1) Browns - QB Sam Darnold Darnold should be the pick, I know the rumors are with them deciding between allen and darnold, but rumors are just that. darnold was thought of as the defacto best QB in the draft whenever he decided to come out for over a year now, I don't think allen did enough to change anyone's mind on that 2) NYG - RB Shaquon Barkley With the browns choosing darnold, and rumors swirling that the only QB the giants would take at 2 is darnold, that makes them move onto taking an instant impact player instead. they could take chubb, but i don't feel he fits the bill for their new 3-4 defense. With barkely they get a guy who has very little chance to bust and an explosive playmaker on offense to help eli and pair with ODB 3) NYJ - QB Josh Rosen The Jets made their move up to 3 for a QB and that's what they will get, the 2nd best one in the draft. Rosen is the most NFL ready and could actually compete with Mccown and teddy for the starting job in 2018. 4) CLE - DE Bradley Chubb The browns GM recently came out saying he had dreams of a Chubb/Garrett Duo at DE, and his dreams come true. Chubb is the best DE in the draft and paired with garret their 1st overall pick from last year will make a very nice pass rush duo 5) BUF - QB Josh Allen (trade from Den) The bills trade their 2 1st rounders (12th and 22nd overall) and 2 2nd rounders (53rd and 56th overall) to move up to 5. The broncos put this pick up for sale a few weeks ago and the bills have the most fire power to make the move up for their QB. with rosen and darnold gone, the bills opt for allen. The bills get their FQB they've been gearing up for this whole offseason. 6) INDY - OG Quenton Nelson The colts have their franchise QB so wisely traded back to get extra picks, now they need to help out luck more. Grabbing the best lineman in the draft will help out luck as well as the run the game to take pressure off luck. They could try a trade back, but i can't see another team giving up that much to move forward at this point. 7) TB - S Derwin James The bucs need to bolster their secondary badly. James is rated higher then fitzpatrick by a lot of teams now. The play making safety will be a huge boost to their defense as is a "BPS adjusted for need pick" 8) Chi - CB Denzel Ward Another team with secondary issues, the bears will take the best CB available at 8 and that happens to be ward 9) SF - LB Trumaine Edmunds The niners like any 3-4 team, love their LBers. Edmunds is a top 5 talent in this draft, so him slipping to 9 is a steal. No reason for them to pass on their BPA 10) OAK - DT Vita Vea The raiders tried to land suh but were unsuccessful. Vea is the next best thing. a freak athlete for his size he should anchor their d-line for the next decade. 11) Mia - QB Baker Mayfield Mia is in need of a QB. they aren't sold on tannehill, a converted WR they reached for in the 1st round. This time they will reach for baker. He's much more of a proven QB then tannelhill was when they drafted him, but he'll have to learn an NFL offense and overcome his size. Still he'll get the benefit of sitting a year or 2 behind tannehill 12) DEN - S/CB Minkah Fitzpatrick (trade from BUF) Denver now has a ton of picks to plug holes, Fitzpatrick is thought of as a top 5-10 talent in this draft, so landing him at 12 is a steal for denver who also has an additional 1st rounder and 2 extra second rounders to fill other holes. 13) WAS - LB Roquan Smith The redskins need to build back up that defense and smith is a great value pick at 13. a very athletic LBer with sideline to sideline speed. They could play him inside or outside, but likely be an inside LBer for them in the 3-4 similar to the jets taking daron lee. 14) NE - QB Lamaar jackson (trade from GB) GB on the clock with no real huge value to take, so a trade out would be their best move. NE is rumored to like jackson and possible trade up but won't sell the farm. They give up their 2 1sts (23rd and 31st) and get the 14th pick and GBs 3rd rounder in this draft. jackson will sit until brady retires, but i wouldn't be surprised if bill got him on the field during the season for some trick plays with brady 15) ARI - WR Calvin Riddley With all the top 5 QBs gone off the board, Arizona will be stuck riding bradford and have to look in the later rounds or next draft to draft one, so now they get some badly needed WR help taking the best WR in the draft. With david johnson back and if bradford can stay healthy they could have a pretty good offense 16) BAL - RB Ronald Jones The ravens RB situation has been less then great over the past few years cycling in and out RBs. Grabbing jones will solve that problem for them for the next 5+ years 17) LAC - DT Da'ron Payne The chargers haven't had a good