2012 NFL Draft: 4 Big-Name Free Agents Who Will Shake Up First Round

There are a handful of big-name free agents whose landing spots will have a tremendous impact on the upcoming 2012 NFL draft.

With the NFL season officially over, most casual fans will likely look to other sports to fill the void. But for football geeks, the offseason is like Christmas. 

This is the time of year when the landscape of the league begins to shift. 

This is the time to dream big. 

Matt Flynn Signs with the Washington Redskins

The Washington Redskins realize they'd have to give way too much up in the draft to move up for RGIII, so they decide to throw all their weight into outbidding the herd to sign Matt Flynn.

This scenario would take them out of the market for a quarterback, leaving the door open for them to look at signing offensive guard David DeCastro out of Stanford to come in and bolster their offensive line. 

If DeCastro isn't Shanahan's cup of tea, then the Redskins could consider snagging wide receivers Alshon Jeffery (South Carolina), Malcom Floyd (Notre Dame) or Justin Blackmon (Oklahoma State) if he's still on the board at that time. 

In the end, what this move would really do is take one more team out of the running to trade up to the St. Louis Ram's No. 2 overall selection.

Peyton Manning Signs with the Miami Dolphins

Don't laugh. This actually might happen. Jeff Ireland has confirmed, according to NFL.com, that the Dolphins are interested in the star if he's available. Additionally, Peyton Manning has reportedly shown interest in joining the Dolphins, and he and his wife already own a condo in Miami, making this scenario even more likely. 

This move would take the Dolphins out of the RGIII sweepstakes, making Cleveland Browns fans happy that they would likely get a chance to stay put at the fourth overall spot to land the electric young quarterback.

It would also allow the Dolphins to focus their attention elsewhere. Since they are switching from a 3-4 defensive scheme to a 4-3, they could be looking at taking Quinton Coples out of North Carolina to become their Jason Pierre-Paul.

Dwayne Bowe Signs with the St. Louis Rams

Sam Bradford needs receivers, or he's going to suffocate and die as the St. Louis Rams quarterback.

The Rams will be pushing hard to provide him with the support he needs, and I think they'll do everything in their power to land Dwayne Bowe. 

Since they already addressed their need, the Rams would now be free to take one of the best overall players in the 2012 NFL draft, Morris Claiborne, cornerback out of LSU, instead of taking Justin Blackmon, wide receiver from Oklahoma State.

Taking Claiborne would immediately bolster one of the worst secondaries in the NFL in 2011, and it would go a long way towards making the Rams a better overall team.

This would put the ball squarely in the court of the Minnesota Vikings, who would then need to choose between taking one of two great needs: offensive tackle (Matt Kalil, USC) or wide receiver (Justin Blackmon, Oklahoma State).

Vincent Jackson Signs with the Minnesota Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings need a big-time receiver that can go up and get the ball to compliment the flashy, smaller receiver on their roster, Percy Harvin.

Signing Vincent Jackson through free agency would give the Vikings the talent they need at the wide receiver position to make their third overall pick an easy one, as they would undoubtedly select Matt Kalil, offensive tackle from USC, to come in and protect Christian Ponder's blind side.

This development now allows the Cleveland Browns to choose between taking RGIII and Justin Blackmon with the fourth overall pick.

It also brings into play a couple other teams that might not have thought they would be in a position to bargain with the Browns for their pick: The Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals both need an upgrade at the quarterback position, and both would be tempted to kick the tires on a trade up to the Brown's fourth overall pick to steal RGIII.

In the end, what we see is that free agency could have a tremendous impact on what will happen on April 26th, 2012. The 2012 NFL draft should be fun to watch.

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