Dekker Mock Draft 2.0
With the NFL draft approaching and with Free Agency behind us, here is my second Mock Draft. As with the last one, I am attempting to predict who will be selected as opposed to just drafting for team positional needs.
Since the first attempt, there has been a couple of trades that have shaken up the landscape a little bit. The New Orleans Saints and the Houston Texans now have two first rounders this year. It is very difficult to predict what type of trade market there will be, so this model does not have any trades. Also, I like to use the Mock Draft Simulator that can be found here.
You can check out a few of the highlights below!
Alright, I have the Jags selecting Walker number one overall. It seems that the media is vehemently against this, but I believe that they are starting to realize that some NFL insiders are hearing that this is a possibility. Walker is an absolute monster of an athlete but doesn’t have the stats to prove it from his tenure in Athens. However, often times, an athlete at defensive end can have a successful career under good coaching.
Thibodeaux ends up falling to seven here. The Giants will likely try to trade back a little bit to get future draft capital, but wouldn’t be upset to bolster both their offensive and defensive line.
I have only three quarterbacks going in the first round: Pickett to CAR, Willis to ATL, and Ridder to PIT. These three teams are the most likely to be selecting QBs this draft per media and analyst consensus. I have also seen some reports out there stating that Matt Corral could be of interest for the Panthers as well. I do think that there will be a run on QBs early as opposed to the later half of the first round. No one really knows how the quarterbacks stack up on individual team boards, so that mystery adds an element of excitement leading up to draft night.
Also, Drake London falls all the way to pick twenty-two for the Green Bay Packers. He has a ton of potential, but I think that speed is the number one priority for a lot of the WR needy teams at the moment. Even though Jameson Williams tore his ACL in the College Football Championship and will miss some of his rookie year as he recovers, I still think he has the highest ceiling of this class and will likely be the first wide receiver off the board.
Wide receivers and cornerbacks are going to be a hot commodity as they make up a 11/32 selections. Fortunately, both of these position groups have a good amount of depth to them for some other teams to get a solid player in the second and third round as well.
In conclusion, this exercise is always fun as I hope to get a few selections correct for some bragging rights down the road. I’ll be putting out my final mock draft the morning of the NFL Draft on April 28th.
Let me know if you agree on some of this picks or have any thoughts to share!
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