Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - CBS Sports' Chris Trapasso brings us the final mock

Episode Date: April 27, 2023

On Draft Day, Matthew Coller and Chris Trapasso get their final takes in, going through the entire first round Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello and welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here along with CBS Sports Draft Analyst, Krista Trapasso, and it is the final mockdown. It's the last pod we're doing before the draft. We will do one more, and that will complete your duties for draft season, although we do get together periodically otherwise. But this is it i mean this is the final look at what the first round of the nfl draft is going to be like the

final look at what the board might be when the vikings get there so the the only rule i think chris is that we're going to try to project what they'll actually do as opposed to what they should do but i feel like we'll include that in our commentary for this draft so are you excited sir you have put in so much work all year long you've grinded tape you've graded 10 000 players and now it all comes to fruition i'm really excited i like i think last episode or the one before i had like draft fatigue where i was just ready for it to be here. It's a different feeling.

There's like a buzz during draft week. And I'm hoping that the, I don't want to call it a curse, but like the purple insider thing that always happens where you record a podcast and then it becomes instantly obsolete because there's some crazy news. I'm hoping, this is one time I'm actually hoping for it because it would be so hilarious if we do this first round mock and then that Redditor was ultimately right and Will Levis becomes like the Vegas favorite to be the number one overall pick and we're like picking Bryce Young to the Carolina Panthers potentially and it's obsolete by the morning that would be actually really funny I think that this happens every year that there's some real goofy stuff that comes out just before the draft. And oftentimes it doesn't make any difference, but there's always draft day surprises.

Last year was full of them. Not, it wasn't just the quarterbacks. There was full of, you know, players who we thought weren't going to be taken as high. Then you go back a few years ago and there was like the Cleland pharrell pick where he was fourth and most people mocked him in like 23rd or something so you never know and that's the great part of this is that we all get the big reveal but until then we will do our absolute best to entertain with one final mockdown so uh yeah i think we can begin we'll go every other draft pick we'll talk about it and then when we get to the vikings we'll have a little more in-depth discussion about what they're going

to do uh but you as the guests you get the number one overall pick so do you believe reddit or do you believe peter king uh you know chris mortensen sort of all the old school reporters adam schefter they've all kind of put it out there that it's been Bryce Young. It probably was always Bryce Young. I don't want to twist your mock, but at least that's how I think. Do you agree with that? I really think it's going to be Bryce Young. Do I want it to be Will Levis just because of the hilariousness of a Reddit,

random Reddit user being the one that scooped like the entire draft industry, even being in the NFL draft industry, I'm not an insider. It would just be really funny. And looking at that guy's comments, like they are as confident as I've ever seen, like this will happen 100%. It's going to, it's, it's a done deal. He's already telling everyone. So I still think though, I'm going to lean with Chris Mortensen and Peter King, the established titans of the industry, and go with Bryce Young, number one overall to the Carolina Panthers. Yeah, I think that's the right pick.

I also think that even though I have some questions about the size, and even sometimes when there's too much playmaking from a guy, you sort of wonder, like, wait, is he going off schedule all the time? And I do have that thought from Bryce Young, but also I totally buy from listening to interviews with him that his intelligence is through the roof, his skill set, his ability to escape, make throws, he's gutsy, he plays for Alabama. This to me is the pick. It's the guy that you go with now i know that number one on your big board was anthony richardson

and i also like anthony richardson a lot as a prospect but i get it i get it if you're carolina you are looking to make sure that you hit on this draft pick and despite the height i think bryce young gives a great chance there now the houston texans here's my thing with the houston texans i don't believe the houston texans know what they're doing as a franchise i i i buy into domico ryan's as a really really smart guy uh but i don't buy into anybody else, their ownership, their general manager, the whatever. Wasn't it their GM who said he was like the wolf on wall street that it

gets, he didn't watch the movie. That's not a comparison you want to make do that guy burned. What? Anyway, that's not very smart and I don't think they're very smart. So I'm going to go that they take instead of a quarterback that they are going to take. Let's see. Who is it? Why am I blanking? Oh, I know why. Cause I'm having trouble finding it for some reason on PFF. The guy is farther

down. What is happening here? I'm sorry. I'm having a slight technical issue for my edge rusher, but I think they're going to take an edge rusher instead of taking a quarterback. What happened? Why is he gone? Oh, Tyree Wilson. There he is. There you go. Because PFF doesn't like him as much, but I think the Texans will like him.

So he's buried on the list, and I had to scroll down. But I think they're going to take Tyree Wilson with the number two overall pick and they're going to say we got our next Mario Williams and we are going to wait till next year at the quarterback position and again we have no idea what we're doing so that's what I think is going to happen it seems a little crazy after like we've kind of penciled in for the longest time quarterback at number two and it makes sense that's what they need and then oh if they don't pick pick a quarterback which that kind of materialize and maybe mid-march that hey they might actually go not quarterback okay then it's going to be will anderson or maybe jaylen carter and the jaylen carter stuff happens

tyree wilson seems crazy because of that but at size, he's taller and longer than Miles Garrett. He's not Miles Garrett as a prospect, but in D'Amico Ryans, who you mentioned, who probably is the smartest guy in that front office in terms of football, wherewithal and knowledge, Nick Bosa, DeForest Buckner, Eric Armstead. He was there for a lot of those, even Javon Kinlaw and Solomon Thomas, who didn't work out in San Francisco. They really prioritized defensive line and I think length and size and athleticism at the position. So Tyree Wilson, it does seem like if you listen to Lance Zerline

