NFL Mock Draft: Revisiting predictions on the 2012 draft from a year earlier

We'll apologize in advance, and point out this isn't being done to make fun of anyone. But we all should be fortunate enough to get a laugh out of such things.

Dipping back to May of 2011, a time that is as barren for content as it gets, we uncovered a rare gem - a mock draft from three years ago written to predict the draft from the following year. In 2011, we were writing about the 2012 draft. And weird as this is (or isn't at all), a few of the picks were very eye-opening.

Let's start with the eye-opening-in-a-bad-way stuff.

In this draft, the Steelers selected 32nd overall, presuming the Steelers would win the Super Bowl that season. This of course did not happen. But the Steelers did pick up their left tackle of the future, BYU's Matt Reynolds.

32. Reynolds has a lot of potential at LT but will need a year or two to develop. Luckily, Starks will still be under contract through 2013 I believe, so Reynolds will have time to develop.

Reynolds was not drafted in 2012, and bounced between three teams, and is no longer in the league. We got it right, though, he apparently will need a year or two to develop, so he should be ready right about now.

The Steelers' second round pick was eerily prophetic, though.

64. Pittsburgh Steelers: Alameda Ta’amu, NT, Washington: Ta’amu will probably end up going much higher but I have not seen anything to warrant it. He is a good project to develop behind Casey Hampton

We won't see much more than that to warrant it, but we might caution the earlier versions of us to be concerned about his alcohol tolerance.

This one raised a smile, as now site management gets a reason to begin the "Gilbert vs. Adams Tackle Square Off Challenge" propaganda even earlier than our scheduled May timeframe.

34. Buffalo Bills: Mike Adams, OT, Ohio State: Adam’s seems best fit at RT in the NFL and will be a significant upgrade over anything the Bills have.

There's definitely some truth here. Our current versions would have gone back and convinced our past versions to include "questionable judgment and issues with pass rushers on the Vikings wearing the No. 69" to his report.

Last but not least, our personal favorite for, oh, so many reasons. The future of the Seattle Seahawks is solved...by a player who wouldn't enter the draft for another two years, and fall a bit further than initially anticipated.

4. Seattle Seahawks (4-12): Landry Jones, QB, Oklahoma: Jones has all the tools to be a good but not great QB in the NFL on the level of a Flacco or Ryan. He would be a nice addition to a Seahawks team that could put them back in the playoffs.