Draft time! The NFL draft is easily the most interesting of the four major sports. The NBA and NHL drafts are fun for the top few picks, but once you get past the elite players, it ends up being mostly mundance players. The baseball draft is crazy, tons of positions, while also having high school and college players in the mix. Football is the nice mix between them all. I mean, you have tons of surprises (you can look up one hundred MLB mock drafts and see like totally different players all over the place). The top picks in football should end up being very good, and if you miss on them, it can hurt, but there are still great players who can be drafted in the later rounds.
I was going to try and predict all the trades this year, but that was too hard. Teams go crazy during the draft. There will be plenty of teams that trade up one spot in order to take a random player. Also, teams that you would not expect always seem to make some crazy move (looking at the Texans last year). So here is my mock draft. I just want to get a few correct. I like to give myself a point for each exactly right, then half points for either the right team or right number pick. I would like to end up with five points. Goals!
- Chicago Bears–Caleb Williams–QB–USC…I think this is obvious.
- Washington Commanders–Drake Maye–QB–UNC…this is a toss-up between Maye and Daniels. I think Jayden being mad that the Commanders invited all QBs will make Washington pass on him.
- New England Patriots–Jayden Daniels–QB–LSU
- Arizona Cardinals–Marvin Harrison Jr.–WR–Ohio State…I could see the Cardinals trading this pick. I would not be surprised if the non-QB teams ended up all trading down, and quarterbacks going with the first five picks.
- Los Angeles Chargers–Rome Odunze–WR–Washington
- New York Giants–Malik Nabers–WR–LSU
- Minnesota Vikings (VIA TRADE W/TITANS)–JJ McCarthy–QB–Michigan
- Atlanta Falcons–Dallas Turner–EDGE–Alabama…when some of these QBs end up being busts, teams will regret not taking Dallas Turner.
- Chicago Bears–Brian Thomas–WR–LSU
- New York Jets–Brock Bowers–TE–Georgia
- Tennessee Titans (VIA TRADE W/VIKINGS)–Joe Alt–OT–Notre Dame
- Denver Broncos–Terrion Arnold–CB–Alabama
- Las Vegas Raiders–Michael Penix–QB–Washington
- New Orleans Saints–Olu Fashanu–OT–Penn State
- Indianapolis Colts–Xavier Worthy–WR–Texas…this pick seems like a stretch, but there is always someone that ends up shocking people.
- Seattle Seahawks–Byron Murphy–DL–Texas
- Jacksonville Jaguars–Laiatu Latu–EDGE–UCLA
- Cincinnati Bengals–Troy Fautanu–OL–Washington
- Los Angeles Rams–Jer’zhan Newton–DT–Illinois
- Pittsburgh Steelers–JC Latham–OT–Alabama…the Steelers need to draft more line help, or they need to take a CB. But I have this feeling they will move up to take a WR.
- Miami Dolphins–Taliese Fuaga–OT–Oregon State
- Philadelphia Eagles–Quinyon Mitchell–CB–Toledo
- Minnesota Vikings–Jackson Powers-Johnson–OL–Oregon
- Dallas Cowboys–Amarius Mims–OT–Georgia
- Green Bay Packers–Payton Wilson–LB–NC State
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers–Cooper DeJean–CB–Iowa
- Arizona Cardinals–Nate Wiggins–CB–Clemson
- Buffalo Bills–Adonai Mitchell–WR–Texas
- Detroit Lions–Kool-Aid McKinstry–CB–Alabama
- Baltimore Ravens–Graham Barton–OT–Duke
- San Francisco 49ers–Tyler Guyton–OT–Oklahoma
- Kansas City Chiefs–Ladd McConkey–WR–Georgia
A new thing I will do this year is make some guesses about Penn State players. I already mentioned Fashanu…
-Chop Robinson–early 2nd round, unless the Buccaneers take him in the first (people keep mentioning Chop to Tampa, so maybe they have said they like him?).
-Adisa Isaac–The other Nittany Lion edge rusher. I think he goes to the Dolphins in the second round.
-Curtis Jacobs–I think the Steelers take him in the 4th round.
-Caeden Wallace–Cardinals in the fifth round.
-Hunter Nourzad–Bills in 5th
-Johnny Dixon–Patriots in 6th
I do not think Kalen King or Daequan Hardy end up being drafted.
