The Stanford Cardinal have three top prospects that should be drafted in the first round: Quarterback Andrew Luck, offensive guard David DeCastro, and offensive tackle Jonathan Martin. Mike Mayock is one of the top draft analysts, and he likes them all. On NFL.com, Mayock ranks Luck as his top quarterback, DeCastro as his top interior offensive lineman, and Martin as his third offensive tackle.
While Luck is going to be the number one pick 99.9% of the time, Mayock isn't as sold on Luck as the chosen one as others might have been. Gregg Rosenthal of Pro Football Talk has more.
Mayock just doesn’t see Luck as some sort of "once in a lifetime" prospect like others have indicated. (Yes, others means ESPN in this case.) Mayock compared Luck’s talent level more to someone like Sam Bradford.
Mayock seems to think Martin would be a good fit for many teams, including the Detroit Lions. Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press reports.
"Jonathan Martin, to me, (is) the prototypical left tackle," Mayock said in a teleconference today. "Gifted athletically, needs to get a little bit stronger. A lot of things I said about (top tackle prospect Matt) Kalil, you could say about him. Needs to get a little bit stronger but will protect the quarterback."
From the same article on the Detroit Free Press on the monstrous Stanford offensive guard.
"I think DeCastro’s pretty sure," Mayock said. "You can plug him in, you can play him day one.
To talk about Luck, DeCastro and Martin with Stanford football fans, head over to Rule of Tree. To talk about these top three prospects, check out Mocking the Draft.