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Some notes that I haven't seen mentioned much elsewhere: MHJ: "As talented as he is, his discipline and dedication to his craft might be the most impressive part of him" - NFL scout. Tendency to coast when he isn't the target of the play, poor effort as a blocker, not really a YAC weapon. Turned down NIL deals at first because he believed they'd be a distraction. Nabers: Body catches more than you'd like but has shown the ability to extend and catch the ball with his hands. Was arrested on Bourbon St. for illegally carrying a weapon. Was ruled ineligible his senior year of high school because his family happened to move to the same school district as his former coach and there was a rule against that; still made the All-American team despite not playing lol. Credits his time growing up as a center fielder for his ability to track the deep ball. Odunze: His weaknesses section is hilariously short. Needs to expand his route tree and only average change of direction skills, but that's basically it. Suffered a broken rib/punctured lung and didn't miss any time. Thomas: Needs to improve his play strength and tends to lose his footing on some of his breaks, but his ability to stutter step and then accelerate is great, uses his basketball background to box people out, and has "minimal delay going from catcher to runner, which is uncommon for a big receiver" McConkey: Similar to Legette, he switched from WR to QB his senior season in high school. Experience as a punt returner, gunner, and on kickoff coverages. Adding weight has been a challenge in the past; scouts believe he probably won't be able to put on any additional weight in the NFL. Doesn't have ideal contact balance, but makes up for it with his creativity after the catch. AD: Played a few games at QB his senior year of high school but otherwise played WR. Always looking for someone to block. Below average play strength; physical DBs will give him trouble. Small hands and doesn't always play strong to the football. Not a YAC weapon and wasn't a high volume target in college. Coleman: Was a star basketball player in high school while also competing in track and playing football. Only considered colleges where he could play both basketball and football. Switched his commitment twice before ultimately landing at Michigan State. Left the Michigan State basketball team at the beginning of his sophomore season to focus exclusively on football. Cousin of CeeDee Lamb. Draws a lot of penalties. Quickly transitions from catcher to runner, quick burst off the LOS and at the top of his route. Physically dominant as a run blocker. Driven to max out his ability and cash in for his family. Not as efficient beating press coverage as you'd expect. While he's improved as a route runner, more polish is required. Can be a bit prone to offensive pass interference. Had some nagging injuries throughout college. Going to bounce around more from here/be shorter as I just can't do this for everyone lol, but let me know if there's any guys in particular you'd like a short blurb about and I can try to get back to you. Pearsall: Punt return and gunner experience, dad was a "tough-as-*****, sticky-handed receiver" just like Ricky. Worthy: Committed to Michigan and tried to early-enroll, but academic issues forced him to delay enrollment. He moved to Michigan anyways to get to know his teammates and ended up leaving a month later and reconsidered his options. Joined Steve Sarkisian at Texas due to how he utilized Devonta Smith at Alabama. Corley: first from his high school to play division 1 football Legette: Played running back as a child, moved to WR for high school, and then moved to QB his senior year; comes from a town of 2,500 people. His 1.78 "flying 20" tied Brian Thomas for the fastest at the combine. Experience as a kick returner and gunner, "genuinely enjoys playing on special teams". Missed a few games after a motorcycle accident in 2021. Malik Washington: Led all WRs in forced missed tackles this season. Inexperienced on special teams outside of kick returns. Torn ACL as a junior in high school. Tez Walker: Most of his offers were to play DB. Torn ACL his senior year of high school, and his college team pulled their scholarship as a result. Worked at Bojangle's to pay for his rehab during his one year gap between high school and college. Has been open about mental health challenges he's faced growing up. He had the only 20+ yard catch allowed by CB Nate Wiggins in 2023. Burton: 6 schools in 8 years, a reputation as an undisciplined player, and had "up and down moments" with the coaching staffs at Georgia and Alabama. Played for former Chargers WR Curtis Conway at one of his many high schools and was teammates with Johnny Wilson. Rice: Never lived with Jerry Rice growing up. Joined track team as a junior in high school because college football coaches questioned his speed. McMillan: Family believes he's a better baseball player than football player. Received dual-sport offers from schools including Oklahoma and USC. Nothing crazy, but has suffered several injuries over his college career. Re-aggravated his MCL sprain multiple times this past season, which forced him to miss a lot of time. Javon Baker: Left Alabama after two seasons. Initially committed to Kentucky in the transfer portal, but they pulled their offer so he ended up at UCF instead. Says he learned a lot from DeVonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle at Alabama. More drops than TDs in his college career. Cowing: One of the lowest ranked recruits in UTEP's recruiting class but he led the team in receiving 3 years in a row. Became a father during his freshman year of college. Entered the transfer portal to try to find a small school near Arizona to be closer to his son and was shocked when several big name schools came calling. Had an NIL deal with the Boys and Girls Club, which he says was very influential on him as a child. Feisty blocker despite his small stature. Was banged up throughout his college career but never missed a game. Only FBS player with 85+ receptions each of the last two seasons. Johnny Wilson: Was only the #21 WR in his recruiting class, but he received almost 40 scholarship offers. Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce was one of his main recruiters and got him to ultimately commit to Arizona State. Was one of many players to leave Arizona State amidst NCAA investigations. Didn't receive much attention in the transfer portal but he reached out to FSU head coach Mike Norvell and convinced him to offer a scholarship. Doesn't play as strong as you'd expect, struggles to match DB's physicality. "Hears footsteps" working over the middle of the field. Zero special teams experience. Missed most of 2021 due to a hamstring injury.

Here is the 2nd crack at it. With some recent developments off of the field, some semi-leaked medical info, and reports floating around I figured I would do an update now. Then, if I feel the need, I will do a final right before the draft. 1. Chicago Bears - Caleb Williams / QB / USC - This is fairly obvious. The Bears traded Justin Fields and Caleb is all but a forgone conclusion to go #1 at this point. The only thing that could change this pick is if the Bears are scared off by his medicals, which it was said he didn't share with everyone at the Combine for whatever reason. edit ~ And now word is out the Bears are locked in on Williams. This is a done deal. ***No Change*** 2. Washington Commanders - Jayden Daniels / QB / LSU - The reports going around at the Combine were the Commanders favor Maye over Daniels. Now it seems like they are cooling a bit on Maye and leaning towards Daniels. Daniels, to me, is the superior prospect. The athleticism is similar to Lamar Jackson, but I think he already throws the ball better outside of the hashes. Either way, Washington is taking a swing on their franchise QB. ***Previously Drake Maye*** 3. New England Patriots - JJ McCarthy / QB / Michigan - New regime, the failed Mac Jones experiment is over, and they go with a new signal caller. All of the talk of Brissett starting is just that, talk. I also think the talk of McCarthy jumping Maye in this draft is real. The Patriots take McCarthy here because they trust his potential more than Maye's, plus they trust the guy who had a hand in his development at the college level. ***Previously Jayden Daniels*** 4. Arizona Cardinals - Marvin Harrison Jr. / WR / Ohio St. - Arizona takes one, and arguably the best, of the 3 upper echelon WR prospects in this draft. They have a huge hole in their WR corps and this is just the first of what I believe will be a couple of early picks to address that need for Kyler Murray. The group is currently littered with a bunch of JAG's. ***No Change*** 5. Los Angeles Chargers - Joe Alt / OT / Notre Dame - Recent reports coming out of Chargers land is that they are going with a more run-heavy based offense. I would imagine this will be the same thing we saw from Harbaugh previously in SF, as well as where he just came from at Michigan. Greg Roman is also his OC in LA. We know what that offensive scheme looks like. With this draft being deep as far as the WR crop goes, I think Jim goes after the best OT in the draft to help him play that mauling style of football he desires. ***Previously Malik Nabers*** 6. ***TRADE*** Minnesota Vikings (via NY Giants) - Drake Maye / QB / UNC - In the first version I had them moving up to #8. With Maye being the last of the perceived upper tier QB on the board, I think they pull the trigger earlier. NY also needs multiple high end players so a move back to #11 is good in their mind, while picking up an extra 1st. Minnesota has made moves this offseason to have the ammo to do this. They let Cousins walk and see Maye as their future. Enough with the bargain basement types, let's go get our Franchise QB they say. ***Previously Rome Odunze to the NY Giants*** 7. Tennessee Titans - Olumuyiwa Fashanu / OT / Penn St. - The Titans were really hoping the board panned out to land Joe Alt here, but Fashanu isn't a bad consolation prize either. He gave up 0 sacks and only 10 pressure on 382 pass blocking snaps last year. That is exactly what Tennessee needs. I think the signing of Ridley and the fact they still have D-Hop keeps them out of the WR market, at least this early. ***Previous Joe Alt*** 8. Atlanta Falcons - Dallas Turner / DE / Alabama - Atlanta was the beneficiary of a trade with Minnesota in the first version. This time, Minny jumps higher. Atlanta lands the player who is widely regarded as the best pass rusher in the draft. He is about as elite of a prospect that you look for at the DE position. He's an explosive athlete, with excellent bend, and he has an extra gear when closing. He also has the frame to add another 10-15lbs without likely losing any athleticism. Serious consideration for Malik Nabers here, but Raheem Morris gets a move on building his defense. ***Previously JJ McCarthy to the Minnesota Vikings*** 9. ***TRADE*** Buffalo Bills (via Chicago) - Malik Nabers / WR / LSU - I think Beane has the cajones to make this move, and it truly is a swing for the fences. Some people will be freaking out because of the cost and others will be ecstatic because of what takes place. I will be one of the latter. Malik Nabers could very well be THE best WR in this entire class. He is dynamic in every phase of the position. He's smart, runs clean routes, can take any catch to the house, understands coverage, can shake free from anyone, and is truly that alpha we need for our Franchise QB. The cost is steep, but imo worth it. (#28, #60, and next year's 1st) ***Previously Dallas Turner to the Chicago Bears*** 10. New York Jets - Brock Bowers / TE / Georgia - With them having signed Tyron Smith and trading for Morgan Moses, as well as them having signed Mike Williams, I think they use this pick on the best available offensive weapon for Aaron Rodgers that is not a WR. Rodgers loves his TE's. This will be one of the smartest picks Douglas has ever made. It will open up everything for this offense when you have a guy like this attacking the middle of the field. Even if Odunze is somehow still on the board, I think the Jets make this pick. ***No Change*** 11. NY Giants (via Minnesota) - Rome Odunze / WR / Washington - How in the perfect NY Giants world did this happen?!?!? They trade back to #11, pick up #23, and still get their guy from the first mock. Just the way the board falls this time. The Giants OL was bad last year, and this pick very well could end up being an OT, but their WR group is W-E-A-K, weak. They have the speedster in Jalin Hyatt, and a couple of Smurfs, but they need that alpha in the group. That will be Odunze. ***Previously Jared Verse to the Atlanta Falcons*** 12. Denver Broncos - Michael Penix / QB / Washington - The Broncos met with Penix at the Senior Bowl, at the Combine, were in attendance at his Pro Day, and he was one of their 30. The medicals came back clear, he ran a sub 4.5 40 time at his Pro day, and you see the type of QB he is on film. Basically, all of the boxes have been checked. He's a smart QB who knows how to manipulate the field, and he can make every throw. Payton sees a young man he believes can run his offense, the way he wants his offense run. ***Previously Laiatu Latu*** 13. Las Vegas Raiders - Jared Verse / DE / Florida St. - The Raiders have Maxx Crosby on one side, but have had a list of JAG's on the other. I think that the opportunity to get a true bookend to pair with Crosby has Antonio Pierce salivating. Verse is an elite prospect in his own right at the DE position. He had 11 sacks and 36 pressures. You put a guy like that opposite Crosby, and they just signed Christian Wilkins on the interior? This defense is looking a lot better. ***Previously Olumuyiwa Fashanu*** 14. New Orleans Saints - Taliese Fuaga / OT / Oregon St. - I could see the Saints going with Brian Thomas here, but the WR class is so deep I think they grab one of the top OL prospects instead. Fuaga is a RT, but his best position may be as a G in the NFL and that position was a glaring weakness for NO last year. The Saints also let long time OL'man Andrus Peat walk in FA. ***No Change*** 15. Indianapolis Colts - Quinyon Mitchell / CB / Toledo - Mitchell has good film, had some good practices at the Senior Bowl, and capped it off with a fantastic Combine. This guy is a plug-and-play starter who could push for DROY. ***No Change*** 16. Seattle Seahawks - Troy Fautanu / OT / Washington - Fautanu doesn't have to move far going from the Huskies to the Seahawks. This is another OT prospect who can be lined up at one of the OT spots or kicked inside to man one of their interior positions. Either way, you have to protect whomever will be taking the snaps or it won't matter who is taking the snaps. Fautanu is a good prospect no matter where they choose to play him. ***No Change*** 17. Jacksonville Jaguars - Terrion Arnold / CB / Alabama - Satisfied enough with their group of meh WR's, the Jaguars look to their defense. Arnold isn't the fastest CB, but he understands coverage, makes plays when they are there to be made, and is another in the list of Alabama DB's who will succeed in the NFL. ***No Change*** 18. Cincinnati Bengals - Brian Thomas / WR / LSU - This would suck, but it's how the board falls. They likely aren't bringing back Tyler Boyd and Higgins is on the Franchise Tag. This would give them, potentially, another stud WR for 5 years. ***No Change and it would still suck because I hate the Bengals*** 19. Los Angeles Rams - Byron Murphy II / DT / Texas - A blind man could peg this selection after Aaron Donald calling it quits. Murphy can play against the run and he can get after the QB. He can play all three downs and will not be a liability no matter the defensive play call. ***No Change*** 20. Pittsburgh Steelers - Jackson Powers-Johnson / C / Oregon - Mason Cole struggled at times last year and the Steelers need to find out what they have at QB quickly. Improve the OL and see if Russ or Fields are the answer. JPJ will have Steelers fans thinking of the days when Pouncey was manning the middle of that OL. ***No Change*** 21. Miami Dolphins - Laiatu Latu / DE / UCLA - This defense has taken a hit this offseason and no one knows when Jaelen Phillips or Bradley Chubb will see the field. They need guys who can get after it. I know there is talk going around about Latu's neck injury from 2020, but the Dolphins are good with the medical clearance he's already received. Latu is an excellent prospect who could make a huge impact in his first year. ***Previously Graham Barton*** 22. Philadelphia Eagles - Kool-Aid McKinstry / CB / Alabama - McKinstry has started for Nick Saban since he was a Freshmen. That is RARE air with the former Alabama HC. McKinstry is an excellent prospect who can line up all over the field. He will fill an immediate need in the Eagles and be starting from day 1. ***Previously Cooper DeJean*** 23. NY Giants (via Minnesota) - Cooper DeJean / CB / Iowa - Does this conjure memories for Giants fans or what? Jason Sehorn anyone? Yeah, Cooper will slot in as a starting boundary CB for these guys day 1. When targeted, he allowed a 37.8 passer rating to opposing QB's. He is also a plus return man who can make something happen on ST's as well. Not a bad start for the New York football Giants thus far. ***Previously Jer'Zhan Newton to the Falcons*** 24. Dallas Cowboys - Xavier Worthy / WR / Texas - I think Jerry sees a WR with wheels like this, who also played at Texas, and he just can't help himself. It will also be interesting to see the alignments they use with Lamb, Worthy, and Cooks. In the end, it's another weapon for Dak. (I still think Jerry won't be able to resist) ***No Change*** 25. Green Bay Packers - JC Latham / OT / Alabama - Latham is a plus prospect at the OT position for sure. The Pack have found their latest Franchise QB, now keeping him upright and healthy are the biggest priorities. ***Previously Nate Wiggins*** 26. Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Graham Barton / OT / Duke - The Bucs have work to do on their OL. Barton was a starter at OT for Duke, but all of the talk surrounding him is that he will slot in at Center in the NFL. He is viewed as the 2nd best C prospect behind JPJ by many. Where he excels is as a mauler in the run game, though he holds his own as a pass blocker also. He will conjure memories of Ryan Jensen for Bucs fans. ***Previously Kool-Aid McKinstry*** 27. Arizona Cardinals (via Houston) - Chop Robinson / DE / Penn St. - The Cardinals upgraded their WR room in a big way at #4 and hope to do it to their Edge group here. Robinson, though not really putting up elite production, does have elite athleticism. Some people are comparing him to Micah Parsons. Gannon hopes he can serve the same role Haason Reddick did in that Eagles defense for him. ***No Change*** 28. Chicago Bears (via Buffalo) - Jer'Zhan Newton / DT / Illinois - The Bears keep Newton in the state of Illinois for the foreseeable future. Newton was the Big 10 Defensive Player of the Year in 2023. When you think about the talent across the board in that conference, it says a lot. To add a guy like him on the interior, who can get after the QB the way he does, will make everyone around him on the Bears defense that much better. ***Previously Troy Franklin to the Buffalo Bills*** 29. Detroit Lions - Adonai Mitchell / WR / Texas - The rich in offensive weapons get richer. The Lions don't have too many holes and should be coming off of a SB appearance if not for some questionable calls by Dan Campbell and key drops by Josh Reynolds. Reynolds is now gone and Mitchell will be tabbed as his replacement. Now they'll have two guys who can beat any Secondary down the field, along with the best Slot WR in the game, a great stable of RB's, and a TE coming off of the most productive rookie season at the position. ***No Change*** 30. Baltimore Ravens - Amarius Mims / OT / Georgia - The Ravens traded Morgan Moses back to the Jets. Ronnie Stanley can't seem to stay healthy. The Ravens have always been good at spotting top notch quality OL'men and they hope that prowess continues with this selection here. ***Previously JC Latham*** 31. San Francisco 49ers - Zach Frazier / C / West Virginia - The 49ers aren't lacking much. They are coming off of their 2nd SB appearance in less than 5 years. One thing that could stand to improve is the OL. They were ranked in the lower 3rd of the league by most outlets. We also see the drop in Purdy's efficiency when he's under constant duress. Jake Brendel at C was one of their worst OL'men. Replacing him here, or going after an OT for the right side to replace McKivitz, make the most sense. I think they go the Center route. ***Previously Payton Wilson*** 32. Kansas City Chiefs - Nate Wiggins / CB / Clemson - The Chiefs just traded away L'Jarius Sneed so this move makes perfect sense. Wiggins had an outstanding athletic performance at the Combine and he only allowed a 44.4 passer rating when targeted this year. The only knock is he's thin so don't expect much support from him in the run game. The rest of the defense for KC will survive just fine without a CB adding much to their run support. ***Previously T'Vondre Sweat*** Might do one more update before the draft if I feel like it, or I may just let this one ride. We'll see. Either way, I hope it's a fun read.

It is true. The Pegulas have not demonstrated they are good at recognising the right people to run their sports franchises. It is why I think they are so beholden to McDermott and Beane. It is the ONE time they have got good, competent leaders. People can question if they are the right people to deliver a championship, that is fair. But McDermott and Beane are clearly very competent and would both be snapped up in a park drive minute if the Bills moved on. And Terry would probably hire Nate Hackett and Dave Gettleman.

