First Round Mock

[H2o]

I do at least one of these every year just for fun. Here is this year's crack at it. 

 

1. Las Vegas Raiders - Fernando Mendoza / QB / Indiana - This is the easiest pick to dole out. The Raiders need a QB. Mendoza is the best in the draft coming off a Heisman and Natty. 

 

2. New York Jets - David Bailey / Edge / Texas Tech - The Jets need need a blue chip player, and Bailey is that guy. He had 15 sacks last year, 43 hurries, and he is as consistent as they come. 

 

3. Arizona Cardinals - Francis Mauigoa / OT / Miami - You can have whoever you want playing QB. But if you can't keep him upright, then it won't matter. Mauigoa is part of laying the foundation in the trenches. 

 

4. Tennessee Titans - Arvell Reese / Edge / Ohio St. - Reese is dripping with potential as an Edge defender and he has uncanny strength for a guy his size to be stout against the run as well. 

 

5. New York Giants - Carnell Tate / WR / Ohio St. - The Giants waste no time here in making this selection. They have their QB in Dart, they have the battering ram RB in Skat, they have Nabers who looks like a superstar in the making (coming off an ACL injury), and now they get the perfect compliment to Nabers in Tate. He is the big body possession guy that will be the high end #2 to the Nabers true #1 in the WR room. This offense will be fun to watch. 

 

6. Cleveland Browns - Monroe Freeling / OT / Georgia - Again, another place where it doesn't matter who is playing QB if you can't keep them upright. Freeling is another top end OT prospect that will be a day one starter with potential to be a blindside protector for the next decade. 

 

7. Washington Commanders - Jeremiyah Love / RB / Notre Dame - How do you protect your QB? Give him the most explosive playmaker at RB in the draft. Love is a prospect in the lines of Saquon,  CMC, and Bijan. He can catch the ball out of the backfield, he can gash you on the ground, and he can take any touch to the house. Exactly what Washington needs to take pressure off of Daniels and open everything up on offense. 

 

8. New Orleans Saints - Ruben Bain / DE / Miami - Bain is possibly the best pass rusher in the entire draft. This is the perfect marriage of need meeting fit. 

 

9. Kansas City Chiefs - Kenyon Sadiq / TE / Oregon - Some people will scream reach, but I think this is the perfect  fit for Reid and Mahomes. Sadiq is even more athletic than Kelce was in his prime. We all see how that was going. This is a high-end weapon for Mahomes' rest of his career. 

 

10. Cincinnati Bengals - Caleb Downs / S / Ohio St. - The Bengals have needs all over the defense. Downs is possibly the best the defensive player in the entire draft, with All Pro potential, and the Bengals get him @ #10. Not too shabby. 

 

11. Miami Dolphins - Mansoor Delane / CB / LSU - Delane is the best CB in the draft. He allowed a measly 31.3 passer rating when targeted this past season. He has the ability to be a true shutdown CB in this league. 

 

12. Dallas Cowboys - Sonny Styles / LB / Ohio St. - The Cowboys have needed LB help for years. Styles has a Safety background so he is top tier in coverage, but he is also the best read-and-react LB in the draft as well. He fits perfectly into their defense and marries with a need. 

 

13. Los Angeles Rams - Caleb Lomu / OT / Utah - One half of the Utah bookends, Lomu is accomplished in pass pro and trending upward in the run game. The Rams take him here because Fano may be best served with a switch to guard and the Rams need an OT. 

 

14. Baltimore Ravens - Makai Lemon / WR / USC - The Ravens need help on offense. They have Flowers and Andrews. Lemon is the do everything Slot guy who can have an impact similar to that of Amon Ra St. Brown. How fortunate is this for Baltimore? Very. 

 

15. Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Keldric Faulk / DE / Auburn - Faulk is an elite run defender with pass rush upside. He had 7 sacks in 2024, but only 2 in 2025. Still, he is a top notch prospect with the potential to make a true impact at the DE position. 

 

16. New York Jets - Jordyn Tyson / WR / Arizona St. - Pairing him with Garrett Wilson would be a problem for opposing defenses. Either way, Tyson has the potential to be the best WR in this draft class. Whomever the Jets QB will be, he will have weapons at the skill positions for sure. 

 

17. Detroit Lions - Spencer Fano / OT / Utah - The Lions have a need at both OT and G so this pick is like playing with house $$$. Fano is a super athletic OT, but there is talk about him moving inside due to his short arms for the position, 32". The Lions get a fantastic prospect who will fill one of their two needs. 

