It’s the Final Mock Draft!

…..the final Mock Draft!

Yep, not kidding. This is it. I’m not going to do like four in a matter of six days or something ridiculous like that. I have a job and a life (sort of) outside of this blog. I also know things may change on the day of the draft (or more like opening day of the draft). Nothing I can do about that. Let the experts deal with it. Between ESPN and the NFL Network there has to be about 70 mock drafts ready to go in the half hour before the draft begins. So without further adieu, let’s get to l’ébauche finale:

First Round

1	Chicago	Caleb Williams, QB (USC)
2	Washington	Jayden Daniels, QB (LSU)
3	New England	Drake Maye, QB (North Carolina)
4	Arizona	Marvin Harrison Jr., WR (Ohio State)
5	LA Chargers	Malik Nabers, WR (LSU)
6	NY Giants	Dallas Turner, EDGE (Alabama)
7	Tennessee	Terrion Arnold, CB (Alabama)
8	Atlanta	J.J. McCarthy, QB (Michigan)
9	Chicago	Laiatu Latu, EDGE (UCLA)
10	NY Jets	Joe Alt, OT (Notre Dame)
11	Minnesota	Bo Nix, QB (Oregon)
12	Denver	Brock Bowers, TE (Georgia)
13	Las Vegas	Olu Fashanu, OT (Penn State)
14	New Orleans	Rome Odunze, WR (Washington)
15	Indianapolis	Quinyon Mitchell, CB (Toledo)
16	Seattle	Troy Fautanu, G (Washington)
17	Jacksonville	Taliese Fuaga, OT (Oregon State)
18	Cincinnati	J.C. Latham, OT (Alabama)
19	LA Rams	Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB (Alabama)
20	Pittsburgh	Byron Murphy II, DT (Texas)
21	Miami	Jer’Zhan Newton, DT (Illinois)
22	Philadelphia	Jared Verse, DE (Florida State)
23	Minnesota	Chop Robinson, EDGE (Penn State)
24	Dallas	Amarius Mims, OT (Georgia)
25	Green Bay	Cooper DeJean, S (Iowa)
26	Tampa Bay	Michael Penix Jr., QB (Washington)
27	Arizona	Darius Robinson, EDGE (Minnesota)
28	Buffalo	Brian Thomas Jr., WR (LSU)
29	Detroit	Jackson Powers-Johnson, G (Oregon)
30	Baltimore	Graham Barton, G (Duke)
31	San Francisco	Tyler Guyton, OT (Oklahoma)
32	Kansas City	Jordan Morgan, OT (Arizona)

Second Round

33	Carolina	Xavier Legette, WR (South Carolina)
34	New England	Kingsley Suamataia, OT (BYU)
35	Arizona	Nate Wiggins, CB (Clemson)
36	Washington	Zach Frazier, C (West Virginia)
37	LA Chargers	T.J. Tampa, CB (Iowa State)
38	Tennessee	Patrick Paul, OT (Houston)
39	Carolina	Ennis Rakestraw Jr., CB (Missouri)
40	Washington	Troy Franklin, WR (Oregon)
41	Green Bay	Chris Braswell, EDGE (Alabama)
42	Houston	Ruke Orhorhoro, DT (Clemson)
43	Atlanta	Ladd McConkey, WR (Georgia)
44	Las Vegas	Christian Haynes, G (UConn)
45	New Orleans	Marshawn Kneeland, EDGE (Western Michigan)
46	Indianapolis	Xavier Worthy, WR (Texas)
47	NY Giants	Cooper Beebe, G (Kansas State)
48	Jacksonville	Adonai Mitchell, WR (Texas)
49	Cincinnati	T’Vondre Sweat, DT (Texas)
50	Philadelphia	Kamari Lassiter, CB (Georgia)
51	Pittsburgh	Edgerrin Cooper, LB (Texas A&M)
52	LA Rams	Kamren Kinchens, S (Miami)
53	Philadelphia	Ricky Pearsall, WR (Florida)
54	Cleveland	Michael Hall Jr., DT (Ohio State)
55	Miami	Keon Coleman, WR (Florida State)
56	Dallas	Trey Benson, RB (Florida State)
57	Tampa Bay	Ja’Lynn Polk, WR (Washington)
58	Green Bay	Sedrick Van Pran, C (Georgia)
59	Houston	Cam Hart, CB (Notre Dame)
60	Buffalo	Kris Jenkins, DT (Michigan)
61	Detroit	Javon Bullard, CB (Georgia)
62	Baltimore	Roman Wilson, WR (Michigan)
63	San Francisco	Austin Booker, DE (Kansas)
64	Kansas City	Braden Fiske, DT (Florida State)