Hi Everyone and a welcome to the TSW Mock Draft 2.0 sign-up thread. Mock 2.0 is 2 rounds with trades allowed. The Bills selection will be done by a survey of the BPA’s at the time. The decision on whether to trade up has been completed in multiple polls and depend upon how the board falls. If the Bills trade up, it will be for certain players and no poll will be created. The Draft will begin once all 32 owners have been found. Support Tools: Trade Chart: https://www.drafttek.com/NFL-Trade-Value-Chart.asp Team needs by position: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-pydwGDVGPIcpS60RzF7FGP9f7xAHm66nzTmEUASAg0/edit#gid=0 Player rankings, both by position and overall: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSeZokjzJ-CfxeFNyFHHLAqtb7FqDNSV0gy0zVtYSBsyXV42SLiD0w0aSjAnVF9DAE05lKvDfcsAJc6/pubhtml Owners: (To volunteer to serve as a team GM, you need to) Be in good standing on this site (daily activity, account history, etc) GM cannot request a previously owned team Reply in this thread with the top 3 teams you want to manage (only listing one will be ignored) Be prepared to keep up with your picks (3 hour window between picks) Be prepared to follow the posting guidelines when it’s your pick (failure to do so might lead to your exclusion to participating in future mocks) Rules: Every owner has 3 hours to make their pick When you pick, you must use the following format With the 28th pick, the Buffalo Bills select Josh Allen, QB, Wyoming @XXXX is on the clock. (Please do not post in all caps or use different punctuation) When you pick, please give a few sentence summary as to why you made the pick you did. The more commentary and ownership, the better the experience. Trades: Trades must meet the trade chart value at a minimum A team’s pick must be made within the 3 hour window. The pick window does not reset for trades A specific pick can only be traded one time. This is not a trade simulator where it’s fun to see how many picks you can acquire. For only a two round mock, this should not be a big deal. Trades must be agreed before gaining approval Once trade is agreed upon by the two GMs, a message needs to be created between the two GM’s, Virgil, and Alphadawg7. The message needs to contain the trade and points value of picks. Once approved within that message, by either Virgil or Alpha, the trade and pick can be posted The following players can be traded by their current teams, and only for a 1st round pick: Tee Higgins, Brandon Aiyuk With that being said, below are the available teams Round 1 1- Chicago (3000) - mannc - Jayden Daniels, QB, LSU 2- Washington (2600) - H2o - Caleb Williams, QB, USC 3- New England (2200) - section122 - Drake Maye, QB, UNC 4- Arizona (1800) - Alphadawg7 *Traded* NY Giants - BuffaloBillyG - Marvin Harrison Jr, WR, Ohio St 5- LA Chargers (1700) - TOboy - Malik Nabers, WR, LSU 6- NY Giants (1600) - BuffaloBillyG *Traded* Arizona - Alphadawk7 - Rome Odunze, WR, Washington 7- Tennessee (1500) - qwksilver - Joe Alt, OT, Notre Dame 8- Atlanta (1400) - Might Rather - Dallas Turner, Edge, Alabama 9- Chicago (1350) - mannc *Traded* Denver - JJGuana - JJ McCarthy, QB, Michigan 10- NY Jets (1300) - Big Blitz - Brock Bowers, TE, Georgia 11- Minnesota (1250) - Kirby Jackson - Jared Verse, Edge, Florida St 12- Denver (1150) - JJGauna *Traded* Chicago - mannc - Brian Thomas, Jr., WR, LSU 13- Las Vegas (1100) - CNYfan - Quinyon Mitchell, DB, Toledo 14- New Orleans (1100) - BigdaddyinOrlando *Traded* Eagles - Logic - Terrion Arnold, DB, Alabama 15- Indianapolis (1050) - Allen2Moulds - Laiatu Latu, DE, UCLA 16- Seattle (1000) - NeverOutNick - Michael Penix Jr, QB, Washington 17- Jacksonville (950) - Doc Brown - Taliese Fuaga, OT, Oregon St 18- Cincinnati (900) - frostbitmic - Jer'zhan Newton, DT, Illinois 19- LA Rams (875) - EmotionallyUnstable - Byron Murphy, DT, Texas 20- Pittsburgh (850) - RyanC883 - Graham Barton, OL, Duke 21- Miami (800) - TPS - Chop Robinson, Edge, Penn St 22- Philadelphia (780) - Logic *Traded* Saints - BigdaddyinOrlando - Olumuyiwa Fashanu, OT Penn St 23- Minnesota (760) - Kirby Jackson - Bo Nix, QB, Oregon 24- Dallas (740) - LEBills - Jordan Morgan, OT, Arizona 25- Green Bay (720) - MrEpsYtown - Cooper DeJean, DB, Iowa 26- Tampa Bay (700) - Logic - Jackson Powers-Johnson, C, Oregon 27- Arizona (680) - Alphadawg7 *Traded* Kansas City - HappyDays - Amarius Mims, OT, Georgia 28- Buffalo (660) - TSW Poll *Traded* Packers - MyEpsYtown - Troy Fautanu, OL, Washington 29- Detroit (640) - GunnerBill *Traded* Carolina - Virgil - AD Mitchell, WR, Texas 30- Baltimore (620) - section122 - JC Latham,OT, Alabama 31- San Francisco (600) - NewEra - Tyler Guyton, OT, Oklahoma 32- Kansas City (590) - HappyDays *Traded* Arizona - Alphadawg7 - Nate Wiggins, DB, Clemson Round 2 33- Carolina (580) - Virgil *Traded* Lions - GunnerBill - Kool-Aid McKinstry, DB, Alabama 34- New England (560) - section122 - Xavier Worthy, WR, Texas 35- Arizona (550) - Alphadawg7 - Darius Robinson, DT, Maryland 36- Washington (540) - H2o - Ja'Tavion Sanders, Tight End, Texas 37- LA Chargers (530) - TOboy - Payton Wilson, LB, NC St 38- Tennessee (520) - qwksilver - Ladd McConkey, WR Georgia 39- Carolina (510) - Virgil -Zach Frazier, C, West Virginia 40- Washington (500) - H2o - Xavier Legette, Wide Receiver, South Carolina 41- Green Bay (490) - MrEpsYtown *Traded* Bills - TSW POll - Troy Franklin, WR, Oregon 42- Houston (480) - Stinky Finger - Braden Fiske DT, Florida St 43- Atlanta (470) - Might Rather *Traded* Arizona - Alphadawg7 - ChrisBraswell, Edge/LB, Alabama 44- Las Vegas (460) - CNYfan - Kris Jenkins, DT, Michigan 45- New Orleans (450) - BigdaddyinOrlando - Keon Coleman, WR, Florida St 46- Indianapolis (440) - Allen2Moulds - TJ Tampa, DB, Iowa St 47- NY Giants (430) - BuffaloBillyG - Tyler Nubin, S, Minnesota 48- Jacksonville (420) - Doc Brown *Traded* Texans - Stinky Finger - Ennis Rakestraw Jr., DB, Missouri 49- Cincinnati (410) - frostbitmic - Cooper Beebe, G, Kansas St 50- Philadelphia (400) - Logic *Traded* Saints - BigdaddyinOrlando - Adisa Isaac, Edge, Penn St 51- Pittsburgh (390) - RyanC883 - Ricky Pearsall, WR, Florida 52- LA Rams (380) - EmotionallyUnstable - Bralen Trice, Edge, Washington 53- Philadelphia (370) - Logic - Edgerrin Cooper, LB, Texas A&M 54- Cleveland (360) - Virgil - Jalen McMillan, WR, Washington 55- Miami (350) - TPS - T'Vondre Sweat, DT, Texas 56- Dallas (340) - LEBills - Trey Benson, RB, FSU 57- Tampa Bay (330) - Logic - Marshawn Kneeland, Edge, Western Michigan 58- Green Bay (320) - MrEpsYtown *Traded* Bills - TSW Poll - Javon Bullard, S, Georgia 59- Houston (310) - Stinky Finger *Traded* Jaguars - Doc Brown - Roman Wilson, WR, Michigan 60- Buffalo (300) - TSW Poll *Traded* Green Bay - MrEpsYtown - Junior Colson, LB, Michigan 61- Detroit (292) - GunnerBill - Christian Haynes, G, UConn 62- Baltimore (284) - section122 - Kamari Lassiter, DB, UGA 63- San Francisco (276) - NewEra - Malachi Corley, WR, Western Kentucky 64- Kansas City (270) - HappyDays - Ja'Lynn Polk, WR, Washington Trades The Cardinals traded #4, #138, #162 to the Giants for #6, #70, and #107 The Broncos traded #12 + 2025 2nd rounder to the Bears for #9 (210) The Saints traded #14 to the Eagles for #22 and #50 The Cardinals traded #27 to the Chiefs for #32 and #95 The Bills trade #28 and #60 to the Packers for #41, #58, #88, and #169 The Panthers trade #33, #141, and #142 to the Lions for pick #29 The Cardinals trade #66 and #71 to the Falcons for pick #43 The Texans trade picks #59 & #86 to the Jacksonville for pick #48.

I usually try to do 3 versions with version 1 and 3 involving no trades and Version two offering trades that I think could happen. I actually really like how this mock draft played out in general. Commentary for the first round and both Buffalo picks. Enjoy everybody. I will have Version 3.0 out probably on Wednesday night as I do complete a full 7 rounder just for fun to see if I can get any late picks correct. 1. Chicago Bears- Caleb Williams QB USC - I'm not even going to really explain this one. Its in the bag. 2. Washington Commanders- Drake Maye QB UNC - I would have thought this would be Jayden Daniels but apparently the camp is not happy with the Commanders as he was unaware that multiple QB's would be on his visit and he has let it be known he doesn't want to go to Washington now. This leads me to go with Drake Maye at this pick and I can honestly say i'm not a huge Maye fan but this isn't about my rankings its about what I think will happen. 3. New England Patriots- Jayden Daniels QB LSU - I think this one is tough. I keep wanting to put J.J. McCarthy here and my last mock might well have him here but I will still put Jayden Daniels here for now who I have as my # 2 QB in the draft. Daniels can provide a threat with his legs and take the Patriots into current football as they have been living in the past offensively since Brady left. 4. New York Giants(from Arizona)- J.J. McCarthy QB Michigan - NYG Trade 6,47 to Arizona and receive back 4, and 104 from Arizona. The Giants have to do something here. They can't possibly go with Daniel Jones again and expect to keep their jobs. The Giants go to the well again with the highly experienced national championship winning QB who is ready to play Day 1. The Cardinals chose to take the Giants offer instead of Minnesota because it allows them to still get one of the best players in the draft vs drafting a guy from the second tier. 5. Los Angeles Chargers- Marvin Harrison Jr. WR Ohio State - The Chargers could go Oline here but the best WR in the draft is literally staring them in the eye, its a need, and Jim Harbaugh got the pleasure of watching Harrison first hand for the last couple of years. Harrison is lucky as all hell to be drafted by the Chargers with a star QB to work with instead of going to a team starting completely over. 6. Arizona Cardinals(from NYG)- Malik Nabers WR LSU - The Cardinals drop down a couple of spots and still get a true # 1 WR in the NFL while picking up an additional 2nd rounder to build their awful roster still. If anything Arizona's GM shows that their willing to move around the board and gladly take the premium pick to slot Nabers in with Tre McBride to rebuild the Cardinals passing attack. 7. Tennessee Titans- Joe Alt OT Notre Dame - This pick essentially comes down to Alt vs Odunze and with the signing of Calvin Ridley, Tackle moves to the top of the list and Alt is clearly the # 1 Tackle in this draft. 8. Indianapolis Colts(from Atlanta)- Rome Odunze WR Washington - Colts Trade 15, 46 to Atlanta, Colts receive 8 and 104. I have always thought that the Colts would go WR in this draft because they really only have Pittman to throw to. Alec Pierce has been a disappointment and Josh Downs is a nice piece but the Colts need another bondafied weapon to develop Anthony Richardson. They are also in a weapons war now with the Houston Texans and Jaguars for supremecy in the AFC South. 9. Chicago Bears- Jared Verse DE Florida State - The Bears are left in a tough spot as they would prefer one of the top 3 WR's to drop but the Colts snipe them a pick before and with only 4 draft picks they would love to trade down but there is really no one worth trading up for at this current moment. With that happening, the Bears take who I believe is the best Defensive End in this draft in Verse. 10. New York Jets- Brock Bowers TE Georgia - The Jets also miss out of the top 3 WR's and this pick will come down to either Bowers or one of the offensive Tackels in Fuaga or Fautanu. The Jets filled their spots on the offensive line in Free Agency and decide to get a weapon for Aaron Rodgers to go with Mike Williams and Garrett Wilson. 11. Minnesota Vikings- Bo Nix QB Oregon - This pick I went back and forth on. I said well the Vikings can get this guy at 23 but if what I'm reading about Penix and the Raiders that puts the Vikings in a very vulnerable state to be left out of the "first round QB" market. I also think that if Nix is on the board at 19, the Rams would seriously consider taking him to be the successor to Matthew Stafford. The Vikings take zero chances here and select Nix to make sure they get their guy after being shut out of the trade up. 12. Jacksonville(from Denver)- Quinyon Mitchell CB Toledo - Jaguars trade 17, 96 to Denver, Jaguars receive 12. The Broncos need to completely retool their roster as well and have been looking to trade down in this draft and the Jaguars reciprocate. The Jags need WR help but not near as much as they need some CB help and the Jaguars move up to get the # 1 CB in this draft in Mitchell while giving up a late 3rd round pick. 13. Las Vegas Raiders- Michael Penix Jr. QB Washington - By all reports the Raiders love Michael Penix Jr. and if they love him then they have to take him at 13 instead of trying to trade up from the 44th position into the teens or 20's. If they did that they would for sure be giving up their 2025 first round pick which they can't afford to do at this point so they grab Penix here to be their future QB. 14. New Orleans Saints- Taliese Fuaga OT Oregon State - The Saints have their choice of who they believe is the #2 Tackle in the draft and they chose to go with the versatile Fuaga who can play all over the offensive line. Even if Fuaga fails at Tackle, he could potentially be an all pro guard in the NFL and presents an incredibly safe but needed pick for the Saints. 15. Atlanta Falcons(from Indy)- Byron Murphy DT Texas - This pick has come to light in the last couple of days in the rumor mill and I don't believe that Murphy is worth the 8th pick in the draft. This is why the Falcons move back and grabs Indy's second round pick in the process. Murphy fills a need and is strongly considered the # 1 DT in the draft this year by most pundits. 16. Seattle Seahawks- Troy Fautanu OT Washington - These types of picks worry me much like the previous one with Murphy and Atlanta. This has been a long rumor for the Seahawks and when those rumors are out there this long before the draft it either makes me think smokescreen or someone jumping the Seahawks to take Fautanu to ruin the pick. Still I will go with this pick as it does make a ton of sense. 17. Denver Broncos(from Jacksonville)- Dallas Turner DE Alabama - The Broncos trade down, get a premium pick and still get Turner at pick # 17. This very well could be Verse if the Bears decide to take Turner at # 9 and watch Verse tumble down the board. The Broncos are in a full rebuild but need help with their pass rush and Turner could represnt BPA at this point in the draft. 18. Cincinnati Bengals- Amarius Mims OT Georgia - I wouldn't have picture putting Mims as the 4 OT off the board(if you could Fautanu as a tackle) but the Bengals have spent a ton of time with Mims in the predraft process and they need a tackle and to protect Joe Burrow's fragile self. Mims has only started 8 games in college and is raw but has a ton of upside to become a high level tackle in time. 19. Los Angeles Rams- Terrion Arnold CB Alabama - The Rams have other needs as well most notably on their defensive line but they also have a need at CB despite signing a couple of vets including Tre White. Arnold is just sitting here for them to take and the Rams don't pass on the opportunity to take Arnold here. 20. Pittsburgh Steelers- Graham Barton OC Duke - For the longest time people were mocking JPJ to the Steelers but the rumor mill is stating that JPJ is sliding and not likely to be a first round pick and Barton has been flying up the draft boards for awhile. Barton's versatility is helping in this late process and the Steelers even came out and said that they see Barton as a Center. Check and Mate with that being said as it is the Steelers biggest need by far. 21. Miami Dolphins- Xavier Worthy WR Texas - Is it their biggest need absolutely not but the Dolphins and Mike McDaniel love speed. McDaniel has been seen in numerous videos and pictures fawning over Worthy like a school aged girl trying to gain the attention of the fastest man in school. Worthy would give the Dolphins even more speed and could potentially be Jaylen Waddles/Tyreek Hills replacement down the line. 22. Philadelphia Eagles- Nate Wiggins CB Clemson - The Eagles need secondary help in the worst way and get a top level man to man cover corner in Nate Wiggins to start re-tooling the secondary for the Eagles. 23. Buffalo Bills(from Minnesota)- Brian Thomas Jr. WR LSU - Buffalo trades 28, 128, 144, and a 2025 4th Rounder to Minnesota for pick # 23. I want to preface this that this draft is incredibly hard to predict once you get outside the first 8 or so prospects. Thomas could go as high as 12 or drop down to around this spot in the draft. I think if he made it to this range it would be too tempting for the Bills to sit on their hands. Thomas is the big vertical threat that everyone is hoping for in this draft that can play the boundary. I also want to state that I do not favorite the Bills in these things despite being a fan but it just happened to play out this way after picking through each teams information. The Bills jump ahead of the Cowboys for a 2nd straight year to snag a skill player they wanted. 24. Dallas Cowboys-Olu Fashanu OT Penn State - I can't tell you why but Olu Fashanu is dropping like a rock in the pre draft process. He was once considered a possible top 8 pick in the draft but he falls all the way to the 24th pick in the draft. The Cowboys have a huge need on the offensive line as they lost Tyron Smith, Tyler Biadisz, and Martin is getting extremely old. This allows Fashanu to slide in at LT while leaving everybody else in their current positions. 25. Green Bay Packers- Cooper DeJean CB/S Iowa - The Packers take DeJean here and can play him either at Cornerback or Safety in their system. They have a need at both positions even with the signing of Xavier McKinney. DeJean has good versatility and the Packers would start him at Cornerback with the hole opposite of Jaire Alexander who also isn't exactly on solid footing in Green Bay after his antics. 26. Tampa Bay Buccaneers- Chop Robinson DE Penn State - The Buccaneers have a big need at Edge and Robinson presents a high upside player who is also a safer pick than Laiatu Latu. Robinson will have to improve his production but he is going to a team that has a defensive HC who can mold him hopefully into what team's believe he can be. 27. Los Angeles Chargers(From Arizona)- Jordan Morgan OT Arizona - Chargers Trade pick # 37 and 69 to Arizona and Receives pick # 27 and 138. The Chargers trade back into the first round and fill their second biggest need which is Left Tackle by selecting Morgan. With the selections on offensive tackle and the gauntlet of teams that need at Tackle ahead of them the Chargers don't take any chances by going up and getting Morgan while sliding into Arizona's spot. 28. Minnesota(from Buffalo)- Laiatu Latu DE UCLA -Latu is another one that is an anamoly. He has the talent to be a top 15 pick in the draft but he has a ton of medical red flags that could derail his career. The Vikings have spent a lot of time with Latu and hosted him on a 30 visit and decide to take the chance at pick 28 after allowing Buffalo to move up in the draft. 29. Washington Commanders(from Detroit)-J.C. Latham OT Alabama - Commanders trade 36 and 100 to Lions for pick 29. There are strong rumors that the Commanders are going to move in into the end of the first round, much for the same reasoning I had the Chargers move up in the draft. The well on ready tackles is running dry and the Commanders go up and get Latham. 30. Baltimore Ravens- Tyler Guyton OT Oklahoma - The Ravens grab the last ready made OT at pick # 30 by taking Guyton at pick 30. 31. San Francisco 49ers- Ladd McConkey WR Georgia - This one interests me a lot as McConkey seems to be gaining traction in this spot with the uncertainty of Brandon Aiyuk. I do think McConkey is worthy of a late first round selection and would honestly be a great fit in a Kyle Shanahan type offense. 32. Kansas City Chiefs- Kool-Aid McKinstry CB Alabama - The Chiefs could go a couple of different directions but the value the McKinstry provides is too much for the Chiefs to pass up on at this point. He steps in to fill the loss of Sneed. 2nd Round. 33. Carolina Panthers- Adonai Mitchell WR Texas 34. New England Patriots- Troy Franklin WR Oregon 35. Arizona Cardinals- Jer'zahn Newton DT Illinois 36. Detroit(from Washington)- Zach Frazier OG West Virginia 37. Arizona Cardinals(from LAC)- Darius Robinson DE Missouri 38. Tennessee Titans- Keon Coleman WR Florida State 39. Carolina Panthers(from NYG)- Jackson Powers Johnson OC Oregon 40. Washington Commanders(from Chicago)- Ja'Tavion Sanders TE Texas 41. Green Bay(from NYJ)- Braden Fiske DT Florida State 42. Houston(from Min)- Ennis Rakestraw CB Missouri 43. Atlanta Falcons- Kamari Lassister CB Georgia 44. Las Vegas Raiders- Max Melton CB Rutgers 45. New Orleans(from Den)- Kris Jenkins DT Michigan 46. Atlanta Falcons(from Ind)- Ricky Pearsall WR Florida 47. Arizona Cardinals(from NYG thru Sea)- T.J. Tampa CB Iowa State 48. Jacksonville Jaguars- Xavier Legette WR South Carolina 49. Cincinnati Bengals- T'Vondre Sweat DT Texas 50. Philadelphia Eagles(from NO)- Tyler Nubin S Minnesota 51. Pittsburgh Steelers- Roman Wilson WR Michigan 52. Los Angeles Rams- Marshawn Kneeland DE/DT Western Michigan 53. Philadelphia Eagles- Mike Sainristil CB Michigan 54. Cleveland Browns- Edgerrin Cooper LB Texas A&M 55. Miami Dolphins- Cooper Beebe OG Kansas State 56. Dallas Cowboys- Trey Benson RB Florida State 57. Tampa Bay Buccaneers- Kiran Amegadjie OT Yale 58. Green Bay Packers- Payton Wilson LB NC State 59. Houston Texans- Javon Bullard S Georgia 60. Buffalo Bills- Cole Bishop S Utah - The Bills needs are very hard to meet in this area of the draft and Bishop to me has the potential to be the best safety to come out of this draft. Safety presents the best value at this time as I believe both DT and DE would be a reach at this spot. They could go unconventional and grab a Tackle, CB, or RB here but Bishop is a hell of a player who had the pleasure of covering last year's first round pick Dalton Kincaid in practice everyday last year. 61. Detroit Lions- Andru Phillips CB Kentucky 62. Baltimore Ravens- Ja'lynn Polk WR Washington 63. San Francisco 49ers- Patrick Paul OT Houston 64. Kansas City Chiefs- Malachi Corley WR Western Kentucky

Mac Jones is fun to watch......Nate Peterman fun..

