With the end of the NFL regular season, the Top spots in the NFL Draft are now locked with the Indianapolis Colts taking the #1 slot followed by the St. Louis Rams, Minnesota Vikings, Cleveland Browns, Tampa Bay Bucs, and the Washington Redskins.  The NFL Mock Draft Database has been updated and now lists 174 mock drafts.

By far, the biggest story that will unfold over the next few months, at least likely by March 8, will be the sagag of the future of Peyton Manning with the Colts and the Colts desire to draft Andrew Luck first overall.  With owner Jim Irsay shaking the foundation of the Colts franchise by ousting long term front office minders Chris and Bill Polian, it seems the Colts may very well look to the future of the franchise.  Jim Irsay will likely make a decision before March, because he will have to either pay Manning a $28 million bonus or allow him to walk away as a free agent, or redo the five-year, $90 million contract to make it more salary-cap friendly.  Problem with the latter, Manning may be not to keen to redo the contract if the Colts intent is to add Luck via the draft.  We shall see how this unfolds.

OT Johnathan Martin and WR Justin Blackmon opted for the NFL Draft this week, as expected.  A looming question will be whether QB Landry Jones will choose to enter the NFL Draft or return to Oklahoma for his senior season.  Right now, Jones falls behind QB Andrew Luck and QB Robert Griffin on the draft depth chart, even possible behind Texas A&M???s Ryan Tannehill.  Keep an eye over the next few months on Houston???s Case Keenum.  Keenum lit up Penn State in the Music City bowl, the nation???s fourth ranked defense, for 523 yards passing and 3 TD passes.

With the top slots in the NFL Draft set by the end of the regular season of the NFL, the mock drafts are settling in on the Top 6.  As always, QB Andrew Luck is the unanimous choice to be selected first overall.  USC???s matt Kalil remains the second overall choice, but slipped from 75% projection to 65%.  Some mock writers are looking at WR Justin Blackmon as a possible #2 selection.  The Rams are certainly lacking ago to receiver for young Sam Bradford.   From there, it gets jumbled for picks 3rd, 5th, and 6th.  Surprisingly, 61% of the mocks are projecting Heisman winner Robert Griffin to go fourth overall to the Cleveland Browns.

Read the whole article here