For most of us Missouri football fans, the NFL Draft is traditionally slightly less exciting and much more depressing than CSPAN.  As Phenomenal pointed out, Missouri’s NFL contingent barely outnumbers Wyoming’s House contingent, and are much less effective (exception being Justin Gage’s huge game a few weeks ago).

But 2009 promises to be different.  And by “different” I mean exceptionally, unprecedentally better.  Depending on who makes themselves eligible, Missouri has a legitimate shot at having five draftees in the first three rounds, and an outside shot at having four in the first round (I stress “outside”).  To put those numbers in perspective, Oklahoma is the only Big 12 school to ever have five or more players taken in the first three rounds of the draft (a whopping 6 in 2005).  More perspective:  On April 27, 2009, Mizzou will very likely double its number of NFL participants.  Sort of explains why 2007 and 2008 are the most successful back to back season in over a quarter century, huh?

So, without further ado, the candidates and their resumes, in the order I believe they are drafted.  I have canvassed the experts and the multitude of mock draft sites (most of which are slightly less believable than Milli Vanilli) and present to you what I believe to be a realistic look at what will happen come next April.

Jeremy Maclin, round 1.  Scouts Inc. has him at #7 (#2 WR behind Crabtree) on their big board.  He is Kiper’s number 2 WR junior/RS sophomore (behind Crabtree).  There is a general consensus that Crabtree is ahead of him and that he is the second best receiver.  Consequently, his status as a first rounder is going to come down to three things:  Combine, health and team need.  The first is likely going to work greatly in his favor, the second and third might not.  I believe he is going to wow scouts at the combine/pro day.  If Will Franklin ran a 4.38, I can honestly see Maclin going below 4.3.  His ability to return kicks and punts, and experience running the ball will all boost his value.  His propensity for taking himself out of games for relatively minor injuries will not.  Some mock drafts have Maclin lasting to the second round based on team needs and the number of potential first round underclassmen at other positions (such as Bradford, Stafford, etc.).  I believe that, if he comes out, he is going to be drafted in the second half of the first round.

William Moore, round 1 – 2.  Last year, Moore was all production and little projection.  This year, he is all projection and not as much production.  I believe that his combine/pro day (along with Sulak’s) is the most important in this group.  If Moore weighs in near 230 and runs a 4.5 or below, he is going to be a first round pick.  He has been, whether fairly or not, asked to do a lot of different things this year, many of which likely have impacted his production but helped his NFL projection.  Take two examples.  Against Illinois, Eberflus used Moore to try to take away Arrelious Benn in many sets.  Moore played press man against a sure fire NFL receiver and largely neutralized him, but got little in the way of objective stats.  Against ISU, Moore lined up over the slot receiver, but due to safety help over (and creative defensive play calling by Eberflus) was able to abandon his coverage and make an easy pick-6 on a short out.  Which of those two events do you think will impress NFL GMs more?  Moore’s biggest advantage is that he is a rare combo safety, with ball skills to play cover 1 or 2, man coverage skills to stay with a TE or even a slot receiver, and bulk to play in the box.  Given a good combine, I think he will be drafted in the first round.  Kiper has him at #11 on his big board (seniors only).  Scouts Inc. does not have him in the first round, but only has Taylor Mays ahead of him.

Sean Weatherspoon, rounds 2 – 3.  The good news is that Sean Weatherpoon has turned in one of the top 5 linebacking seasons in the country this year.  The bad news is that Sean Weatherspoon has turned in one of the top 5 linebacking seasons in the country this year.  If you are like me, there are a half dozen times a game I find myself exclaiming “Wow, nice play” from our defense.  90% of the time I discover shortly thereafter that the play was made by Weatherspoon.   Weatherspoon has absolutely filled the stat sheet this year.  He sits at 138 tackles (6th nationally in tackles/game), 16 TFL (top 20 nationally), 3 INTs (with 2 returned for a TD) and 4.5 sacks.   One positive (for Mizzou):  This draft is very linebacker heavy.  Aaron Curry at WF, Cushing and Maualuga at USC, Laurinaitis at OSU.  In fact, an amazing 7 of Kiper’s top 25 are linebackers.  So, Spoon likely won’t be projected in round 1, hopefully keeping him in school for one more year.  I will be very interested to see his combine/pro day numbers, but I can wait another year.  He seems perfectly suited for OLB in a 4/3 scheme.

