Fantasy Football Daily - Brett Whitefield's Post-Combine Mock Draft | On the Clock! NFL Draft Podcast

Episode Date: March 10, 2023

Brett Whitefield (@BGWhitefield) flies solo into the weekend, breaking down his Mock Draft 2.0, which includes four QBs in the first four picks... and a surprise trade up for a fifth QB in the first round. Read the mock here: https://www.fantasypoints.com/nfl/articles/2023/brett-whitefields-nfl-mock-draft-20#/ Interested in playing Best Ball in 2023? There's no better place than Underdog Fantasy. Use our code FANTASYPTS to sign up for a new account at Underdog, and not only will you get a 100% deposit match up to $100... but you'll get a Fantasy Points Standard subscription for only $5! https://www.fantasypoints.com/underdog --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time to the Fantasy Points podcast brought to you by FantasyPoints.com. Top level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle, from numbers to the film room with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. We are back with another episode of On the Clock. I am your host, Brett Whitefield. And today on this beautiful Friday morning before free agency starts, I am Solo Dolo. That's right.

No guest today. It is just me and you. We've done this before and I think it turned out pretty well. That's okay. I figured on this great Friday, we have a special thing that we can do. You know what? I love the word special. So yesterday on FantasyPoint.com, I dropped mock draft 2.0.

So I figured today would be a good day for you and I to just go through this mock and go pick by pick and kind of pick my. brain, so to speak, and kind of dump all of my thoughts on you of why I went the way I did. If you're unfamiliar with my mocks, my mocks are pretty much a what I would do situation. I don't pretend to have a ton of insight. I'm not trying to predict the way the first round will go. I basically put myself in the chair of the GM and I make decisions based on what I would do. we don't know a lot yet because Freedency hasn't happened. So some of these picks are a little need-centric.

Some of these picks are upside-centric. Point being, I'm using my draft scores, my evaluations, and I'm just going through, and I'm picking players to teams that I think work the best. So without further ado, let's jump right in. With the first pick of the 2023 NFL draft, I have the Indianapolis Colts. trading up to Chicago, trading up with Chicago for that first overall pick. This seems to be happening a lot of mocks, so it's nothing super fancy. But in this scenario, the Bears get a 2023 first round pick, which is fourth overall.

They get a 2023 second round pick, which is 36 overall. So that's this year. And they get a 2024 first round pick and a 24 third round pick. I think it's a decent haul. Some people will say that's not enough, but I think it's plenty. If I'm Chicago and I get that offer, I'm glad. taking it. The Colts, on the other hand, they get the number one overall pick this year. And with that pick, they are selecting quarterback. Anthony Richardson from Florida.

Yeah, that may come as a shock. But listen, if you've listened to my podcast for any amount of time, you know how high I am on Richardson. So I'm doing this. I've been here on Richardson for probably about a month. I've been inching him closer and closer. to the other guys. At the end of the day, this is what it comes down to for me. Do I think Richardson is a perfect prospect? No. Does he have deficiencies that present clear risks? Yes, his evaluation is not clean.

I will tell you that straight up. I'm not delusional in my thoughts on him. I do know this, though. Taking a swing on the biggest upside of the draft is a franchise changing move if you hit. It's a league altering move if you hit that pick. and the harsh reality for all four of these quarterbacks, and it seems like something no one really wants to talk about

is they all have deficiencies. I get super fired up when I hear people call Anthony Richardson raw because compared to the other guys, he's just not raw. You could say he lacks experience. Sure, that is true. He had less than 500 dropbacks at the college level. But to say he's raw, I don't understand it. All four of these guys have a clear hole in their game.

Richardson's happens to be his throw-for-throw accuracy. What I see on tape is a guy that does all the other QB-centric things very, very well. I would say if you look at recent success projects in the NFL, you know, Jalen Hertz, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, you know, some of these more, Justin Fields even, we'll throw him in there. Some of these more run-centric guys that had accuracy issues coming out, Richardson. is far in a way beyond where they were as quarterbacks coming into the draft. I don't think that's a hot take, but people are going to take that as a hot take. Richardson does the small things better. He reads progressions better.

He reads defenses better. He is a better understanding of what defenses are trying to do to him. He is phenomenal in the pocket. He manipulates pocket with slides, with hitches, with step-ups. He buys his O-line time, and he actually prefers to stay in the pocket and pass. Running is not the first thing he's trying to do. He can do it, absolutely, and you're going to build an offense that centers around a QB-led run game, and that's fine. But as far as the little details that make or break quarterback play, he's really, really good at them.