from NFL.com, who's based in Houston, he picked Tyree Wilson. It seems like one of those late kind of Trevon Walker type ascensions, like late in the process for a prospect. It might not be perfect. He has some health injury or injury concerns that might actually end up going super high in the draft. Yeah. I mean, I just think that they might look at it also with the San Francisco roots of saying, why don't we see if we have something at the quarterback position here first before we go all in on someone. And then if it doesn't work out,

we could draft Drake may or Caleb Williams next year, which I think a lot of teams are kind of saying, and, but Houston could really make a strong argument that they could still be the worst team in the NFL for next year. Even though maybe a little more competent that the head coaching position will win some games. But I think it's absolutely silly. But you know who did this a couple years ago?

It was Washington, who's an absolutely unserious franchise as well. They said, no, we need Chase Young. He's our guy. He's going to be the next Bruce Smith or something. And, yeah, they passed up on Tua and Justin Herbert to do that. I think that Houston is that clueless. So on to the next one, Arizona, which look, we're not doing trade downs here. It gets too complicated.

They're probably trading out of this, right? Yeah, that's what I was going to ask you because we didn't talk about it off air if we're doing trades or not because this is the most obvious trade-down scenario. And what I think will happen between us recording this Tuesday night and the actual draft, we'll start to hear that the Cardinals love all these prospects at the top. They love Jalen Carter. They love Will Anderson. They even love Tyree Wilson.

Maybe even an offensive tackle to protect Kyler Murray just to get some team to potentially bite and trade up with them. I do not think their new GM, and we've talked about it, looks at that roster and says, yeah, let's just pick a defensive lineman here because that's what we need most. They desperately need to trade back. But if you, as the czar of this podcast, are telling me that we're not trading back, they're going to pick Will Anderson from Alabama. High floor. I think he's got pretty high upside too. I've kind of compared him to Khalil

Mack light. I don't think he would be that. He's not going to be that instant impact as Khalil Mack was with the Raiders in 2014, but someone that you know what you're getting with him. He's going to be a three down player. He's going to be between eight to 12 sacks every season. Good run defender, maybe never a defensive player of the year like Khalil Mack, but in that range. So if they cannot trade back or their GM is steadfast and like, Hey, we're only trading back. If we get fair value, then I think they would pick and should pick Will Anderson. Yeah. I don't even, I mean even i mean of course yes they should be trading back i don't even think it's that insane for them to pick will anderson though because one i okay i just feel like with will anderson some people are talking themselves out of it and i don't know why

because i watched him play football and it's like wait is it because of the combine like his 40 wasn't fast enough what is wrong with you people look at look at this man play football so i think that uh yeah i if they were to stay and make that pick i think it would be a good idea they need to rebuild and they need stars um you trade down too far and then you're looking at just getting like average prospects they need some superstars to build around uh so the next pick is the indianapolis colts i think they will go Anthony Richardson here, that they will search for the next Jalen Hurts because of the Philly connections and try to find somebody that they can develop, somebody who's a running quarterback to build that offense that player with high athleticism can improve. I think there's about there's about 0.0002% of the universe that it can improve accuracy. But Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts, these are the best of the best athletes. I think they can do it. I think Anthony Richardson can do it and Indianapolis can finally get started on their

future. They also have a coach who has like coached people before now. So that's also good. So I'm going to go Anthony Richardson there. This makes things pretty easy. I think for the Seattle Seahawks that in a lot of the mocks that I've done, I'm finalizing my, my last one before the 2023 draft tonight that will go up tomorrow. Maybe I'll tweak a few things before Thursday in a lot of those.

I've had the Seahawks sitting there at five with Anthony Richardson and Jalen Carter on the board. And it's like, what do they do? Do they kind of prioritize the short term and pick Jalen Carter and write out Geno Smith as long as they can? Or will Pete Carroll and John Schneider say, hey, look, we have a chance to pick a really, really talented quarterback. I think in a way they would like that dilemma, but again, this would make it easier as okay. We can't pick him. We're not thinking that will Levis is someone that would be a huge upgrade

over Gino Smith. Although I think they probably considered him just because of the positional value. They're picking this high, which is decently rare for the Seahawks, but because Anthony Richardson's gone, they're going to go Jalen Carter. They just feel like a team and an organization, a culture that would be like, Hey, not that they're going to brush aside any of the off field or the maturity concerns, but just be like, Hey, it's Pete Carroll. He's a player's coach. He's like the youngest 68 year old coach in the league, basically chewing his gum, walking up and down the sideline, riding scooters around practice. I feel like he is the one that would feel completely fine rolling the dice on someone that is so talented like Jalen Carter.