Third Round

65	Carolina	Cedric Gray, LB (North Carolina)
66	Arizona	Payton Wilson, LB (NC State)
67	Washington	Bralen Trice, EDGE (Washington)
68	New England	Jonathan Brooks, RB (Texas)
69	LA Chargers	Ja’Tavion Sanders, TE (Texas)
70	NY Giants	Caelan Carson, CB (Wake Forest)
71	Arizona	Leonard Taylor III, DT (Miami)
72	NY Jets	Tyler Nubin, S (Minnesota)
73	Detroit	Adisa Isaac, EDGE (Penn State)
74	Atlanta	Brandon Dorius, EDGE (Oregon)
75	Chicago	Christian Mahogany, G (Boston College)
76	Denver	DeWayne Carter, DT (Duke)
77	Las Vegas	Mike Sainristil, CB (Michigan)
78	Washington	Junior Colson, LB (Michigan)
79	Atlanta	Justin Egoigbe, DT (Alabama)
80	Cincinnati	Max Melton, CB (Rutgers)
81	Seattle	Tommy Eichenberg, LB (Ohio State)
82	Indianapolis	Calen Bullock, S (USC)
83	LA Rams	Spencer Rattler, QB (South Carolina)
84	Pittsburgh	Roger Rosengarten, OT (Washington)
85	Cleveland	Kiran Amedagije, OT (Yale)
86	Houston	Malachi Corley, WR (WKU)
87	Dallas	Jermaine Burton, WR (Alabama)
88	Green Bay	Blake Fisher, OT (Notre Dame)
89	Tampa Bay	Cole Bishop, S (Utah)
90	Arizona	Zak Zinter, G (Michigan)
91	Green Bay	Nehemiah Pritchett, CB (Auburn)
92	Tampa Bay	Javion Cohen, G (Miami)
93	Baltimore	Jaylen Wright, RB (Tennessee)
94	Kansas City	Blake Corum, RB (Michigan)
95	San Francisco	Elijah Jones, CB (Boston College)
96	Jacksonville	Kris Abrams-Draine, CB (Missouri)
97	Cincinnati	Johnny Wilson, WR (Florida State)
98	Pittsburgh	Jonah Ellliss, LB (Utah)
99	LA Rams	Jalyx Hunt, EDGE (Houston Christian)
100	Washington	Jalen McMillan, WR (Washington)

There are some strong opinions out there about this draft (like every draft) so let’s go through a few of them:

• The Vikings are going to trade up. This is a likely option but I don’t put trades in my mock drafts because I think dreaming up the trade packages would be insane. Saying that, I wouldn’t be surprised if they traded up to #4 or #5 to get J.J. McCarthy.
• The Cardinals are fielding a lot of trade offers. The top three picks are mostly set even though Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels seem to flip-flop in the second and third spots. The Cards are probably fielding a few offers but not as many as some might think. It will take a lot for them to trade down as they know they would get, arguably, the best overall player of the draft at a position they need.
• The Giants might be the toughest to figure out in the Top 10. Absolutely. They have all sorts of needs so there are probably 10-12 players on their board that they could conceivably take. I still like Dallas Turner at that spot but Terrion Arnold, Laiatu Latu, Brock Bowers, Quinyon Marshall and, hell, even Bo Nix could be picked at #6 by the Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-Men (done in extreme Chris Berman voice).
• If Brock Bowers isn’t picked Top 10 he will fall…FAR. I don’t think so. The Broncos, Colts, Bengals and Dolphins might all take a gander at the big man if he is still sitting in the back room after the tenth pick (which I think he will be).