He has some mechanical issues to work out with that delivery, mostly in his lower half. You see Richardson when he unconsciously doesn't have his feet set. He gets a little happy feet in the pocket sometimes. when he's not throwing from a good base, you know, with both feet on the ground, with a proper weight transfer, that accuracy kind of falls off a cliff a little bit. These things are teachable, though.

We've seen other quarterback, like Josh Allen was a terribly inaccurate passer coming out of college, and we've seen him take major steps forward. So I have high hopes for Richardson, and I am absolutely willing to take a swing on the upside of Richardson. So with that, I think Richardson, for me is that if you're going quarterback first overall, he is the guy I want to take. Moving on. Oh, you know what? I do want to say too, Shane Steichen just did this whole song and

dance of Jalen Hertz. Jalen Hertz is probably a more accurate thrower coming out of college, but like I said already, Richardson did all the other things better than Hertz did. So developmentally, I would think Richardson has a faster track to becoming a successful NFL quarterback. And we have seen how well it has worked with Jalen Hertz. So I'm going to bet on Shane Steichen to get that right. All right. Number two, Houston Texans, they're standing pat. They're pretty elated that quarterback from Alabama, Bryce Young, has fallen into their lap. From a developed skill standpoint, Bryce is the best quarterback in the draft as it stands right now. The glaring weakness in his game is that he's 5'10. And, you know, if I were him, I'd be asking, God, why? Why did

you make me 5'10. But truthfully, he is, you know, he's probably throw for throw the most accurate quarterback. He pretty much can make all the throws. I do think he struggles to generate power when throwing the ball downfield sometimes. Some of it's mechanical. Some of it is I just don't think he has the most juice in the world, especially when you put his tape side by side with Richardson and Stroud and Hendon Hooker guys who can really push the ball downfield. That's okay, though. He still throws downfield well. He throws downfield with great accuracy. Ultimately, though, young steps into a pretty QB-proof system with the Kyle Shanahan offense under their new offensive coordinator, Bobby Sloick, who is a former colleague of mine. I think this is a good system for him. I know a lot of

people have talked about how Bryce needs to be under set or sorry, in shotgun more than under center because of his height disadvantage. However, that Kyle Shanahan offense will get Bryce Young on the move a lot and utilizing those quick electric feet that he has. When he's out of the pocket, I don't see him having any issues, you know, with his delivery and seeing the field, you know, given his 5-10 height. So I think that would be a really good spot for him. And it's pretty, it's a safe pick for them because I think Young is the most developed

quarterback in this draft class. He definitely needs to work on some things, you know, when he, uh, he has a really slow trigger, you know, I will say that. He won't throw the ball unless he sees it wide open. We've seen, especially from the Oklahoma and Alabama trees, actually, we've seen a lot of quarterback struggle with this, whether it's been Baker Mayfield or Kyler Murray or even Jalen Hertz, who played for both schools, Mack Jones, to a Tagalogoa.

These guys all have had this obnoxiously slow trigger, and I think some of it just has to do with the fact that they know their O line is better than the opposing team's D-line. their receivers are better than the opposing team's cornerbacks, so they're going to hold the ball and try to make a play. We will need to see Bryce Young speed that delivery up, though. Get the ball out quicker, get through those progressions faster, and he's going to have to be willing to throw into tighter windows

at the next level for him to have success. I can't think of a better system to get him doing those things than Kyle Shanhan's offense. So, all right, moving on. With the third overall pick in the draft, The Carolina Panthers select C.J. Stroud, quarterback, Ohio State. We're on a quarterback run right here, three in a row to start the draft. The Carolina Panthers came up and traded with the Cardinals. The Cardinals are getting their first pick this year, which is number nine,

their 40th pick this year in the second round, a 2024 first next year, and a 2024 third next year. Similar deal to what the Bears got. Panthers are just getting the third overall this year. didn't get too cutesy there. Cardals are in full rebuild mode, so it makes sense for them to drop back. They're going to sacrifice Blue Chip talent,

but they're getting three extra draft picks. They really need to restock the shelves and kind of build that team up. The Panthers, on the other hand, they get C.J. Stroud. Frank Reich is not going to make the same mistake he made in Indianapolis, which was waiting and waiting and waiting

on the quarterback and kind of playing the veteran carousel. He's going right out of the show. shoot. He's swinging for his guy. And he's getting C.J. Stroud Stroud probably has the best arm talent in this draft. I think he effectively attacks all three levels of the field.

