The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Joel Klatt’s 2025 NFL Mock Draft 1.0

Episode Date: February 12, 2025

FOX Sports’ lead College Football analyst Joel Klatt kicks off Draft season with his first Mock Draft of the year. Klatt predicts a huge trade to shake up the top of the Draft as a team moves up to land one of the premier QB’s in the draft: Shedeur Sanders or Cam Ward. He also finds landing spots for 2-way star Travis Hunter and 4 Michigan players inside the Top 25 picks. The Dallas Cowboys solve a major issue as one of the best players in the Draft falls to them at #12. Ohio State is represented in the first Mock Draft as 3 Buckeyes are taken in Round 1. Joe Burrow adds a new target to his Bengals offense while the Bills pick up a potential game-wrecker as they continue to chase Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in the AFC. The Philadephia Eagles find a replacement for one of their potential free agent departures following their Super Bowl win. 0:00-2:19 Intro 2:20-3:28 Joel’s Mock Draft 1.0 2:29-6:36 New York Giants 6:37-8:09 Cleveland Browns 8:10-9:29 Tennessee Titans 9:30-10:27 New England Patriots 10:28-13:08 Jacksonville Jaguars 13:09-14:58 Las Vegas Raiders 14:59-16:37 NY Jets 16:38-17:26 Carolina Panthers 17:27-18:26 New Orleans Saints 18:27-19:51 Chicago Bears 19:52-20:41 San Francisco 49ers 20:42-22:01 Dallas Cowboys 22:02-22:56 Miami Dolphins 22:57-24:01Indianapolis Colts 24:02-24:57 Atlanta Falcons 24:58-25:38 Arizona Cardinals 25:39-28:17 Cincinnati Bengals 28:18-29:13 Seattle Seahawks 29:14-30:25 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 30:26-32:33 Denver Broncos 32:34-34:03 Pittsburgh Steelers 34:04-36:24 LA Chargers 36:25-37:04 Green Bay Packers 37:05-37:46 Minnesota Vikings 37:47-39:19 Houston Texans 39:20-40:13 LA Rams 40:14-41:12 Baltimore Ravens 41:13-43:23 Detroit Lions 43:24-44:29 Washington Commanders 44:30-45:43 Buffalo Bills 45:44-46:44 Kansas City Chiefs 46:45-48:10 Philadelphia Eagles 48:11- 49:31 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I believe that Travis Hunter will play both sides in the National Football League. And I think he can. I actually don't think it's that hard. College football has never been better. Interest has never been higher. Believe that we are at the dawn of the golden age of college football. It was an epic day of college football. It was one of those days where you fall in love with the sport all over again.

Hey, welcome into the program, everybody. This is the Joel Clad show, and I am Joel Clad. This show, as always brought to you by Hampton, by you. Hilton, and we thank them for their support. As always, welcome in. We have got a huge mock draft episode of the show. It's our first mock draft of the season, the 2025 NFL draft is going to be soon upon us. And I'll be there. As I do every year, I work for the NFL network on the draft. So I'll be there with DJ and Charles Davis and Rich Eisen. I do their main desk on night one and night two every single year. And so we'll be

covering the draft in the league. up to the draft right here on the Joel Clat Show, and then you can catch me on the NFL network when we get to Green Bay for the actual draft. So this will be the first mock draft. We're going to do a couple of these because as is the case all the time, things will change, information will change, so on and so forth. But this one is always a good one to get out there. It's kind of the foundational mock draft that then the entire process is then derived off of what I'm holding in my left hand and what I will be giving you here during this show. Now, remember, before we get started, go follow us and subscribe on YouTube.

You've got to be there because a lot of our content is ending up there as exclusives, including the Understanding Football series. Now, that is up. We've got three episodes up. If you have not seen those yet, go over and check them out. We're going to be doing more of those during the course of the spring and the off season, and I'll be diving into the sport that we all love and explaining it as if I'm coaching a team. And so if you want to learn more about football from the basics all the way up, go over there,

subscribe to the channel and watch some of the understanding football episodes, and I'll be dropping more of those as well. And then, as always, social media, you can find us at Joel Clat Show wherever you like to social media. Okay, let's get into it. Mock draft 1.0, 2025 NFL draft. Here we go. A couple of things off the top. Number one, I do not think that this is a great draft. Now, the first thing that you have to understand is, do we have top-end quarterbacks, generational quarterbacks?