And, oh, by the way, it's a huge need for them. They need more beef in the middle. Now I'm going to use a phone a friend option here, and I'm going to ask your opinion on this now with the Detroit Lions because I'm not really sure. I mean, would they would they pick cj stroud to have a future quarterback who's actually like jared goff in some ways like a very accurate passer but is more dynamic and young and cheap i think that's actually a good option for them but also maybe when you're in win now mode you're looking to fill needs they signed a bunch

of corners to the point where they were comfortable getting rid of Jeff Okuda yet still we're talking about Devon Witherspoon here on the board I I'm a I'm just a little conflicted here could they go even another wide receiver no probably not uh Nolan Smith, Kalijah Cansey they still want to keep beefing up that defense. What do you think here? Because I'm a little conflicted. I think it'll be Devin Witherspoon. It kind of reminds me of like in, what, 2020 when they picked Penny Sewell. There was kind of thoughts of like, should they pick an offensive lineman that high?

And kind of what you just said earlier about Will Anderson, that Penny Sewell was just clearly a very good football player. There were people nitpicking late in the process with him that, oh, you know, there's some times where against the run, he's not great or in pass protection. He was like 20 years old and was an amazing player. Devin Witherspoon has kind of gotten that same treatment where he wasn't quite as long as the Deontay Banks and the Joey Porter and the Christian Gonzalez, but a great football player on film.

He seems like that gritty type that I think Dan Campbell will really like in Detroit. And Brad Holmes was in LA when they had some lockdown cornerbacks. So I still think corner is the most likely they like Jared Goff and their offensive coordinator, Ben Johnson together. And I think they're probably like, Hey, in the future, if we need to find another quarterback, we can do it, plug him into a better situation.

So I still think, even after the signings, Emmanuel Mosley and others, that they will go corner at number six. Okay, I like it, and I'll agree with you there. So we'll go Devon Witherspoon, or Devin Witherspoon, sorry. And then that puts the Raiders on the clock with CJ Stroud still on the board along with Will Levis. Does this intrigue you with a Jimmy Garoppolo short-term situation? It does. And this is a similar scenario.

And this, I mean, I think this could certainly happen. Maybe not both quarterbacks on the board, but at least one of these extra guys. It's similar to what I just talked about with Seattle, where I feel like Seattle would be like, hey, this is great. We have Jalen Carter or Anthony Richardson. The Raiders, I think, and it's kind of the same scenario, but I think they would be more perplexed and they would take all their time on the clock. Because you bring in Jimmy Garoppolo, you have the connections to Josh McDaniels, but you're like, okay, he's not the guy. Even like, are we going to really compete in the AFC right now with Jimmy Garoppolo? But if you add someone like Paris Johnson and you keep Jimmy Garoppolo well

protected, he's actually someone that should be very well versed in Josh McDaniels' offense and be a pretty good quarterback with Devante Adams. Some of their pieces that they have there. This is tough. I, I think Josh McDaniels will do whatever he can do. This seems like a Josh McDaniels thing to do to extend or to strengthen his job security.

And for as much as that might seem, Oh, pick the offensive lineman. It's safe. It would be to have that quarterback waiting in the wings. That when Jimmy Garoppolo inevitably gets hurt or just is like pretty good but not even able to stack up in his own division, they'll say, hey, well, we still have C.J. Stroud waiting in the wings. So I think they'll go C.J. Stroud.

A lot of similarities i don't want to say to tom brady but the patriot system dinking and dunking being very methodical calculated and polished as a pastor so raiders have a dilemma here with all these quarterbacks and paris johnson on the board but i think they go cj stroud at seven i really like that for the raiders i think that's what they have to do if they don't i will laugh at them in the same way as the texans and just say what are you thinking because we could all see it coming especially since jimmy garoppolo he at this point does have a serious enough injury history to talk about it um that's something we kind of debate all the time of like when has someone been injured enough to say that they're prone or they're more likely to

get injured i wasn't willing to buy that with Lamar Jackson because he's like 26, but I am willing to buy it with Jimmy Garoppolo. It's every year he's pretty much getting banged up. So I think that they would be very smart to get a quarterback. Now, I also think that the Atlanta Falcons would, but I don't know if Will Levis is that guy though. That's where I have not bought into despite Reddit,

believing that Will Levis is going to be taken as high as a lot of people think he is that is no inside information on my part i just don't really know for sure if i'm believing that so that leaves us with atlanta now i've seen bijan robinson talk for them i don't really get that either they were a great running team with cordero Patterson and a bunch of randos why wouldn't they just rely on their scheme I think I want to go for them with a cornerback here and go Christian Gonzalez and just give a little defense to Atlanta I know it's not exciting uh or it's it's not hot for a team that you know kind of needs to start winning something at some point but their defense has just been miserable for years and Christian Gonzalez great cornerback prospect so that's the direction

I am going uh for them they could probably also use pass rush but I'm not sure I want to go Nolan Smith at this point uh since the top two are off the board I don't know if you disagree with that I think they do need pass rush but it might be just too high to pick a pass rusher at eight yeah probably uh and at nine and by the way I totally understand that for the Falcons if you're deciding between a running back and a corner in the first round inside the top 10 I feel like the answer should be obvious regardless of your situation even though your head coach loves running the football they picked Tyler Algier last year who had over 1,000 yards. Cordell Patterson's there who you mentioned.