I mean, you saw that his throwing session at the combine. Granted, it's on air. There's no defenders there. There's no pass rush coming. It doesn't matter. You see the arm talent. The guy is accurate at all three levels. He has the juice to make throws outside the numbers downfield. and deliver that ball on time. I really do think C.J. Stroud, he is a good, very good prospect.

He has some issues, though. I mean, when he's under pressure, he does tend to get a little messy. And that pressure comes in two ways. One, when the D-line is putting pressure on him, he definitely kind of falls apart. He's probably one of the worst quarterbacks in this class when under pressure physically. Secondly, he kind of falls apart when he's under pressure mentally as well. we saw this in a lot of big games. I mean, the Georgia one is the most recent one,

so people are always going to come back. I mean, say, well, what about the Georgia game? He almost led them to a comeback. The key operative word there would be almost. He didn't lead them to a comeback. In fact, they lost that game. In all of the other big games in Stroud's career, he disappears in the second half for the most part.

You can cite both Michigan games right off the top of your head. There was a game against Oregon that was pretty ugly as well. That aside, I still think, Stroud is a very good quarterback prospect. He's a bet on the trades kind of guy. I also think there's some untapped mobility there in his game. You did see some of that in the Georgia game where he was more willing to run. I think a good offensive coordinator can pull more of that out of him. Not necessarily saying this is a guy we're going to build the run game around. But as far as moving the chains of his feet on third and eights and third and sevens, I think Stroud can give you a lot more than he

did at Ohio State. All right, moving on. We have another trade. The Las Vegas Raiders trade with the Chicago Bears. The Bears pull off the double tradeback for the second consecutive mock. Vegas moves the number four. They are giving up number seven overall, number 71 overall and a 2024 first round pick. The Raiders are getting back. The fourth overall pick. Simple as that. I don't do these overly complicated. All right, Vegas opts to avoid getting sniped by Seattle, Detroit, Atlanta, all these other teams that need a quarterback. They're just, they're saying,

screw it, we're going up, we're getting our guy. We can't go into next season with Jared Stidham as our quarterback, and they are taking the last top tier quarterback prospect available, which isn't actually true, but for the sake of talking points, I'll just say it's true. Yeah, so four straight quarterbacks off the board. They go with quarterback out of Kentucky, Will Levis.

Now, Will Levis did not. not have a good 2022 season. Anyone that tells you differently is lying straight to your face. He was actually bad. He was objectively bad in 2022. How many top five picks at quarterback have you seen that had an objectively bad season their last year in college? Not many. I will say that. You put on the 21 tape, though, and things are a little different for Will Elvis. He was a lot better. In fact, a lot of those crazy throw, highlight real throws you see on Twitter and YouTube and all social media platforms, most of those throws came in 2021.

He was a totally different player in 2022. I don't really want to get into why. You'll have to read my prospect right up when our draft prospect guide comes out. But yeah, Levis brings them a big arm. He's got a ton of arm talent. He's capable of making some ridiculous throws. From an arm standpoint, he has some similarities to Josh Allen.

The pop is clearly there. The accuracy is clearly not. I do think he struggles when defenses play too high on him, which he's going to see a lot of in the NFL. And not only is he going to see a lot of too high in the NFL, he's going to see a lot of too high without the crazy hash disparity that you have in college. That extra the room on the boundary side of the field side in college gives a guy like Levis an advantage because he does have the arm strength to push the ball outside the numbers over there. in the NFL, the hash marks are much, much tighter, and playing too high is going to be more challenging for him. So that's a concern for sure, something he's got to clean up. Like I said, all of these quarterback prospects have a deficiency in their game.

For the teams drafting them, it's really going to be about mitigating that and finding ways to develop these guys beyond their deficiencies. So no shocker there. Moving on. Number five, the Seattle Seahawks, they stay put. But kind of. They acquired this pick from Denver and the Russell Wilson trade, but that is moot for the purposes of this. They go with the Blue Chip prospect, Will Anderson,

edge defender from Alabama. I would imagine that they're sitting in the war room watching all the craziness unfold and four QBs going off the board right away, and they're just getting super amped up. They land arguably the best player in the draft, non-QB. And, you know, they start rebuilding that D-line. need some help. They technically still could be in the QB market.

I know they re-signed Gino to a three-year deal, 105-mill, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I think it's really a two-year deal. There's some guarantees in there, but I think they can escape that after two years. So technically speaking, they could be in the quarterback market. I bet if a guy like Anthony Richardson or C.D. Stroud was there, they'd be very interested. At number six, the Detroit Lions select Devin Witherspoon, a cornerback out of Illinois. This is not a change from the first mock. I had Willerspoon going here and mock 1.0.