No, we've got very good quarterbacks, but we don't have generational quarterbacks. We do not have a position of dominance like we've had in the past with, like, edge rushers and or wide receivers. However, as was the case with college football generally, I do think that there is more parity in this draft, which means that there is going to be very good value as we move on in the draft. You see, it's hard for me to say, this guy definitely deserves to be in the top 10. But then there are a number of guys that I think,

oh, yeah, they could easily sneak into the first round. So again, more depth in this draft, maybe not the elite level at the top opposed. There's a couple of elite players, but we'll get to those in just a moment. So those are some overarching thoughts here as we dive into the draft. Okay, here we go. On the clock, Tennessee Titans, they've got the number one pick in the draft. They obviously need a quarterback, but here's the problem.

I don't think Shadur Sanders is going to want to play in Tennessee, and I do not believe that any other players should be taken number one. So for me, Shadur is the best quarterback, and Tennessee can either not take him and go with Cam Ward at number one. or I think they can get some capital, still fall back and potentially get Cam Ward, and get more capital later in the draft. I think that that's what they're going to do.

So I don't generally do this, and it's going to be the only trade of the first round. I'm trading the first pick. I think Tennessee trades the first pick for a combination of reasons. And I believe that the giants jump up to number one. from three to one, and the New York football giants are in the number one spot because they do have a great relationship with Shador Sanders. They have vetted him out several times. I believe that it is reciprocal there, and I think that the Giants move up to number one and take Shadur Sanders with the number one pick in the NFL draft.

Here's a little something about Shador. I think that if you really evaluate him as a quarterback and you take the name off the back of the jersey, if you don't look at who is head coach is, I think he's a clear number one quarterback. And here's the reason is because Chudor has this beautiful combination of the ability to be a prototypical passer from the pocket and he's got the precise ability to be a surgeon in those cases. And he also has the ability to be an artist.

and that combination doesn't come around a lot. Okay, his ability to create outside of the pocket, extend the play is Fran Tarkington-esque. He's excellent in those situations. And if you give him some time in the pocket, which Colorado did not generally with their offensive line, but if he has time and he can diagnose what's going on, he is surgical from the pocket.

I believe that he has a chance to be much better in the National Football League than he was even at Colorado, because let's face it, as Dion was trying to build the roster from a roster that won one game and make them immediately competitive, they got the skill position players right away, including Shudor, but what they didn't have is a great offensive line. And as the offensive line got better, Shudor's productivity went way up, obviously. And they had a really solid season this last year, but they were never great up front. If he can ever get in a position where he's playing on a like footing or similar footing with the opposite, position and an offensive line that can actually do something in front of them, then watch out.

So I believe that he's actually just scratching the surface. I like him at number one. And I like the giants going up there and trading for him with the number one pick. Okay. Let's go to number two, Cleveland. Now, Cleveland could also go quarterback here, but let's face it, they're going to need to replace Miles Garrett, who has now recently requested that trade. And so there's a player that I think is the actual best player.

if I were just making a big board, I believe Abdul Carter would be number one. And so I'm going to go Abdul Carter with the Cleveland Browns. He is a really great disruptive player on the edge, and he's only played on the edge for a brief moment in terms of the totality of his career. He was an off-the-ball linebacker to begin with at Penn State. Just moved down to line of scrimmage basically full-time this last season for Tom Allen, their defensive coordinator. and all he did was go out there and, you know, lead the country and tackles for loss. I believe that as he gets more comfortable at the line of scrimmage, he can have an impact that is similar to Micah Parsons.

They won the same number at the same school and college. And this guy is really good. As twitchy as they come, he's athletic. He can sink back into coverage, which if you're watching YouTube, which you should and subscribe, you're watching those highlights right now. He can do it all. And so with Cleveland, needing to replace Miles Garrett, needing to get better on the defensive side, yeah, they need to add offensive talent.

And I think that they probably will. But the Browns, they were last in the NFL in scoring, and their defense probably, I wouldn't say is the absolute priority, but they've got the chance to get the best player in the draft right there at number two, and I'm going to take it. Now it's Tennessee at three, okay? After they flip those picks, Giants go up to number one. Now Tennessee at three again, this is going to be my last trade. now Tennessee, and this is why they were able to do it, they get Cam Ward.

So if they can't work something out with Shador Sanders, which again, I just don't think Shador Sanders is going to be willing to play in Tennessee with the history of what that organization has done from a quarterback position standpoint. And so Tennessee can either take Cam Ward with number one or go back to three, still get Cam Ward, and get draft capital. Well, to me, that's a no-brainer. Okay, so that's why they're moving back. They take Cam Ward.

