2012 NFL Draft: Final ESPN Mock Draft Projects Two Panthers To Be Taken

It's NFL Draft night/weekend and finally time to see if/where Pitt players might land. ESPN has their final mock draft up and projects two Panthers will be drafted. That's obviously Brandon Lindsey and Lucas Nix, but when does the site have them being selected?

Todd McShay, Steve Muench, and Kevin Weidl put together ESPN's final mock draft and the trio came up with the sixth round for Lucas Nix and the seventh for Brandon Lindsey. Based on the picks, Nix would end up with the Oakland Raiders and Lindsey would be headed to the Green Bay Packers. For what it's worth, McShay picked the two a bit higher in his own mock draft about a month ago as he slotted them both in the fifth round.

I mentioned this in my preview of Lindsey, but I'm surprised that he's fallen off a bit. With the projections of possibly being a late-round pick, it's looking like he would have been better off coming out after his big 2010 ten-sack season. I think Lindsey offers some great value if he falls to the sixth or seventh round. He's got experience both as a linebacker and as a defensive end and just flat out gets to the quarterback. Lindsey had 18 1/2 sacks over the past two seasons and while he's got lots of improvement to make, has a lot of potential as a pass-rusher.

There's been some inconsistency at times, but getting him in the final round of the draft would be a bit of a steal, in my opinion.

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