The Lions filled their biggest need on the entire team with a top 10 player on my board. I also considered Oregon cornerback Christian Gonzalez, but ultimately I think Witherspoon's ball skills and physicality are better fits for what Detroit wants to do on defense. Witherspoon is a dog. He's a football player. He seems like a Dan Campbell guy. I know he's a little light in the pants right now, but you're seeing this transition with receivers and corners where the NFL is carrying a little bit less about how much these guys way.

And Witherspoon is he's going to come up and hit you. He's going to be physical at the line of scrimmage. He's going to punch you in the mouth in the run game. Stick his face in the fan. I love it. The way he deconstructs blocks on the edge for a corner is very surprising, especially at his weight. At number seven, the Chicago Bears, they finally make a draft pick. After the double trade back, they go ahead and they.

pick Jalen Carter, interior defensive lineman from Georgia. Now listen, full disclaimer here. Carter does have a disturbing ongoing legal situation. He was arrested in charge with reckless driving and racing in a fatal accident in January that unfortunately led to the death of one of his teammates and staffers at Georgia. From what I have heard, and this isn't much, I'm not the most plugged-in guy in the world, But from what I've heard, I think this is going to somehow blow over for him. So that's why he's still at the top of this draft.

I did have the lines passing on him because they value the character stuff so highly. I just can't see Sheila Hamp and Dan Campbell and Brett Holmes getting on board with Carter. I could be wrong. I'm not claiming to know that for a fact, but I could be wrong. Long story short, the bears end up with him here at number seven. I would imagine if the legal stuff is behind Carter. they're going to be very excited to get a player of this caliber. They are completely rebuilding.

They just went through a minor tank, and they get a guy to build their defense around. Number eight, Atlanta Falcons take. Tyree Wilson, edge defender, Texas Tech. You know, they sit out the bidding war, and they land a powerhouse in Wilson who can play on the edge. They could probably kick him inside on pass downs, too, if they want to. Wilson brings length and power to the defense.

They definitely need a player like that. easy money. At number nine, the Arizona Cardinals make their pick after they traded back. They select quarterback from Oregon, Christian Gonzalez. The Cardinals are in a weird spot because they have holes just about everywhere. They have holes all three levels on defense. They have holes on offense. In my mind, when you have that amount of holes, the best way to address it is just take

the best player available. And that's probably where Gonzalez says, my board's not completely set yet, but it's pretty darn close. they land arguably the best corner in the draft, and he's going to fit their new defensive scheme brilliantly. Let's be honest. They're bringing over that Eagles defensive scheme, which is really zone heavy.

They're going to play some off coverage in zone. I think Gonzalez is tailor-made for that system. That's what he did in Oregon, and he did it very well. At number 10, the Philadelphia Eagles are going to take Lucas Van Ness, edge from Iowa. They're another team. They could go a million directions. They've got a ton of vets on expiring deals.

They have limited cap situation. I do think the Eagles are going to look to the draft to fill some of these holes. So while Howie Roseman isn't always a need-specific drafter, I do think they have clear needs that they have to address to keep this train moving forward. Van Ness is a phenomenal player. He tested as a freak athlete at the draft. I don't necessarily see all of that athleticism on tape, but I do think he is a good athlete.

He brings that length, power, and athleticism. Traits that we know Roseman values highly. He's drafted a bunch of delinement over the years, and they usually all have that in common, minus Derek Burnett. At 11, the Tennessee Titans, they are starting the rebuild of their O-line after losing Taylor-Lawain. They honestly have needs at both tackle spots that could probably get better at guard as well. So we're just going to go ahead and give them Paris Johnson Jr., offensive tackle, Ohio State. Listen, he's not the top tackle on my board, but for what Tennessee does,

what their identity is, I do think Paris Johnson is better than Peter Skoronsky, the tackle from Northwestern. Johnson is a, he's got tremendous length, good athleticism, but he also likes to play a little bit more physical in the run game. You know, he's got to work on sustaining some of those blocks, but ultimately I do think identity-wise, he's going to give them a little bit more juice than Skoronsky. Houston Texans at 12 are taking Quentin Johnston, wide receiver TCU. When I did mock draft 1.0, Johnson went 30 first overall or 32nd overall to the Kansas City Chiefs. So what changed? I actually got through all of his tape, and I ended up liking Johnson a lot. If you listened to my solo pod last week, I broke down him in detail.