I really like Cam Ward a lot. I think that this guy is a talented player. If Carter was on the board, I think that they would have to think long and hard. Tennessee was bottom five in sacks, but they need to get their quarterback. Will Levis just hasn't worked out the last couple of years. Cam Ward fits.

He's on my board, the second best quarterback. I think that there's quite a drop after those top two guys, and you've got other teams sitting there like Las Vegas, like the Jets potentially, that are going to be needing quarterback. quarterback help, so you've got to grab them there. I think from Tennessee's standpoint, they're just going to be hopeful that Cleveland

does go Abdul-Carter, which, again, it just fits because of the Miles Garrett issue, so that's why they can get Cam Ward at number three. Okay, number four, the New England Patriots. Now, the future of the franchise is pretty clear with Drake May. I think that we can all, you know, see that handwriting on the wall. They've got to get better protecting him. The Pat's allowed the fifth-most sacks in the league,

so I'm going to go offensive line here. I think it's tempting to go Travis Hunter. He's still on the board here. It's tempting to go Travis Hunter because they can address the corner issue and the wide receiver issue with one player. However, I think you're going to go first principles here and try to get better at the line of scrimmage. What did we see, by the way, in the college national championship and playoffs

and what have we seen in the Super Bowl? You better be able to protect your quarterback. And so if you're going to give the keys of the castle to Drake May, you better be able to protect him. I'm going offensive tackle from LSU, Will Campbell. So Will Campbell, it might not be the sexiest pick. but it's a really solid pick. And I've got Campbell at 4 to the New England Patriots.

Again, they're going to have to pass on Travis Hunter right there. And the next team is going to be really glad that they did. And that's Jacksonville. So Jacksonville is sitting here. They were last in the league in passing defense and takeaways last year. They only had nine takeaways in 17 games. They get the best ball hawking cornerback in the country and Travis Hunter right here. Travis Hunter to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

New head coach Liam Cohen. He was the O.C. of the Bucks the last couple of years. He compared Travis Hunter with Brian Thomas on the offensive side. And then you're starting to ask for yourself, like, well, hold on, Joel. You keep talking about him on both sides of the ball. That's exactly right. I am talking about him on both sides of the ball because I believe that Travis Hunter will play both sides in the National Football League.

And I think he can. I actually don't think it's that hard. I really don't. For him, for him. think about it from this perspective. He played over 125 snaps a game and won the Heisman trophy and was a dominant force on both sides of the ball in college.

He played almost every snap on the offensive side. He doesn't have to do that in the NFL. And primarily because I don't believe he is a true number one wide receiver or really even a true number two wide receiver in the national football league. His size, stature, and quickness, more importantly, I think lend him to being more of a slot player, get his hands on the ball in creative ways, which means that his snaps get limited from, let's say, 60 to 35,

just based on game situation and personnel grouping. Okay? I'm going to have, by the way, a big understanding football about personnel grouping so that you understand more about what I'm talking about. So make sure to go subscribe to the YouTube and check out that understanding football. But Hunter's snaps will be limited offensively just because of his role. which means he can be the starting cornerback and play the whole game on defense and then be a number three wide receiver on the offensive side. And now you truly are if you're Jacksonville getting two players in one.

I think that he can grab 40 to 50 catches in the National Football League, maybe 30 to 40 catches in the National Football League, while being a true shutdown corner. His instincts on the defensive side are rare. I think his value is greater as a corner. He has the potential to be a top two, three corner in the National Football League, whereas he can be a very good number three wide receiver. I don't think he's ever going to be a number top two, three, four wide receiver in the National Football League, mostly based on physical stature.

But if you can tell me, you're going to give me an elite corner and a guy that's going to certainly help on the offensive side. I'm going to take that so the Jaguars get Travis Hunter right there at number one. five. All right, so then Vegas is up. And Pete Carroll, their new head coach, Chip Kelly, their new offensive coordinator. I think that they could possibly try to move up for a quarterback. We'll see how much my colleague has an influence on their draft, Mr. Brady. But I go back to this a lot. If you see coaches that have success a certain way, they generally try to go back and follow that blueprint.

Okay? So what did Pete Carroll have success with? Defense. Defense. Pete Carroll in the NFL found his quarterback in the middle of the draft in Russell Wilson and built his team around running the football with Marshaun Lynch, although they didn't inside the one-yard line, which was crazy. And defense.