defense in quite some time and rivers clock is ticking. they need to give him some help in the form of not having to put up 30 points every week to win games. I think they take the BPA on defense and payne winds up being the BPA overall anyway. a 300lb monster with crazy power can collapse the inside for them for many years to come 18) SEA - DT Taven Bryan Seattle lost a lot of firepower from their legion of boom defense. They will look to rebuild it in the draft. Bryan is the BPA overall so makes sense for them to take him here 19) DAL - OLB Harold Landry A pass rushing DE who will move to OLB in the 3-4 and similar prospect to vic beasley. will pair on the defense with Lawrence giving them another edge rusher as well as flexibility if they can't afford Lawrence in the future. 20) DET - OT Mike Mcglinchey detroit has some holes to address but they also need to improve their protection of stafford and their run game. taking the top lineman on the board will go a long way in getting that done 21) CIN - ILB Leighton Vander Esch Cincy has a high powered offense and a ton of RBs so they need to improve their defense. another BPA on defense in this draft 22) DEN - RB Derrius Guice (from BUF) they improved on defense, now time for them to improve the offense and help keenum out. they just released cj anderson and will look to draft a RB to start for them. 23) GB - WR Courtland Sutton (from NE) they released jordy nelson and still have a great WR group and originally i had them taking a RB, but with the top 3 off the board, I think they can wait for the 2nd round and grab one, so WR is the pick here 24) CAR - CB Josh Jackson I had carolina reaching for sutton here, but with GB taking him 1 spot earlier, the panthers will instead take the top CB on the board and look to grab a WR in the later rounds. someone like st brown or calloway could be had in the 2nd/3rd rounds. 25) TEN - S Justin Ried Great value pick at this point and Ten is in need of some help in the secondary. 26) ATL - DT Maurice Hurst Atlanta has a high powered offense, but their defense is lacking badly. especially on the d-line. Hurst fills a huge need for them 27) NO - LB Rashaan Evans another high powered offense that needs a defense to help them and evans is the BPA on that side of the ball 28) PIT - OG Isiah Wynn I could see them taking a QB, but with the top 5 already off the board, they won't reach and will likely look to the later rounds. a very well rounded team with few needs, they take the BPA and improve the o-line to give ben more time to throw and bell more space to run 29) JAX - WR Deon Cain They are badly in need of WR help. they lost both of their top WRs in free agency (hurns and robinson) and now lee is their number 1. Cain is a bit of a reach but fills a huge need 30) Min - OG Will Hernandez a very well rounded team who just splurged for kirk cousins at QB to make a SB run. hernandez is the BPA and improves the o-line to help cousins out and give cook more running room 31) GB - OT - Orlando Brown (from NE) GB added a WR and now they add some o-line help to protect rodgers. In the 2nd round they will grab a RB as well and really load up around rodgers 32) PHI - DE Rasheem Green if he stayed in college another year, he could be a top 10 pick in the 2019 draft. Philly will find a way to utilize him and for a team without many needs, BPA makes sense Predicted Trades Buffalo 2 1st rounders (13th and 22nd) and 2 2nd rounders (53rd and 56th) to Denver for the 5th overall pick NE 2 1st rounders (23rd and 32nd) to GB for 14th overall pick and 3rd rounder (76th)
Personally I don't see the Patriots moving up for Lamar Jackson. Despite recent reports tying him to them (among others), I just don't see the fit. Personally, I think they snag someone at 23 who falls in a currently unexpected manner (let's use Derwin James as an example, not because I think it is him, but just as illustration). Then at 32 I think they pick QB Mike White out of Western Kentucky. The Patriots will almost certainly want to use a 1st round pick on a QB, since 1) they don't know when Brady will actually hang them up, so no idea when this rookie will actually play), and 2) the 1st round pick gives the 5th year option, which allows them that much more time to get their QB on the field before the contract expires. White is extremely under the radar due to the quantity of QBs going at the top this year. I think he's a better prospect than Mason Rudolph, and fits what the Patriots do well. Overall, this mock smells realistic to me, so good job on this. I'm of the opinion there will be 6 or 7 QBs in the first round (besides White, I also like Falk late in the 1st). But so hard to really project these things, particularly when the trades begin to fly.