Go back and listen to that. I think I ranted about Johnson for literally 18 minutes long. I'm not going to get into that right now, but Johnson is a perfect match with Bryce Young's play style. They protect the investment of the quarterback by immediately giving him a weapon to grow with. We've seen this work across the league in many situations, whether it was Josh Allen and Stefan Diggs or Joe Burrow and T. Higgins slash Jamar Chase. I love this. They got to get better at, you know, skill player there. Johnson really helps Bryce and start that development right away.

Number 13. I made this, I did this mock before the Jets went out and traded for Chuck Clark. I don't really know that that matters, though. I think, you know, the motto should be draft good players. And Brian Branch, defensive back from Alabama, can do so many different things. He still allows them to get their best five, best six defensive backs on the field. Branch can play in the slot. He can play at safety.

He can play in the box. He can play deep. It doesn't matter. Give the guy a job. He'll be a good starter in year one for you. Number 14. The New England Patriots select wide receiver from USC. Jordan Addison.

The Mac Jones experience is near fatal point in its existence. It's on the cusp of crashing and burning. They need to get the man some legit weapons. They've kind of been doing this band-dated approach where they're picking up Nelson Aguilar's and Defante Parkers of the world. Listen, those guys aren't bad players, but they're not number one receivers. Go get the man a number one receiver. Jordan Addison fits in. He does all of these things well. By the way, I am making this pick, assuming that they bring back Jacoby Myers. If they don't, I'm probably going to go Jackson Smith and Jigba here because he is an elite slot weapon, and I think that would be a better fit if they didn't have Jacoby on the roster.

Number 15, the Green Bay Packers select the aforementioned Jackson Smith and Jigba. So three receivers in the top 15. I don't think currently a lot of people are projecting that. I value the receiver position pretty highly. The Packers are probably looking at a transition at quarterback. They're putting Jordan Love in the mix. I want to make Jordan Love's job as easy as humanly possible. So if they're not going to go offensive tackle, which I did consider Peter Skoronski here,

I got to have them go a wide receiver. JSN pairs with Christian Watson perfectly. Christian Watson is this big play machine. going to crush it on deep crossers and go routes and double moves, maybe even some gadget-type plays where you're looking to get those big explosives out of him. Jackson Smith and Jigba, JSN, as we will call him going forward, is a phenomenal do-it-all short and intermediate type of slot player who can keep the chains moving. He's going to be a threat in the red zone. He's going to be your quarterback's best friend because the man is pretty much always open.

Number 16. The commanders, I did this again. They take the, aforementioned Peter Skoronsky, offensive tackle Northwestern. Washington, like, they're sitting at 16 and they get the best offensive tackle in the draft. I mean, that's insane value, to be honest. Scoronsky gives them flexibility on the O.L. He allows them to ensure they put their best five blockers on the field because Skoronsky has some positional versatility. He can probably play either guard spot. He was great at left tackle. He can probably play right tackle as well. So you're getting a guy who can probably start at four different positions for you as a rookie. 17, the Pittsburgh Steelers. This is the lowest hanging fruit in the draft. Most people doing

first round mocks right now are making this pick. Unfortunately, it actually does make a lot of sense. So I'm going Joey Porter Jr. cornerback, Penn State. Yeah, it happened. Listen, we all know his dad played up in Pittsburgh, had a great career there. I'm assuming Mike Tomlin wants to go after his son here. It is low-hanging fruit, but they need a cornerback. back desperately, especially if they lose Cam Sutton. I think this is a great fit. He kind of fit. His play style matches the Steelers to a T.

At 18, the Detroit Lions are selecting interior defensive lineman Collijah Cancy from Pittsburgh. Yeah, the biggest weakness other than corner on the D-line is they don't get a whole lot of pass rush from the interior. Aline McNeil did move to some more three tech stuff at the end of the year last year and was starting to fill that role. But I still think Alim is probably best served as a one technique, nose tackle type. They tried doing the three tech thing with Josh Pascal, who they drafted last year in the second

round. He's more of an edge defender. But ironically, Cansey and Pascal are almost identical in size. So for the naysayers, you're going to say, oh, what about the length issues? What about the undersized ability and ability to fit gaps and defend the run? Listen, I don't think Brad Holmes cares about that. He's drafted at least three or four defensive linemen now that don't have good length. Actually, they all have below average length.