Last year I was lucky enough to be one of the few people who had Kincaid ever in our spot and was a huge fan. Only one trade allowed and thats the QB trade. No other trades allowed. I would have had this out earlier but I create a 7 Round Mock Draft every year that I was finishing to see the latest pick I get right. In case anyone is curious the latest pick I've ever gotten correct in a 7 round mock draft is pick # 155 with Darrell Luter Jr. going to the 49ers. 1. Chicago Bears- Caleb Williams QB USC - This is a no brainer and a lock to happen. No further explanation needed. 2. Washington Commanders- Jayden Daniels QB LSU - This is also trending in a 95% way. He has gone head and shoulders above the other candidates at this pick and is expected here. 3. New England Patriots- Drake Maye QB UNC -Whether its the Patriots or the Vikings/Giants, Drake Maye is very likely to be the 3rd overall pick. I'm not as big a fan of Maye as a lot of people but his untapped potential is undeniable 4. Arizona Cardinals- Marvin Harrison WR Ohio State - I've held fast that Harrison is the # 1 WR in this draft and he's too good a prospect for the Cardinals to pass up here. 5. Minnesota Vikings(from LAC)- J.J. McCarthy QB Michigan - The Vikings are the team to move up in the draft and grab McCarthy at the 5th overall selection. The Vikings do not want to go into the season with Sam Darnold as their QB so they trade up and grab McCarthy here as their pick. 6. New York Giants- Malik Nabers WR LSU -Nabers is a great consolation prize for the Giants who need someone on the offensive side of the ball to be a dynamic playmaker now that Barkley has shipped out. I think its too little too late for the Daboll/Schoen regime as they never were able to get their QB and it will sink them 7. Tennessee Titans- Joe Alt OT Notre Dame - Status quo here as Joe Alt has been picked here since pretty much the combine. I think it would be awesome if the Titans go in a different direction though to literally throw everyone off. 8. Atlanta Falcons- Byron Murphy DT Texas - I can't believe that Murphy is considered a top 10 prospect as I just don't see it but here we are and Morris is going to want his prospects as a defensive coach and its clear they want to add to the defensive line in some manner. 9. Chicago Bears- Rome Odunze WR Washington - I think this is a prime trade out spot for the Bears so I expect Odunze to be the selection in the 9 spot by either the Bears or the trading up team. Will that team be our beloved Buffalo Bills. 10. New York Jets- Brock Bowers TE Georgia - I stick with Bowers here but I have the gut feeling this is going to be an offensive lineman. There are a ton of guys available at Tackle and the Jets need one despite having two old bookends. I could go either way here. 11. Los Angeles Chargers(from Min)-J.C. Latham OT Alabama - Seems like the Chargers are locked in here on Latham if they are going offensive line. I wouldn't pass up on Nabers but it seems this regime is set on working from the inside out which I can't fully blame them for doing. 12. Denver Broncos- Dallas Turner DE Alabama - I suspect the Broncos will try to trade down here to get some capital for next year but if they can't they decide to take Dallas Turner who has the most upside of all the Defensive Ends in the draft. 13. Las Vegas Raiders- Taliese Fuaga OT Oregon State - I had been on the Penix train but decide to go safe here and pick Fuaga who is a hell of a pick for the Raiders who can play multiple positions 14. New Orleans Saints- Olu Fashanu OT Penn State - The Saints need offensive lineman and Fashanu drops slightly into pick #14. He can slot in at either tackle spot and the Saints are thrilled to have him. 15. Indianapolis Colts- Quinyon Mitchell CB Toledo - I still think there is a strong possibility that this can be a weapon whether its Brock Bowers or trading up for Rome Odunze. If they decide to stay at this pick Mitchell is the go to # 1 CB in the draft and the Colts would be happy to swipe him. 16. Seattle Seahawks- Troy Fautanu OT/OG Washington - This pick just makes way too much sense and I fully expect someone to trade ahead of them to get Fautanu because its been out there forever that he is their guy. 17. Jacksonville Jaguars- Terrion Arnold CB Alabama - The Jaguars have been trending here for a CB for the last couple of weeks it seems over WR and Arnold is arguably the 2nd best CB in the draft so they pluck Arnold who still has a lot of upside. 18. Cincinnati Bengals- Amarius Mims OT Georgia - Speaking of upside, Mims is probably the top RT in the draft when it comes to upside. He's only made 8 starts at Georgia but he can be a monster if he reaches his full ability. The Bengals have done a lot of work on him. 19. Los Angeles Rams- Laiatu Latu DE UCLA - Word is that he was cleared by most doctors for his neck injury and the Rams strike me as the perfect blend of need, value, and GM/Coach who are willing to take that chance on a player with some medical issues. 20. Pittsburgh Steelers- Graham Barton OC Duke - I think there is little doubt that this is going to be an offensive lineman. Rumor is they are trying to trade up to get their offensive lineman of choice so Barton isn't locked in by any stretch but he is a versatile offensive lineman who can slot in at Center for the Steelers. 21. Miami Dolphins- Jared Verse DE Florida State - I can't believe that Verse falls this far but it makes a lot of sense for the Dolphins to add a young non injured pass rusher. Xavier Worthy has been my choice up to this point but you have to think that they would come to their senses and take a position of need more than taking a speedy 3rd WR. We shall see. 22. Philadelphia Eagles- Tyler Guyton OT Oklahoma - Everyone in their mother was mocking a CB to the Eagles and it could still very well happen but they have been linked to Guyton and the Eagles love drafting big bodies especially with Lane Johnson being 34 years of age. 23. Los Angeles Chargers(from Min)-Brian Thomas Jr. LSU - The Chargers two biggest needs were OL and WR. They drop down and take Latham and I believe they will turn around at pick # 23 and choose either Brian Thomas or Xavier Worthy with this selection. I choose to go with Thomas Jr. 24. Dallas Cowboys- Xavier Worthy WR Texas - The Cowboys can either go Offensive line or WR and I would probably choose offensive line just because of depth but it wouldn't surprise me at all if they add the speedster in Worthy to add to that WR corps. 25. Green Bay Packers- Cooper DeJean CB/S Iowa - DeJean makes a lot of sense from two perspectives. They need a CB and a Safety so if DeJean fails at CB they can easily slot him in as the other Safety opposite of McKinney. 26. Tampa Bay Buccaneers- Jackson Powers Johnson OC Oregon - This will either come down to Chop Robinson or an offensive lineman. I just think that the Bucs offensive line is in such shambles outside of Wirfs and need some reinforcements up front. This is another example of going OL 27. Arizona Cardinals- Chop Robinson DE Penn State - Right after the Bucs pass, the Cardinals go up and nab another big need guy in Chop Robinson. I can def see the Cardinals moving up from 27 to get Verse or Latu due to having so many draft picks and there is a drop off from those guys to Robinson. 28. Buffalo Bills- Ladd McConkey WR Georgia - I honestly think that if BTJ and Worthy are off the board that the Bills will trade down here. That is not an option in this mock draft so I slot in Ladd McConkey into this slot. I have been on the McConkey train for multiple months and now is the time to put my money where my mouth is much like I did last year with Kincaid. 29. Detroit Lions- Zach Frazier OG West Virginia - Frazier just strikes me as a the type of player Dan Campbell and the Lions would love. Tough gritty player who can replace Frank Ragnow at Center in a couple of years while slotting in at Guard in the meantime. 30. Baltimore Ravens- Jordan Morgan OT Arizona - The Ravens need offensive lineman and Morgan has been moving up the ranks. He can play either Left or Right Tackle and the Ravens are happy to select him. 31. San Francisco 49ers- Nate Wiggins CB Clemson - Rumors are they either going with McConkey or Wiggins and with McConkey off the board the 49ers take Wiggins and finally take a 1st round CB. 32. Kansas City Chiefs- Kool-Aid McKinstry CB Alabama - The Chiefs can either go Tackle, WR, or CB here but I feel McKinstry provides too much value to pass up on for now.

FINAL VERSION 3.0 NOTE: This was a rushed, crazy, and more aggressive one just for fun including a 3 team trade rumored but probably doesn't happen. Chicago - Caleb Williams, QB, USC: No brainer here, everything points to this being their guy. Washington - Jayden Daniels, QB, LSU: I have believed this pick to be Drake Maye in v1.0 and 2.0, and I have someone I trust who has insight who told me that both QB's were in play and had supporters inside, and Maye got momentum there for a little bit. I have not gotten a recent update to know for sure if there is still a chance Maye could go here or not, but given most buzz out there is still sticking with Jayden, I am reluctantly changing this to Jayden even though I won't at all be surprised if this was Maye. *TRADE* - Vikings (previous Patriots) - Drake Maye, QB, UNC: In a historic multi team trade...Vikings, Patriots, Cardinals make draft history. Minnesota decides to pull the trigger after Maye gets past Washington and Patriots have deal in place with GM Ossenfort (formerly of NE) to safely go back 1 where Cardinals also go back with Chargers so they can still get their QB and Cards still get MHJ and Chargers going to 11 where they can safely address OL. *TRADE* Patriots (previous Cardinals) - JJ McCarthy, QB, Michigan: With a deal in place with Cards before moving off 3, they still get their QB and net some extra draft ammo. *TRADE* Cardinals (previous Chargers) - Marvin Harrison Jr, WR, Ohio St: hNo team has more power in this draft than the Cardinals who brilliantly add more draft assets to an already treasure trove of picks while still getting their guy. Giants - Malik Nabers, WR, LSU: Missing out on moving up, they take a major weapon in Nabers to help address what is an anemic offensive group. Titans - Joe Alt, OT, Notre Dame: Not a lot to say here, maybe the safest mock pick in the draft outside Caleb...Having the best OT in this draft fall in their lap here is a gift they sprint to the podium to select. Atlanta - Byron Murphy, DL, Texas: Atlanta looks to bolster their DL with the best DT in the draft who is a guy that just moves different than the other DT's in the draft, who can get off the ball and shoot the gaps to wreak havoc. He is as much a force against the run as he is the pass as well and who could become an anchor up front for Atlanta for years to come. One of the edge rushers could be in this spot too such as Turner or Verse. *TRADE* - Bills (previous Bears) - Rome Odunze, WR, Washington: Im skeptical we do this TBH, but its a version 3 mock and I am taking a few more risks and liberties here on the news we are being aggressive to move up. Bills get their absolute stud WR who seems built to be in the Bills locker room for the next stage of Allens prime. *TRADE* Colts (previous NY Jets) - Brock Bowers, TE, Georgia: With the Jets missing out on one of the big 3 WR's, they move back and pick up some extra draft ammo and Colts get maybe the biggest mismatch creator in the draft and a young QB's best friend in Brock. *TRADE* Chargers (previous Vikings & Cardinals) - JC Latham, OT, Alabama: This is best case for Chargers, hey get to trade back adding more picks and land the guy they really covet in JC Latham who should be here at 11. Broncos - Bo Nix, QB, Oregon: Broncos explore trading back, but ultimately go ahead and take their QB and not mess around. Raiders - Michael Penix, QB, Washington: After missing out on going up to get Daniels, the Raiders pull the trigger on Penix who by all reports they are also very high on. Saints - Olu Fashanu, OT, Penn St: With big needs at OT, Saints also have the draft fall well and are able to take the 2nd best OT prospect in the draft. *TRADE* NY Jets (previous Colts) - Brian Thomas Jr, WR, LSU: Jets get their weapon for Rodgers while still picking up some extra picks from the earlier trade down to probably address OL to help protect Rodgers. TRADE* Eagles (previous Seattle) - Quinyon Mitchell, CB, Toledo: After giving up the most TD passes in the league, the Eagles need to address CB in the worst way, and if Mitchell getting into the mid teens they see the opportunity to go up and get one many see as the best corner in the draft. Jaguars - Xavier Worthy, WR, Texas: Jags need to keep pace with Houston, and not sure Kirk, Davis, Zay combo is scaring anyone and look to add some explosion so they can see if TD Jesus is really the long term answer at QB. Bengals - Troy Fatanu, OL, Washington: Bengals have to find a way to keep Burrow on his feet and healthy and signing Trent Brown on a one year deal with his injury history isn't enough to keep them from looking to the future here. LA Rams - Laiatu Latu, EDGE, UCLA: Buzz here is that McVay is gonna go offense in his first ever first round pick and is trying to trade up. Not getting into the top 10, Rams stay put and bolster their pass rush with maybe the best pure edge rusher in the draft. Pittsburgh - Graham Barton, IOL, Duke: Steelers need a Center and here is their chance to add maybe the best IOL prospect in the draft who can potentially come in and shore up that Center position for years to come. Miami - Dallas Turner, EDGE, Alabama - The trenches for Miami are an absolute mess and they could go OL or DL here, but with steep drop off on the DL after the first round, they take one of the best pass rushers in the draft, especially given the plethora of JAGS they brought in FA are nothing more than role players. *TRADE* Seattle (via Eagles) Jared Verse, EDGE, Florida St: Seattle has the draft fall great for them after trading back with Eagles and still getting one of the premiere edge rushers in this draft to help bolster their ailing DL. *TRADE* Commanders (previously Vikings, Patriots, & Chargers) - Taliese Fuaga, OT, Oregon St: Commanders are aggressively looking to move for an OT and they move up to get one of the best in Fuaga. Chargers, looking to rebuild both sides of the trenches and address WR in this draft see an opportunity to load up more picks here on days 2 and 3 to do just that. Dallas - Amarius Mims, OT, Georgia: Dallas wouldn't surprise me to take a WR here, but I think the smarter play is address the obvious needs on the OL with the guy with the most upside. Packers - Nate Wiggins, CB, Clemson: With the trade of Douglas to the Bills, GB looks to the draft to find its next CB opposite Jaire and take one of the top corners in the draft in Wiggins. If Wiggins is gone in the real draft here, I can also see some OL help in bound with this pick as well. Tampa Bay - Chop Robinson, EDGE, Penn St: With pass rushers dropping off soon, Bucs look to bolster that unit with the explosive Chop Robinson. Arizona - Jer'Zhan Newton, DL, Illinois: As I had in v2.0, Newton has been vocal about loving the Cardinals and if he is here I think this will most likely be the pick as AZ looks to bolster a unit very much in need of the help. *TRADE* Bears (previously Buffalo) - Darius Robinson, DL, Missouri: After the trade down with the Bills, the Bears take the versatile Robinson who can help inside and on the Edge. Detroit - Cooper DeJean, CB, Iowa: Lions could very well take Adonai Mitchell here or even someone on the OL, but with a high powered offense already in stow, I have changed my mind and have them addressing their biggest need and taking the talented corner from Alabama to help bolster their defense. Ravens - Jordan Morgan, OL, Arizona: I have moved off WR here for Ravens given the fact they lost 3 OL this offseason and if they want Lamar and Henry to be at their best, they need to bolster this unit and Morgan can potentially play RT or G giving them a versatile player to plug in. 49ers - Ladd McConkey, WR, Georgia: With a major WR run expected to begin at the top of round 2, 49ers look to add one with them looking at having to move Aiyuk possibly at some point. Chiefs - Adonai Mitchell, WR, Texas: I still think Ja'Lynn Polk could be in play here, or potentially OL or someone like Kool-Aid, but word is they want to add more speed at WR and have been trying to move up for that, so thinking Mitchell could be a guy here not previously believed to get to this pick. I really did not have the time to put into this third version as I wanted, in fact, its a minor miracle I even got it done TBH. So excuse craziness and any errors that I may have missed as I moved guys and teams around the board. But it was fun to cook up some creativity vs the more likely scenarios.

Honestly, Thad Lewis wasn’t bad. EJ wasn’t even that bad. He was given Nate Hackett, in his first nfl job, as an OC/QB coach, got hurt, and was constantly played with by Marrone. he wasn’t the guy but that idiot coaching staff put on a clinic hiw not to develop a young qb.

