By: Collyn Foster
2/28/2018
Hello everyone and welcome to my first ever 2-round mock draft! I along with all of you am a huge fan of football and love seeing the future of the NFL come up and make a name for themselves. For these prospects, the NFL Combine will give them a chance to improve their draft stock and help them fly up draft boards. And on the other hand, the Combine could hurt prospects stock if they do not perform well. The Combine is not an end all, be all, but it could make teams look at players in a different way, for the better, or worse.
This is my first installment in a weekly series that I hope to bring to everyone. Because no one, except the teams themselves, really know what each team will do with their selections, this 2-round mock draft is a mixture of what I think the team will do and also what I think the team should do. I am using my extensive knowledge of the game and team building skills I honed in on during my time with SMWW, taking their NFL GM & Scouting course last winter. Let’s get right into it:
Round 1 1. BROWNS: Sam Darnold, QB 2. GIANTS: Josh Rosen, QB 3. COLTS: Bradley Chubb, EDGE 4. BROWNS: Saquon Barkley, RB 5. BRONCOS: Quenton Nelson, OG 6. JETS: Baker Mayfield, QB 7. BUCCANEERS: Minkah Fitzpatrick, CB/S 8. BEARS: Denzel Ward, CB 9. 49ERS: Tremaine Edmunds, LB 10. RAIDERS: Roquan Smith, LB 11. DOLPHINS: Connor Williams, OT 12. BENGALS: Mike McGlinchey, OT 13. REDSKINS: Da’Ron Payne, DT 14. PACKERS: Josh Jackson, CB 15. CARDINALS: Josh Allen, QB 16. RAVENS: Calvin Ridley, WR 17. CHARGERS: Vita Vea, DT 18. SEATTLE: Derwin James, S 19. DALLAS: Maurice Hurst, DT 20. LIONS: Marcus Davenport, EDGE 21. BILLS: Arden Key, EDGE 22. BILLS: James Daniels, C 23. RAMS: Isaiah Oliver, CB 24. PANTHERS: Sam Hubbard, EDGE 25. TITANS: Harold Landry, EDGE 26. FALCONS: Isaiah Wynn, OG 27. SAINTS: Rashaan Evans, LB 28. STEELERS: Carlton Davis, CB 29. JAGUARS: Ronnie Harrison, S 30. VIKINGS: Billy Price, OG 31. PATRIOTS: Harrison Phillips, DT 32. EAGLES: Malik Jefferson, LB Round 2
33. BROWNS: Chukwuma Okorafor, OT 34. GIANTS: Will Hernandez, OG 35. BROWNS: Courtland Sutton, WR 36. COLTS: Derrius Guice, RB 37. JETS: Ronald Jones II, RB 38. BUCCANEERS: Taven Bryan, DT 39. BEARS: Braden Smith, OG 40. BRONCOS: Jaire Alexander, CB 41. RAIDERS: Travarus McFadden, CB 42. DOLPHINS: Leighton Vander Esch, LB 43. PATRIOTS: Mike Hughes, CB 44. REDSKINS: James Washington, WR 45. PACKERS: Dallas Goedert, TE 46. BENGALS: Derrick Nnadi, DT 47. CARDINALS: Kolton Miller, OT 48. CHARGERS: Orlando Brown, OT 49. JETS: MJ Stewart, CB 50. COWBOYS: Christian Kirk, WR 51. LIONS: Nick Chubb, RB 52. RAVENS: Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, EDGE 53. BILLS: Martinas Rankin, OT 54. CHIEFS: Donte Jackson, CB 55. PANTHERS: Jamarco Jones, OT 56. BILLS: Mason Rudolph, QB 57. TITANS: Kyzir White, S 58. FALCONS: Da’Shawn Hand, DT 59. 49ERS: Auden Tate, WR 60. STEELERS: Marcus Allen, S 61. JAGUARS: Mark Andrews, TE 62. VIKINGS: Rasheem Green, DE 63. PATRIOTS: Ochenna Nwosu, EDGE 64. BROWNS: Frank Ragnow, OG
Key Picks:
4. Cleveland Browns: Saquon Barkley, RB
The Browns follow up the top pick with another great pick at 4, taking arguably the best player in the draft. Barkley has been a dominant force during his time at Penn State and is looked at as one of the best running back prospects ever seen. Barkley can do it all, he is an explosive runner and extremely effective in the passing game. Barkley can make an immediate and wonderful impact on any team, but adding this sort of talent to a rebuilding Browns team would do wonders. Barkley is a generational talent and adding him to the projected top pick Sam Darnold, would be great for both. They both would be able to have a chance to take pressure off of each other and grow and develop together.
13. Washington Redskins: Da’Ron Payne, DT
The Redskins could go a number of ways with this pick, and have the luxury of going with the “Best Player Available” approach. I gave them Payne because he is one of the most complete defensive tackle prospects in the draft, he can rush the passer and is very good against the run. Pairing Payne with the Redskins first-round pick last year Jonathan Allen would be putting the two former Crimson Tide players back together and it would be SCARY. Although this might not be the most glamorous pick, it would be very
strategic and would allow the Redskins worry about other positions later in the draft.
23. Los Angeles Rams: Isaiah Oliver, CB
Even though the Rams just made a big splash and landed arguably one of the NFL’s best corners in Marcus Peters, I still expect them to look to improve their secondary. Imagine pairing him with another potential top corner, who is also big, lanky, and physical. This selection would not only be a benefit for the secondary, it would help to further cushion the blow of losing Trumaine Johnson in free agency.
36. Indianapolis Colts: Derrius Guice, RB
The Colts kick off their draft with a bang, they add the best pass rusher and possibly the best player in the draft with the third pick in Bradley Chubb and follow it up with one of the most dominant running back prospects. Adding Guice would do wonders for this Colts offense who is looking to rebound from a down year. Pairing Guice with Marlon Mack in the backfield would be one of the best young running back duos in the league. Adding another offensive piece that isn’t an offensive lineman this early would be risky but I think it would help protect Luck and open up opportunities for Luck down the field.
50. Dallas Cowboys: Christian Kirk, WR
This Cowboys team is looking to rebound after a down year and are in desperate need of offensive talent to compliment what they already in place. The Cowboys are in a great position this offseason to reload and come back one of the NFL’s best teams. Adding a player like Kirk would help speed up that process. The Cowboys have lacked a true playmaker on the outside for a couple seasons now and have relied on Dez Bryant to be the playmaker everyone thought he was, but he has not lived up to the expectation and with Kirk they would have a dynamic slot to be a true difference maker on the offense and would help relieve the pressure on Ezekiel Elliott.
I hope you all enjoyed the mock and if you have any comments or suggestions feel free to shoot me a message at collyn@blitzalytics.com