lbs, the athlete blazed a 4.44 forty dash and leaped 36 inches. The man is a physical marvel that could rip things up inside in the pros. He\u2019s been mixed up a little nonsense \u2013 he got stabbed outside a bar in 2009 \u2013 but a player with that raw athleticism should be grabbed somewhere in Round 1 or the cusp of Round 2.<\/p>\n<p><strong>May remind you of: Derrick Johnson, Chiefs<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>QUAN STURDIVANT, North Carolina<\/strong><br \/>\n6\u201d1, 241 lbs<\/p>\n<p>A more traditional NFL ILB size (not as lanky as Wilson), Sturdivant provides everything you look for in a classic middle \u2019backer: a hard nose, adequate range, strong instincts and a need to dole out punishment. Sturdivant did not participate in the Combine, though you could describe his speed as good though not spectacular. He registered 12 TFLs as a junior on a stacked UNC defense and I think he projects as a very respectable starter in the league. Sturdivant could go late in Round 2. <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: Jerod Mayo, Patriots<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CASEY MATTHEWS, Oregon<\/strong><br \/>\n6\u201d1, 231 lbs<\/p>\n<p>Matthews doesn\u2019t have the eye-bulging measurables of a Martez Wilson, but he definitely has lineage in his corner. His brother Clay is ripping up the NFL for the Green Bay Packers and the contributions of the Matthews\u2019 father and uncle in the league are well-documented. The latest Matthews doesn\u2019t have great speed for a man his size (231 lbs is not all that big for a MLB) but he\u2019s a heady player with a high motor; some team in the third or maybe the fourth round will not let him pass by.<\/p>\n<p><strong>May remind you of: Barrett Ruud, Buccaneers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>GREG JONES, Michigan State<\/strong><br \/>\n6\u201d0, 242 lbs<\/p>\n<p>Though Jones\u2019s Combine forty time disappointed somewhat (4.75 seconds) he plays much faster than he clocks and is an excellent pursuit LB. He might fit better as a Will linebacker in the NFL given his love of tearing around and hitting people like a missile. No one could argue with Jones\u2019s junior campaign for the Spartans: 154 tackles, 14 TFLs and nine sacks along with being the leader of the MSU unit. I feel Jones is one of those players that may not test well, but whose body of work simply cannot be ignored. He ought to be a productive NFL player on the weak side or in the middle. Jones should go somewhere around where Matthews gets snapped up.<\/p>\n<p><strong>May remind you of: London Fletcher, Redskins<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Honorable Mention: MARK HERZLICH, Boston College <\/strong>This veteran is battling back from leg cancer; unfortunately it looks like he\u2019s lost something (he was an absolute animal before the setback) but hopefully he gets selected in the mid-to-late rounds and continues to be that feel-good story all journalists \u2013 and those prone to hyperbole \u2013 love.<\/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 Inside 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":[45363,45364,46182,45365,45366,45368,45369,46209,46210,46183,46184,46185,46211,46207,46212,7351,25663,839,46208],"class_list":["post-35120","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-ilb-rankings","tag-2011-nfl-draft-picks","tag-2011-nfl-draft-predictions","tag-2011-nfl-mock-draft","tag-2011-player-projections","tag-casey-matthews","tag-greg-jones","tag-ilb","tag-inside-linebacker","tag-inside-linebacker-rankings","tag-mark-herzlich","tag-martez-wilson","tag-middle-linebacker","tag-nfl-draft","tag-nfl-draft-prep","tag-nfl-news","tag-quan-sturdivant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35120","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=35120"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35265,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35120\/revisions\/35265"}],"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=35120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}