This is the week. T-minus four days and counting until the first
round of the NFL Draft on Thursday night. I’ll be heading to Kansas City with
my son and fellow Chiefs fanatic, Casey Miller, to watch at the Chiefs Official
Draft Party. It’s an event for Season Ticket Holders only. Yeah, that’s right.
Can’t wait …
As I haven’t had the time to do multiple mock drafts this year,
Version 1.0 will be the first and the last one. Who knows what will really
happen … (actually only one and Jesus isn’t talking). Take a look, and let me
know what you think.
- Tampa Bay – Jameis Winston, QB Florida State -- loads of off-field issues and on-field potential
- Tennessee (or whoever ends up in this spot) – Marcus Mariota, QB Oregon -- get the sense many teams are underselling how much they like him; natural leader
- Jacksonville – Leonard Williams, DL USC -- just might be the best all-around talent in the draft
- Oakland – Amari Cooper, WR Alabama -- polished route runner and pass catcher; hate to see him end up with the Raiders
- Washington – Dante Fowler, OLB Florida -- pundits have been raving about his upside; could go anywhere from 3 to 23
- New York Jets – Bud Dupree, OLB Kentucky -- skyrocketing up the mock draft boards; Jets could go WR here very easily
- Chicago – Kevin White, WR West Virginia -- only one year of production, but the Bears will run to the podium if he is available
- Atlanta – Vic Beasley, OLB Clemson -- least talked about of the edge rushers; quietly productive
- New York Giants – Brandon Scherff, OL Iowa -- consistently mocked to the G-Men; will likely start at guard and then develop into tackle
- St. Louis – Andrus Peat, OL Stanford -- not really sure what Rams will do here; OL is a need but so is WR
- Minnesota – DeVante Parker, WR Louisville -- reuniting Teddy B with his college teammate
- Cleveland – Danny Shelton, NT Washington -- Browns need help all over the field; building the D line is a good place to start
- New Orleans – Randy Gregory, OLB Nebraska -- not sure if the Big Easy is a great place for Gregory, but he shouldn't be bored
- Miami – La’el Collins, OL LSU -- Dolphins are still rebuilding the O line; likely starter at guard
- San Francisco – Arik Armstead, DL Oregon -- nice start to rebuilding the Niners' dominant D
- Houston – Breshad Perriman, WR Central Florida -- O'Brien replaces Andre with this burner
- San Diego – D.J. Humphries, OL Florida -- Chargers continue to shore up the O line
- Kansas City – Eric Kendricks, ILB UCLA -- with no glaring holes, Chiefs can go multiple ways here; CB, WR and ILB are the most logical moves
- Cleveland – Eddie Goldman, DT Florida State -- with two first-round picks, the Browns go O line and D line
- Philadelphia – Trae Waynes, CB Michigan State -- the first corner off the board to the Iggles at 20 unless Chip goes crazy again
- Cincinnati – Shane Ray, OLB Missouri -- the fall for Ray stops with Cincy; the foot injury scared people off
- Pittsburgh – Marcus Peters, CB Washington -- with key secondary retirements this off-season, the Steelers need to reload the back end of the D
- Detroit – Malcolm Brown, DT Texas -- beginning the process of replacing Suh and Fairley, Brown is a good start
- Arizona –Todd Gurley, RB Georgia -- if the Cards strike out on the AP deal, drafting Gurley is a nice consolation prize
- Carolina – Cedric Ogbuehi, OT Texas -- protecting Cam helps the passing game and the entire offense
- Baltimore – Maxx Williams, TE Minnesota -- the draft's best TE option by far will help the Ravens in the middle of the field
- Dallas – Melvin Gordon, RB Wisconsin -- Gordon may step in and start as a rookie behind the best O line in the league
- Denver – Jake Fisher, OT Oregon -- free-agency defections mean Elway has to shore up the line
- Indianapolis – Ereck Flowers, OT Miami -- Luck is great, but he can't block and throw the passes; Indy needs help here
- Green Bay – Kevin Johnson, CB Wake Forrest -- as usual, Thompson stays pat and finds great value late in the round
- New Orleans – Jalen Collins, CB LSU -- the Saints need back-end help, and Collins fits the scheme
- New England – Landon Collins, S Alabama -- who really cares who they get? It's the Patriots for crying out loud. They'll be fine.
Thanks for reading.
Steve