They don't need a running back. Bijan Robinson's great, but at number eight overall when you're the Falcons and you've been kind of on hard times the last five or six years since the Super Bowl, you go corner there all day. At number nine, the Bears still have a bunch of needs. They have a ton of picks, so they don't need to necessarily address the biggest needs right now, like defensive line. I'm going to go Paris Johnson from Ohio State, the offensive lineman. He played left tackle this past season, but did spend time at guard. They love Braxton Jones there, who they picked in the

fifth round of Southern Utah last season. Tevin Jenkins, of course. They just need more pieces up front. And I think Ryan Poles understands their GM like, we need to find out about Justin Fields this year. Even if our defense isn't amazing and we ultimately look back upon this first round and say, oh, maybe we should have gone Kalijah Cansey to improve the pass rush or Nolan Smith. If we don't find out if Justin Fields is the guy with apparently how good the 2024 quarterback class is, we're going to be in some trouble. So they go Paris Johnson, whether he plays right guard or right tackle or they move Braxton Jones, it's a good problem to have for a team that has not had a very good offensive line of league.

Yeah, I think your only mistake there is that skironski sounds like a bear that's your problem everything else you said makes total sense it's just that a man named skironski from northwestern bears now uh philadelphia i'm also in a little bit of a pickle here trying to figure out exactly where I want to go with them. You know, they love loading up those trenches, and they probably are getting a little older on the offensive line so they can kind of look toward the future. But they're not really a look toward the future team now. They've drafted defensive line quite a bit.

How do you feel about – this is sort of half phone a friend. How do you feel about a Brian Branch here and trying to load up the defense a little bit or is that uh is that is that a reach because i feel like they have lost some pieces there in the offseason yeah i mean he would be the perfect chauncey garner johnson replacement in that defense and he was kind of a pretty integral part of what they were able to do with the versatility to play slot defender play strong safety rob the middle of the field. It does feel a tick too early. And if you look back at Howie Roseman's draft history,

he usually leans toward the big time athletes. And Brian Branch is not a terrible athlete, but I don't know if he's a number 10 overall pick type athlete at safety, but you could certainly pick him. You're the GM here. What about a Joey Porter Jr. here? Is that too soon for him i don't think so at all let's do that let's do that let's go joey porter jr because i was thinking secondary but you know i branch being kind of a versatile player sounds sort of intriguing to philadelphia that they're a team that you know

kind of finds ways to use guys uh but yeah I think Porter Jr. is probably a better prospect so let's go with him there just to kind of run run through our top 10 real quick um I do think it's interesting there's three corners in the top 10 it was Bryce Young to the Panthers Tyree Wilson to Houston Will Anderson to the Cardinals Anthony Richardson Indy Jalen Carter to Seattle uh Devin Witherspoon to the Cardinals, Anthony Richardson, Indy, Jalen Carter to Seattle, Devin Witherspoon to the Lions, C.J. Stroud to the Raiders, Falcons picking Christian Gonzalez, Paris Johnson goes to Chicago, Joey Porter Jr. to Philadelphia. So that's kind of where we're at. All right, at number 11, this would be really fascinating if we get to 11 on I guess tomorrow night and there's a quarterback available and the Titans are sitting there with the Texans right behind them and if the Texans

don't pick a quarterback at two I don't know if it would force the Titans hand to say hey we don't want a quarterback going to our division rival but it would just be a very interesting one two with those two just outside of the top 10 with, I think, both a pretty big need at the quarterback spot. We heard this week that they've apparently soured on Malik Willis already, which seems a little crazy, but he was not great in his auditions last season as a rookie. I don't think there's a chance Ryan Tannehill is the week one starter. I think they are going to either straight up cut him or trade him this offseason. I think their new GM wants to start a new chapter. So he's going to do that here. He's going to say, you know what? We don't love Will Levis, but we'll roll the dice

on Will Levis. He's sitting there at 11. Don't have to trade up, do anything special. Will Levis is the pick for the Titans. I like that pick. I also think that the Tennessee Titans should trade Ryan Tannehill to the Falcons. Give them Arthur Smith's quarterback, and the Falcons could be darn good with Ryan Tannehill. They win that division, I think. In that system that he knows. Yeah. That's right. They can run the ball well.

They need to improve their defense a little. But that could be actually a good team if that happens. So Texans on the clock. I'm going to go Jackson Smith Najigba here, give them a wide receiver since they didn't take a quarterback. They do have to think forward on how they're going to set up their quarterback situation. They traded Brandon Cooks. This was kind of an easy one for me.

Take the best receiver on the board and move forth with your cockamamie franchise that doesn't really exist. Are sure the texans are a team i'm not i don't feel like they really don't and what was so weird about it it was like as as the texans were making the playoffs and held that what 24 to nothing lead in arrowhead over patrick mahomes what in the 2020 or the 2019 playoffs it still felt like they were going to be in shambles very soon because Bill O'Brien was at the helm. It felt like this is a Deshaun Watson, JJ Watt team. And like they're soon to be maybe not as bad as they ultimately were because

of all the terrible trades that they made after that. But it just felt like they were on shaky ground, even when they were like just squeaking by and winning the afc south and now they've really become like you're mentioning like a team that are we sure they shouldn't be relegated like should the nfl establish those english premier league rules or whatever it is not a big soccer guy but i do know that um that they should maybe be relegated because they're just they don't feel like a franchise that's run well at really any stage. What do you got for the now 13th overall selecting Green Bay Packers?

