2011 NFL Draft: Matt Miller's Top 500 Players and Position Rankings

    Matt Miller@nfldraftscoutNFL Draft Lead WriterMarch 30, 2011

    2011 NFL Draft: Matt Miller's Top 500 Players and Position Rankings

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      BATON ROUGE, LA - SEPTEMBER 25: Patrick Peterson #7 of the Louisiana State Univeristy Tigers celebrates after scoring a touchdown by posing as the Heisman Trophy against the West Virginia Mountaineers at Tiger Stadium on September 25, 2010 in Baton Rouge
      Chris Graythen/Getty Images

      Four weeks from now, 32 NFL teams will pin their futures on the backs of young men barely old enough to buy a beer.

      The 2011 NFL Draft is coming now. No clichés, no hype and no more waiting.

      Thursday, April 28th marks a new beginning for your favorite club. Will your team find Peyton Manning, or JaMarcus Russell in Cam Newton and Blaine Gabbert? Is Von Miller the second-coming of Derrick Thomas or Vernon Gholston?

      The beauty in the draft is that no one knows for sure, and very few will agree on anything.

      Over the next four weeks, NFL teams will fight, argue and debate the merits of 500-to-750 players as they build their draft board.

      We are way ahead of them.

      Unveiled today is our top 500 players in the 2011 NFL Draft, broken down by position.

      A veteran of the NFL draft and football scouting, Matt Miller is Bleacher Report's resident NFL draft guru. You can follow Matt on Twitter  @nfldraftscout and find his football scouting work at www.newerascouting.com


    2011 NFL Draft Top 500: Quarterbacks

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      TEMPE, AZ - DECEMBER 28: Quarterback Blaine Gabbert #11 of the Missouri Tigers drops back to pass during the Insight Bowl against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Sun Devil Stadium on December 28, 2010 in Tempe, Arizona. The Hawkeyes defeated the Tigers 27-24. (P
      Christian Petersen/Getty Images

      As many as five quarterbacks could be drafted in the first round, depending on team need. What we know for sure is that Blaine Gabbert and Cam Newton will hear their names called very early on Thursday night.

      Other players, like Ryan Mallet and Jake Locker, may go as high as the top 15, or they could fall to Round 2.

      Overall Pos. Rank Player Position School Class Ht. Wt. 40 Time
      9 1 Blaine Gabbert QB Missouri Jr 6-4 234 4.61
      16 2 Cam Newton QB Auburn rJr 6-5 248 4.56
      22 3 Jake Locker QB Washington rSr 6-3 231 4.5
      31 4 Christian Ponder QB Florida State rSr 6-2 229 4.63
      33 5 Andy Dalton QB TCU rSr 6-2 215 4.82
      39 6 Ryan Mallett QB Arkansas rJr 6-7 253 5.37
      71 7 Colin Kaepernick QB Nevada rSr 6-5 233 4.53
      100 8 Ricky Stanzi QB Iowa rSr 6-4 223 4.87
      130 9 Greg McElroy QB Alabama rSr 6-2 220 4.84
      147 10 Pat Devlin QB Delaware rSr 6-3 225 4.81
      195 11 Tyrod Taylor QB Virginia Tech Sr 6-1 217 4.47
      208 12 Adam Weber QB Minnesota rSr 6-1 209 4.73
      221 13 Taylor Potts QB Texas Tech rSr 6-4 218 5
      271 14 Scott Tolzien QB Wisconsin rSr 6-2 212 4.92
      275 15 Nathan Enderle QB Idaho rSr 6-4 240 5.12
      298 16 T.J. Yates QB North Carolina rSr 6-3 219 5.06
      305 17 Jerrod Johnson QB Texas A&M rSr 6-5 251 4.75
      316 18 Josh Portis QB California (PA) rSr 6-3 211 4.59
      353 19 Jeff Van Camp QB Florida Atlantic rSr 6-5 218 4.83
      405 20 Mike Hartline QB Kentucky rSr 6-5 219 4.95
      426 21 Mitch Mustain QB Southern California rSr 6-2 200 4.74
      430 22 Ben Chappell QB Indiana rSr 6-2 224 5.08
      445 23 Adam Froman QB Louisville Sr 6-4 220 4.56
      469 24 Austen Arnaud QB Iowa State rSr 6-3 230 4.89
      482 25 Blake Bolles QB Northwest Missouri State Sr 6-3 198 4.67
      495 26 Trevor Vittatoe QB Texas-El Paso rSr 6-2 218 4.81
      500 27 Chris Dieker QB Southern Illinois rSr 6-5 232 4.92

    2011 NFL Draft Top 500: Running Backs

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      CHAMPAIGN, IL - OCTOBER 02: Mikel Leshoure #5 of the Illinois Fighting Illini runs against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Memorial Stadium on October 2, 2010 in Champaign, Illinois. Ohio State defeated Illinois 24-13. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
      Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

      No one running back has separated himself from the rest of the pack so far. Most will agree that Mark Ingram and Mikel Leshoure rank as one and two, but in which order?

      Overall Pos. Rank Player Position School Class Ht. Wt. 40 Time
      17 1 Mikel Leshoure RB Illinois Jr 6-0 227 4.56
      20 2 Mark Ingram RB Alabama Jr 5-09 215 4.62
      42 3 Ryan Williams RB Virginia Tech rSo 5-09 212 4.59
      66 4 Kendall Hunter RB Oklahoma State Sr 5-07 199 4.46
      76 5 DeMarco Murray RB Oklahoma rSr 6-0 213 4.37
      78 6 Jordan Todman RB Connecticut Jr 5-09 203 4.4
      80 7 Shane Vereen RB California rJr 5-10 210 4.49
      84 8 Daniel Thomas RB Kansas State Sr 6-0 230 4.63
      103 9 Taiwan Jones RB Eastern Washington Jr 6-0 194 4.53
      112 10 Delone Carter RB Syracuse rSr 5-09 222 4.54
      114 11 Jamie Harper RB Clemson Jr 5-11 233 4.53
      135 12 Roy Helu RB Nebraska Sr 6-0 219 4.4
      153 13 Alex Green RB Hawaii Sr 6-0 225 4.45
      154 14 Derrick Locke RB Kentucky Sr 5-08 188 4.37
      159 15 Jacquizz Rodgers RB Oregon State Jr 5-06 196 4.59
      170 16 Da'Rel Scott RB Maryland rSr 5-11 211 4.4
      173 17 Bilal Powell RB Louisville Sr 5-11 207 4.54
      188 18 Stevan Ridley RB LSU rJr 5-11 225 4.65
      205 19 Evan Royster RB Penn State rSr 6-0 212 4.65
      240 20 Dion Lewis RB Pittsburgh rSo 5-07 193 4.56
      241 21 Anthony Allen RB Georgia Tech rSr 6-1 228 4.56
      252