Mel Kiper Jr. 2012 NFL Mock Draft: Players Overrated by ESPN Draft Expert

ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. recently released a new mock draft; the process really begins to pick up now that the NFL playoffs have reached a conclusion. While his latest effort is mostly in line with what you'd expect to see, there were still a couple questionable placements.

Here are three players being ranked too highly by Kiper.

Luke Kuechly

Kiper has Kuechly going to the Kansas City Chiefs with the 12th pick. There are simply too many question marks around his ability to excel at the next level for him to go that high. A team would have to be really desperate to fill a need to reach for him early, but the Chiefs have other needs to fill first.

The bigger issue for Kuechly is a lack of physical dominance. He can rack up some tackles, but doesn't have what it takes to become a truly elite playmaker in the NFL. If a franchise is going to use a high first-rounder on a player, it wants some dynamic ability.

Even though the Dallas Cowboys might be willing to take a chance on him, he's more suited to be picked deeper in the opening round.

Mark Barron

There's no doubt Barron has asserted himself as the draft's top safety, but the Cowboys shouldn't be taking him at No. 14. It's a really weak year for safeties, so just because Barron is the best one doesn't mean he's going to light it up right away.

He's dealing with an injury that will keep him out of the combine. Without those field tests to make sure everything scouts see on tape matches up, it's tough to make such a big commitment to him. The Cowboys have other areas of need they can address instead.

Barron is really a fringe first-round prospect at this point. He doesn't belong in the top half of the round if a team wants to maximize the value of its selection.

Harrison Smith

Few draft experts are giving Smith nearly as much credit as Kiper. He projects the Green Bay Packers will select him near the end of Round 1, but he's mostly been considered a second- or third-round player otherwise.

While his experience at Notre Dame might let him contribute quicker than some of the other players at the position, that's not enough to warrant reaching for him. The Packers would be much better off reaching into the deep corner class to help solve their secondary woes.

It will be interesting to see how long Kiper sticks with this projection, because it just doesn't match up. Unless he knows Smith's potential combine performance will give him a big boost.