Okay. If you think that Peter Skowronski would sound good in Chicago, how about in Green Bay? Kind of sounds like a Midwestern name. Now they normally in this new regime, they've prioritized corners and not offensive line until second, third, fourth round. But I think Skowronski kind of feels like a David Bakhtiari type who is smaller, with shorter arms, and was a great player for them getting up there in age.

I just think with the Jordan Love era, everyone's like, pick a receiver, pick a receiver. They picked two pretty good ones last year who I think they feel good about. They can pick one later, get Skowronski here, plug him in wherever on the offensive line, kind of falls into their lap, and I think they would be happy with this selection at 13. I mean, I love it.

How about Skowronski-Bratz? Like, right away, he's got NIL right away for that. Okay, yeah, no argument there. And plus, I think for the receivers, if Smith Najigba is gone, then there's such a gap between Smith Najigba and the next best guy that they probably don't want to reach there and rather take an offensive lineman for the new England Patriots, Bill Belichick always reaches. So I'm going to look, I i'm gonna scroll down and i'm gonna scroll keep scrolling down and see who he would probably reach for i think that they need i mean like i'm mostly kidding but not

really because he just kind of did pick cole strange last year i yeah right i mean i i do think though that gosh i mean they need like everything that is not a great roster it's not a great situation. There is a very serious argument to take like a Quentin Johnston or something here because they lost Jacoby Myers. I mean, they've got nothing as far as wide receivers go. They love drafting tight ends. So there's a part of me that's thinking Dalton Kincaid here.

But I might just go with a very like Belichickian outside linebacker and go Nolan Smith is that uh what's your reaction to that that makes a lot of sense I don't know if this is kind of stretching it out too far but I like there was an Alabama pipeline to New England because of the Belichick Saban obviously, from their time in Cleveland in the 90s. Kirby Smart was like the protege to Nick Saban. I think Bill Belichick probably has a pretty good relationship with him. And you're right. Bill Belichick, if there's one thing he loves, it's those press man corners.

The next in line would be those bigger outside linebackers that he can utilize as a pass rusher, sinking coverage for those zone blitzes that he likes to use a lot. Yep, going with that so that puts the jets with their because of their massive trade down from 13 to 15 in the rogers deal that puts them on the clock at the 15th pick they're gonna go broderick jones from georgia he's a little bit of a project i would not pick him here i think he's he's more of a project than this but this is where most of projections have him. And to make sure everything's fine with Aaron Rodgers, to placate to him a little bit, say, hey, look, we have the receivers, but let's get you better protection. Whether Broderick Jones is the replacement for Mekhi Becton immediately or starts at one side of the line or the other, I think to just add more pieces up front would certainly not,

would certainly not make Aaron Rogers upset about landing in New York with maybe an offensive line that at times last year was not very good. All right. I think with Washington here, this is where I'm debating Bijan Robinson going because I think Washington is a, like a goofy enough franchise to take a running back high in the first round i also think that they could talk themselves into okay we've got some other weapons but our running game was really blah for last year and you know this guy is going to be the adrian peterson the complete game changer i also thought about tight end here um that you

know that could be like a weapon for Sam Howell, kind of an underneath. I guess I'm debating back and forth, but since it's Washington, I'm going to give them the running back. I'm going to say that they have him as the highest player on their board and that they will pick Bijan Robinson. And they will talk about how this guy is going to drive the offense, run and play action. And he's great as a receiver and he'll never get hurt, we promise. He'll definitely get a second contract that works out. So that's maybe a tad bit of snark.

Oh, yeah, and fourth rounders won't be just as good. Anyway, not quite, not quite. Washington takes Bijan Robinson, number 16. I like it because it does kind of feel on brand for the commanders in general. I know they're getting a new owner, but it just feels like something that they could try to sell to their fan base. That's probably a little happier than they've been in the last, I guess, 20 years. Pittsburgh.

So I think they would have loved Joey Porter Jr. just for obvious reasons, but I still think they're going to go cornerback here. With three of the offensive tackles off the board, they would probably have leaned in that direction how about Deontay Banks from Maryland who I'm writing down right here tested through the roof long outside corner they've needed that since they kind of had the twilight of Joe Hayden's career they've needed that number one corner they've cycled through a lot of veterans some some lower, lesser picks. So they're going to get their alpha outside corner that can play press man

on the perimeter, make plays on the football in Deontay Banks from Maryland. I like it. Makes a lot of sense for them. I also like Deontay Banks a lot. I think he's got great feet, great skill tracking receivers. The playmaking, I'm not quite as sold on. It's not great, yeah. Yeah, what a monster as far as his physical skill.