The only de-lineman he drafted with above average length was Levi Arunzurike, who hasn't really played for them. So I think Kalaja Cansey will absolutely be on their board. So much so that, like, it's honestly a perfect fit. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 19. They need a lot of stuff. They also need offensive tackle help with the departure of Donovan. Smith, they're bringing in Broderick Jones from Georgia. He comes in, he's going to play left tackle right away for them.

Seems like an ideal situation, especially because they're going to be starting a new, young, inexperienced quarterback in 2023, presumably. 20, Seattle Seahawks, Brian Brisei, Interior D-Lignment from Clemson. This was a good pick to make. I mean, they got Will Anderson and Brian Brisei in the first round, completely rebuilding that D-line, getting some young, explosive talent. I love it. Brisei is a great athlete. His high end plays are as good as any in this draft.

He's got to get more consistent. I love it, though. If they can get the consistency out of him, Seattle's D-line is going to be nasty with these two guys. At Pick 21, the Miami Dolphins forfeit. At pick 22, the L.A. Chargers select Jalen Hyatt, wide receiver Tennessee. Same player, same theme here as in Mach 2.5.

I did this with the first mock. I'm sticking with it. We need a field stretcher for Justin Herbert. This is going to help Keenan Allen. It's going to help Mike Williams. These are secondary wins. But the whole draft this year should be about maximizing their best player in Herbert. I also wrote that even though I'm taking high in the first round here,

I'm doubling down on pass catcher. And I'm going with Sam Leporta or Tucker Craft on day two. I'm getting Herbert the weapons. We have to get this thing going. The offense last year was a disgrace for how good these players are. Pick 23, Baltimore Ravens select Nolan Smith, Edge Defender from Georgia. Listen, this guy is a freaky athlete. He pretty much fits what Baltimore has done for 20 years at Edge.

You know, good athlete can do a lot of different things. He's versatile. They like those versatile guys. He can stunt. He can drop in coverage. He can twist. Listen, this is a slam dunk pick for them. Probably the other low-hanging fruit of the first.

round. Pick 24, Minnesota Vikings, Miles Murphy, edge defender, Clemson. They, uh, so Zadari Smith and DeNeil Hunter are going to be 31 and 29, respectively. When I wrote this, I did not know that Zadarius Smith was asking for his release. So this kind of makes sense even more now. Miles Murphy brings crazy athleticism and pass rushing skills at the table. They're going to get younger. They're going to get cheaper. Boom. 25, Jacksonville Jaguars are selecting tight end from June. Georgia, Darnell Washington. I bet you did not see that coming.

Listen, Darnell Washington's not my first best tight end on my board. He's not my second best tight end on my board. I don't even think he's my third best tight end on my board. But he just makes the most sense for Jacksonville Jaguars. They franchise tagged Evan Ingram, who is more of a move tight end, a big slot receiver type, a guy who's going to be a lot of man coverage with his quickness and speed.

Darnow Washington is the opposite. This is a mountain of a man. He's 270-pound athlete who is going to be great in the run game for them. He's going to be great in pass pro. He needs to get a little bit more consistent in the run game. He's not quite the sixth offensive lineman. He's been billed at so far. But he will get there.

You see the displacement skills immediately when you watch his tape. And then on top of that, he is a little leaner than he was at Georgia. He waited at the command 265. and the movement skills that the combine popped a little bit more than it pops on tape. So if he's going to be playing at that weight in the NFL, I do think this is another weapon for Trevor Lawrence as well. He gives them a massive catch radius. Should be great in the red zone for them.

We've seen Doug Peterson use these two tight-end sets effectively back when he was in Philadelphia. We have a lot of Zacherts, a lot of Dallas goather years there. 26, the New York Giants, Zay Flowers, wide receiver, Boston College. Yeah, you broke the bank for Daniel Jones. So now you have to protect an investment. Even though I don't think it was a good investment, it doesn't matter. Let's go all in on making Daniel Jones the best possible version of himself. We can't.

I not only would do this, I'd probably go sign DJ Chark as well, get him out at the X receiver spot. You put Zay Flowers in at Z and slot. Wondell Robinson gets on the field. You got Isaiah Hodgins backing up to two outside spots. We got to build this thing right. Daniel Bellinger looked like a promising tight end last year. Let's give Daniel as many pass catchers as possible. We know we're pretty good on the O line now.

You got bookend tackles, not much to worry about there. Let's get the past game going. It's mandatory. You're spending $40 plus million a year on this kid. Let's get it going. 27, the Dallas Cowboys, Dalton Kincaid, tight end Utah. This is my favorite tight end in the draft.