Hi Everyone and a welcome to the TSW Mock Draft 1.0 sign-up thread. I wanted to say that X annual mock, but I have no idea how many years we’ve been doing this (5 years?). Anyways, not many changes to the format this year, but the rules and expectations are as follows: Mock 1.0 is 3 rounds and no trades allowed. Future mocks will have different rules. The Bills selection will be done by a survey of the BPA’s at the time. The Draft will begin once all 32 owners have been found. If that does not occur until after 7p est on 4/1/24, then the draft will begin at 9a on 4/2. Support Tools: Team needs by position: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-pydwGDVGPIcpS60RzF7FGP9f7xAHm66nzTmEUASAg0/edit#gid=0 Player rankings, both by position and overall: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSeZokjzJ-CfxeFNyFHHLAqtb7FqDNSV0gy0zVtYSBsyXV42SLiD0w0aSjAnVF9DAE05lKvDfcsAJc6/pubhtml Owners - To volunteer to serve as a team GM, you need to: · Be in good standing on this site (daily activity, account history, etc) · Reply in this thread with the top 3 teams you want to manage (only listing one will be ignored) · Be prepared to keep up with your picks (3 hour window between picks) · Be prepared to follow the posting guidelines when it’s your pick (failure to do so might lead to your exclusion to participating in future mocks) Rules: · Every owner has 3 hours to make their pick · When you pick, you must use the following format With the 28th pick, the Buffalo Bills select Josh Allen, QB, Wyoming @Virgil is on the clock. (Commas and caps make my life easier when updating the page) · When you pick, please give a few sentence summary as to why you made the pick you did. The more commentary and ownership, the better the experience. With that being said, below are the available teams Round 1 1- Chicago – Logic - Caleb Williams, QB, USC 2- Washington – Alphadawg7 - Drake Maye, QB, North Carolina 3- New England – TPS - J.J. McCarthy, QB, Michigan 4- Arizona – Gonzo1105 - Marvin Harrison Jr, WR, Ohio St 5- LA Chargers – BigDaddyinOrlando - Joe Alt, OT, Notre Dame 6- NY Giants – BuffaloBillyG - Rome Odunze, WR, Washington 7- Tennessee – MrEpsYtown - Malik Nabers, WR, LSU 8- Atlanta - TOBoy - Dallas Turner DE, Alabama 9- Chicago – Logic - Jared Verse, EDGE, Florida State 10- NY Jets – PastaJoe - Olu Fashanu, OT, Penn St 11- Minnesota – Motorin' - Jayden Daniels, QB, LSU 12- Denver – Big Blitz - Brian Thomas, WR, LSU 13- Las Vegas – LEBills - Taliese Fuaga, OT, OSU 14- New Orleans – frostbitmic - Brock Bowers, TE, Georgia 15- Indianapolis – Kirby Jackson - Quinyon Mitchell, DB, Toledo 16- Seattle – CNYfan - Troy Fautanu, OL, Washington 17- Jacksonville – mannc - Laiatu Latu, Edge/DE, UCLA 18- Cincinnati – Might Rather - Cooper DeJean, DB, Iowa 19- LA Rams – GunnerBill - Jer'Zhan Newton, DT, Illinois 20- Pittsburgh – julian - Jackson Powers Johnson, OL, Oregon 21- Miami – Doc Brown - Byron Murphy, DT, Texas 22- Philadelphia – Happy Days - Nate Wiggins, DB, Clemson. Minnesota 23- Minnesota – Motorin' - Darius Robinson, DT, Missouri 24- Dallas – JJGauna - J.C. Latham, OT, Alabama 25- Green Bay –mrags - Amarius Mims, OT, Georgia 26- Tampa Bay – H2o - Graham Barton, Tackle, Duke 27- Arizona – Gonzo1105 - Terrion Arnold, DB, Alabama 28- Buffalo – TSW Poll – AD Mitchell, WR, Texas 29- Detroit – section122 - Kool Aid McKinstry, DB, Alabama 30- Baltimore – Virgil - Troy Franklin, WR, Oregon 31- San Francisco – Hermes - Jordan Morgan, OL, Arizona 32- Kansas City – NewEra - Chop Robinson, DE, Penn st. Round 2 33- Carolina – Mat68 - Xavier Worthy, WR, Texas 34- New England – TPS - Tyler Guyton, OT, Oklahoma 35- Arizona – Gonzo1105 - Xavier Legette, WR, South Carolina 36- Washington – Alphadawg7 - Ladd McConkey, WR, Georgia 37- LA Chargers – BigDaddyInOrlando - Edgerrin Copper, LB, Texas AM 38- Tennessee – MrEpsYtown - Patrick Paul, OT, Houston 39- Carolina – Mat68 - Zach Frazier, C, West Virginia 40- Washington – Alphadawg7 - Cooper Beebe, OL, Kansas State 41- Green Bay – mrags - T’Vondre Sweat, DT, Texas 42- Houston – stinky finger - Ennis Rakestraw Jr., DB, Missouri 43- Atlanta – TOBoy - Keon Coleman, WR, Florida St 44- Las Vegas – LEBills - Michael Penix, QB, Washington 45- New Orleans – frostbitmic - Tyler Nubin, S, Minnesota 46- Indianapolis – Kirby Jackson - Ricky Pearsall, WR, Florida 47- NY Giants – BuffaloBillyG - Bo Nix, QB, Oregon 48- Jacksonville – mannc - Roman Wilson, WR, Michigan 49- Cincinnati – Might Rather - Kingsley Suamataia, OT, BYU 50- Philadelphia – Happy Days - Payton Wilson, LB, NC State 51- Pittsburgh – julian - Mike Sainristil, DB, Michigan 52- LA Rams – GunnerBill - Kiran Amegadjie, OT, Yale 53- Philadelphia – Happy Days - Malachi Corley, WR, Western Kentucky 54- Cleveland – BarelyNY - Jermaine Burton, WR, Alabama 55- Miami – Doc Brown - Ja'Tavion Sanders, TE, Texas 56- Dallas – JJGauna - Jonathon Brooks, RB, Texas 57- Tampa Bay – H2o - Chris Braswell, OLB, Alabama 58- Green Bay – mrags- Ja’Lynn Polk, WR, Washington 59- Houston – stinky finger - Javon Bullard, DB, Georgia 60- Buffalo – TSW Poll – Kris Jenkins, DT, Michigan 61- Detroit – section122 - Braden Fiske, DT, FSU 62- Baltimore – Virgil - Kamari Lassiter, DB, Georgia 63- San Francisco – Hermes - Christian Mahogany, G, Boston College 64- Kansas City - NewEra - TJ Tampa, DB, ISU Round 3 65- Carolina – Mat68 - Ruke Orhorhoro, DL, Clemson 66- Arizona – Gonzo1105 - Bralen Trice DE, Washington 67- Washington – Alphadawg7 - Austin Booker, DE, Kansas 68- New England – TPS - Tez Walker, WR, UNC 69- LA Chargers – BigDaddyInOrlando - Braelon Allen, RB, Wisconsin 70- NY Giants – BuffaloBillyG - Kamren Kinchens, S, Miami 71- Arizona – Gonzo1105 - Trey Benson RB, Florida St 72- NY Jets – PastaJoe - Calen Bullock, S, USC 73- Detroit – section122 - Zak Zinter, G, Michigan 74- Atlanta – TOBoy - Jarrian Jones, DB, Florida St 75- Chicago – Logic - Michael Hall Jr, DT, Ohio St 76- Denver – Big Blitz - Javion Cohen, G/C, Alabama 77- Las Vegas – LEBills - Christian Haynes, OG, UConn 78- Washington – Alphadawg7 - Jeremiah Trotter Jr, LB, Clemson 79- Atlanta – TOBoy - Dominick Puni, OT, Kansas 80- Cincinnati – Might Rather - Brenden Rice, WR, USC 81- Seattle – CNYfan - Junior Colson, LB, Michigan 82- Indianapolis – Kirby Jackson - Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, S, Texas Tech 83- LA Rams – GunnerBill - Adisa Isaac, EDGE, Penn State 84- Pittsburgh – julian - DeWayne Carter, DT, Duke 85- Cleveland – BarelyNY - Blake Fisher, OT, Notre Dame 86- Houston – stinky finger - Marshawn Kneeland, Edge, Western Michigan 87- Dallas – JJGauna - Sedrick Van Pran, C, Georgia 88- Green Bay – mrags - James Williams, S/OLB, Miami 89- Tampa Bay – H2o - Max Melton, DB, Rutgers 90- Arizona – Gonzo1105 - Cole Bishop, S, Utah 91- Green Bay – mrags - MarShawn Lloyd, RB, USC 92- Tampa Bay – H2o - Mason McCormick, G, South Dakota St 93- Baltimore – Virgil - Jonah Elliss, Edge, Utah 94- San Francisco – Hermes/Virgil - Kris Abrams-Draine, DB, Missouri 95- Kansas City – NewEra - Javon Baker, WR, UCF 96- Jacksonville – mannc - DJ James, DB, Auburn 97- Cincinnati – Might Rather - Mekhi Wingo, DT, LSU 98- Pittsburgh – julian - Christian Jones, OL, Texas 99- LA Rams – GunnerBill - Jaden Hicks, S, Washington State 100 – Washington - Alphadawg7 - Cade Stover, TE, Ohio St

And here we go with awful Nate Hackett play calling to kill all the momentum

Here is my official version 1.0 on a first round Mock. I am going to try and find the time to make a 2 rounder at some point as well. Since I am not there yet, I did add what I believe the Bills first pick in the 2nd round will be in the notes below since in this mock I have the Bills trading back a little bit. Chicago - Caleb Williams, QB, USC: No brainer here, everything points to this being their guy. Washington - Drake Maye, QB, UNC: I have believed him to be the pick over Jayden Daniels, and I have someone I trust who has insight who tells me that which QB is still unsettled and that there are supporters for both Maye and Daniels and he thinks its going to fall Maye when its all said and done. New England - Marvin Harrison, Jr: With Washington taking Maye, I think NE opts to take what many see as the best player in this draft. *TRADE* - Minnesota (via Arizona): Jayden Daniels, QB, LSU: Minnesota sends their 2 first round picks to AZ to move up and get their QB. Chargers - Malik Nabers, WR, LSU: Having lost their top 2 WR's, they add an elite weapon for Herbert, especially with last years first round WR not looking the part yet. NY Giants - JJ McCarthy, QB, Michigan: Having a QB sitting here that can at least push or challenge Jones is too tempting to pass up for the Giants, although it was hard to pass on Odunze. Titans - Joe Alt, OT, Notre Dame: Having the best OT in this draft fall in their lap here is a gift they sprint to the podium to select. Atlanta - Jared Verse, EDGE, Florida St: While I think Atlanta is going to get some calls for this pick, and trading down is tempting, but the chance to add the best pass rusher in the draft is too tempting and we go ahead and stick with the pick. Chicago - Dallas Turner, EDGE, Alabama: While I know Odunze is a popular pick here, he is also more of a luxury pick for a team with a long term WR1 already in DJ Moore and they can find a great compliment to him to replace Keenan Allen in the next year or 2 later in this draft with how deep WR is. Chicago instead looks to bolster their pass rush with adding Turner at 9. With 4 QB's off the board already, the trade up interest here was lighter than expected and they decide to make their pick. NY Jets - Brock Bowers, TE, Georgia: While someone like Odunze is tempting here, Jets already have a WR1 and look to add what is maybe the biggest mismatch creator of any player in this draft and without question the best TE prospect to come out in over a decade. Arizona (VIA TRADE from Vikings) - Rome Odunze, WR, Washington: Cardinals are ecstatic to have moved back and landed extra picks and still get one of the best WR's in this draft who would quite frankly be the top WR in most drafts. They still get their new weapon for Murray and extra draft ammo to boot. Broncos - Michael Penix Jr, QB, Washington: With a glaring hole at QB and the largest dead cap hit in history, Broncos look to reset here and bring in Penix. Raiders - Quinyon Mitchell, CB, Toledo: Draft falls great for Raiders where they have their pick of a top OT or the first CB off the board. With depth at OL in this draft, they opt to take top rated CB in the draft. Saints - Olu Fashanu, OT, Penn St: With big needs at OT, Saints also have the draft fall well and are able to take the 2nd best OT prospect in the draft. Colts - Terrion Arnold, CB, Alabama: Colts need a lot of secondary help both at Safety and CB. With no safeties worthy of this early of a selection, Arnold comes off the board to help bolster their secondary. Seattle - Byron Murphy, DL, Texas: I had originally thought maybe this could be a home for Penix, but I think Denver jumps first. Seattle needs major help on the DL and they make the move here to bolster that unit with someone who can get off the ball and shoot gaps. Jaguars - Brian Thomas Jr, WR, LSU: My heart wants to write *TRADE* here and input Buffalo Bills name, just like I wanted to above for Odunze when he got past Chicago (but can't see Jets trading him to us, nor can I see AZ passing on him at 11 the way the draft fell). But, they need in the worst way to find out of Football Jesus is really the guy they thought he was when they drafted him. They need a WR1 bad, and BTJ is too good to pass up here and they rebuff trade offers and get Lawerence a Ridley replacement. Bengals - Troy Fautanu, OL, Washington: They have to find a way to keep Burrow on his feet and healthy and are fortunate this a great OT draft early and land one of the best ones in the draft here at 18. LA Rams - Cooper DeJean, CB, Rams: I know a lot of people assume they look at DT here, and Newton was tempting, but the Rams biggest 2 needs on defense are IMHO at CB and Edge. I had home town Latu penciled in here, but with concern about his medicals potentially affecting his stock, I think they opt for the swiss army knife himself with Cooper, and they know a thing or two about "Coopers" in LA. Pittsburgh - Jackson Powers-Johnson, IOL, Oregon: Steelers need a Center and here is there chance to add the best IOL prospect in the draft who can potentially come in and shore up that C position for years to come. Miami - Jer'Zhan Newton, DL, Illinois: With big needs at IOL and DL, they have a lot of options here. But when one of the best DL drop here he is too good to pass up given the guys on their roster now are nothing more than role players. Eagles - Nate Wiggins, CB, Clemson: Eagles need help in a big way at CB, and I think one way or another, Eagles will be going CB here in the draft. Arizona (VIA TRADE from Vikings): Laiatu Latu, EDGE, UCLA: Having now 3 first round picks, AZ has the ammo to take the gamble on the concerns on medicals and take one of the best pass rushers in the draft. Dallas - Xavier Worthy, WR, Texas: The smart move here would be to go OL, and its what I would do if I was the GM. However, Jerry Jones can't help himself here and falls in love with elite speed in that dome opposite Lamb and makes the surprise pick of the first round thus far. Packers - Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB, Alabama: With the trade of Douglas to the Bills, GB looks to the draft to find its next CB opposite Jaire. Tampa - Chop Robinson, EDGE, Penn St: Bucs considered IOL here, but the value of IOL vs DL later is greater and make the move to bolster their pass rush now. *TRADE* Chiefs (Via Arizona): Amarius Mims, OT, Georgia: Chiefs can't risk waiting on this guy to get any closer to them and make the move to go get him. *TRADE* Commanders (Via Buffalo): JC Latham, OL, Alabama: Buffalo was tempted to take a WR here, however, Beane gets an offer to move back and pick up a 3rd rounder we are lacking so Commanders can come get some help to protect their new QB Maye. (BUFFALO sends pick 28 for picks 36 and 78) Detroit - AD Mitchell, WR, Texas: Lions benefiting from the Bills trade back land yet another weapon in what could be the most explosive offense in the NFC next year and for years to come. Ravens - Ja'Lynn Polk, WR, Washington: A guy not being talked about enough goes here to the Ravens who look to add a playmaking WR who has the best ball skills outside of his college teammate Odunze in the draft giving Lamar their guy with a big catch radius who also plays physical and may be the best run blocking WR in the draft as well. 49ers - Taliese Fuaga, OT, Oregon St: Trent Williams is about to be 36 and their RT was a mixed bag last year, so they look to the future here knowing they need 2 new OT's sooner rather than later. Arizona (Via Cheifs) - Graham Barton, IOL, Duke: Another trade down plays right into the hands of AZ where they land IOL help that can come in and compete to start and is versatile to play guard or tackle. NOTES: I have Buffalo trading back even with Adonai Mitchell on the board, not because I want them to (I think I would prefer to take Mitchell there), but because I think there is some real smoke to the Bills being very high on Troy Franklin. This trade back here I have Buffalo landing TROY FRANKLIN, WR, OREGON at pick 36 while adding a 3rd rounder with pick 78. And between picks 60 and now 78 I think the Bills could add potentially a Pass Rusher and a Safety (or vice versa), including being aggressive to move up from one of those spots using some of the extra ammo we have if someone they covet is there. Surprises: I think the 3 biggest surprises of the this mock are: Dallas taking Worthy over the OL help they need. Just feels like such a Jerry Jones thing to do though. Buffalo passing on Mitchell to trade back. I think many feel if Mitchell is on the board he would be our pick. Ja'Lynn Polk sneaking in first round. I think most have him as a round 2 guy, but he fits so well the Ravens offense. His combo of size, catch radius and blocking really complement the Ravens offense and I do think he is a great fit there.

Maurice Linquist needs to be fired. UB Bulls football are looking at needing a total rebuild. So there is no point keeping Maurice Linquist who is 14-21 with two games left on the season after three years. UB Bulls have no quarterback on the roster so they are going to have to go to the transfer portal. My solution since UB Bulls football has no money is hiring UB alum Joe Licata as both head coach/athletics director of UB. Hoping UB Bulls football hits lightning in a bottle. Since Joe Licata is a local maybe he stays 20 years to build a real MAC football program at UB that is good long term. Again it starts with hiring someone that will stay and being honest with Western New York community we are a MAC program that doesn’t have the support for a higher conference. Starting with the truth to the Western New York fans will go a long way with building trust from UB athletics. Last point I have a hard time understanding why UB athletics doesn’t lobby the state for money for renovations to UB stadium. The Buffalo Bisons owner Rich products whose owner is a multi billionaire is asking for state money to renovate Sahlen’s Field that has more going for it than UB Stadium. I don’t understand UB the schools reluctance to ask the state for money for renovations for UB Stadium to remove the track the worse the state can say is no. Again hope that Joe Licata is a Nate Oats hire is all I have. Combine the athletics director job to help with the money having to go out to buyout Maurice Linquist contract. Is my plan great? No there is risk reward but at this point UB has nothing to lose with Joe Licata because Maurice Linquist and Mark Alnutt are not the answer and have to both go combining the two jobs saves UB athletics some money in my opinion. UB Horns Up! Go Bulls! Let’s Go Buffalo

I'm making it my mission this weak to abuse that Charmin soft Nate Geary bon Twitter. What a clown, him and DiBiase

The Bills this week (Week 16) are on Peacock TV Saturday, December 24. For more info on subscribing or alternatives to watch, see the OP in this thread: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Note 1: Doubleheader this week is FOX.] [Note 2: There is *no* more ManningCast until Super Wild Card Weekend.] [Note 3: Remember: the TNF game is free and legal to all on Twitch--no Amazon Prime account needed.] [Note 4: The Christmas Day game on MNF is on ABC only as ESPN is airing the NBA the entire day.] [Note 5: There are no regular season more byes left this year.] [Note 6: There are two Saturday, one Christmas eve, and two Christmas day broadcasts as well this week.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NFL Week 16, 2023 - December 24, 2023 NATIONAL BROADCASTS: TNF - Amazon Prime Video/Twitch (free) Thursday, December 21 - 8:15 PM ET: New Orleans at Los Angeles Rams Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreit, Kaylee Hartung [simulcasts: WDSU (NBC/6) New Orleans and KTTV (FOX/11) Los Angeles] [both simulcasts per zap2it] SNF (Saturday Late) - NBC Saturday, December 23 - 4:30 PM ET: Cincinnati at Pittsburgh Noah Eagle, Todd Blackledge, Kathryn Tappen [confirmed in Andrew Marchand article in NY Post on 12/12 and NBC press release] SNF (Saturday Primetime) - Peacock Exclusive Saturday, December 16 - 8:00 PM ET: Buffalo at Los Angeles Chargers Mike Tirico, Chris Collinsworth, Melissa Stark [simulcasts: WGRZ (NBC/2) Buffalo and KNBC (NBC/4) Los Angeles] [both simulcasts per zap2it; Buffalo also per WGRZ] [confirmed in NBC press release] Christmas Eve Primetime - NFL Network Sunday, December 24 - 8:00 PM ET: New England at Denver Rich Eisen, Kurt Warner, Sherree Burress, James Palmer [simulcasts: WCVB (ABC/5) Boston and KMGH (ABC/7) Denver] [Boston simulcast per TV Passport and Denver per zap2it] [Eisen confirmed his status during the PIT-IND game 12/16] [Eisen confirmed Kurt Warner during Game Day View 12/17] [Burress and Palmer confirmed on GMF and The Insiders 12/18] Christmas Day Early - CBS/Nickelodeon Monday, December 25 - 1:00 PM ET: Las Vegas at Kansas City (A) Jim Nantz, Tony Romo, Tracy Wolfson [Nickelodeon will air a family simulcast entitled "NFL Nickmas Game" with Noah Eagle, Nate Burleson, Dylan Schefter, Rafael, and Donatello for the third straight year. This simulcast will feature plenty of slime] [Nantz's team confirmed by Jim Nantz during BUF-KC game 12/10 and see tweet at end of CBS sunday schedule below] Christmas Day Late - FOX Monday, December 25 - 4:30 PM ET: New York Giants at Philadelphia (B) Joe Davis, Darly Johnston, Pam Oliver [confirmed by Davis during game KC-NE 12/17] MNF - ABC only Monday, December 25 - 8:15 PM ET: Baltimore at San Francisco Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Lisa Salters ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CBS Single Sunday, December 24 - 1 PM and 4:05 PM ET: Cleveland at Houston (B) Ian Eagle, Charles Davis, Evan Washburn Seattle at Tennessee (D) Andrew Catalon, Tiki Barber, Matt Ryan, AJ Ross Washington at New York Jets (E) Spero Dedes, Adam Archuleta, Aditi Kinkhabwala Jacksonville at Tampa Bay (LATE) (C) Kevin Harlan, Trent Green, Melanie Collins ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FOX Early Sunday, December 24 - 1 PM ET: Detroit at Minnesota Kenny Albert, Jonathan Vilma, Shannon Spake [confirmed by Albert during NYG-NO game 12/17] Green Bay at Carolina (F) Chris Myers, Robert Smith, Jen Hale [Chris Myers twitter post] Indianapolis at Atlanta (C) Adam Amin, Mark Schlereth, Kristina Pink [per Adam Amin's Instagram story 12/1:] Blackout Notice: Houston is exercising its right to enforce a blackout in its DMA on KRIV (FOX/26) Houston in the early Sunday timeslot. [Home teams have to allow the other network to air a competing game in the same time slot four times a year but can enforce a blackout if that number has been or will be exceeded that season. This will be the fifth time this year in Houston.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FOX Late Sunday, December 24 - 4:25 PM ET: Dallas at Miami (A) Kevin Burkhardt, Greg Olsen, Erin Andrews, Tom Rinaldi [Greg Olsen confirmed on Chris Russo's Mad Dog Sports Radio 12/4] Arizona at Chicago Kevin Kugler, Mark Sanchez, Laura Okmin [by process of elimination] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Byes: None ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Are you sure you should be talking QB’s when you make a claim that Justin Fields is a better QB than Jalen Hurts? Oh and by the way, Mahomes threw 3 pick last year against the Nate Hackett Broncos…won MVP. No way!

