ESPN NFL Draft 2008

In the first of many mock drafts to come, a few things jumped out. The first is that New England, which was forced to forfeit its 32nd pick, made out just fine by having San Francisco's pick, which the Pats received in a draft-day trade last April and right now is the second overall. That means there will be high drama; Bill Belichick and Co. will have to decide whether to take Darren McFadden or trade down as the Patriots look to continue their run of great drafts.

Another thing is the abundance of juniors here (they're the ones with the * next to their name). Just to be clear, we never promote juniors leaving early, but it's a fact of life that they do. So instead of ignoring it, we add those players who belong in the first round. Obviously, there are lot of decisions to be made between now and Jan. 15 -- the early entry deadline -- as the process goes on and players officially declare their intentions, we'll adjust the mock draft accordingly. But for now, 16 of the 31 picks are draft eligible juniors.

A couple other notes:

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