The common belief among NFL Draft analysts is that Mike Pouncey, the highly-touted guard/center from Florida, will be taken by the New York Giants with the 19th selection of the first round Thursday night if he is available. The bigger question seems to be whether or not Pouncey will be gone by the time it is the Giants’ turn to hand in a draft card.
There is all sorts of speculation about Pouncey today as the NFL Draft rumor mill cranks up. There is plenty of speculation that Pouncey will go to the Miami Dolphins with the 15th overall selection — if the Dolphins don’t use that pick to select a quarterback or running back Mark Ingram, another player who might interest the Giants.
The most speculation, though, centers around the Pittsburgh Steelers. There are reports that the Pittsburgh Steelers will pull out all the stops in an effort to trade up and select Pouncey, teaming him with his brother, Maurkice, an All-Pro center they drafted in the first round a year ago.
Those rumors were emphatically shot down this morning by long-time Steelers beat writer Ed Bouchette. Wrote Bouchette:
Nice, fuzzy story on the NFL web site that the Steelers are doing all they can to get higher in the first round and draft Maurkice Pouncey’s twin, Mike. As nice and fuzzy as Snow White and just as much a fantasy.
They would practically have to throw away their entire draft to move high enough to draft him and that’s not going to happen.
Still, considering how logical a pick Pouncey seems for the Giants, this seems like a potential development worth paying attention to.
The first round of the 2011 NFL Draft starts at 8 p.m. (ET) on Thursday, April 28th and SB Nation has everything you need to prepare for it - NFL mock drafts, draft