Well Nate Hackett wanted to run him till he Puked, so there’s at least one guy

- - - - - WARNING: LONG POST - - - - - Drum roll please!!! As always, in the week after the conference Championship games here comes version 1 of my 2024 Mock Draft. For any new readers I do three mocks every year: Version 1 - a two rounder, no trades, released late January; Version 2 - a one rounder allowing myself trades after free agency; Version 3 - a one rounder, no trades, in the 48 hours before the draft and that is the one I then score myself against for accuracy (the last two years have been pretty good scores). So here we go - version 1.0 - can someone put the Chicago Bears on the clock? - - - Round 1 - - - 1. Chicago Bears – Caleb Williams – Quarterback, USC The Bears have three options here. They can draft Williams (which is what I’d do), they can trade down and collect picks (which is what they did last year) or they can stand pat and draft a non-Quarterback (which would be crazy). For now I’m going with them trading Justin Fields and starting over at QB. 2. Washington Commanders – Drake Maye – Quarterback, North Carolina At the time of writing the Commanders don’t yet have a coach, but they do have a General Manager – Adam Peters – who came from the 49ers and lived the Trey Lance experience. I don’t expect him to repeat that mistake here and therefore I think his search for a franchise QB will weigh Maye’s ability to transition quickly to an NFL offense higher than the physical potential of Jayden Daniels. 3. New England Patriots – Jayden Daniels – Quarterback, LSU Which leaves Daniels for New England. They just have to find a Quarterback. And while I think of the three teams at the top of this draft the Patriots are the most likely to go the veteran route in 2024, for now I have them in the sweepstakes and I think Jerod Mayo might be more willing than Bill Belichick to go away from the traditional pure pocket passer template in picking Daniels. 4. Arizona Cardinals – Marvin Harrison Jnr – Wide Receiver, Ohio State The Cardinals seem to be sticking with Kyler Murray so they need to get him a legit #1 wide receiver again. His most productive spell of NFL football came when he was first paired with DeAndre Hopkins and Harrison is the guy who profiles best to be a true #1 wideout – though I don’t quite buy the “best WR prospect ever” hype. 5. Los Angeles Chargers – Malik Nabers – Wide Receiver, LSU The Chargers offensive weaponry has been predicated on size at receiver for as long as I can remember. That was former GM Tom Telesco’s MO. But Mike Williams is a potential cap casualty, Keenan Allen is increasingly old and brittle and Quentin Johnston had an in and out rookie year. They need a speedy separator who can work inside the numbers as well as downfield. Nabers is the perfect fit. 6. New York Giants – Rome Odunze – Wide Receiver, Washington With no standout defensive difference maker at the top of this class the table is set for three Quarterbacks and three receivers to make up the first 6 picks. Welcome to the NFL in 2024. The Giants just have to find a true #1 receiver who can threaten downfield and dominate outside. 7. Tennessee Titans – Ola Fashanu – Offensive Tackle, Penn State When Taylor Lewan departed last February I said the Titans needed to draft a left tackle. Instead they tried to get by with Andre Dillard and drafted Peter Skoronski to play guard. Skoronski did okay for a rookie but Dillard was a disaster. Fashanu or Joe Alt should be the pick and as the Titans pivot towards being a Will Levis team and not a Derrick Henry team I prefer Fashanu as a pass protector. 8. Atlanta Falcons – Dallas Turner – EDGE, Alabama Everyone knows Atlanta needs a Quarterback but they have hired a defensive coach in Raheem Morris and in this scenario the first three Quarterbacks are off the board. I suspect that means the veteran Quarterback option rather than a rookie and if they do go that route their other glaring need is pass rusher. 37-year-old Calais Campbell led the team with 6.5 sacks in 2023. 9. Chicago Bears – Joe Alt – Offensive Tackle, Norte Dame The Bears cannot trot Braxton Jones out at left tackle again while also pretending they are trying to win. Their plan to take a college right tackle in Darnell Wright and switch him back to the left side has yet to take shape and he won’t be up to it if it ever does. They need a franchise left tackle. Alt is plug and play for a decade. 10. New York Jets – Brock Bowers – Tight End, Georgia The Jets would be gutted to miss out on the top two tackles at this spot. Offensive line is by far their biggest need. They don’t have much at tight end though either and many would have Bowers ranked among the best available at this spot. 11. Minnesota Vikings – Kool-Aid McKinstry – Cornerback, Alabama The Vikings have to get better a corner. They drafted Andrew Booth two years ago but he has been constantly hurt and they brought in Byron Murphy as a mid-range free agent but he failed to shore things up. This is a muddled corner class that lacks a true star but McKinstry’s ability in press man projects well into Brian Flores’s defense. 12. Denver Broncos – Laiatu Latu – EDGE, UCLA The Broncos got great value when trading away Bradley Chubb but since then have struggled for a consistent pass rush and have had to resort to frequent blitzing. That has had an impact on their coverage unit whose performance dipped this year. Latu is an explosive, bendy edge rusher who will add some pop to their defensive front. 13. Las Vegas Raiders – Jer’Zhan Newton – Defensive Tackle, Illinois I have no idea what the Raiders’ plan at Quarterback is. Could they take a shot on Penix, McCarthy or Nix here? They definitely could. But they are brutal in the middle of their defensive line. No penetration, no strength at the point of attack in the run game, no nothing. Newton doesn’t have prototypical size but he will be a disruptor at the next level. Immediate upgrade. 14. New Orleans Saints – Jared Verse – EDGE, Florida State Cam Jordan is going to be an interesting Hall of Fame debate when his time comes, he only has six sacks fewer than classmate Von Miller who everyone considers a lock. But 2023 was the year when he finally fell off the cliff. The Saints need to draft his replacement and Verse fits their scheme. 15. Indianapolis Colts – Nate Wiggins – Cornerback, Clemson The Colts are not well stacked in the secondary. JuJu Brents was a second round pick last year and was okay as a rookie but the situation opposite him at the other corner spot is brutal. Nate Wiggins is a perfect scheme fit for the cover 3 style that defensive coordinator Gus Bradley likes to run. 16. Seattle Seahawks – Michael Penix Jnr – Quarterback, Washington Geno Smith has been a serviceable placeholder the past two years but selecting Penix would allow the new regime in Seattle to remould this team around him and he would come into a decent situation on offense with bookend tackles and a couple of decent receivers to begin his career. 17. Jacksonville Jaguars – Brian Thomas Jnr – Wide Receiver, LSU The Jags need help at a lot of premium positions. Josh Allen is a free agent on the edge, Calvin Ridley is a free agent at receiver, the corner situation opposite Tyson Campbell is a mess and they could stand to upgrade from Cam Robinson at left tackle. But speed on the outside is the priority. Thomas is already getting buzz in the process and all expectations are he will blow up at the combine. 18. Cincinnati Bengals – JC Latham – Offensive Tackle, Alabama Another team with some major needs is the Bengals. They have been turning water into wine at corner the past couple of years but that luck seemed to run out in 2023. Receiver could also be an issue if Higgins and Boyd both walk. However, Jonah Williams was as bad at right tackle as he had been at left and is a free agent anyway, so JC Latham as a plug and play right tackle makes sense. 19. Los Angeles Rams – Cooper DeJean – Cornerback, Iowa I have heard the theory that the Rams can afford to be position agnostic and take the best player on the board. I think they have a need in the secondary and adding talent there must be a priority for a front office not used to having 1st round picks. Some see DeJean as a corner, some a safety, others as a Kyle Hamilton type swiss army knife. I think he’d upgrade the Rams however he is used. 20. Pittsburgh Steelers – Tyler Guyton – Offensive Tackle, Oklahoma The Steelers started last year’s draft by going offensive tackle in round one then corner with the first pick of round two. Yet I feel both positions remain their biggest needs on the roster. Broderick Jones had some bumps at right tackle as a rookie but still outperformed Dan Moore who allowed 55 pressures and 8 sacks from left tackle. You probably want to start Guyton on the right and slide Jones over to the blindside but Guyton has potential to play left tackle down the road. 21. Miami Dolphins – Taliese Fuaga – Offensive Tackle, Oregon State Here comes the offensive line run as a third tackle flies off the board in four picks! Terron Armstead is talking retirement which would leave a gap at left tackle for the Dolphins to plug, but even if he stays around Fuaga could start immediately at guard where Robert Hunt is a pending free agent. 22. Philadelphia Eagles – Terrion Arnold – Cornerback, Alabama If there was a center worthy of this pick that might be the direction I’d go in given Jason Kelce’s retirement - but there isn’t. The Eagles have struggled this year at corner as James Bradberry and Darius Slay began to look their age. Terrion Arnold is my #1 corner and could be the first off the board. I have him 3rd here because of specific scheme fits earlier on but he’d be a steal at this spot. 23. Houston Texans – Byron Murphy II – Defensive Tackle, Texas This pick originally belonged to the Browns but was flipped in the Deshaun Watson trade. The Texans have a promising young roster but they could do with some more pop in the middle of their defensive front. Byron Murphy is undersized but explosive and with him in the middle and Will Anderson on the edge this would be a defensive line to fear. 24. Dallas Cowboys – Troy Franklin – Wide Receiver, Oregon The Cowboys offense is very CeeDee Lamb centric. Brandin Cooks is past his best, Michael Gallup is inconsistent and Jalen Tolbert hasn’t quite broken through despite flashes. They need another legit target outside and Franklin has the vertical speed to open things up and allow for Lamb to work the middle of the field. 25. Green Bay Packers – Troy Fautanu – Guard, Washington One of the Packers’ last 12 first round picks has been spent on offense (Jordan Love). In that time they have picked five first round defensive backs and that is a possibility here with question marks over Jaire Alexander’s future and holes at safety. But I have them leaning offense and upgrading the interior of their offensive line with Fautanu a college tackle who will likely play guard in the NFL. 26. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Quinyon Mitchell – Cornerback, Toledo Mitchell has been one of the buzziest players in the first month of draft season and a lot of respected analysts see him making his way into round 1. I like this fit. The Buccs have not been afraid to select smaller school guys early in the draft and he plays with the aggressiveness that Todd Bowles loves in his corners. 27. Arizona Cardinals – Chop Robinson – EDGE, Penn State The Cardinals’ sack leader in 2023 was Dennis Gardeck, a former UDFA out of West Virginia State, hardly a household name even in his own household. They have to find a pass rusher. Chop Robinson is raw, and he doesn’t have the sack production numbers in college to be a first round pick. But the ceiling is huge and on a rebuilding team like Arizona they can afford to let him develop. 28. Buffalo Bills – Xavier Legette – Wide Receiver, South Carolina The Bills have to get more dynamic at wide receiver and Legette has some size and could run in the 4.3s at the combine. He is primarily a vertical, outside receiver, but he can catch a short pass and take the ball the distance too as he showed vs Mississippi State. The doubts around him are one season of production and age (he will be 23 by the draft) but the upside is worth the risk. 29. Detroit Lions – Kamari Lassiter – Cornerback, Georgia The Lions have had a great season but they still have an achilles heel at corner. Brian Branch was borderline elite in the slot as a rookie but they need boundary help badly. Lassiter didn’t give up a single touchdown in coverage in 2023, and while he needs to improve his ball skills to make some of those game changing plays he would be an upgrade in Detroit. 30. Baltimore Ravens – Bralen Trice – EDGE, Washington The Ravens have one of the more complete rosters in football. But at outside linebacker both Jadaveon Clowney and Kyle Van Noy played on one-year deals. Former first rounder Odafe Oweh has never really cemented his spot and Bralen Trice just feels so Baltimore. Intelligent, high-motor, decent burst and needs to play as an outside rusher in a 3-4, so is a definite scheme fit. 31. Kansas City Chiefs – Adonai Mitchell – Wide Receiver, Texas The Chiefs receivers were among the worst in the NFL in 2023 and despite Rashee Rice having a nice rookie year I expect Kansas City to be aggressive in seeking an upgrade in this draft. Mitchell has the size but lacks the explosion of some of those who have gone ahead of him. But he has excellent hands (1 drop in 2023) and for a team that has suffered with drops that must make him appealing. 32. San Francisco 49ers – Amarius Mims – Offensive Tackle, Georgia The 49ers lost Mike McGlinchey in free agency last year and haven’t quite cracked the right tackle conundrum since. When you add to that the fact that Trent Williams is 36 this summer and could even hang them up if the 9ers win the Superbowl and the need at tackle is acute. Mims is raw, but the potential is there. He would start at right tackle but in the long term could play on the blindside. - - - Round 2 - - - 33. Carolina Panthers – Jordan Morgan – Offensive Tackle, Arizona Two years ago when Icky Ekwonu was coming out I said he is really talented but he is a guard at the NFL level and lacks the footspeed to play on an island at tackle. He gave up eleven sacks this year. Some of that was on Bryce Young holding the ball but a lot was on Ekwonu. Jordan Morgan’s feet are ballerina-esque in comparison. Plug him in at left tackle and move Ekwonu inside to guard. 34. New England Patriots – Xavier Worthy – Wide Receiver, Texas Having taken a Quarterback in round one the Patriots should help that guy out with some speed and explosiveness at wide receiver. Their offense has been painfully one paced for years now and while Worthy projects to me as more of a good #2 than a #1 receiver he fits a need here. 35. Arizona Cardinals – Jackson Powers-Johnson – Center, Oregon The Cardinals have so many needs it is tricky to work out where they go next with their third pick in this draft. Corner is probably the most glaring need but the next couple od guys on the board there are not natural scheme fits. Powers-Johnson would be an immediate upgrade to an interior offensive line that really struggled in 2023, whether he starts at center or guard. 36. Washington Commanders – Chris Braswell – EDGE, Alabama The mid-season fire sale of pass rushers in Washington has left them with very little pop on the edge and the top three guys in their rotation by the season’s end are all free agents. They have to address that need. Braswell is more a power rusher than a speed rusher but he would at least solidify a spot. 37. Los Angeles Chargers – T’Vondre Sweat – Defensive Tackle, Texas When I think about Jim Harbaugh teams I think about big, powerful, trench players. Nick Williams and Austin Johnson have underwhelmed in the Chargers’ defensive interior and both are free agents. Sweat is a huge guy with unusual explosion at that size. He’d be a day 1 starter. 38. Tennessee Titans – Ennis Rakestraw – Cornerback, Missouri The Titans haven’t yet confirmed a defensive coordinator which could affect this pick as Rakestraw reminds me of Kaiir Elam – he HAS to play in a man heavy scheme and struggles with zone transitions. But both of Tennessee’s starting corners are free agents and he is one of the best players remaining on the board. 39. New York Giants – JJ McCarthy – Quarterback, Michigan The Giants are tied to Daniel Jones for one more year, and there are a couple of interesting prospects still on the board here in round two. I’m not as high on McCarthy as some but I could imagine him running some of Brian Daboll’s passing concepts at least as well as Daniel Jones and for a lot less money. He gives the franchise a shot to re-set at Quarterback. 40. Washington Commanders – Graham Barton – Guard, Duke We are now hitting the second offensive line run. If, as expected, Ben Johnson is the next coach in DC he needs to start upgrading the offensive line, which was a key building block of his offense in Detroit. Barton is a college tackle who would likely begin at guard in Washington. 41. Green Bay – Kamren Kinchens – Safety, Miami Even if the Packers can resist the temptation to take a defensive back in round one they will definitely select at least one on day two. Both of their starting safeties are free agents and it doesn’t sound like former first rounder Darnell Savage will be brought back. Kinchens reminds me some of Savage and would step straight into that void. 42. Minnesota Vikings – Bo Nix – Quarterback, Oregon Kirk Cousins is a free agent. I think the Vikings will bring him back but I don’t expect a long term commitment. I think Bo Nix needs a situation where he can sit for a year and learn the NFL game before being pressed to start. This pick could work out for all parties. 43. Atlanta Falcons – Ladd McConkey – Wide Receiver, Georgia The Falcons have nothing at all at receiver beyond Drake London and the JAGs they do have are all about to be free agents in any event. McConkey is a guy you can line up outside or in the slot and do a lot of horizontal game with to allow London to focus on threating downfield. 44. Las Vegas Raiders – Kingsley Suamataia – Offensive Tackle, BYU The Raiders are another team that needs to upgrade their offensive line. Their starting right tackle is a free agent and they haven’t had good production from that spot opposite Kolton Miller in any event. Suamataia played left tackle this past year but was more impressive in 2022 on the right side of BYU’s line. 45. New Orleans Saints – Keon Coleman – Wide Receiver, Florida State This is where the fall ends for Coleman as the Saints finally accept that Michael Thomas is never going to be the guy he was before the injuries hit and add the Florida State wideout as the big body compliment to Chris Olave’s game breaking speed. 46. Indianapolis Colts – Jeremiah Trotter – Linebacker, Clemson The Colts cut ties with Darius Leonard halfway through the 2023 season as it was clear he had declined as a player from his all-pro pomp. They could look to replace him by snagging Clemson’s Trotter who has the explosiveness and coverage skill to be a modern three down linebacker. 47. New York Giants – Leonard Taylor III – Defensive Tackle, Miami The Giants need help on both lines, but on the offensive line they need vets to solidify things now having already spent good draft capital. On the defensive side Dexter Lawrence is a stud but needs a running mate inside and Taylor is a big, explosive, penetrator from the 3tech spot. 48. Jacksonville Jaguars – Jonah Elliss – EDGE, Utah As mentioned previously, Josh Allen is a free agent. Most people expect the Jaguars to retain him but even if they do they need more pass rush potential around him. Enter Elliss, with 13 sacks and an impressive pass rush win rate for the Utes in 2023. I think his relative lack of size probably means he has to play as an outside ‘backer in a 3-4 so Jacksonville’s scheme makes sense. 49. Cincinnati Bengals – Devontez Walker – Wide Receiver, North Carolina I do think it is likely that Tee Higgins has played his final snaps for the Bengals and therefore Ja’Marr Chase will need a new running mate. Walker arguably took a step back this year and struggled to separate vs man coverage but as a #2 who excels in contested catch situations he fits here. 50. Philadelphia Eagles – Jonathan Brooks – Running Back, Texas D’Andre Swift had a 1,000 yard season as Philadelphia’s lead back but is now a free agent and is likely beyond their budget to retain with other needs more pressing. I think Brooks is pretty much a perfect fit for what the Eagles do in the run game and while this might feel early for him I love the fit. 51. Los Angeles Rams – Adisa Isaac – EDGE, Penn State The second Penn State edge rusher comes off the board. Again, I feel like this is possibly a tad early for him based on talent, but he reminds me of raw version of Leonard Floyd who found success in this scheme using his long limbs to create a bull rush in passing situations. 52. Pittsburgh Steelers – Edgerrin Cooper – Linebacker, Texas A&M The Steelers defense goes as their front goes, by and large, but that is at least in part because they are sub-par at linebacker. When I think of great Steeler defenses they had an aggressive downhill player at the second level and Cooper would give them that skillset. 53. Miami Dolphins – Kris Jenkins – Defensive Tackle, Michigan Christian Wilkins, Raekwon Davis and Da’Shawn Hand are all impending free agents and even if Wilkins was able to be retained they would need to fortify around him. Jenkins is a versatile player who is big enough to hold up against the run but who offers some interior pass rush potential too. 54. Philadelphia Eagles – Jermaine Burton – Wide Receiver, Alabama Who knows what is going on with AJ Brown? But even if that situation resolves itself the Eagles have a sneaky need at receiver because behind Brown and Devonta Smith the cupboard is pretty much bare. Burton is an effective deep threat but also can be moved around the formation and I expect him to sneak into round 2 as a result. 55. Cleveland Browns – Ja’Lynn Polk – Wide Receiver, Washington The Browns need a reliable compliment to Amari Cooper and with basically no free agent cash to spend at the position they have to look to the draft. Polk had over 1,000 yards in Washington’s run to the National Championship game and is a well-rounded prospect even if he lacks a bit of pop. 56. Dallas Cowboys – Patrick Paul – Offensive Tackle, Houston The Cowboys success (at least in the regular season) in recent years has been in no small part down to their offensive line. They have been willing to spend high picks to keep it well stocked and Patrick Paul gives them a potential upgrade at right tackle or an option at left tackle if Tyron Smith retires. 57. Green Bay Packers – TJ Tampa – Cornerback, Iowa State I have already referenced the uncertainty of Jaire Alexander’s future and without him the cupboard starts to look a little bare at corner for Green Bay. TJ Tampa is an excellent fit for zone heavy schemes and that seems to be the direction the Packers’ search for a new coordinator is heading. 58. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Tyler Nubin – Safety, Minnesota Having gone corner in round one the Buccs go back to the well in the secondary snagging Nubin who many believe is the top pure safety in the class. Both starting safeties (Antonie Winfield and Ryan Neal) are free agents so it is likely Tampa needs a guy who can start right away. 59. Houston Texans – Ja’Tavion Sanders – Tight End, Texas Dalton Schultz had a nice season for the Texans at tight end but he was playing on a one year deal below his true market value. It would likely cost more to keep him and in that situation drafting a young, athletic, tight end with excellent hands to grow with CJ Stroud might be the play. 60. Buffalo Bills – Calen Bullock – Safety, USC The Bills need help on the defensive line and at safety given expiring contracts and age concerns. However, the defensive line run has already taken place in this round leaving better value at safety. Bullock will need to improve his technique as a tackler but he is a bigger safety who can play in the box or be a match up weapon in coverage. 61. Detroit Lions – Brandon Dorlus – Defensive Tackle, Oregon We know that the Lions General Manager Brad Holmes believes in building front to back and Dorlus as an interior rusher who is versatile enough to play a couple of spots in their 5 man front and then play a more conventional 3 tech when they go to a 4 man front makes some sense. 62. Baltimore Ravens – Trey Benson – Running Back, Florida State JK Dobbins career with the Ravens is full of what ifs as the injury bug has bitten him hard. Gus Edwards has been a reliable deputy but he is a free agent. Benson could well run in the high 4.3s and that speed next to Zay Flowers and Lamar Jackson could be a nightmare for defenses. 63. Kansas City Chiefs – Josh Newton – Cornerback, TCU The Chiefs are not exactly desperate at corner but at the moment L’Jarius Sneed is scheduled to hit free agency and after proving himself a high level outside corner, rather than just an excellent slot, he is going to get paid. Josh Newton has similar traits to Sneed and Trent McDuffie – inside / outside flexibility and sticky in man coverage. 64. San Francisco 49ers – Christian Haynes – Guard, Connecticut This man was born to play for Kyle Shanahan. The perfect zone blocking guard, athletic, excellent technique, quick feet and high football IQ. He is a small school guy who could really benefit from the exposure of this week’s senior bowl and rise up boards but he is such a perfect fit for the 9ers. Okay TSW.... feel free to flame away!!!

