We spent a lot of time looking at mock draft boards going into the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft. We pour over these things like they are gospels from the prophets who have devine power to see into the future and tell us what picks our favorite NFL teams will make. Now it's time to look back on these projections and find out who was the most accurate soothsayer and crown a King of the Mock Draft for 2011. Hint, Mel Kiper and Mike Mayock are who we thought they were.
There's a few different ways to sparse the data such as correct picks or how far off the mock draft picks are since perfection is an awfully high standard. For simplicity sake we will look just at correct picks. Here's the list of well-down mock draft experts in order of how many picks in the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft they got right (name, affiliate, number of correct picks).
Mel Kiper, ESPN - 9
Mike Mayock, NFL.com - 9
Todd McShay, ESPN - 7
Don Banks, SI - 7
Peter King, SI - 6
Chad Rueter, CBS - 5
Pat Kirwan, NFL.com - 5
Wes Bunting, NFP - 5
Pete Schrager, Fox - 5
The guys they whiffed on most was Vikings surprise pick of quarterback Christian Ponder. Ponder, in retrospect, seems to be a good fit with Minnesota's West Coast offense and the Vikings need a QB now that Brett Favre is truly retired (right?!). Peter King had Ponder going late in the first round but no one had him going that high in the 2011 Draft.