Jackson in college, ran the same exact offense the pats run in the NFL. at worst case it's a perfect system fit. we all know Brady isn't getting younger and they need to find a replacement and the pats would prefer to have it on the roster before Brady retires which could be after this season. it could be for sure, there is always someone that falls. it's pretty hard to get any of it right let along a large percentage. I could see the pats standing with what they have and taking 2 BPAs in the 1st and maybe taking a shot at Rudolph in the 2nd round like they've done with other QBs in the past they could also take white as well like you mention but i see it more of in the 2nd round, maybe they trade out of the 31st pick to get extra picks in the 2nd/3rd
Again, main reason to do it at 32 is 5th year option. If Brady plays 4 more years, this rookies contract could expire without him having played a down. Patriots would be protecting themselves getting their QB by this pick. If they don't, that tells me they don't believe in the options available to them, and don't see these guys as potential Brady replacements.
It makes sense for sure but i cna't see brady playing more then another 2 season to be honest. even this year was in doubt for him. If they win a SB in 2018, i cold see brady going out on top
I hope the Patriots pass on the position entirely, and a week after the draft Gronk signs a contract with the WWE and Brady retires to take up his true life passion of knitting pink mittens, followed by Belichick suspending several players for being late to a meeting, only to be late to a meeting himself the next day as his bowels are exploding from mixing hot sauced taco salad with two extra scoops of phish food ice cream. Fuck Tom.
I like Rosen's talent and I don't have an issue with his supposedly "entitled attitude", his multiple concussion history and lack of mobility in the pocket, compared to the other QB's is scary. I would pass on Rosen for potential medical. He's a couple of head shots of being done!! If Darnold is available at #3, I would take him, if not we have to take Mayfield. Like I've said in the past, I'M NOT THRILLED WITH ANY OF THESE TOP 4 QB's. The Jet's need a QB and they made their bed trading up, so they have to pick one, if they get it wrong, we will starting fresh in 2 years with a whole new organization. If Roquan Smith falls to #13 I will be shocked, he's the best defensive player in this draft.........I love this kid. Smith is a true middle LB, the Lee comparison moving him to the middle doesn't fly. I've always thought Lee is out of place in the middle, he's a square peg in our defense. Anyone who watches tape on Smith can tell this player is a cut above. I expect Smith to be drafted in the 6- 9 range.
Mayfield has concussions too, why does this ALWAYS get disincluded? Baker's somewhat mobile, but he doesn't have gears to get away from NFL defenders, he could be a few hits from being done. you take the most talented QB.
Neither do the Josh boys and Sam. Of the 4 top QBs, Rosen is the least mobile in escaping from the pocket, Sam has a good sense to move when the heat is on. I knew Baker had concussions, he missed the second half of the TCU game 1 1/2 years ago. The talent of the 4QBs of the very subjective this year, there is no clear cut one better than the other 3. All 4 have warts.
So you adapt the personnel, you add a pass catching back and perhaps a better offensive line. A player that is "mobile" like Baker is as susceptible to injuries then any other QB due to his smaller body and tendencies and if you watched the 2nd half of Georgia, you know what you are getting if hes not more decisive in the pocket. Rosen is the Matt Ryan of this draft. If anything, you need to teach Rosen to take what the defense gives you and be just a little more decisive. Jets should not overthink this process.
I think the issue people have with Rosen is how recent the concussions were. Honestly, it isn't a great criticism for either of these players because we don't have their medical histories. That will be another factor that drives some NFL decision making that may appear baffling to fans.
yeah smith at 13 is a steal for sure, but i couldn't find a place for him higher really with the lack of need at ILB for most teams. I even have edmunds falling to 9 which is shocking with his talent
we don't have their medical history, agreed ... Rosens concussions would really have to be an issue for him to drop that far, and usually you see these red flags get released some sort of way.
I think the Cardinals take a QB in this draft and they would be a team to trade up over the Dolphins and take Mayfield. Excellent destination for Mayfield, the Cardinals. That should change the draft, Roquan Smith goes to the Fins.