Okay. And there's a guy that just screams Pete Carroll defense. to me on the board right here, and that's Will Johnson, the corner from Michigan. Will Johnson has great length. He reminds me a lot of Richard Sherman. I think he's great in zone. Pete liked to play a lot of zone, at least in his past with post safety defense. Again, subscribe to YouTube, go over to understanding football. You're going to know all the terms that I throw out in all of these episodes. Will Johnson is a shutdown corner. He's got great ball skills. He's great in zone. He can play man. He's very smart. He's

physical. He likes to rally up and make tackles in the run game. He screams Pete Carroll to me. I think that that fits a lot. He's 6-2-200 pounds. And if Brady is involved at all, then Tom Brady gets a Michigan man in his first draft. It works. Listen, it works. So let's go to the Jets. I think that the Jets would love to get a quarterback. I don't think that they've got the capital to move all the way up there. because, again, Tennessee is not going to be moving around too much. They're not going to move past three. They need a quarterback. New York definitely needs a quarterback, at least in my estimation.

And so the two quarterbacks that you would take in this spot are off the board, and I don't think you're going to reach on another one. So what do they do? What are the Jets do? Well, Aaron Glenn is a defensive guy, is your new head coach. What have we seen in college football? What have we seen in the National Football League about what wins at the top? You better control the line of scrimmage.

Okay? We can talk about all these other pieces, all we want, but man, you better control the line of scrimmage. And the Jets have the opportunity to select what I believe to be the most disruptive defensive player outside of Abdul Carter, of course, different positions. But Mason Graham, the defensive tackle from Michigan, this guy's tape is unreal. It's exceptional. He is a block destructor. He's quick. He rushes the quarterback.

He stops the run. He does it all. He does it all. He's the best defensive tackle. on the draft, and I believe that the Jets would get much better defensively if they got Mason Graham. How much does a great pass rush help your secondary? Let's just look at what the Eagles did to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. It's very clear. You look at what Michigan has built themselves on as being great on the defensive side. He was a huge part, if not the main part of a defense

that went 15 and 0, won a national championship a couple of years ago. I really love Mason Graham. I think that he fits perfectly for a lot. a team that might be trying to rebuild their identity, and Mason Graham goes to the Jets. Okay, Carolina at number eight. This is one you can kind of start to go a little bit quicker because I think people are going to be trying to move down. Maybe there's not the great value right here, but they're not going to have trade partners. So they're going to be taking, and they're going to be taking for need, best available, all of it. Okay, so Bryce Young, he had a nice finish to the career, excuse me, the season. They need some help on the defensive side.

We're scoring defense in the league last year. Specifically, they need help on the edge. They only have five, what, bottom five in sacks? Bottom five in sacks is not going to get it done in this league. I like Jalen Walker, the linebacker, outside player for Georgia. Walker is a do-it-all linebacker. You can play inside. He can make tackles.

He can move to the edge. He can be explosive as a pass rusher. So Jalen Walker's Walker to Carolina, I think that that fits really well right there. Let's go to number nine. New Orleans. They've got what we think is, you know, needs in a lot. of places. Kellyn Moore has been looking across the field as the offensive coordinator in Philly this year, and he's seen a guy that just dominated the Super Bowl. He's got to play against

him in practice and Josh Sweat, 6-5-265 pounds. Okay. Now Kellyn Moore comes over from Philadelphia where they just made a living drafting Georgia defensive players. And lo and behold, here's Mikel Williams, an edge player from Georgia who's 65-265, 265, almost identical to Josh sweat. And even though he dealt with some injuries when he was healthy, he showed the ability to be dominant in particular in those two Texas matchups, four sacks in each of those two games. Not each of those. Four sacks total in those two games. And again, that Eagles blueprint of drafting Georgia defenders. Look at what ultimately paid off a Super Bowl championship up there. Kellen Moore comes down to New Orleans. I think he takes Mikel Williams. That goes to number 10 now,

and now the Bears are on the clock. Man, how different the Bears season would have been. Think about that Hail Mary between the commanders and the Bears. As painful as that is for the Bears fans and amazing that is for the commanders. The deflection point of where the seasons went from there from each team is so drastic. So drastic. Chicago needs help. A lot of places. Ben Johnson comes in from Detroit to be their head coach.

One specific reason. Get the best out of Caleb Williams. I don't believe you do that through skill position players. I believe you do that through the offensive line. Remember, last year they had a chance. They had a chance to draft a tackle like Olu Faschano or Taliesi Fouaga. Taliesi Fulaga. They passed on that.

They went Roma Dunesay. Okay, fine. You know what? I love Roma Dunesay as much as the next guy. But now you can't pass on an offensive lineman this year. So I like offensive linemen from Alabama, Tyler Booker. Might not be the sexiest pick again, but you've got to get Caleb Williams some help in front of him.