Other than that there are questions that mostly don’t have answers at this point. Like will the Bills make a surprising leap up the draft now that Stefon Diggs has been dealt? Is Michael Penix Jr. poised to have the biggest leap up the draft boards in the past couple months? Will there be actual players involved in any of the trades over the next few days? It’s a crapshoot and not my expertise so I will steer clear of most of those questions (possibly, possibly and probably are my answers).

Reminder that the draft starts tonight at 8:00 and is emanating from Detroit. Moving the draft around has been fun so let’s see what it’s like in the Motor City. As per usual, ESPN and NFL Network will be doing the entire draft…all seven rounds. I have the ESPN draft pick is in ringtone on my phone but I am still debating which network to watch, at least for night one. I have leaned NFL Network in the past but I have done both over the past decade. It’s a game-time decision.

Finally, on the Twitter Machine (fuck you, Elon) I will be live-tweeting at least the first round and am hoping to do ALL SEVEN this year. Can I do it? Who the fuck knows. Around halfway through round five is where things usually go off the rails and I might struggle to keep going at that point. I mean I will but who knows if I will be posting tweets at that point or semi-conscious, staring at the bag of pretzels on my desk and wondering about important questions in life like “Would Nathan Peterman be successful in the CFL?”

Anyway, enjoy the draft, however much you watch of it.

Well that was different – the (relatively short) NFL Draft recap

OK so this is how the 2020 NFL Draft started.  Roger Goodell in his pretty nice basement printing out the names he was given through email or Zoom or something on those NFL draft cards and telling the world which team drafting whom.  It was definitely different but again, everything is different these days.  The thing is, we are obviously starved for sports.  The ratings for Night One were through the roof.  People want to see something live, anything that isn’t the news about the Coronavirus.

So yeah this is how it started.  By night number two, this is what we started to see:

Roger clearly already sick of doing this and I am sure there is a tall glass of straight gin somewhere just off camera.  I am going to be honest with you: by the end of night two I was done as well.  I watched, I believe, about 90 minutes of day three which was seven hours long.  I love college football.  I love the NFL.  I enjoy watching the NFL Draft (yes I am one of those guys).  But after a while this got brutal.  I will explain all this below in the rather late but at least truncated recap of sorts.  Let us begin.

• “Here’s the drafted player.  And here is the worst thing that has ever happened to him.”  This was the theme all draft long but it was especially the case in round one.  It felt like since ESPN couldn’t do a normal draft they decided to go Full Rinaldi and do emotional stories about every damn draft pick.  After a while this felt very exploitative.  I get that some of these players have gone through a lot.  But to you use it to fill the time between picks felt creepy.  Hopefully with the next draft (either the NHL or NBA) they do not do the same.
• Luckily for Las Vegas they will get their chance to hold a draft in 2022.  Or as Roger said, 2020.  Meaning now.  Maybe he was drunk the entire time.
• The first three picks I nailed.  Nailed!  Then again almost everyone did.  After that my mock draft went to shit, as did everyone else’s.  Rinse and repeat for next year.
• This wasn’t a crazy draft.  Very few trades early on and no stupid picks or huge reaches, at least on night one.  No Daniel Jones picks this time around.  No trading up to start Mitchapalooza.  None of that.  It was actually a bit refreshing not to have crazy drama on draft night.
• We didn’t get a former player trolling the fans.  Which is fine since it would have been in Vegas.  Who would they troll?  The locals are getting a new team.  You could tell them all to eat shit and I am sure they wouldn’t care.
• We also didn’t get players doing all sorts of crazy high fives and potentially setting themselves up for Rock Bottoms and Stone Cold Stunners all night which that pussy Goodell won’t take advantage of.  I would actually respect him more if he did even if tons of people would rip him apart shortly afterwards.
• Back to the basement, I am sure Roger’s basement, despite him being a millionaire, is crazy amazing.  I don’t have a finished basement so any finished basement feels amazing to me I think.
• Jerry Jones doing his draft from a yacht: hilarious.
• Bill Belichick having his dog at the computer when the Patriots pick came in?  Also hilarious.

