Todd McShay of Scouts Inc. and ESPN has published his final 2011 NFL Mock Draft and his top five differ from the order laid down by Mel Kiper. McShay and Kiper agree on the first four picks with Cam Newton going first, Von Miller going second, Marcell Dareus going third, and A.J. Green going fourth. But when it comes to the fifth pick, the pick currently owned by the Arizona Cardinals, McShay and Kiper part ways.
Todd McShay has the Cardinals taking DE/OL Aldon Smith from Missouri. According to McShay, Smith would move to outside linebacker in the Cardinals 3-4 system and be an edge rusher the team needs. With Von Miller already off the board, McShay obviously feels the Cardinals need at this position is so great that they'd take the second best player to fill that role instead of grabbing a top talent at a lesser-need position.
Mel Kiper in his final mock draft goes the other way. He has the Cardinals taking the best player available on his board at number five, Patrick Peterson.
McShay's final mock has the Cardinals taking quarterback Jake Locker with their second round pick (38 overall) which is an interesting prediction. Some people think Locker will go as high as the middle of the first round so to find him still available that late is intriguing.
In the third round (69th overall) McShay slots in TE Lance Kendricks from Wisconsin for the Cardinals. There's no doubt the tight end is a need for the Arizona offense but this feels a bit high.
The first round of the 2011 NFL Draft starts at 5 p.m. (AZT) on Thursday, April 28, and SB Nation has everything you need to prepare: NFL mock drafts, draft projections, scouting reports, the full NFL draft schedule and more. Check it out at SB Nation's NFL Draft page and our NFL Draft blog, Mocking the Draft or for Cardinals coverage, visit Revenge of the Birds.