He was sacked 68 times last season. That's the third most in history. How about an offensive lineman? No, Chicago? I think that that's an easy pick right there. I think that Booker is likely more of an interior guy, but just taking someone that can play on the offensive line and do it well is an upgrade.

Now at 11, San Francisco. They brought back Robert Salé to be the defensive coordinator after finishing 29th in scoring this past year. They've got some free agents in the secondary, and I think the best player available at this point would be the Thorpe Award winner from Texas Jada Barron. That fits for me. I think that that's an easy pick for San Francisco.

Jada Barron, very good player. He can go to San Francisco that needs help on the defensive side. They're going to be struggling contractually in the secondary, so he can make them younger. He can make them cheaper in that area, and I think that he can give them that same impact. Really liked his game. I've loved his game for a long time,

so Jada Baron from Texas goes to San Francisco. Then we go to number 12 and a pick that everyone's going to be thinking about, as we always do, the Dallas Cowboys right there at number 12. Defense and run game are big areas of need for the Cowboys. Dak coming off of that hamstring surgery, the Cowboys need a running back in my estimation. They were 30th in the league and yards per carry this past year. Jerry has shown that he's not afraid to draft a running back in the first round.

I'm going running back. Ashton Gentie from Boise State going to the Dallas Cowboys. Gentie is the best running back available. This guy is an unreal runner. He's a plus runner. Whatever the play is blocked for, he's gaining plus yardage on top of that. He's physical. He's fast.

He's got home runability. While they didn't throw it to him a lot this last year, it was more based out of the fact that they were going to hand it to him 28 times. You can't throw it to him five times if you're going to hand it to him 28 times. And they didn't want to hand it to him 22 times because they were going after Barry Sanders. He can catch it and he's got past catching production in his background at Boise State. This last year, notwithstanding, though, because of the importance of trying to get that record for Ashton Genty as he was on his march toward a potential Heisman Trophy in which he finished in a very close second.

to Travis Hunter. I love Gentie. I think he's perfect in that spot. And I think Dallas is the team that takes him and improves that run game. Now we go to 13, the Miami Dolphins. Dolphins have a lot of free agents on the defensive side of the ball. So I was looking at this and I was like, give me a versatile defender. And Jehad Campbell from Alabama came to mind. And I think that this is a smart spot for Campbell. Campbell moved around Alabama. Okay. So he's going to have history on the ball, off the ball, inside, outside, all of those places. He was the linebacker, but moved more outside as the tide had some injuries this last year, former five-star recruit.

He was first team all SEC, led the tide in tackles. He's a good football player. And I think Miami would do well if they drafted him because, again, their defense is going to need to fill a lot of holes, potentially, based on what happens in free agency. And Jihad Campbell, he can play in a lot of places and he's a versatile hybrid style player, which I think holds a lot of value. in the modern game. So, yeah, hybrid player there.

Number 14, Indianapolis Colts. They are up here. So the Colts, I think, need to reinforce the offensive line. Not only to give Jonathan Taylor a little bit more help, but Anthony Richardson a little bit more help. You can really lean into, see, I think that the, you know, and no pun intended with the franchise's history in Baltimore, but with Richardson, I think that you have an opportunity

with Taylor to be a Ravens-style team where you can really dominate on the ground because your quarterback can run it really well and be a threat with his legs and you've got a really good running back. That's a good blueprint. So why not go up front? I like them going offensive line here.

I like the right tackle at Missouri, Armand Mimbu, 6'3, 325 pounds. I think he could play guard at the next level, which would fit with what Indianapolis needs. So Mimbu, 14 to the Colts. Thalcons up at 15 here. They have got to get past rushing help.

Second few of sacks in the league this past year. I look at my big board, and I know you guys don't see it right now, but there was a guy before the season that a lot of people talked about, hey, if the season falls the right way for him, he could be a number one pick in the draft. He could be the number two pick in the draft. And that's the edge player from Tennessee James Pierce.