Winners

• This is way too early.  For winners and losers.  We know this.  But let’s see what the first opinions are anyway since at least a few of them will be correct although there’s always one “bad” draft class that ends up being quite good.  Happens every time.
• Arizona – The Cards did quite well.  They got Isaiah Simmons in the first round which was kind of an underrated pick.  They also picked Josh Jones well below where he probably should have gone.  None of their picks were reaches and they may have a great late-round steal with Eno Benjamin.  Good job by Cardinals GM Steve Keim.
• Baltimore – Nothing flashy but the Ravens are known for getting one absolute steal and this was no different.  With the amount of picks they had they were bound to get at least some picks right but they hit paydirt with almost every pick.  Patrick Queen was a great pick as I believe he’s quite the underrated linebacker that was on a team loaded with talent.  J.K. Dobbins was also a great pick.  They also pick up two great receivers in Devin Duvernay and James Proche later on.  The Ravens are going to be quite the team soon enough with these picks.
• Buffalo – They didn’t have a first round pick because they traded it away but getting Stefon Diggs for it is a good replacement.  I believe A.J. Epenesa was a great pick as was Jake Fromm on day three.  And they had the balls to pick a kicker which I believe is smart if you need one.  At this point, the Bills may have had one of the smallest but most fruitful drafts.
• Jacksonville – C.J. Henderson, K’Lavon Chaisson, Laviska Shenault and DaVon Hamilton as their first four picks?  I’d say that’s a great haul.

Losers

• Green Bay – Hey how pissed off is Aaron Rodgers at the team for picking Jordan Love?  It’s not like the Packers picked a guy who will be a career backup: they have their quarterback of the future.  The Pack fulfilled almost none of their needs.  Tight end Josiah Deguara was a massive reach with a few much better tight ends on the board.  The Packers, I can safely say, appear to have the worst draft and it’s not really close (although this would barely be bottom three in most drafts of the past).
• Las Vegas – Where do I start with this?  Henry Ruggs III is a good receiver but could have been available later on.  Same goes for Damon Arnette which may be the worst first round pick of this draft.  Their first night, overall, was brutal.  The rest of their picks weren’t reaches really but none of them pop out as potential starters.
• New England – Fire that dog.  Kyle Dugger at that spot was not good.  They followed it up with Josh Uche which was a good pick.  Then the bottom fell out.  The rest of their draft really was not that good.  Hey at least they didn’t draft a long snapper right?
• Seattle – Jordyn Brooks was a bit of a reach as most didn’t consider him a first rounder.  Things didn’t get better on night two.  Nothing special here with their day three being pretty disgusting overall.

As I alluded to earlier, I still got most of my mock draft wrong but at least I got the first three correct.  This is from me doing my final mock draft the day before the draft.  Definitely helped me this time around.  I am honestly wondering if I should do even less mock drafts next year.  Not that I did many.  I did three.  But I am thinking about dropping that to two.  Other than the final mock, it feels like I am just doing one so that I have a post.  I may have to find other things to discuss on the ol’ blog instead.

Did I watch the whole draft?  No.  I did watch the first round live and most of the second night as well live.  I was chatting with friends during both nights and it was a nice change from the past few years when I was on Twitter, just trying to keep up with all the action.  The final day I did not even watch most of it.  Day three is about the first three rounds and analyzing them.  I really don’t need to see that again.  I will be honest though: with less drama, Twitter didn’t explode like it has in the past.  The tipped picks (which still happens) can get kind of annoying but for the most part it was great to have something to watch live during this very weird time.

I want to say we are getting closer but that might not be the case.  As of right now, it looks like the college football season will go on as scheduled but things can change.  Look at how much has changed in the past two months.  So anyway, if the college football season were to start on time, we would be, at this point, 117 days away from Week Zero.  I am hoping to get preview magazines soon and once that happens, I will start getting pumped for a season that may or may not happen the way it normally does.  Well have a good week everyone and fingers crossed everything gets back to normal soon, whatever the new normal ends up being.