Given all the rumors and mock drafts that are floating around, it's time to take a quick look at the 2011 NFL Draft and try to project just where WSU's No. 1 NFL prospect, punter Reid Forrest, might be headed.
While projecting the NFL Draft is clearly an inexact science, there are some tried and true strategies that one can fall back on when trying to figure out where a particular player might land. The biggest, of course, is "need," and when we look at need, three clear front runners emerge.
Here are how the top 10 teams teams in the draft ranked according to Football Outsiders' punting DVOA metric. The farther away from zero you get in the negative direction, the worse you are:
| Team | Punting DVOA | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carolina Panthers | -9 |
| 2 | Denver Broncos | -13 |
| 3 | Buffalo Bills | -0.4 |
| 4 | Cincinnati Bengals | 8.7 |
| 5 | Arizona Cardinals | 0.7 |
| 6 | Cleveland Browns | 11.8 |
| 7 | San Francisco 49ers | 4.9 |
| 8 | Tennessee Titans | 0.2 |
| 9 | Dallas Cowboys | 6.3 |
| 10 | Washington Redskins | -22.1 |
When looked at that way, there are three obvious candidates for Forrest's services: The Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos and Washington Redskins. All three have pressing needs at punter after incredibly poor performances in 2010 -- particularly the Redskins, who were only kept out of last place by the woeful San Diego Chargers.
Tomorrow, we'll try to read the tea leaves a little bit and get a better handle on just where he might end up. But one thing seems fairly certain: Reid Forrest, with all of his dynamic abilities, will not slip out of the top 10 picks of the first round.