I like Pierce there, and I think that Atlanta will feel like they got great value with Pierce. Because again, at the top end, I think he's got top five pick potential. It didn't pan out that way. I think he's going to fall down into the middle of the first round. And when you look at the need for pass rushing help that Atlanta, has. Second few of sacks in the league, like I mentioned. Pierce fits really well right there with the Falcons. Then the Cardinals are up at 16. They could also use some help, by the way, off the edge. And Shemar Stewart, who didn't quite have the production that we all feel like he should have from Texas A&M with the way he was recruited as a five-star kid,

I think he's going to test well. He went down to Mobile and had a really solid senior bowl. He's 6'5, 290 pounds, NFL frame. Like I said, the production. wasn't really there. Only four and a half sacks and 37 games. And that gives me a lot of pause. And that's why I've got other edge rushers up there ahead of them. But again, good senior bowl week. And I think teams are going to be really fascinated with his body type. So I'm going to go Shamar Stewart right there to Arizona with the 16th pick. The Bengals up at 17. And there's a couple of players that are still on the board that, you know, I struggled with leaving them on the board until this point. And that that's the two tight ends. I think the Bengals have too many contracts to, figure out on the offensive side. They've got to figure out Chase, T. Hendricksons. They want

extensions, likely going to lose T. Higgins and free agency. And then you've got this issue of, like, what's the blueprint out there? You know, Brady recently had Grunk. Stafford had Cooper Cup. Mahomes has had Kelsey. Philly, notwithstanding, they did it with defense. But if you're going to win with a great quarterback, you better give him somebody that can really own the middle of the field and that if needed, the entire passing game can run through. Now, is someone going to come in and take Jamar Chase's targets away? No. And if he's there, the passing game is going to run through Jamar Chase. However, when you start looking at someone that can command attention in the middle of the field and can be creative, similar to what Kelsey has been for Patrick Mahomes,

I think Cincinnati has a player sitting in front of them that can be a Kelsey influence to Burrow. So Cincinnati gets their Kelsey and they're going to take Tyler Warren, the Mackey Award winner, the Penn State tight end. I really love this selection. And again, you know, when you're doing these mocks, sometimes you mock places and it's like, do I think Tyler Warren's going to last all the way until the 17th? pick to Cincinnati? Probably not, but I want it so bad. I want Burrow to have Tyler Warren. I want him to have this creative playmaker that you can get the ball to in so many different ways. He's great with the ball in his hands after the catch, tossing it to him. He lines up all over the field. He took snapset quarterback. Again, the creativity commands attention. And when you're commanding

attention away from Jamar Chase, that's going to improve your offense. And it's going to improve Joe Burrow. They need something that gets them over the hump of some of these other AFC teams like the Bills, like Baltimore, like Kansas City. And maybe Tyler Warren is that piece. I love Warren. The entire passing game had to go through him. Part of his production was the fact that Penn State did not have a very good core of wide receivers. So it had to go through him.

So he commanded attention and yet still produced, finished with over 100 catches this last year. Let's go to the 18th selection of the first round of the NFL draft, the Seattle Seahawks on the clock. Seattle allowed the fourth most sacks in the league last year. They need more talent on the offensive line. Again, these picks don't tend to be all that sexy, but if you're Gino Smith, you were under a ton of duress last year, pressured on nearly 40% of his dropback style, that was fifth most in the National Football League.

Their left tackle Charles Cross, he's entering a pivotal year for him, year four. Seahawks have a decision to make about his next contract. I'm taking the tackle from Texas, Kelvin Banks, Jr. he's an excellent player. I think he's got position versatility. He could move down if you wanted to him. I think they could flip them out to right tackle if you really wanted to. Their left guard, Lakin Tomlinson is a free agent,

so that can be a potential bridge spot for Banks. Again, just talent up front. And I think that that's a direction that they could go. So at 18, Kelvin Banks Jr. from Texas to the Seahawks. At 19, Tampa Bay. Okay. Godwin suffered that nasty. dislocated ankle this year and is a free agent. Mike Evans is going to be 32 years old.

There's a wide receiver that just fits the Mike Evans mold available right here. You can get Baker Mayfield another tall, rangy, solid number one wide receiver. Tedaroa McMillan, the Arizona wide receiver. I've got them 19 to Tampa Bay. They lost their OC to the Jags Liam Cohen. This is not a great wide receiver draft as opposed to last year when we saw three wide receivers in the top 10. So I think McMillan could likely fall to this spot. I just like this a lot. He just reminds me so much of Mike Evans and just body type the way that he can go up, run some of those routes. His length is such a weapon down the field.

You know, his lack of productivity this year as opposed to last year, I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that they were just forcing the football to him so much and the entirety of the defense was able to focus on number four for Arizona. But I like Tedaroa and McMillow. into Tampa Bay. Again, that mold of Mike Evans. It just, I can't get that out of my mind. 20th pick, the Denver Broncos. Okay, so the Broncos, I think they need to do two things here. I think that the Broncos need to get better in the run game and up front with their offensive line. And they need to continue to develop some threats in the passing game and weapons for Bo Nix, their young quarterback, who had a really solid rookie year, really solid rookie year. Their run game was a problem.