 

18. Minnesota Vikings - Dillon Thienemen / S / Oregon - I know that Downs is the more heralded prospect, but Thienemen is also a top tier S in this class. He can play at the line, he can match up in the slot, he can play single high, he can read-and-react with the best of them to make the correct play, and he's a pretty sure tackler. Things couldn't have worked out better for Minnesota. 

 

19. Carolina Panthers - Blake Miller / OT / Clemson - The Panthers have some uncertainty and age on their OL. Ekwonu is recovering from a torn patellar and Moton is 32. Blake Miller is a super athletic OT prospect who only allowed 5 sacks across 40 games played at Clemson. The Carolina run game immediately takes a step forward with this pick. 

 

20. Dallas Cowboys - Akheem Mesidor / DE / Miami - Mesidor is the other half of the Miami pass rush duo, but he was actually more productive than Bain putting up 13 sacks across 15 games. He also had 50 pressures. He is an older prospect at 25 years old, so he may be a single contract player. But in those 5 years, if you get elite production what does it matter? 

 

21. Pittsburgh Steelers - Olaivavega Ioane / G / Penn St. - Another team who lucks up and gets possibly the best player at the position for their position of need. Ioane immediately slots in as a starter on their OL. 

 

22. Los Angeles Chargers - Kayden McDonald / DT / Ohio St. - If you looked up immovable object, then there would be a picture of McDonald shown. He can eat up double teams all day and still help push the pocket. Tomlinson is 35 and can't be relied upon to play a large number of snaps. McDonald is the future for LA. 

 

23. Philadelphia Eagles - Max Iheanachor / OT / Arizona St. - Iheanachor is the best fitting OT prospect on the board for what the Eagles like to do. Super athletic, has a good pass set, and is powerful in the run game. 

 

24. Cleveland Browns - Omar Cooper / WR / Indiana - Cooper was widely viewed in the college world as Robin next to Surratt as Batman until this past season when he broke out for 937 yds and 13 TD's on the way to a Natty at IU. He's got the speed to stretch the field and has excellent RAC ability if you get him the ball in space. After getting Freeling to help keep the QB upright, we get the QB another weapon to find in the open field. 

 

25. Chicago Bears - Zion Young / DE / Iowa - Young experienced a breakout of sorts at Iowa this year with 8 sacks, 17 QB hits, and 32 pressures. He has the size and length you look for at 6'6", 265lbs, and 33"+ arms. He also plays the run well. He'll slot in nicely up front for Chicago. 

 

26. Buffalo Bills - KC Concepcion / WR / Texas A&M - Maybe where there's smoke, there's fire. Maybe Beane knows he flubbed the WR room last year and he looked like a fool after his rant on the radio. Either way, the Bills continue to add to the weapons around JA17. 

 

27. San Francisco 49ers - Kadyn Proctor / OT / Alabama - Proctor is a mammoth human being with incredible power at the position. He also has surprisingly decent feet for a guy his size. He will be an instant impact player in the run game. A nutritionist will need to help him a bit, but if he gets down to 325-330lbs he will turn into an absolute force on the OL. The talent is there.

 

28. Houston Texans - Christen Miller / DT / Georgia - Exit DJ Reader, enter Christen Miller. About as easy as it gets. 

 

29. Kansas City Chiefs - Colton Hood / CB / Tennessee - Hood got a huge boost in snaps this year and showed well. He played the CB1 for a large portion of that time. He's young, raw, athletic, and is best in press-man. That is what the Chiefs like to run most and Spags will have him molded into a quality player. 

 

30. Miami Dolphins - Denzel Boston / WR / Washington - After grabbing a piece for the new defense at 11, they add a piece for Malik Willis here. Boston is not going to blow past people, but he will lose them using leveraging and good foot speed. He also will box them out like a Power Forward and s-natch the ball out of the air. An immediate Redzone threat and possession receiver he will be, with the talent to transform into more. He reminds me of a slightly taller Keenan Allen.

 

31. New England Patriots - TJ Parker / DE / Clemson - The loss of Chaisson is offset here by the selection of Parker. Parker had a great 2024 with 12 sacks, but fell off a bit just like the rest of the Clemson defense in 2025. He still had 6 sacks, 11 hits, and 24 pressures, but he just didn't get the QB to the ground as much. He is a good fit here. 

 

32. Seattle Seahawks - Cashius Howell / DE / Texas A&M - What do you get if you're the defending SB Champs with who won with a top tier defense? Another explosive Edge defender for said Dark Side defense. Howell had 12 sacks and 27 pressures for that A&M defense that made the CFP. Great burst, good power, and he possesses an arsenal of pass rush moves to keep opposing blockers off balance. 