Draft day is here so here is my third and final mock for 2024. This is the one I'll grade myself against. The last couple of years I've done pretty well so pressure's on! I was really tempted to break my golden rule of no trades in version 3.0 but I'm going to stick with it because otherwise you hamstring yourself too much by getting everything jumbled. 1. Chicago Bears – Caleb Williams – Quarterback, USC No need for analysis here. The Bears traded away Fields, they are going Quarterback and Williams is the best in the class. If he hits his ceiling he can be special. 2. Washington Commanders – Jayden Daniels – Quarterback, LSU I confess this feels a bit like it could be Mac Jones to the 49ers where everyone believed it would happen then when the pick was announced it was Lance. Everything I am reading and hearing suggests this is Daniels. I'm sticking with that. But if Maye's name is read out it wouldn't amaze me. 3. New England Patriots – Drake Maye – Quarterback, North Carolina The consensus took a while to form on what the Patriots would do here but I have always believed they have to stand pat and pick a Quarterback. If Maye went #2 this might be McCarthy, but I think if Maye is there they will select him. 4. Arizona Cardinals – Marvin Harrison – Wide Receiver, Ohio State I had the Cardinals moving down last time around for the Vikings to come up here and select McCarthy. If one of the presumed top 3 falls maybe Arizona can still be persuaded to move back for a pick bounty, but it feels for now like they will stay in this spot and select a receiver and most believe that will be Harrison. 5. Los Angeles Chargers – JC Latham – Offensive Tackle, Alabama I've been dismissive of the Chargers taking a tackle most of the offseason and I have been particularly dismissive of the idea Latham is top 10 pick material (I don't have a first round grade on him). But in the last 24 hours that seems to be the direction things are going. Possibly after a trade back in reality but they want to plug the Crimson Tide prospect in a right tackle whereas they concluded Alt would need to play on the left. 6. New York Giants – Rome Odunze – Wide Receiver, Washington The Giants moving up for a Quarterback is a possibility but if they can't then it will be a receiver at #6. That could be Nabers or Odunze but I am leaning towards them valuing the Washington product's more traditional #1 receiver style and there are one or two character whispers about Nabers too which might not be the guy to move to New York City. 7. Tennessee Titans – Joe Alt – Offensive Tackle, Notre Dame I have been pretty vocal on the Titans need at tackle. I thought they should have done more at the spot last offseason. This year is all about evaluating Will Levis for new Head Coach Brian Callahan and that starts with giving him protection. Callahan Snr is coaching the offensive line and will love working with Alt who is a mean, nasty plug and play left tackle. 8. Atlanta Falcons – Malik Nabers – Wide Receiver, LSU Since Terry Fontenot became the Falcons General Manager his first round selections have been Kyle Pitts, Drake London and Bijan Robinson. If one of the top three receivers gets here he will have the chance to trade back and collect picks but maybe he just sticks to form and picks the best offensive playmaker on the board. 9. Chicago Bears – Byron Murphy II – Defensive Tackle, Texas The Bears drafted two defensive tackles on day two last year but neither gives them any pocket penetration in the middle of the line. Byron Murphy is definitely in the running to be the first defensive player off the board and would be a big upgrade for the Bears. 10. New York Jets – Brock Bowers – Tight End, Georgia I have had Bowers here in both previous versions and I am sticking with it. But if Odunze slides past the Giants at #6 you better believe the Jets will be making calls. They have been fixed on Odunze and Bowers as offensive weaponry since spending capital on their offensive line in free agency. 11. Minnesota Vikings – JJ McCarthy – Quarterback, Michigan The story on the Vikings is that if one of the consensus top three quarterbacks makes it to #4 they would be willing to go big in a trade up. But if they don't they will try and wait on McCarthy because they are comfortable with at least one of the other options if he doesn't make it to them. In this no trade mock he does make it here and is the pick. 12. Denver Broncos – Dallas Turner – EDGE, Alabama The Broncos are a candidate to move back. They could also stay here and pick a Quarterback. But given that it appears the guy they like and the guy the Raiders at #13 like are not the same guy it gives them more flexibility at this spot. Their pass rush was anemic in 2023 and Turner's physical gifts would give them more pop off the edge. 13. Las Vegas Raiders – Michael Penix – Quarterback, Washington I've held off joining the Penix at #13 bandwagon for most of the offseason but in the last week I have come around to the idea. I have always liked him, he is the best pure pocket passer in this class to me, but I thought age and injuries would push him into day 2. It appears, however, that the Raiders are comfortable with his history and not willing to risk losing him by waiting. 14. New Orleans Saints – Olu Fashanu – Offensive Tackle, Penn State The noises from inside the building sound like the Saints are done with 2022 first round pick Trevor Penning and now we learn that right tackle Ryan Ramczyk’s could miss the season with a degenerative knee condition. The Saints are definitely going tackle. I think it will be Fashanu who would be an immediate starter at left tackle. 15. Indianapolis Colts – Quinyon Mitchell – Cornerback, Toledo The Colts have a solid roster and have been quiet in free agency. But one obvious hole is at corner where return specialist Dallis Flowers, with five career starts to his name, is top of the depth chart opposite second-year man JuJu Brents. Mitchell is likely to be the first corner off the board tonight. 16. Seattle Seahawks – Troy Fautanu – Offensive Tackle, Washington A lot of people seem to have pivoted to mocking a corner to the Seahawks with the word on the street being Mike MacDonald is not enamored with Tariq Woolen who struggled in year 2 after a good rookie campaign. I'm sticking with offensive line though and have Fautanu linking up again with his college Offensive Coordinator, Ryan Grubb, now occupies the same position in Seattle. 17. Jacksonville Jaguars – Kool-Aid McKinstry, Cornerback, Alabama I am increasingly confident that corner is the direction the Jags are going in round 1. I think they'd probably like to slide back a few spots before making this selection but they are rumoured to have done a lot of work internally on McKinstry and see him as a scheme and character fit. 18. Cincinnati Bengals – Taliese Fuaga – Offensive Tackle, Oregon State Corner and receiver are possibilities (especially if they were to trade away Tee Higgins) but I still think the achilles heel of this team is their offensive line, especially with an injury prone Quarterback. Mims is a possibility here but Fuaga has met with the team multiple times so he is who I'm going with. 19. Los Angeles Rams – Laiatu Latu – EDGE, UCLA This isn't a pick that I'm mad about because something tells me the Rams would prefer to go offense here. I've seen Xavier Worthy mentioned and he is more their type than someone like a Brian Thomas. But the Rams are rumoured to have done a lot of work on edge guys and Latu falling here feels too good to pass up. 20. Pittsburgh Steelers – Amarius Mims – Offensive Tackle, Georgia In recent days all the Pittsburgh insiders have been saying this pick is Graham Barton, the versatile offensive lineman out of Duke, who would solidify a troublesome center spot for the Steelers. But the phrase I try to remember is take notice in February, ignore in April. In February I heard that they were in love with Mims. He has the highest ceiling of any tackle in the class. 21. Miami Dolphins – Xavier Worthy – Wide Receiver, Texas This pick will tell us a lot about who is actually holding the balance of power inside the Dolphins building. If it is still GM Chris Grier this pick will be trenches on either side of the ball. But I suspect it is Mike McDaniel and if he is making this pick then the image of him 'fangirling' around Worthy at the Texas pro day may be instructive. 22. Philadelphia Eagles – Terrion Arnold – Cornerback, Alabama The Eagles corners Darius Slay and James Bradberry both began to look like they were declining last season. The secondary couldn't stop anyone. Arnold's ceiling and physical potential is off the charts and drafting high ceiling guys from the SEC is how Howie Roseman rolls. 23. Minnesota Vikings – Jared Verse – EDGE, Florida State Early in the process Verse falling this far seemed pretty unthinkable but as this offensive line group in particular has continued to rise up boards it has resulted in some good defensive players sliding. Verse isn't a fast, bendy, pass rusher but he is a really well rounded, powerful defensive end with good hands and plenty of motor. 24. Dallas Cowboys – Tyler Guyton – Offensive Tackle, Oklahoma State Dallas needs to add to its offensive line and, while Graham Barton and Jackson Powers-Johnson could both be considerations at center, when they have taken guys in the first round they have tended to go for tackles and then work out later who plays where. Tyler Guyton is the sort of big, physical specimen that they like. 25. Green Bay Packers – Cooper DeJean – Cornerback, Iowa This is possibly the most mocked pick of the entire draft season, and if he lasts this far he just makes too much sense for the Packers to pass up. They only ever draft defense or quarterback in round one and they love taking first round defensive backs. They lost Darnell Savage in free agency and traded away Rasul Douglas mid-season so they have possible holes at corner and safety. 26. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Chop Robinson – EDGE, Penn State The Buccs lost Shaq Barrett in free agency and they have had some misses with Logan Hall and Joe Tyron-Shoyinka not making much impact to this point in their careers but they did get good production out of third round rookie Yaya Diaby and adding Chop to play opposite him would them some freakish athleticism off the edge. 27. Arizona Cardinals – Graham Barton – Center, Duke The Cardinals have last year's first rounder Paris Johnson and free agency acquisition Jonah Williams penciled in to start at tackle but they still need help inside. Graham Barton is an athletic, versatile lineman who can start at center or guard and get you out of a game at tackle should you require it. 28. Buffalo Bills – Brian Thomas – Wide Receiver, LSU It is possible that if Thomas starts to fall towards them the Bills might move up a few spots in round one for the third year running to snag their future WR1. Their need is pretty acute with the trade of Stefon Diggs and despite concerns about the health of his shoulder Thomas is a legitimate downfield weapon for Josh Allen. 29. Detroit Lions – Jer’Zhan Newton – Defensive Tackle, Illinois I slotted this in to version 2.0 as a bit of a punt knowing that the Lions are usually a team that find a way to extract value from the draft and Newton would be considered among the best players remaining. Since then he had a private workout with the team that I was told "could not have gone any better." I really like this match. 30. Baltimore Ravens – Jordan Morgan – Offensive Tackle, Arizona The Ravens lost traded away their right tackle Morgan Moses and lost both starting guards in free agency – Zeitler to the Lions and Simpson to the Jets. I think Morgan starts at tackle but even if that isn't his long term home he could excel at guard. This is another believe what you hear in February player to team match. 31. San Francisco 49ers – Nate Wiggins – Cornerback, Clemson Whereas this is a trusting what I hear in April. In the last week I have heard two different sources connect Wiggins to the 49ers. The story seems to be that he has been high on GM John Lynch's list the entire process, what has changed is he now looks like he may make it to this sort of pick. 32. Kansas City – Kingsley Suamataia – Offensive Tackle, BYU I see this pick as wide receiver or offensive tackle for Kansas City. However, in this scenario where offensive tackles have flown off the board in front of them I wonder if they feel a sense of urgency to do something about the hole they have at left tackle. Third year player Wanya Morris is currently penciled in to start but in four starts in 2023 he relinquished 2 sacks and 24 pressures. That's no bueno. Okay there we are folks, the final mock of 2024 draft season. This is the one I'll score myself on tonight. Here's hoping!

I take a crack at one of these every year. Based on the 2nd wave of FA prior to the draft, Pro Days, any other trades, and I update once more. It's something to do and I watch quite a bit of College football every year. It's fun to project who will land where. Here's my first crack at it: 1. Chicago Bears - Caleb Williams / QB / USC - This is fairly obvious. The Bears traded Justin Fields and Caleb is all but a forgone conclusion to go #1 at this point. The only thing that could change this pick is if the Bears are scared off by his medicals, which it was said he didn't share with everyone at the Combine for whatever reason. 2. Washington Commanders - Drake Maye / QB / UNC - The reports going around at the Combine were the Commanders favor Maye over Daniels. Maye seems to process info quicker on the field and anticipate throws, where as Daniels relies on his athleticism a bit more and goes after the chunk plays more in earnest. I think he suits what Washington is looking for in a signal caller. 3. New England Patriots - Jayden Daniels / QB / LSU - New regime, the failed Mac Jones experiment is over, and they go with a new signal caller. All of the talk of Brissett starting is just that, talk. They will draft the Heisman Trophy winner from LSU and cut him loose. Watching him play this past year for LSU made me think of a faster, more athletic version of Deshaun Watson when he played at Clemson. 4. Arizona Cardinals - Marvin Harrison Jr. / WR / Ohio St. - Arizona takes one, and arguably the best, of the 3 upper echelon WR prospects in this draft. They have a huge hole in their WR corps and this is just the first of what I believe will be a couple of early picks to address that need for Kyler Murray. The group is currently littered with a bunch of JAG's. 5. Los Angeles Chargers - Malik Nabers / WR / LSU - The Chargers cut Mike Williams and traded Keenan Allen to the Bears. All that remains for Justin Herbert is Joshua Palmer and last year's 1st Round pick Quentin Johnston. I know they just spent a 1st on Johnson, but I can't see them passing on Nabers or Odunze here. I think Nabers will be the choice here, but it could be either of the two. 6. New York Giants - Rome Odunze / WR / Washington - The Giants OL was bad last year, and this pick very well could end up being Joe Alt, but their WR group is W-E-A-K, weak. They have the speedster in Jalin Hyatt, and a couple of Smurfs, but they need that alpha in the group. That will be Odunze. 7. Tennessee Titans - Joe Alt / OT / Notre Dame - This couldn't have worked out any better for Tennessee. They went out and got a compliment to D-Hop in Ridley and then the best OT prospect in the draft falls into their laps. He'll be their blindside protector for the next decade. 8. ***TRADE*** Minnesota Vikings (via Atlanta) - JJ McCarthy / QB / Michigan - Minnesota pulls the trigger to get whom they see as their QB of the future. They send the #11 & #23 picks to Atlanta to jump in front of whatever Denver would do with trying to leap frog them. McCarthy has been talked up all throughout this process and apparently the QB needy teams see him as someone who may even jump over Daniels in the draft process. Minnesota gets their guy here. 9. Chicago Bears - Dallas Turner / DE / Alabama - The trade for Keenan Allen opens this avenue up for Chicago with their 2nd top 10 pick. Turner is about as elite of a prospect that you look for at the DE position. He's an explosive athlete, with excellent bend, and he has an extra gear when closing. He also has the frame to add another 10-15lbs without likely losing any athleticism. He'll make a great bookend to Montez Sweat. 10. New York Jets - Brock Bowers / TE / Georgia - With the top 3 WR's off of the board, them having signed Tyron Smith and trading for Morgan Moses, as well as them having signed Mike Williams, I think they use this pick on the best available offensive weapon for Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers also loves his TE's. This will be one of the smartest picks Douglas has ever made. It will open up everything for this offense when you have a guy like this attacking the middle of the field. 11. Atlanta Falcons (via Minnesota) - Jared Verse / DE / Florida St. - Atlanta parlays #8 into two 1st Round picks, giving them 3 picks in the first 43, the first of which they use on the 2nd best Edge prospect in the draft. He has excellent athleticism, adequate bend, but his power in bull-rushing is quite impressive for a guy @ 255lbs. Raheem Morris starts building his defense here. 12. Denver Broncos - Laiatu Latu / DE / UCLA - With the top four QB's off of the board, the Broncos choose to get the last of the 1st Round worthy pass rushers (just my opinion), who is also arguably a top 15 prospect. Latu also has good athleticism and bend for an Edge rusher. He's not as powerful as Turner or Verse, but he still has the elite traits you look for in someone chasing after QB's. 13. Las Vegas Raiders - Olumuyiwa Fashanu / OT / Penn St. - The Vegas OL needs work and I don't see them reaching for a QB here after signing Minshew. They have a lot of work to do in general, but this is a quality start. He's a mammoth human being and has elite athleticism for the position. 14. New Orleans Saints - Taliese Fuaga / OT / Oregon St. - I could see the Saints going with Brian Thomas here, but the WR class is so deep I think they grab one of the top OL prospects instead. Fuaga is a RT, but his best position may be as a G in the NFL and that position was a glaring weakness for NO last year. The Saints also let long time OL'man Andrus Peat walk in FA. 15. Indianapolis Colts - Quinyon Mitchell / CB / Toledo - Mitchell has good film, had some good practices at the Senior Bowl, and capped it off with a fantastic Combine. This guy is a plug-and-play starter who could push for DROY. 16. Seattle Seahawks - Troy Fautanu / OT / Washington - Fautanu doesn't have to move far going from the Huskies to the Seahawks. This is another OT prospect who can be lined up at one of the OT spots or kicked inside to man one of their interior positions. Either way, you have to protect whomever will be taking the snaps or it won't matter who is taking the snaps. Fautanu is a good prospect no matter where they choose to play him. 17. Jacksonville Jaguars - Terrion Arnold / CB / Alabama - Satisfied enough with their group of meh WR's, the Jaguars look to their defense. Arnold isn't the fastest CB, but he understands coverage, makes plays when they are there to be made, and is another in the list of Alabama DB's who will succeed in the NFL. 18. Cincinnati Bengals - Brian Thomas / WR / LSU - This would suck, but it's how the board falls. They likely aren't bringing back Tyler Boyd and Higgins is on the Franchise Tag. This would give them, potentially, another stud WR for 5 years. 19. Los Angeles Rams - Byron Murphy II / DT / Texas - A blind man could peg this selection after Aaron Donald calling it quits. Murphy can play against the run and he can get after the QB. He can play all three downs and will not be a liability no matter the defensive play call. 20. Pittsburgh Steelers - Jackson Powers-Johnson / C / Oregon - Mason Cole struggled at times last year and the Steelers need to find out what they have at QB quickly. Improve the OL and see if Russ or Fields are the answer. JPJ will have Steelers fans thinking of the days when Pouncey was manning the middle of that OL. 21. Miami Dolphins - Graham Barton / OT / Duke - Barton was an OT at Duke, but the talk is he'll play C in the NFL. The Dolphins OL, especially Center, was a massive weak spot last year. The positional flexibility also means that they could use Barton wherever. He will start day 1 on that OL. 22. Philadelphia Eagles - Cooper DeJean / CB / Iowa - DeJean allowed an insane 37.8 passer rating when targeted. The Eagles defense is lacking big time in the Secondary. He could play CB or S in the NFL, but I think the Eagles give him a run at CB first. He's also a gifted return man. He will most certainly make an impact year one. 23. Atlanta Falcons (via Minnesota) - Jer'Zhan Newton / DT / Illinois - The remaking of the defense in Raheem Morris' image continues. They get one of the best DE's with their first 1st Round selection, then one of the best DT's with their second 1st Round selection. Newton will be that penetrating 3-Tech in Morris' defense. 24. Dallas Cowboys - Xavier Worthy / WR / Texas - I think Jerry sees a WR with wheels like this, who also played at Texas, and he just can't help himself. It will also be interesting to see the alignments they use with Lamb, Worthy, and Cooks. In the end, it's another weapon for Dak. 25. Green Bay Packers - Nate Wiggins / CB / Clemson - The Packers Secondary is a glaring weakness. For all of the talk, Alexander also seemed to take a step back last year as well. This more than likely is injury related, but the Packers still need to sure up the rest around him on the back end. Wiggins had an outstanding athletic performance at the Combine and he only allowed a 44.4 passer rating when targeted this year. The only knock is he's thin so don't expect much support from him in the run game. 26. Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Kool-Aid McKinstry / CB / Alabama - The Bucs CB's were meh last year. McKinstry has been starting for Nick Saban since he was a Freshman. That says a lot. He's smart and he plays with a swagger to him. He'll fit right in with Winfield on the back end of that defense. 27. Arizona Cardinals (via Houston) - Chop Robinson / DE / Penn St. - The Cardinals upgraded their WR room in a big way at #4 and hope to do it to their Edge group here. Robinson, though not really putting up elite production, does have elite athleticism. Some people are comparing him to Micah Parsons. The Cardinals hope it pans out that way. 28. Buffalo Bills - Troy Franklin / WR / Oregon - This isn't necessarily what I would do, but this is what I have a gut feeling the Bills are going to do. We met with pretty much every top name on the WR board at the Combine. I'm sure many of our private workouts will be with WR's. I do think it's telling however that Franklin was the first WR the private workout. I believe it shows they hold him in high regard. He's slender at around 180lbs, but you see the long speed and quickness on the game tape. 29. Detroit Lions - Adonai Mitchell / WR / Texas - The rich in offensive weapons get richer. The Lions don't have too many holes and should be coming off of a SB appearance if not for some questionable calls by Dan Campbell and key drops by Josh Reynolds. Reynolds is now gone and Mitchell will be tabbed as his replacement. Now they'll have two guys who can beat any Secondary down the field, along with the best Slot WR in the game, a great stable of RB's, and a TE coming off of the most productive rookie season at the position. 30. Baltimore Ravens - JC Latham / OT / Alabama - The Ravens traded Morgan Moses back to the Jets. Ronnie Stanley can't seem to stay healthy. The Ravens have always been good at spotting top notch quality OL'men and they hope that prowess continues with this selection here. 31. San Francisco 49ers - Payton Wilson / LB / NC State - Dre Greenlaw tore his achillies in the SB and was operated on, on 2/15/24. Hedging all their bets on him being ready for week 1 and being the same player prior to the injury that quick are a risk this team will not take. Instead they draft the best ILB in this draft who was extremely productive at NC State and then had an excellent showing athletically at the Combine. He and Fred Warner will allow Greenlaw to come along at his own pace and give them some flexibility when contracts eventually come up. 32. Kansas City Chiefs - T'Vondre Sweat / DT / Texas - With the run on WR's, the Chiefs go after the best NT/1-Tech in this draft. Sweat is truly a monster at 6'4-1/2" and weighing in at 366lbs. He's also a bit more nimble than you would expect for a guy his size. Truly one of my favorite players in this draft. Putting him beside Chris Jones, George Karlaftis, and Charles Omenihu should almost be criminal. It ill also relagate Derrick Nnadi to the bench as depth, where he belongs. I don't really feel like going into the full list of Bills draft picks just yet. I'll wait until I do the update down the line. Hope you enjoy the read.

