Some days it looks like the average 2012 NFL Mock Draft is beginning to settle down—and other days, the Cleveland Browns freak out and select Ryan Tannehill, throwing the whole thing into disarray. The Browns are the Top 5's last wild card; out of the Robert Griffin III sweepstakes and under fire from their fanbase, they could plausibly draft just about anybody. But it's reaching for the draft's third-by-a-lot-best-quarterback that could really confuse things for the St. Louis Rams (and everybody else behind them.)
Right now the draft up to the Rams shakes out into two tiers—there's Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, and Matt Kalil, who are extremely likely to go in that order, and then there's Morris Claiborne, Trent Richardson, and Justin Blackmon, who could go in any order. If the Browns reach for Tannehill the Jacksonville Jaguars will have their pick of the second tier guys at No. 7; more importantly for Rams fans, St. Louis will have a better chance of selecting Justin Blackmon—or at least their choice of two second-tier guys, instead of just one.
Also the Browns will be roundly booed. More hand-picked NFL Mock Draft analysis and recaps from SB Nation St. Louis:
- Follow our ongoing NFL Mock Draft, in which we gave the Browns the gift of complacency.
- Mel Kiper, meanwhile, gave the Rams the gift of Justin Blackmon.
- Something might shake up this second tier, but it won't be Morris Claiborne's Wonderlic score.