2010 Pride of Detroit Community Mock Draft: Pick No. 15

Rd. # Player Pos. College 1 15 Sean Weatherspoon LB Missouri General Manager: Kalzilla

With the 15th pick of the 2010 Pride of Detroit Community Mock Draft, the New York Giants select Missouri linebacker Sean Weatherspoon.

Here is Kalzilla's reasoning for the pick:

Last year, the New York Giants' defense was not very good. It tied with Houston for a solid 13th place in yards against per game, but was ranked 30th in points allowed per game with 26.7 (the Lions were 32nd with 30.6). In 2007 and 2008, the Giants' defense was great, but last year the unit was surprisingly disappointing. A huge reason for this slump was injuries to starters such as MLB Antonio Pierce. Pierce only played 9 games last season and was placed on IR in week 12. In the following 5 games without Pierce, the Giants' D surrendered 166 points, including 41 to Carolina and 44 to Minnesota. This terrible showing of defense was caused by a lack of defensive leadership and consistency at the MLB position.

Going into the draft, my favorite options for the Giants at #15 were LB Rolando McClain, CB Joe Haden, RB C.J. Spiller, S Earl Thomas and LB Sean Weatherspoon. Luckily for me, the POD drafters made this choice easy by choosing all but one of these players before my pick. So, with the 15th overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, the New York Giants select Sean Weatherspoon, LB - Missouri.

Continued after the jump...

Currently, most Giants fans are extremely high on LB Rolando McClain. McClain was a stud LB in college, but his mediocre 40 times and large size make him a poor fit for new defensive coordinator Perry Fewell's Tampa-2 defense. On the other hand, Sean Weatherspoon ran an impressive 4.5 at 6'1", 235 pounds. Also, Weatherspoon has 4+ years of experience in a 4-3 defense unlike Rolando McClain, who has publicly stated he would prefer to stay in a 3-4.

Weatherspoon is a great fit for New York. He is drawing a lot of comparisons to Ernie Sims, who is a prototypical Tampa-2 LB. Weatherspoon was a 4 year starter for Missouri. He brings speed to the MLB position, which the Giants haven't had for a long time. Also, Weatherspoon possesses great leadership qualities, which were sorely missed in Antonio Pierce's absence last season.

Check out the 2010 Pride of Detroit Community Mock Draft tracker for a look at all of the picks.