I will go for the Detroit Lions. Kalijah can't see here. I mean, I think that they'd be very thrilled to have a situational-type pass rusher in the middle. You start pairing Aiden Hutchinson, Kalijah can't see, some of the other guys that they've developed on that D line and you have a chance to be to be pretty scary there with him so yeah who did we pick for Detroit before I forgot oh yeah Devin Witherspoon yeah I mean they're they're uh they're building up a freaky defense here with lots of top draft picks and I like how

Kalijah Canty could potentially fit for Detroit. That would make the Lions, if you look at what they did last year in the draft with Aiden Hutchinson, Malcolm Rodriguez, James Houston, Kirby Joseph, they already brought in like four, three or four, like what seemed to be good budding players on defense to add Kalijah Cansey and Devin Witherspoon. It would suddenly be not about just how good their offense is with Amon Ross, St. Brown, blah, blah, blah. It would be like, hey, the defense might take that next step that makes them really a, not just like a fun story like they've been, but a true, like formidable team in the NFC. All right, 19, 19. I'm not going to have there be any drama at 23 for the Vikings. I think the Bucs are going to pick Hendon Hooker. If there is a team that picks him, I've mocked him this high before. I feel like their GM, Jason Light, is kind of like, okay,

we did the whole thing with Tom Brady. That was great. We got a Super Bowl out of it. But, yeah, we're excited about Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask. I don't think he wants to go into this season without Tom Brady and have Baker Mayfield as just like our only option. So I think Hendon Hooker, there's so much positive spin for him that he's this great leader.

And we've talked about how old he is, blah, blah, blah. I could see them saying, you know what? We love his leadership, what he did the last couple of years at Tennessee, beating Alabama and having him as kind of that Josh McDaniel situation to buy himself more time in that GM role to say, look, we still have this, I don't want to say young quarterback, but relatively young quarterback behind Baker Mayfield. Baker Mayfield going from number one pick to Ryan Fitzpatrick is quite an arc. I would say the guy that you bring in so you could draft somebody else behind him. But, you know, I mean, look, they need it.

They do. And they need someone who could still play as their quarterback for this year, Baker Mayfield. But I don't think they're a roster that's going to be so horrendous going forward that they can just kind of tank and try to get Caleb Williams or something. I just think they're probably too good

and their division's too bad for that. So you might as well take the guy that's going to step in for next year. That would be a very interesting pick. Now Seattle comes up with a lot of interesting pieces. This is a Brian branch, right? I mean, this is their kind of versatile defensive player that they could want here. Their defense is still in pretty desperate need of building up um they already went at the top with defense i think it's another you know

let's go defense draft try to build this thing up because they have a lot on the offensive side so i'm just going to go go kind of straightforward there safety brian branch to seattle now instead of miami who forfeited their pick because they tried to convince Tom Brady to take an ownership stake and then return as a dolphin just like let's never forget what happened there right it's like oh yeah like what what happened for them not to have a pick uh I follow a YouTuber who's really good uh Jaguar Gator 9 does these old school, like crazy things in the NFL. And 20 years from now, he'll be doing that one. Like, remember the time he did one today about how the Dallas Cowboys,

or he did one a couple of years ago, but then related it about how the Dallas Cowboys drafted Carl Lewis. Did you know this? The Olympian Carl Lewis was drafted in the 12th round of the 1984 draft by the dallas cowboys obviously never played or went to camp or anything but how funny is that like that's hilarious one of those stories like you'll never believe why the miami dolphins didn't have their 2023 pick so moving on to the chargers what do you got for the charge i'm gonna go jordan addison which i i know does kind of take some buzz out of the vikings

pick here coming up just feels like in their backyard they need speed at the receiver position they like keenan allen but he's getting up there in age mike williams is a good vertical threat because he's so good in those contested catch situations but has a problem staying healthy maybe he would be one of those injury prone type players and entering year three for Justin Herbert. It's just like, or year, year four for Justin Herbert. It's like,

Hey, let's take that next step as an offense. And as a team add Jordan Addison, I know the testing numbers are great, but I feel like they'll have more intimate knowledge of him being that he was at USC. They got to see him right in their backyard. Jordan Addison at 21 to the Chargers.

Like that for Justin Herbert, just keep loading up on wide receivers. Probably some argument for an offensive lineman there because their offensive line is sputtered. But for the Baltimore Ravens at 22, I'm going to go with someone. It just makes too much sense. I have draft simmed this guy to the Vikings a number of times. And in the final draft sim for the Vikings in the draft guide, I had this player, but if I'm Baltimore and I know that one of the things Lamar Jackson wants is more weapons, I am giving Lamar Jackson a present to come back. I'm saying I will give you Quinton Johnston Lamar go watch this man's highlight reel go watch when he catches the football what he does to people this guy is you in wide receiver form please come back to us now and play quarterback because Tyler Huntley is not

any good at football so Quinton Johnston breaks the hearts of Vikings fans as he is selected 22nd. So we got our little mini run on receivers before the Vikings pick. Do you like that one? I do. And I've said it before on this podcast. I've written it. Quinton Johnston is the best yards after the catch receiver in this draft class. So it's not like he's going to get open all the time, but they can scheme open, scheme him open and just allow those high percentage throws to turn into big gains.