Allen also complained about calls in the later pressers by talking about the grounding. It’s well known the NFL fines and doesn’t tolerate talking about refs/ calls later. Appropriately, haven’t heard him complaining about the fine , as I’m sure he can afford it if he keeps choosing to whine about calls. He ie becoming the Jason TATUm (Celtics star who complains of non calls almost every possession ,and has often given up fast break buckets while standing and complaining) of the BILLS. Just focus more on what you can control. In addition, i find it pretty ironic that the team captain , qb, was NOT the guy calling an offensive players only meeting; maybe he knows not to throw stones if you live in a glass house. Just saying, he is playing ok, but he is just as an important part of the losses as he is a part of the wins. Sorry, not sorry, but it just seems desperate when a guy B’s about so many calls , and at times he over acts so much , it’s like he was trained by soccer players to embellish calls. Maybe turning to the refs begging for a call after every other hit and crying wolf so much results in not getting calls that ARE justified. It’s just a cheap tactic, so MAYBE stop looking for flags, read progressions better and maybe all the ints start disappearing. Maybe it’s me , but I don’t remember guys like Kelly, elway, or Marino always turning to the refs begging for calls. It was a tougher time to play, and Perhaps because their offenses could get first downs and score without needing ref help? Qb protection has gotten to the point of absurdity. ( btw , don’t look now but the Texans are leading the bengals at half 10-7 ,STROUD w almost 200yds passing against the D we put up only 7 going into the 4th quarter, and we were never really challenging in that game despite the final score. Texans look to have great team speed and Cincy’s tight ends aren’t controlling the game like they did against our lb corp. The issues aren’t just offensive , as the d has fallen off at every level. Throw in Minnesota playing great offense w Hobbs , and you wonder why our offense is “too complex “ for a guy like Hines to get snaps a year ago ; our team is in full meltdown) Love the BILLS , but not a fan of excuses for everything now that we are losing , mostly by playing inconsistent, mistake , penalty prone football. Hold the complaining about calls cuz other teams seem to overcome things. Hey , injuries ARE important too , just compare the colts giving up 6 to the pats today compared to our d giving up 29 and the game winning drive to a qb who was benched again today. This team has many issues ( as the Texans go up 20-7 in Cincy as motor ram one in ) and I’m very skeptical any player only meeting turns this around. Even Nate burleson picked the broncos in tomorrows game, wow, just seems like a down year! How can coaching at all levels not be an issue if the bills miss the playoffs?

Okay here is version 2.0, post free agency and with FOUR trades!!! Flame away!! 1. Chicago Bears – Caleb Williams – Quarterback, USC It was a tentative pick in version 1.0, but trading away (maybe that should be “giving away”?) Justin Fields to the Steelers has set this in stone. Also, while I do believe the smoke that there are teams who don’t have Caleb Williams as QB1 the Bears are not one of them. He will be the pick. 2. Washington Commanders – Jayden Daniels – Quarterback, LSU Teams have tried sniffing around the number 2 pick looking at trade possibilities and have been firmly knocked back – the Commanders are taking a Quarterback. I had Drake Maye here in version 1.0 but it increasingly feels like the momentum is behind Daniels to Washington. 3. New England Patriots – Drake Maye – Quarterback, North Carolina The trendy move here has been to have the Patriots trading out (normally with the Vikings). But I just don’t understand why they would do that. The Patriots have Jacoby Brissett, Bailey Zappe and Nathan Rourke as the Quarterbacks on the roster. They have to take a Quarterback and I believe they’d prefer Maye to Daniels in any event. 4. TRADE!! Minnesota Vikings – JJ McCarthy – Quarterback, Michigan (Minnesota gets #4 – 1800 value; Arizona gets #11, #23 & #167 – 2034 value) Which means the draft starts here. Let me be clear I think #4 is too early for JJ McCarthy but it is the law of supply and demand. He seems to be the consensus 4th QB off the board and there as many as four teams potentially in the mix so if you don’t come up to take him here one of the others will. I suspect Minnesota are the most desperate and they have those two first rounders to dangle but keep an eye on the Giants as a dark horse for this trade because they have less distance to go to this pick and it would mean Arizona still gets one of the top two receivers at #6. 5. Los Angeles Chargers – Marvin Harrison Jnr, Wide Receiver, Ohio State When Marvin Harrison Snr was an NFL rookie his Quarterback was Jim Harbaugh. In a scenario where the first four guys off the board are Quarterbacks the NFL will go full circle and in Marvin Harrison Jnr’s rookie season in the NFL his Head Coach will be Jim Harbaugh. 6. New York Giants – Malik Nabers – Wide Receiver, LSU The Giants have to add playmakers for their passing game whoever the Quarterback is. They have spent day two picks on Wan’Dale Robinson and Jalin Hyatt the last two years but so far the contributions have been modest. They need a legit #1 threat. Nabers can be used the way Brian Daboll used Stefon Diggs in Buffalo. 7. Tennessee Titans – Joe Alt – Offensive Tackle, Notre Dame As I said in version 1.0 the Titans tried to get by with Andre Dillard at left tackle in 2023 and it was a predictable car crash. This season is all about evaluating Will Levis for new Head Coach Brian Callahan and that starts with giving him protection. Callahan Snr is coaching the offensive line and will love working with Alt who is a mean, nasty plug and play left tackle. 8. TRADE!! Arizona Cardinals – Rome Odunze – Wide Receiver, Washington (Arizona gets #8 – 1400 value; Atlanta gets #11, #90 & #186 – 1407 value) We saw the Cardinals do this last year, when they traded back from #3 to #12 and then up again from #12 to #6. I think they want to sell #4 but also want to still snag one of the top 3 receivers which means getting ahead of the Bears and Jets. Odunze is an immediate upgrade for them. 9. Chicago Bears – Dallas Turner – EDGE, Alabama The Bears traded for Montez Sweat mid-season and it paid off - his 6 sacks in 9 games led the team. However, the fact that someone who only joined at the trade deadline led the team in sacks is a concern in itself. Turner had 10 sacks for the Crimson Tide last year and adds some juice to that unit. 10. New York Jets – Brock Bowers – Tight End, Georgia I had Bowers here in version 1.0 because the top two tackles were off the board. Since then the Jets have attacked their offensive line in free agency leaving them free to take Bowers here as an offensive match up weapon for Aaron Rodgers. 11. (From Minnesota via ARZ) Atlanta Falcons – Jared Verse – EDGE, Florida State Having addressed Quarterback with Kirk Cousins the Falcons are the favourite to win the NFC South. However, they still have a need for additional pass rusher help. 37-year-old Calais Campbell led the team with 6.5 sacks in 2023, he is a free agent and hasn’t been replaced. 12. Denver Broncos – Bo Nix – Quarterback, Oregon The Broncos are in a horrible spot. They have to get a QB (Jarret Stidham and Ben DiNucci are all that’s on the roster). They don’t have the capital to compete with other teams who might trade up; they don’t have a second rounder and can’t wait and hope to get one in round three and they can’t even trade back to maximise value because the Raiders, another Quarterback needy team, are right behind them at #13. I feel like they have to pick Best Quarterback Available at #12 and the consensus is that will be Bo Nix. 13. Las Vegas Raiders – Terrion Arnold – Cornerback, Alabama The Raiders roster is pretty bad. They could go almost any direction at this spot and there isn’t a single pick here that would surprised me. It could come down to interior defensive line or corner and I think that ultimately their need in the secondary is even greater. 14. New Orleans Saints – Olu Fashanu – Offensive Tackle, Penn State The noises from inside the building sound like the Saints are done with 2022 first round pick Trevor Penning and now we learn that right tackle Ryan Ramczyk’s could miss the season with a degenerative knee condition. Fashanu would be an immediate starter at left tackle. 15. Indianapolis Colts – Quinyon Mitchell – Cornerback, Toledo The Colts have a solid roster and have been quiet in free agency. But one obvious hole is at corner where return specialist Dallis Flowers, with five career starts to his name, is top of the depth chart opposite second-year man JuJu Brents. Mitchell is trending towards being CB1 and is a great scheme fit. 16. Seattle Seahawks – Troy Fautanu – Offensive Tackle, Washington I list Fautanu as a tackle but it is likely the Seahwaks would see him at guard where the interior offensive line needs significant work. This is becoming a popular mock choice not least because Fautanu’s college Offensive Coordinator, Ryan Grubb, now occupies the same position in Seattle. 17. Jacksonville Jaguars – Brian Thomas Jnr – Wide Receiver, LSU The Jags added Devin Duvernay and Gabe Davis to Christian Kirk in their receiver room during free agency, but Calvin Ridley moved on. If Quinyon Mitchell or Arnold were here I might have gone corner but, in their absence, a big, fast, athletic freak of a receiver feels on brand for GM Trent Baalke. 18. Cincinnati Bengals – JC Latham – Offensive Tackle, Alabama Corner and receiver are possibilities (especially if they were to trade away Tee Higgins) but I still think the achilles heel of this team is their offensive line, especially with an injury prone Quarterback. They need a right tackle and they like bigger guys so Lathan fits the bill. 19. TRADE!! Dallas Cowboys – Amarius Mims – Offensive Tackle, Georgia (Dallas gets #19 & #196 – 888 value; Los Angeles gets #24 & #87 – 895 value) If this was a no-trade draft then Amarius Mims to the Steelers at #20 would be as close to a lock as it gets. They appear to have really focussed in on him for some time. However, another team that appear to love his skillset is the Cowboys and they showed when drafting Tyler Smith out of Tulsa two years ago that they are willing to take a risk on raw talent up front. Mims either starts in place of the departed Tyron Smith at left tackle and lets Tyler stay at guard or is an immediate upgrade on the right side. 20. Pittsburgh Steelers – Taliese Fuaga – Offensive Tackle, Oregon State Pittsburgh drafted Broderick Jones last year and started him at right tackle as a rookie but they have one of the worst starting left tackle in the NFL. The plan is surely to switch Jones to the left in 2024 which would create a hole at right tackle that Fuaga would fill. 21. Miami Dolphins – Xavier Worthy – Wide Receiver, Texas This is my wildcard. We know Mike McDonald loves speed on offense and while this feels like a luxury pick given their defensive needs and the fact they have Hill and Waddle already, good luck to the defensive coordinator trying to cover all three of them. 22. Philadelphia Eagles – Cooper DeJean – Cornerback, Iowa The Eagles secondary is a series of question marks. Veterans Darius Slay and James Bradberry struggled in 2023, Kelee Ringo made little impression as a rookie and their safeties were bad. They have brought back CJ Gardner-Johnson from Detroit but DeJean is a versatile playmaker who could become a mainstay on the back end. 23. (From Cleveland via HOU and MIN) Arizona Cardinals – Jackson Powers-Johnson – Center, Oregon The Cardinals would have three firsts in this scenario which might give them the freedom to invest in the center position where they have long since had a hole. Powers-Johnson had an impressive week at the Senior Bowl and vaulted himself right into day 1 contention. 24. (From Dallas) Los Angeles Rams – Byron Murphy II – Defensive Tackle, Texas The Rams didn’t just lose a defensive tackle when Aaron Donald retired, they lost probably the greatest player in franchise history. While it is unfair to ask any rookie to come in and replace that level of impact Murphy is a good penetrative defensive tackle who will replace some of the pass rush juice they have lost. 25. TRADE!! Kansas City Chiefs – Jordan Morgan – Offensive Tackle, Arizona (Kansas City gets #25 – 720 value; Green Bay gets #32 & #95 – 710 value) The Chiefs come up the board, but it is not for a wide receiver. They have tried the vet route to fix the left tackle spot, trading for Orlando Brown and signing a Superbowl winner in Donovan Smith. It might be time to draft a long term answer and Morgan is an out and out left tackle who excels as a pass blocker. He could lock down Mahomes’ blindside for a decade. 26. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Laiatu Latu – EDGE, UCLA Latu is my #1 edge rusher in the class but the health concerns are likely to push him down the board. I have heard the Packers (who originally have the pick before this one) and the Buccs linked to him frequently so I feel like this is the range he comes off the board. The Buccs lost Shaq Barrett in free agency so have a need. 27. Arizona Cardinals – Chop Robinson – EDGE, Penn State This is a pick I’m leaving unchanged from version 1.0. In a world where the Cardinals have just the two first rounders unlike the three they end up with in this mock it is clear to me that they have to get a wide receiver and a pass rusher. Chop is raw, but his ceiling is high. 28. Buffalo Bills – Adonai Mitchell – Wide Receiver, Texas I can see a scenario where the Bills move from this spot, either up or down. But if they stay here I still think it will be a receiver. Mitchell’s tape is not as impressive as his combine numbers but the physical talent is obviously there. If the consistency in his play can follow he has true WR1 potential. 29. Detroit Lions – Jer’Zhan Newton – Defensive Tackle, Illinois This would be the steal of round one. I have a top 10 grade on Newton but possibly because he didn’t work out at the combine with injury or because he is from unfashionable Illinois he hasn’t had the buzz his talent deserves. The Lions have Alim McNeill and DJ Reader at defensive tackle, but they are both really 1 techs. Here is the interior penetrating 3 tech they require. 30. Baltimore Ravens – Graham Barton – Guard, Duke The Ravens lost both starting guards in free agency – Zeitler to the Lions and Simpson to the Jets. They did draft Andrew Vorhees last year in round seven despite his ACL tear at the combine and he might step into one spot. Barton can arguably play all five spots on the line but would start at guard. 31. San Francisco 49ers – Tyler Guyton – Offensive Tackle, Oklahoma I had Mims here in version 1.0 but this time it is Guyton who slides to San Francisco. The 49ers lost right tackle Mike McGlinchey in free agency last year and Guyton would presumably start there as a rookie but he might even be a long term in-house replacement for Trent Williams. 32. (From Kansas City) Green Bay Packers – Nate Wiggins – Cornerback, Clemson Green Bay have only spent one of their last thirteen first round picks on offense and that was when they drafted Jordan Love. No team has spent more recent first round capital on defensive backs, with five in the last decade. They have a need there again with the Jaire Alexander situation looking dicey and a hole opposite him.

This video proves the exact opposite of what E. Turner has been pushing since Gabe Davis was made the #2 WR. His mantra (and all the guys on that channel outside of Nate Geary) has been the weapons are fine, they’re good in fact. But sit back and just listen to this video and tell me how often Erik says - Gabe smokes his man (he mentions this once), wow Harty’s speed is evident here, did you see Knox dust that linebacker, Shakir really sold his route here, James Cook did a great job on the chip and released, Q. Morris needs more snaps because of this ability. You don’t. All you hear in this video is Stefon Diggs does a great job winning one on one, Diggs breaks his route off perfectly, Diggs sells this fake, Diggs makes a tough catch. Instead it’s Dorsey’s fault for not using his weekly play design hours to come up with creative dumpoffs and flat concepts for average pass catchers, or figure out how to work around Gabe Davis’ route limitations. This obsessions with “easy button” throws. How about a more straightforward path that doesn’t require perfect play design so you can get a 4-yard bubble off to Deonte Harty? What is so hard in saying that a first round WR with better traits is a more direct path? Gabe Davis is Robbie Anderson, and just like the Jets, it’s hard to make that a game in-game out number #2. We’ve tried it - he drops passes and fumbles the ball. New Orleans had 4 years of Harty, did they make him a primary weapon?