But, Dallas gets him at 27 and as the second titan off the board. Same thought process here is Mach 1.0 where I gave them Michael Mayer. They just need more pass catchers. They're in cap trouble and they have an expiring contract in Dalton Schultz. It's really that simple. We're going to get cheaper and we're going to get better because Kincaid is definitely going to be an upgrade over Schultz over the long haul.

Schultz, while he is a good player in some regard, he's more of a checkdown monster where you check it down to him. he's going to give you some yak. But he's not a guy who's going to go out there and routinely beat zone with smart route running. He's not going to go out there and routinely win matchups against athletic linebackers and safeties. Dalton Kincaid, though, will do those things. He's a phenomenal route runner.

He's going to get open. He's going to own the middle of the field for Dak Prescott. They need this guy desperately. This will be a slam dunk for them, in my opinion. 28, Buffalo Bills. They're going. Anton Harrison, offensive tackle, Oklahoma. Look, the bills have kind of been doing this musical chairs on the offensive line for a couple of years.

It started to cost them this year. Harrison gives the bill's options too, which is always a plus. He can play inside early in his career before he secures a spot of offensive tackle if that's the path they take. I didn't have Harrison in Mach 1.0 for what it's worth. So he jumps into the discussion now. 29. Cincinnati Bengals. Bejan Robinson, running back, Texas. Yeah, he's the hardest player in this entire situation in the slot.

He's got a top 15 grade for me, but there's just not a lot of teams that can justify the pick, if that makes sense. I didn't really know what to do with him. I love the idea of getting cheaper and younger at the spot. I don't like second contract running backs. I would say, go ahead and get rid of Joe Mixon, replace him with Bejohn Robinson. I did the same thing in Mach 1.0, and now we have Joe Mixon in some interesting legal situation. with the alleged shooting at his home. Don't know what's going to be made of that.

However, I do know that getting younger and getting cheaper at the position is a massive win, especially when you can do it with a generational-type talent and Bijon Robinson. And no, that is not hyperbole. The last running back to score as well as he did in my system was Christian McCaffrey. The one before him was Ezekiel Elliott.

Those three are the top three running backs I have ever scored. 30. The New Orleans Saints. This is the big shocker, by the way, of this mock draft. But they are drafting SMU wide receiver Rishi Rice. If you guys are listeners of the pod already, you know how much I love Rishie Rice. Now, I know what everyone's thinking, that's not a first round guy. Nobody, literally nobody, Brett, has him in the first round.

Here's the thing. I don't freaking care. The reality of almost every draft is you're going to have between 20 and 24. first round grades. This year, I might be sitting at 18 to 20. So what that means is just right off the top, you're going to have 10 to 12 players, maybe 14, who go in the first round, who don't have first round grades. My opinion of this draft class is that after those first round grades run out, so you kind of have three tiers. You have the blue chip tier, which is Jalen Carter, Willie Anderson, and the quarterbacks. And then you have the first round grade tier. And then after that,

You have a massive tier of what I would call really good day two options. And there's probably 40 players in that cluster of guys. Rishi Rice is right there in that mix. So I have no problem with the Saints taking Rishie Rice. He is a fantastic prospect. If he played at a bigger school, I'm ached to believe he would be in everyone's mock drafts in the first round. I think there is a small school bias happening with him. but the man can ball.

They're going to pair his three-level playmaking ability with Chris Olavet, get Derek Carr the adequate weapons he needs to succeed. And the Saints are having a quiet, really good offseason if this happens. Number 31, the next big shocker of the mock. The Philadelphia Eagles, we mentioned how they have all of these holes. And they got to use the draft capital because they can't, they just don't have the cap space to resign a lot of their free agents. They're not going to be big-time players of free agency.

So they're going to need draft picks to fill a hole. So they actually trade out of the first with the Detroit Lions. They're going to get both of the Lions' second round picks this year. The Lions had two after that T.J. Hawkinson trade mid-season. So the Eagles are picking up pick 48, pick 55. The Lions in return are getting pick 31. Listen, the Lions are losing a little bit of value here on most trade value charts. But they're doing it to come up and take quarterback.