That is much more of a quarterback friendly aspect to playing a wide receiver than I think anything else. So, yes. And then with him, with Odell Beckham Jr., Rashad Bateman, if he's healthy, suddenly it's not like the worst wide receiver group in the AFC in Baltimore. So, all right. Now I have got a lot of pressure on me. I'm crazy. Nolan Smith is gone. Joey Porter, Jr. Is gone. Christian Gonzalez is gone. Devin Witherspoon gone. Deontay Banks, Kalijah, Kansi, Hendon hooker, man, Jordan, Addison, Quinton, Johnston. You're trading down here. This. Yeah. So for this mock, you're not trading down,

but like for our conversation, are you trading down? For our conversation, I think if the board falls this way, and I don't know if as many receivers will go in front of them as what happened here or corners, I would be trading down. Now, I wouldn't want to take as much of a beating on the trade chart as they did last year, i would say hey look we don't want to move down precipitously and we don't want to again not get the right value but even moving down three to five picks to get one of those last selections in the first round um i

think would make a lot of sense but a name just popped into my head one of my favorites in this class who i don't know if you've ever mocked him or you've seen him in any other Sims get this far down, but let me just make sure so I don't repeat myself and repeat a player like I did. I think the last time we did this, I'm going to go with Lucas Van Ness from Minnesota or from Iowa to Minnesota. Yes. To the Vikings. He's 21 years old. He's six, four, two 70. He tested through the roof at the combine. He kind of has a Z'Darrius Smith type frame. And for being as young as he is and the fact that he was not a full-time player at Iowa, which is a weird story that Kirk Ferentz, their head coach, has been

there forever, also has ties to Bill Belichick, doesn't allow underclassmen to be full-time players, which is super strange to me. And everyone had the same experience watching Lucas Van Ness saying, whoa, this number 91 is getting after the quarterback every time. Why is he not on the field? He didn't start this game. He didn't play the first two series. It's not because there's any conditioning issues or maturity concerns.

It's just that that's Kirk Ferentz's thing, his philosophy. So with Lucas Van Ness, he'd be someone that would be in the ideal scenario behind Danell Hunter and Z'Darrius Smith that would not be relied upon to be even like a Marcus Davenport, come in and be that number two right away. He could be that number three as he gets a little stronger, sharpens his pass rushing moves, which do think are there and eventually by the time he's 22 or 23 be a really really good player i feel like the analytics models will be very high on lucas van ness because of the age the athleticism and the efficiency he had in a small sample size yeah i mean his pass rush win rate was through the roof yeah you mentioned he's not 22 yet.

You know, I think that he can also, you mentioned Zedarius Smith. Van Ness moves around. I mean, I think that he can be a guy who can rush from a lot of different places, and that could be a nice advantage for them because I think Brian Flores, like that's one of his things. Yeah, when I look at it, he rushed over the outside of the tackle 242 times and over the b gap 155 times according to pff so i think that they would like that as somebody can move around and he's not the most twitchy bendy but it seems like there's just a lot of power there there's

some technique there and there's a lot to work with for the vikings i think it's hard to get rushers that are this good in the back end of the first round. But I also, I wonder about whether you considered Miles Murphy here as well. I did. But I think, again, I think from the analytics perspective that, I mean, obviously I have no idea the components that would go into Quasey's model, whatever they're using. But I would assume someone with better production that's younger, that's comparable athlete would probably be a little bit higher.

And the point that I wanted to make, like, as you were talking there about Van Ness, last year, Louis Seen was very young, 21 years old. Andrew Booth was very young. So maybe there is something to, you know, a lot of these teams are like, hey, we like these senior bowl guys that are 23, 24, coming out very experienced. Maybe this will start to be this archetype that in the quasi adolfo mensa era we're like hey the vikings lean toward these young players that they feel like have big time upside

because they're not just they're not finished products yet because of their age well and remember where he came from cleveland is kind of famous for only drafting really young players, which I think maybe is a little much how much they do it, but that could be an influence for the Vikings. So do you want to buzz through the rest of these? Let's buzz through them quick. Let's buzz through them quick. A little rapid fire, not too much explanation.

I don't know who the tight end for the Jacksonville Jaguars is, but I know Dalton Piquet is a good prospect. So I'm taking him for the jaguars at 24 just yell if you hate a pick because uh i look too much at the back end of the first round oh that's fine uh 25 i'm gonna go zay flowers it just feels like they need even though they already drafted wendell robinson last year who's small say flowers is not particularly big but i think they realize they need more weapons for Daniel Jones and then whoever ultimately replaces him. Okay. Dallas, I don't know.

Suggestions for Dallas? What about Michael Mayer from Notre Dame? Okay. That's a good suggestion. That is a good suggestion. Let's go tight end. Because I was looking like, wait, do they need offensive line? I don't think so.

They already have a prolific defense. Could they use another receiver? But you just took zay flowers that was who i was going to take so okay michael mayer let's go with that all right buffalo for buffalo so i have been on the jack campbell train forever just as an evaluator it just feels like one of those obvious selections like he probably wouldn't get picked if the bills don't pick him here at 27 but they have a gigantic need at middle linebacker similarly size to tremaine admins coverage ability just seems like a bills type of pick again maybe he would fall a little bit if the bills don't pick him here but i think they ultimately will select him at 27 if he's there the uh bangles is it wrong to draft an offensive lineman for the bangles no it is not and i think okay let's how about osiris torrence

from the florida gators let's go with all right 20 yes that would make a lot of sense 29 i'm just realizing that this happens sometimes when you're doing a mock that we have not had darnell right off the board yet and i don't even know if this i don't even know if the saints need an offensive lineman particularly but the value is through the roof here they brought in derrick carr he's not very good when he's under pressure so they go darnell right here at 29 with one of those kind of surprise picks okay uh philadelphia eagles i'm gonna say that they're gonna go uh let's see jameer gibbs as a i was gonna say that yeah there you go versatile weapon miles sanders replacement comes in catches a lot of passes