And they've got a guy I think can help in both areas. From Michigan, the tied-in Colston Loveland. Now, Colston Loveland is a more in-line traditional style tied-end as opposed to like, let's say, Tyler Warren, who I gave to Cincinnati with the 17th pick. Loveland has been excellent in-line blocking for a team that loves to run the football. We know that.

But he's also an outstanding traditional route runner. Not maybe the creativity of a Tyler Warren, but in terms of a traditional sense can line up as the single wide receiver on the outside can create from in line running the seam. He can flex out. He's very good and precise in his routes. He's got great hands and he's got an ability to run with the ball in his hands that few tight ends have.

I think the lack of production for Colston Loveland was twofold this last year. I think that his value is going to get hurt by the fact that they did not have quality quarterback play nor a real passing identity whatsoever this last year at Michigan. And he was battling some injuries. everything had to go through him, everyone focused on him. Those two areas are why he didn't have a great year from a statistical production standpoint, but he fits great with Denver.

I nailed Denver last year. I said, bow next to the Denver Broncos. I thought it was going to be a great fit. This one is another great fit. To me, Colston Loveland, he's a better blocking version of Jimmy Graham. And with Peyton's history, with the Saints, again, I go back to those blueprints. I did it with Pete Carroll,

have done it now with the Bucks with Mike Evans and Tetaroa and McMillan, and maybe with Sean Peyton and Colston Loveland, they find a little bit of a fit there with their pass and a tight end to the Denver Broncos. Now we get into the late 20s here, I guess a dip into the 20s, the 21st pick with Pittsburgh. I'll be honest with Pittsburgh. I have no idea. I think Pittsburgh could use any number of position groups.

therefore, I don't think that this is necessarily just a position of need. Who's going to be their quarterback this year? Like, they've got a lot to figure out. Looks like Russell Wilson won't be coming back. Will they bring Fields back? I think so. Will they go the free agent route? Not sure.

Is like a cousins? I mean, who knows, right? They could go for a quarterback in round two. I think that they need a wide receiver. George Pickens is their only real threat, and he hasn't really been that consistent. And so I'm going to go wide receiver here. Matthew Golden from Texas, the wide receiver. Golden only spent one year at Texas. He transferred in from Houston, but he made the most of it. He was excellent for them and obviously made a few huge plays in the playoff for Texas as they

were able to beat Arizona State. Again, my confidence level is low on this one because I don't know where Pittsburgh is headed. And that sounds strange because Pittsburgh has been like the picture and the pillar of consistency in the National Football League for a long time. But this offseason feels a little bit different. All right. At 22, the L.A. Chargers. Now, here's what's fascinating is that the Chargers are sitting here. And Jim Harbaugh just saw three of his Michigan Wolverines selected already.

So Will Johnson, Mason, Graham, and Colston Loveland, off the board, right? And I just don't think that Jim Harbaugh is going to allow a Michigan Wolverine to pass him up right there, in particular when that guy is Kenneth Grant, the defensive tackle from Michigan. Nobody knows Kenneth Grant better in this league than Jim Harbaugh and Jesse Mentor, the defensive coordinator. And do they need defensive help?

Maybe not, but guess what? I sat with those guys face-to-face. And they each told me, hey, in the long run, Kenneth Grant, might be the best one of them all. Now, was he better than Mason, Graham, and college? No, not quite. Was he almost as good? Yes. Those two as a tandem were phenomenal.

Minter's defense was number one in the NFL in scoring this past year, and he wants to build a run wall. Okay, I talked with these guys at length. Mike McDonald, then Jesse Minter. then winked Martindale. The Raven-style defense that Jim Harbaugh brought back into Michigan was this. You build a run wall up front, then you build hard edges to rush the quarterback, and then you throw hybrid, fast, physical, smart players in the second and third level. You get some corners that can cover, in particular man coverage.

You get them locked down on the outside. That's how you win and play great defense. And building a run wall is the first building block of that defense. Kenneth Grant, I think, is going to be a tremendous player. And we might look up at the end of this and say, oh, man, he was better than all of them. Again, that's what they told me sitting face to face last year when I would go and call those games. Upside with Grant is huge. 6-3, 340 pounds.

He's a total freak athlete. You'll remember not this last year, but the year before. Michigan rolled into Penn State. Ketron Allen breaks away. And he's got like a breakaway. and Kenneth Grant hawks him down. 340 pounds. Dude is nimble and very good,

and I think he's going to be a great pro. Green Bay up at 23. Packers took Jordan Morgan out of Arizona last year in the first round. He battled some injuries. His first year played guard rather than tackle where he played in college. Packers can keep getting stronger on the O line.