When he was first hired, I had no opinion one way or another because I did not know much about him. After the playoff drought the bar for success for a Bills head coach was probably lower than the bar for success for any NFL head coach. My recollection of the drought is not that we were constantly among at the bottom of the NFL, but constantly about 10th from the bottom and drafting 10, or thereabouts. It was a low mediocre team. The first season of making the playoffs at 9-8 was refreshing, but the early bow out, meant we had move to high mediocre team. The next season, Josh Allen blew me away in the preseason games. It was impossible for to imagine not starting him right away. But I accepted the "let him learn logic". But at the point another rookie Nate Peterman was brought in to start before Allen, I had my first twinge of "does this guy know what he is doing" doubts. But he corrected that error and the team made great progress from that point. (Side note, I did not like the "keep everything in front of you soft defense for a long time, but came to accept that it worked well and stopped being concerned about that generally) I found his clapping after bad plays as a bit bizzare but was more amused by what I considered a weird personality quirk, than thinking it was a question of competence. From the moment Allen was made the starter until the Houston playoff game everything was great with McDermott. Others may disagree, as is there preogitive, but I felt the loss to Houston was primarily coaching errors. It was the first evidence that McDermott is not a great closer in key games. We moved forward with some great preseason play and playoff play, until the 13 second game. This game is so haunting, it is discussed quite a bit still on national media, let alone in local discussion circles. There were two upsetting parts to this to me. One, it seemed to be a complete coaching error. And yet, after the game McDermott did not accept responsibility and blamed others for execution problems. (as an aside, its odd to me for coaches to thinking they are doing a good job coaching, if players do not know the play or assignments). At this point "inability to close" became a meaningfull concern of mine. At that point, I felt as though the onus was on McDermott to prove he could. So far he has not. Most NFL coaches don't get to year 6 without advancing to the super bowl at least once. It is rare enough that some of the names of those that did are etched in NFL lore, Marvin Lewis, Marty Shottenmeimer, and a couple of others. The only precedent I know for any NFL coach to get to year 6 with a top tier QB on the roster and no super bowl appearances is Dan Reeves with John Elway. Dan Marino made it to the Super Bowl with Shula, his second season. On a separate path, until the 2023 draft, I did not agree the roster was being properly constructed to win in today's NFL. I don't know how much McDermott had to do with that. But it seems from public appearance, he did not have a lot of say in the extensive focus on building the defense. The reason to keep McDermott for season 6, is the excellent regular season results he has generated. Those are not in dispute. I began the season hopeful that McDermott could prove he was a closer in this years playoffs. He still has the chance. If we go on a tear and make the playoffs and advance until at least the AFC championship game, its an easy decision to bring him back next year. If the team actually fails to make the playoffs, It is not clear to me what the case for bring him back for year 7 would be. The narrative would have to be "even great coaches have down years, plus "injuries", he deserves a shot at a bounce back year. If the team makes the playoffs but goes out in the divisional round again, I don't think there is a compelling case either to retain him or to fire him. Kind of coaching purgatory.

My only attempt of the season, grades are preliminary and initial, no deep dive into the class this year, just surface scratching, enjoy!! 2024 NFL Mock Draft V1.0 Round 1 1 – Chicago – Caleb Williams (QB – U.S.C.) – Would be the biggest draft shocker in my lifetime, if it is was anyone else. Grade: Top 5 2 – Washington – Jayden Daniels (QB – L.S.U.) – Top dual threat QB in the draft, elite level production against SEC defenses from the pocket and on the run. 2023-2024 tape is the best in the class. Grade: Top 5 *Trade* New England trades the 3rd pick and a 2025 4th round pick to Minnesota for the 11th, 23rd, and the Vikings 2025 1st pick. New England’s roster on offense is offensive, no QB is developing there for some time. Minnesota is the opposite and gives a young QB a chance to develop and make an impact in the near and distant future. 3 – Minnesota (via. N.E.) – Drake Maye (QB – U.N.C.) – Maye could end up being the best QB in the class, with the most natural tools and traits, he did more with less (supporting cast) this past season of any of the top QB’s in this draft. Grade: Top 10 4 – Arizona – Marvin Harrison Jr. (WR – Ohio St.) – Arizona is going to take calls for the next QB teams want, likely J.J. McCarthy, however… They have 6 picks in the top 90 to rebuild the roster and don’t feel the need to trade down, just stick and pick the best non-QB in the draft at a position of need, #1 WR. Grade: Top 5 *Trade* San Diego trades the 5th pick to Las Vegas for the 13th, 44th, 77th and a 2025 3rd. Las Vegas pays a premium to a division rival to leap frog the Giants, while the Chargers look to keep building their roster. 5 – Las Vegas (via. L.A. Chargers) – J. J. McCarthy (QB – Michigan) – While not being personally sold on McCarthy, many in the league apparently are. McCarthy’s demeanor and skill set seems perfect for the Raiders, who leapfrog the Giants to get there QB of the future making the AFC West even more interesting this off-season. Grade: 2nd/3rd Round 6 – N.Y. Giants – Malik Nabors (WR – L.S.U.) – The Giants smoke screen works with teams believing they are on the J.J. train, they are not and land their #1 WR in the draft. Nabors has the same grade as MHJ on my board and the Giants, give D. Jones one last look before cutting the cord, with a top 5 value at 6. Grade: Top 5 7 – Tennessee – Joe Alt (LT – Notre Dame) – The Titans watch the draft unfold with a smile on their face. Grade: Top 10 8 – Atlanta – Laiatu Latu (OLB/DE/Edge – U.C.L.A.) – Atlanta has not a single defensive player who opposing offenses have to plan for in pass pro. Latu is the best pass rusher in the draft, production, traits, he is him. Medically, I don’t know… In this mock, he is cleared by Atlanta’s doctors and provides an instant impact needed to compete in the K. Cousins 2 year window. Negative medical = D. Turner. Grade: Top 10 (RF – Med*) 9 – Chicago – Rome Odunze – (WR – Washington) – The Bears continue to help future and present Caleb Williams succeed. Grade: Top 10 10 – N.Y. Jets – Olu Fashanu (LT – Penn. St.) – The Jets would love to add a weapon for A-A-Ron in Brock Bowers, however, they can’t go into next season or the future without solidifying edge pass protection. Grade: Top 20 11- New England (via. Minnesota) – Brock Bowers (TE – Georgia) – The Patriots start stacking talent with the BPA. Grade: Top 10 *Trade* Denver trades the 12th pick to Washington for the 40th, 67th, 100th and Washington’s 1st round pick in 2025. Washington looks to upgrade their edge rush while Denver looks to add assets in this draft and the next, while recovering from the Russell Wilson disaster. 12 – Washington (via. Denver) – Dallas Turner (Edge/34OLB – Alabama) Washington is going to have to create pressure from their front 4 in Dan Quinn’s system and Turner has the physical tools and potential to terrorize NFC East QB’s for the next decade. Grade: Top 20 13 – Los Angeles Chargers (via. Las Vegas) – J.C. Latham (RT/T – Alabama) Jim Harbaugh’s master plan is slowly coming to fruition, Latham is a mass of humanity and a physical marvel who should pave the way for the Chargers to lead the league in rushing in the near future. Grade: Top 20 14 – New Orleans – Troy Fautanu (LT/G – Washington) The left side of New Orleans O-line needs an overhaul, Fautanu I believe to be the answer at either LT or LG moving forward. Grade: Top 20 15 – Indianapolis – Quinyon Mitchell (CB – Toledo) My #1 CB in the draft slides right into the Colts lap, and they shall rejoice. Mitchell has the traits, tape and underwear olympic numbers to justify a top 10 selection, a steal at pick 15. Grade: Top 10 16 – Seattle – Micheal Penix Jr. (QB – Washington) Obvious connections to Ben Grubbs aside, the personnel in Seattle’s offense and the offense itself are tailor made for Penix, who won’t have to be QB1 day one, but could if needed. Seattle lets Penix marinate and looks to add their future QB without the risk of losing out on him via a trade back from 16 or a trade up from 81. Grade: 2nd Round (RF – Med*) 17 – Jacksonville – Terrion Arnold (CB – Alabama) Competitive and aggressive, with good CoD skills, quick eyes when the ball is in the air and natural fit for the new DC and press scheme they will be employing next season. Grade: 1st Round 18 – Cincinnati – Taliese Fuaga (RT/G – Oregon St.) Continuing to protect Joe Burrow is a must, as Joe goes, so do the Bengal’s, Fuaga may not ever become elite, but is steady as they come and plays with an aggressive demeanor that will fit in well with the Bengals offense. I Grade: 1st Round *Trade* L.A. Rams trade the 19th pick to Buffalo for the 28th, 160th and a 2025 2nd round pick (Buffalo). The Rams are in a weird place of win now mode and needing to rebuild the defensive front four quickly to maximize Stafford’s career window, as they traded away 1st rounders like Mardi Gras beads the last few years. They did win a CHIP… Buffalo looks to add a premier deep threat to stretch the field and really stress defenses down the field, complementing the existing and future roster in the pass game. 19 – Buffalo (via. L.A. Rams) – Brian Thomas (WR – L.S.U.) Thomas is an explosive play waiting to happen at any time, with natural and go-get-it speed, and general athleticism that requires defenses to account for him and the deep half of the field every time Thomas touches the field, utilizing Josh Allen’s arm and the field itself to the fullest. Grade: Top 20 20 – Pittsburgh – Graham Barton (C/G/T – Duke) Barton’s ability to play anywhere on the line and excel in the interior will help the entirety of the Steelers offense, stabilizing the center position for the next decade. Grade: 1st/Top 20 21 – Miami – Jared Verse (43DE/Edge/OLB – F.S.U.) Miami’s pass rush was devastated by injury late last season, injuries that will linger into this season and leave the Miami defense toothless in a conference they hope to compete in. Verse starts and contributes day 1 for the Dolphins. Grade: 1st Round 22 – Philadelphia – Cooper Dejean (S/CB – Iowa) Dejean is a secondary swiss army knife, injecting youth and flexibility into an Eagles secondary that needs it. A top notch athletic profile combined with excellent tape make Cooper a great pick at 22. Grade: Top 20 23 – New England (via. Minnesota) – Tyler Guyton (LT/T – Oklahoma) Connor McDermott is an average back up at best, if he is starting your QB is always going to see ghosts from the blind side, Guyton is a projection, but the athletic traits and natural frame could develop into an elite level pass protector. Grade: 2nd/1st 24 – Dallas – Byron Murphy II (3DT – Texas) Dallas hope’s Mazi Smith turns into the run stuffing NDT he was supposed to be last year, I wouldn’t hold my breath, unfortunately the interior DL is still lacking severely. Murphy gives the group some much needed energy and juice. Grade: 2nd/1st Round 25 – Green Bay – Amarius Mims (RT/G – Georgia) Mims is a swing for the fences type of pick, and the normally risk adverse Packers take a swing. Mims is a Boom or Bust prospect, giving the Packers some positional flexibility with their current personnel. Grade: 2nd Round 26 – Tampa Bay – Xavier Worthy (WR – Texas) Worthy gives Baker Mayfield and the Bucs offense a game changing weapon, forcing defenses to pick their poison in coverage. Grade: 2nd Round 27 – Arizona – Adonai Mitchell (WR – Texas) Arizona lands Mitchell to pair opposite MHJ, why another WR in the first you ask? Without looking anyone up, name me an NFL caliber receiver on their current roster? Exactly, boom, now they have two. Grade: 1st Round (RF – -Med) 28 – L.A. Rams (via. Buffalo) – Chop Robinson (Edge – Penn. St.) The Rams have no pass rush in the defensive front now, and look to infuse some explosiveness and juice into their front. Grade: 1st Round 29 – Detroit – Nate Wiggins (CB – Clemson) Elite level cover ability, traits, athleticism, he is the package. Can he develop the physicality and consistency at the next level? Grade: 2nd Round 30 – Baltimore – Kool-Aid McKinstry (CB – Alabama) Baltimore addresses the current and future need at CB with Kool-Aid. Grade: 2nd *Trade* San Francisco trades the 31st and 124th picks to Washington for the 36th and 78th picks. Washington looks to add a blindside protector for Jayden Daniels to grow and flourish with. While San Francisco looks to trade down and move up and add another top 100 pick to the roster. 31 – Washington (via. San Francisco) – Jordan Morgan (LT/T – Arizona) Washington continues to use their draft capital to work around the board and add day 1 starters, Morgan should start right out of the gate and develop into a dependable starter in short order. Grade: 2nd Round 32 – Kansas City – Kingsley Suamataia (LT/T – B.Y.U.) The Chiefs look to Suamataia’s ceiling as a longterm solutions to their hole at LT, it may not be pretty (not that it was with Donovan “tug not a hold” Smith) initially, but Suamataia has the potential to potentially protect Mahommes blind side for the rest of his career. Grade: 2nd/3rd Round Round 2 33 – Carolina – Ladd McConkey (WR – Georgia) Tough call for Carolina here, the pick should be offense, as should the next. Legette, JPJ and several others are in consideration. Having solidified the interior oline in FA, they look to add the explosive route runner, giving Bryce Young a versatile option in the passing game day 1. Grade: 2nd Round 34 – New England – Xavier Legette (WR – S. Carolina) The Patriots future offensively continues to get brighter for whomever is at the helm this season and into future seasons. Legette gives the Patriots an outside threat to complement Bowers on offense. Grade: 2nd Round. 35 – Arizona – Ennis Rakestraw Jr. (CB – Mizzu) The Cardinals look to add to their secondary at the corner spot, with the fiesty potential day 1 starter. Grade: 2nd Round 36 – San Francisco (via. Washington) – Patrick Paul (LT/T – U. Houston) Paul has the potential to be one of the best left tackles in this class, and a plus starter in time. Grade: 2nd/3rd 37 – L.A. Chargers – Jackson Power-Johnson (C – Oregon) Another piece for the offensive line that is quickly developing the potential to be the best in the league in short order. Grade: 2nd/1st 38 – Tennessee – Darius Robinson (DE/DL – Mizzu) Tennessee takes the versatile front 7 weapon, who can play DE in the 34 defensive front, rush the passer from the inside or outside, even rushing from the nose when needed. Grade: 2nd/1st 39 – Carolina (via. N.Y. Giants) – Zach Frazier (C/G – West Virginia) Austin Corbett maybe the answer in the pivot next season, coming off consecutive MCL and ACL tears in 2023 and 2022 respectively, and with one year left on his contract. Frazier completes the rebuild of the Panthers interior offensive line, giving Bryce Young a pocket to work from for the foreseeable future. Grade: 2nd Round 40 – Denver (via. Washington) – Bo Nix (QB – Oregon) Bo Nix does not go in the 1st round, but lands in the best spot for himself in Denver, who views Nix as a potential QB1, but does not handcuff themselves to him, in taking him in round 2, with more options moving forward than had they stayed and picked at 12. 41 – Green Bay (via. N.Y. Jets) – Edgerrin Cooper (LB – Texas A & M) Cooper gives the Quay Walker a partner at LB capable of wrecking opponents game plans in their new .05 defense. Day one starter, who effects the opposition run game from the light box. Grade: 2nd Round 42 – Houston (via Minnesota) – Jer’Zhan Newton (3DT – Illinois) More fresh, young juice for the defensive line complementing recent investments on the edge, Newton will bring the heat from the interior in a rotational role early in his career with the Texans. A steal at 42. Grade: 2nd/1st 43 – Atlanta – Ricky Pearsall (WR – Florida) Pearsall can play any WR spot a coach would like, and contributes to the Falcons passing game day 1. Grade: 2nd Round 44 – L.A. Chargers (via. Las Vegas) – Malachi Corley (SWR – W. Kentucky) The Chargers continue their 2024 NFL draft theme: “We are going to beat you up, and the beating will continue until you give up.” Corley is capable of more than he showed in college, while extending the hand-off range of Justin Jerbert. Grade: 2nd Round 45 – New Orleans (via. Denver) – Keon Coleman (WR – Florida St.) Coleman’s skill set complements Olave’s in the Saints offense and is a solid value in round 2. Grade: 2nd Round 46 – Indianapolis – Marshawn Kneeland (DE/Edge/OLB – W. Michigan) The Colts need waves of edge rushers moving forward, and Kneeland has the tools to develop into an long term asset for the Colts. Grade: 2nd Round 47 – N.Y. Giants (via. Seattle) – T.J. Tampa (CB – Iowa St.) In adding to the secondary, the Giants land Tampa who’s name and coverage ability will resonate with 70’s Steelers and 2000’s Buc’s fans, and give the Giants a quality #2 corner opposite Deonte Banks. Grade: 2nd Round 48 – Jacksonville – Troy Franklin (WR – Oregon) Jacksonville needs a #1, some would argue an #1 and a #2 WR, Franklin is a good value pick at 48, who should be able to fill the role of #2 now, and potentially #1 down the road. Grade: 2nd Round 49 – Cincinnati – Ja’Lynn Polk (WR – Washington) The Bengal’s start planning for life after Tee Higgins, whether it be this year or next, Polk will be ready. Grade: 2nd Round. 50 – Philadelphia (via. New Orleans) – Christian Hayes (G – U. Conn.) Hayes gives Philly a potential short term, and better long term solution at RG than Tyler Steen, competition and depth at worst. Grade: 2nd Round 51 – Pittsburgh – Roger Rosengarten (RT – Washington St.) Rebuilding the offensive line continues for the Steelers in this mock, with Broderick Jones moving to LT, Rosengarten slides into RT, helping with the two birds one pick ideology. Grade: 2nd/3rd 52 – Los Angeles Rams – Brandon Fiske (DT/3DT – Florida St.) Fiske was one of my favorite prospects after watching several FSU games during the past season, Kevin Williams 2.0. The Rams continue to add to their defensive front with the high motor Fiske. Grade: 2nd Round 53 – Philadelphia – Payton Wilson (LB – N.C. State) Medicals will likely cause Wilson to fall in the draft, his tape, testing numbers and athletic profile are 1st round caliber. Watching Wilson reminds me a lot or watching Brian Urlacher in my early amateur scouting days. Yes, blurry VHS tapes, Pro Football Draft Preview, fun times. Don’t mind me. Grade: 2nd/1st Round (RF – Med) 54 – Cleveland – Junior Colson (LB – Michigan) Cleveland has a solid roster and while DT was in play here, I was really hoping Payton Wilson would fall to this pick. Colson is a solid consolation prize and heck of a football player in his own right, potential year one starter and future mainstay for the Browns roster. Grade: 2nd Round 55 – Miami – Cooper Beebe (G – Kansas State) Miami takes the best available offensive lineman, they need help everywhere on the OL. Injuries and free agency have not been kind to the Fins this past 12 months. Grade: 2nd Round 56 – Dallas – Trey Benson (RB – F.S.U.) Benson gives the Cowboys offense a bell cow back, who is capable on 3rd down with room to grow. Grade: 2nd Round 57 – Tampa Bay – Adisa Isaac (OLB/Edge – Penn St.) Adisa Isaac gives the Bucs D an non-stop motor who maybe relegated to DPR status early in his career. Grade: 3rd Round 58 – Green Bay – Max Melton (CB – Rutgers) Max is one of the more versatile CB’s in the draft and contributes early and often, effective immediately. Grade: 2nd Round 59 – Houston – Kamari Lassiter (CB – Georgia) Lassiter will not have to start early, but provides depth and future starting potential for the Texans. Grade: 3rd Round 60 – Buffalo – Tyler Nubin (S – Minnesota) “Plays with predatory mentality from split safety and robber alignment.” Reminds me of Jordan Poyer, Nubin does not have the athletic Olympic underwear profile, but the guy competes all the time. Grade: 2nd/3rd Round 61 – Detroit – Jalen McMillan (WR – Washington) McMillan is one of sleepers for the 2024 draft, a naturally talented receiver with more to offer as a pro. Grade: 3rd Round 62 – Baltimore – Mike Sainristil (NCB – Michigan) Sainristil has future all pro written all over him, instincts and IQ are elite. The Ravens… Grade: 2nd Round 63 – San Francisco – Javon Bullard (S – Georgia) Bullard should be able to come in and give the 9ers a new starting SS immediately. Grade: 2nd/3rd 64 – Kansas City – Devontez Walker (WR – U.N.C.) Kansas City continues their off-season offensive assault on the deep half of the field, adding another deep threat to pair with FA Marquise Brown. Walker will help Mahommes stretch the field. Grade: 3rd Round