comes out of the backfield so jameer gibbs for a win now, team. And Kansas City last on the clock. Again, 31 picks because thank you, Dolphins. So who is Kansas City taking to wrap the first round? How about Miles Murphy? We talked about him earlier for one of the teams. I forgot which one, maybe for the Vikings. Yeah, geez, for the Vikings. I think Miles Murphy is kind of that higher upside player that

might not be amazing right away but they still have Chris Jones they just need even though they picked George Carloptis last year they need more outside pass rushing help because the teams are just zeroing in on Chris Jones every single game I think they understand they can get good production out of their offense great production without Tyree Kill because of Mahomes and because of Andy Reed they can pick a receiver later and a lot of receivers are gone so they go Miles Murphy to finish out the first round okay so two quick thoughts to wrap it up last thing you get to say before the uh end of draft season and officially draft time uh one would be what's your favorite pick of our mock and the other one you could answer both questions at once if the vikings got van ness and that was all they did they didn't take hen

and hooker they didn't trade up they didn't do something crazy they just took a good player at 23 how would you draft analyst grade that okay my favorite pick in the mock i'm just speeding through this now would probably be and this is going to have an nfc north flare would be kalijah can't see to the lions at 18 i mentioned that they already had a great draft on defense particularly in 2022 but to add that ferocious inside pass rusher i think who's kind of rounding out this defense quite a bit and at 18 i feel like that's right around where he should be picked. There are some length deficiencies, of course, but the pass rush ability is through the roof. So I really like that. For Van Ness, I would give it an A-. I do have him graded higher than this. You and I have always,

we've been preaching quarterbacks and go offense go receiver but with a lot of them off the board I think this is kind of like a best case scenario to a certain degree because if you're not going to address the quarterback spot there's not one there or you're not going to get a receiver there's not one there what's probably the next most important position they don't need offensive lines probably outside pass rusher and I'm a proponent, unless you're getting a Nick Bosa or a Miles Garrett to draft outside pass rushers in the first round that don't need to be the guy right away. And with Lucas Van Ness, he doesn't come with the concerns of a Nolan Smith, that he's a little bit too small, needs to get a lot bigger. He looks like an NFL player already. He's only 21 by year

two. I think he could look similarly to Danelle Hunter. Maybe that's a little bit of a stretch, but you know what I mean? He can be that bigger body three down defensive end that I think Brian Flores could utilize in a lot of different ways. Yeah. I think my favorite pick is CJ Stroud of the Raiders. They need a chance to compete in that division. And I also think that any, I don't know, any talk of CJ Stroud dropping for weird reasons, I just don't buy. I think he's a great prospect.

So I think that would be a great pick. He can sit for a year or sit for the first six weeks before Jimmy Garoppolo gets hurt, and then he can play. I mean, let's just be honest here. As far as the Vikings, so the only guy is at the receiver position is Zay Flowers. And I still have some questions about the size with Zay Flowers because he is so small. And I know I just wrote the article that maybe you shouldn't be that afraid of small receivers.

At 23, if you're staying, I don't love it because I'd rather trade back and take Josh Downs in the second than I would take Zay Flowers in the first. But if you argue to me that they want to do it because they love him, OK, I'll buy like I'd give you a good grade. So I'd give him a solid B. I think that it probably needs to be more than this, though. Like if they get Van Ness, good pick. No one's going to hate it. But I also think that the expectation of getting either a Justin Jefferson partner, a quarterback has probably raised the level for excitement. And if you are drafting a Van Ness, I agree. The reason I would give it a solid B is because we both talked about it. Like you're probably trading back. If you don't love Zay Flowers there, you're probably trading back. But they do need pass rush help. It can't be ignored. They were, what, 20th in sacks last year.

We don't know what the defensive end future is. So I think it's a pretty solid outcome for them, but not something that, like, blows your socks off. Before we finish up, and I know that I'll say this to you again in a week when we break down the draft, but I just can't thank you enough, man. I mean, we were at the Combine together doing shows just, you know, every single week showing up, bringing such unique insight. I learned so much from you that I'm going to be

doing a live draft show on Thursday night here on the YouTube channel. And I feel very confident going into that because of all the knowledge that I've soaked up from you. So you are a tremendous analyst of this draft. And I've just really enjoyed all of this again, another great year leading up to the draft. So I cannot thank you enough for doing this every week here on the show. Yeah. Thank you again for having me and really going into draft season now that I think there's like the second or third year we've done this. I certainly get excited about writing, about diving into the film. And I'm like, oh, I hope Matt reaches out again. Cause would love to do Purple Insider.

And it's fun that I know a lot about the entire NFL here in Buffalo. I watch the Bills probably most closely. But now I know so much about the Vikings and the NFC. So that's always been a lot of fun, too. So I appreciate you for having me and for you giving me a lot of the insight about an NFC team. And make sure you go read all of Chris's stuff to get fully prepared for the draft. CBSSports.com. I just Googled your name and all your articles came up.

So Chris Trapasso, CBS Sports, easy to find. And thanks, everybody, for listening to Draft Season. We're doing it. It's time. And we'll have the full breakdown next week. Thanks, Chris. And thank you all for listening to draft buildup season, the final mock football. Bye everyone.