That's right. fifth quarterback. Henden Hooker from Tennessee. I love Hennon Hooker. If you've listened to my other podcast, Take Talk, Steve and I, along with guests like Ray Garvin and Joe Marino, we have waxed poetically about how good Hennon Hooker is. In an alternate dimension somewhere, Hennon Hooker didn't tear his ACL. The Tennessee volunteers make the college football playoff. Hennon Hucker wins the Hizman, and Hennon Hooker is at the Towers. top 10 pick. That is happening right now in an alternate dimension. Just ask Antman. Jokes aside,

Hennon Hooker would absolutely be in the conversation if he didn't tear his ACL. He's a phenomenal player. He's got a great arm, plenty of juice in his arm, and he's throw for throw right there with Bryce Young as far as accuracy goes. He's an incredibly smart player. He's a very mature player. When I hear this guy talk, I get Jalen Hertz vibes. No prospect has ever endeared me to them the way Jalen Hurstead with his mentality and his brain and the way he works and his demeanor and you can see the values just oozing out of him. He's just a really good dude. I get all of the same vibes from Hennon Hooker. This is a huge win for the Lions who probably need to address quarterback for two reasons. One, they have a contract decision they're going to have to make on golf after this year.

I don't like the idea of paying Jared Gough 50 million for them. That's probably Probably what it's going to cost. Listen, the inflation of the QB market is outpacing the inflation of the salary cap. We just saw guys like Carr getting $37.5 million. Daniel Jones getting 40 with incentives, by the way, that could get him up to 49. I think if you're paying Jared Gough 50 million a year, you're not winning a darn thing because he's going to cripple the rest of your roster. Jared golf is a good player. And I love what Jared has done for the Lions.

I just need options. And Hennon Hooker gives me options. at worst, you're getting a high-level backup at worst. And the Lions haven't had a good backup quarterback in a long time, but they need to start investing in this position to see if they can come up with some options here

instead of signing Jared Gough to a long-term deal. I don't think they're going to have a good opportunity next year early in the draft because I think they're going to win too many games. So the time is now. If they're not going to get involved at the beginning of the draft, they've got to get involved here at the end of the first round and get my guy, Hendon Hooker,

secure that fifth year option since he's going to be sitting for a year. All right, 32 and to round this thing out, the Kansas City Chiefs Select. Drum roll, please. Notre Dame tight end, Michael Mayer. All right. Is Michael Mayer a comparable prospect to Travis Kelsey from a skill set standpoint? No, not at all. But Kansas City does need to start preparing for life after Kelsey.

And while Mayor and Kelsey definitely do a lot of different things, the one thing they have in common is they're going to add a lot of middle of the field value. So that's a big thing for me. Mayor is a very, very above average receiver in the middle of the field. He is big. He's really good on contested catches. He's strong at the catch point. He's got good ball skills.

He's really good at working into zone, or I should say working into windows in zone. He does a really good job of attacking blind spots of zone defenders. I think Mahomes would actually like him quite a bit. He's not the same level athlete and route runner that Kelsey is, but that's okay. The other win for the chiefs here is they kind of have this new affection for 12 personnel. We saw this a lot last year where there were game plans where they're trotting out a lot of 12 personnel. And mayor gets some early career contributions because he's going to share the field of Kelsey. I like the idea of putting mayor in line and having Kelsey be a move guy, or maybe you run a lot of wing for me.

or ace. Whatever you got to do, I like the idea of getting both of these guys in the field together. And the Chiefs get some value here. Mayer's a very good player. He's going to have a first round grade for me, and they're getting him at the back end of the first round, so I like it. Real quick, some notable players left out. Cornerback Deonti Banks from Maryland. Ohio State offensive tackle DeWan Jones. Oregon State tight end Luke Musgrave and Florida Interior Offensive lineman Osiris Torrance. These are all guys I had in my first. I had John Michael Schmidt in my first mock as well. He's not on the list.

Trying to think of the Kansas State, edge defender. He didn't make it in the first round. I just didn't have anywhere to put him. I'm not saying these guys won't go in the first. Remember, this is what I would do. Anyways, I hope you like the mock. If you haven't yet,

please check it out at fantasy points.com. Retweet that sucker on Twitter. Let's get some eyes on it. I do think it's fun. I will be doing another mock. between free agency and the draft, which will be the final mock in the series. Other than that, look out for the prospect guide. First publish is a week from today, I believe.

I think I misspoke the other day when I said that. It's a week from today. We're going to get your eyes on probably about 100 prospects at first, and we'll be updating that daily. So as guys are getting written up and edited from the editing staff here, we'll be getting those guys into the system. All right, that's going to do it. Thank you so much for listening.

went 42 minutes today on mock draft 2.0. I hope that was adequate time for you. I will see you Monday. Next week's guest list, by the way, is unbelievable. So make sure you're tuning in next week. I am out. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform. And come join the roster at FantasyPoints.com.