Chase Coffman, rounds 2 – 3.  You’ll see plenty of mock drafts that have Chase going in the first round, and that is an outside possibility.  His draft position depends on team need (which largely depends on team system), and he could really help himself by running a sub 4.75 at the combine.  The move to more spread-like systems in the NFL helps him, also.  Right now, the experts mostly have Jermaine Gresham and Brandon Pettigrew listed above him, as they are more traditional tight ends and have been able to showcase their blocking skills in college ball.  I believe that Coffman has the best in-the-air ball skills, not only of any tight end, but probably any receiver in this draft class, and he is deceptively agile in the open field. 

Still, he has hardly played in a 3 point stance, and I have visions of a 4.8 forty in his future.  And, he has suffered from nagging injuries that have kept him off the field each of the last two years.  I’m banking on him being drafted late in the second round, but he could move to the bottom of the first or the third also.  Whomever gets him will immediately have one of the best short yardage tactical weapons in the NFL.  Honestly, I believe Coffman has the best chance of succeeding in the NFL of any player on this list.

Evander Hood, rounds 2 – 4. Ziggy has been climbing draft boards all season.  No surprise; after his freshman year, Pinkel and staff essentially said “Ziggy has NFL measurables now.”  Also helping Hood is the fact that it isn’t a particularly deep year at DT.  Cody and Suh are likely to come out early, but the senior class is not that strong, and this is a position at which NFL teams are always looking for help.  Ziggy has been productive, with 47 tackles, 6 TFL and 4 sacks, but has never seemed really dominant.  I have a hell of a time judging interior defensive linemen, so I’m relying on the experts.  Kiper has him at #3 on his senior list, which would put him around 5 or 6 overall at DT.  Rivals has him going in the second round, and Walter Football has him late in the second round.

Chase Daniel, round 3 to FA.  Seriously, that’s the range.  You’ll hear lots of questions about his size and arm strength.  Those questions, and whatever answers the combine and pro days provide, will move Chase around, but won’t keep him from being drafted.  What might keep him from being drafted is the fact that he has lined up behind center fewer than 5 times in a game in his life and he looked inferior against the NFL-lite defenses of OU, UT and even OSU.  Lining up behind center sounds easy, until you consider the footwork for a 3, 5, 7 step drop, the various play actions, and Chase’s alarming propensity to throw the ball very poorly when he has to move at all.  The good news, though, is that I’ve heard that Chase and some of the offense spent a large amount of time this summer working on taking snaps under center, just to prepare him for the draft.  Nobody questions his leadership or his intangibles, or his accuracy (when not moving).  I’m betting someone takes a chance in the 4th or 5th round on him.  There is a small, selfish part of me that hopes he doesn’t make it long in the NFL so he can come back and work his way through Pinkel’s staff to be our Lead Texas Recruiter, a job he appears to have been specifically designed for.  Over under on his weight 2 years after football:  275.

Stryker Sulak, round 5- 6.  Sulak is a classic tweener.  Too small to play DE in the pros, he will have to either be a 3rd down specialist or move to OLB in a 4-3 scheme.  If the coaching staff’s reps are true, he runs a legit 4.5.  If he can replicate that during pro days, and can put up some decent power and shuttle times, he will likely be drafted .  Someone will take a flyer on a 6′5″, 250 lb guy that can run a 4.5.

Jeff Wolfert, round 6 – FA.  Wolfert’s mystique was on a parallel course with the Tigers this year, plummeting over the last few weeks as he actually, gasp, missed some kicks.  Still, this is a kicker with unprecedented NCAA accuracy (and, interestingly, most of his competition came pre-1988 when the NCAA banned kicking off a tee).  I doubt he has the leg strength to be drafted, but he will almost certainly make a team as a free agent.  Hell, if teams can continue to recycle Morten Andersen, surely someone will have a spot for a guy that is automatic from inside 50.

Chase Patton, FA.  I find it hard to believe that Patton will be drafted, having not played a significant down in college.  I imagine, though, he’ll end up getting looks if he can put on a decent show during pro days.

Tommy Saunders, Colin Brown, Brock Christopher.  In the end, I doubt any of the remaining seniors have a realistic shot at the NFL, but these three could pro day themselves into training camp invites.  Colin Brown probably has the best chance, but his struggles with speed rushers will probably doom him to a life of being a very large man in a relatively small arena.