 

Edited April 12 by H2o

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

Any prognostications on what year Blake Miller eventually makes it to the Bills?

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[gonzo1105]

Always enjoy a different perspective to see what other people think. Mock drafts obviously are always hard to hit in general with different boards, Medicals, trades etc, but when you have a draft that probably has a lot of similarly graded players , I think your going to see some players that weren’t expected to go round 1 sneak in there 

[TheBeaneBandit]

Appreciate all the mock draft maniacs here. The different perspectives are great and I know the work put in ain't nothing to sneeze at. Let's hope the Bills nail it with limited high picks.

[sven233]

KC is my guy.  Been going back and forth on what position/talent to go with and with the limited draft capital we have, it is really frustrating to see so much talent come off the board in the 2nd round that we could absolutely use.  That said, I have settled on WR and KC is my guy.  If not for the drops (which I think are concentration based that can be fixed), I have no doubt he would be one of the top 3 WRs in this class.  But those drops are the only reason we may have a shot at him in the first place.

 

However, the closer we get to the draft, the more I am convinced he's going to be long gone before we pick.  There are a bunch of teams in the late teens and early 20s that need WRs and I absolutely believe there will be 1 GM out there that looks at him like I do.  And, if that's the case, he's not going to be there.

[Victory Formation]

Concepcion would be a dream come true for me..

[bigK14094]

Still hoping Thieneman falls to the Bills.

[JazzyNBlue]

On 4/12/2026 at 12:07 PM, sven233 said:

KC is my guy.  Been going back and forth on what position/talent to go with and with the limited draft capital we have, it is really frustrating to see so much talent come off the board in the 2nd round that we could absolutely use.  That said, I have settled on WR and KC is my guy.  If not for the drops (which I think are concentration based that can be fixed), I have no doubt he would be one of the top 3 WRs in this class.  But those drops are the only reason we may have a shot at him in the first place.

 

However, the closer we get to the draft, the more I am convinced he's going to be long gone before we pick.  There are a bunch of teams in the late teens and early 20s that need WRs and I absolutely believe there will be 1 GM out there that looks at him like I do.  And, if that's the case, he's not going to be there.

There is an article out there about Josh losing pass yardage due to drops and we want our first round pick to be known for dropsies? I need more convincing to make him our first round pick. That would also make our first two picks of the draft be WR. Not sure Beane does that, but to be honest in reading all the TBD people, I don’t know who to pick. 

[MJS]

8 minutes ago, JazzyNBlue said:

There is an article out there about Josh losing pass yardage due to drops and we want our first round pick to be known for dropsies? I need more convincing to make him our first round pick. That would also make our first two picks of the draft be WR. Not sure Beane does that, but to be honest in reading all the TBD people, I don’t know who to pick. 

When your QB can't hit the broad side of a barn, it tends to increase the number of drops you have.

[H2o]

14 minutes ago, MJS said:

When your QB can't hit the broad side of a barn, it tends to increase the number of drops you have.

 

Edit: Oh, you must be talking about the A&M QB, Reed. I gotcha. 

Edited April 13 by H2o

[MJS]

3 minutes ago, H2o said:

 

Edit: Oh, you must be talking about the A&M QB, Reed. I gotcha. 

Yes.

[JazzyNBlue]

22 minutes ago, MJS said:

When your QB can't hit the broad side of a barn, it tends to increase the number of drops you have.

So KC’s QB sucked? 

[DJB]

12 minutes ago, JazzyNBlue said:

So KC’s QB sucked? 

Of all the draft eligible WR’s he had some of the worst accuracy throws tossed his way the numbers say . 

[JazzyNBlue]

2 hours ago, DJB said:

Of all the draft eligible WR’s he had some of the worst accuracy throws tossed his way the numbers say . 

Thank you for the insight. I’ll be happier now if we draft him. 

[DJB]

2 hours ago, JazzyNBlue said:

Thank you for the insight. I’ll be happier now if we draft him. 

 

I know he was credited with 7 drops and everyone keeps pointing to that …but if I have time and I’m bored I’ll go through all his targets and confirm or deny those allegations . I know I’ve seen film where he also makes spectacular catches that he had no business grabbing because his QB was so innacurate. 

[JazzyNBlue]

38 minutes ago, DJB said:

 

I know he was credited with 7 drops and everyone keeps pointing to that …but if I have time and I’m bored I’ll go through all his targets and confirm or deny those allegations . I know I’ve seen film where he also makes spectacular catches that he had no business grabbing because his QB was so innacurate. 

Wow. I’m sure a lot of people would be happy to see that information. That would be awesome. For us “amateurs” it is appreciated.