So I'm going to go there. Josh Connerly, the Oregon tackle. Again, Green Bay could go a lot of places. I like Green Bay's future. a lot. I like Jordan Love a lot. Why not give him and continue to give him offensive line help? Because remember now, like the blueprint, you better

be able to protect your quarterback if you're going to go win at the top end. Kansas City couldn't do it. Green Bay is going to have to do it in particular in their division and in the NFC. The 24th pick, Minnesota. The Vikings need help on the interior of their defensive line, particularly

looking for someone who can rush the quarterback a little bit. Derek Harmon, the tackle from Oregon, a couple of ducks right in a row right here. I like Harmon a lot. He led all interior defenders in QB pressures this past year. He had 55, 12 more than the next closest in the country. That's more than Mason Graham. That's more than Kenneth Grant. So Harmon is a twitchy interior defensive lineman that can get after it. So another Oregon duck, he transferred in for his final season after beginning his career at Michigan State. So right there. So you've got Connerly from Oregon,

Harmon from Oregon, going back to back to the Packers and the Vikings. The 25th, fifth pick. This is one of my favorites again. Are you ready? Houston. Where are we going, Houston? I think you need to give your quarterback some more weapons, and guess who's available. His old teammate, Ameca, Abuka, pairs up with C.J. Stroud back in Houston. I love this. These two are close. They are great friends. They were very productive together in college, obviously. Abuka is a really mature player who will succeed. I say again, he will succeed at the NFL level. The guy is a worker.

He's a technician in his routes. He's good with the ball in his hands after the catch. He's fast. He's built sturdy to play in the slot, which I think is going to be his best position in the National Football League. The Texans need a wide receiver to go with Nico Collins. Diggs is a free agent and coming off that ACL injury. He's 31.

Tank Dell suffered that terrible knee injury. I think they need help on the outside. This one fits. He's going to be such a good pro, folks. Name the last Ohio State wide receiver that didn't pan out. Anyone? In the back? That's right.

I can't think of one either. So yeah, a mecca abuka is going to work out and why not pair him with C.J. Stroud? That's a perfect pick right there. Okay, 26, the Los Angeles Rams. All right, the Rams have a big need at left tackle. Their starter, Alaric Jackson is a free agent, as well as their backup left tackle, Joe Noteboom. The Rams don't have a second round pick this year.

They do have two third round picks this year, but even though he was injured, I loved what Josh Simmons from Ohio State was putting on film before the injury in that Oregon game in the middle of the year. because that injury happened in the middle of the year, he's going to have a lot of time to rehab. It's not like it's a late season injury. And so I like Josh Simmons to the L.A. Rams.

He was having a great year, hurt his knee against Oregon. I think it's the only reason he falls to this point. So there's some value there. There's some position of need there. There's some best available there. I think it makes a lot of sense right there, Josh Simmons from Ohio State to the L.A. Rams. The 27th pick in the first round goes to Baltimore.

The Ravens starting left tackle Ronnie. Stanley and left guard, Patrick McCarrey, are free agents this year. So I think that you need a guy that's versatile up front. I think that they're going to go offensive line. And there's a guy that showed his versatility because of the injury to the player that was just selected Josh Simmons, Donovan Jackson, the All-American Guard, who had to bump out to tackle and played great the entire second half of the season in route to a national championship, bumped out to left tackle.

Donovan Jackson is a heck of a player and showed that position versatility that is going to make him very valuable. I'm a big fan of Donovan Jackson. He's a smart player. I've had several conversations with him. He's the type of player that loves football and will succeed in the National Football League. I like him right there. I think that he fits a lot of needs. Keep building that line in front of Lamar and front of Derek Henry, Donovan Jackson to Baltimore. Will a Harbaugh draft an Ohio State Buckeye? Maybe. Maybe. Who knows? Three Buckeyes in a row right there. Three Buckeyes in a row. Number 28, the Detroit Lions. All right. I couldn't go a fourth, right? Full disclosure, I really wanted to give the Detroit Lions, Dan Campbell. I wanted to give him Jack Sawyer here.

Edge for Ohio State. I think he screams Dan Campbell. I would love to see him and Aiden Hutchinson become the stepbrothers. Like they would scream stepbrothers. Did we just become best friends? Yep. But I can't do it. So I'm not going to. Damn Campbell has to replace his OC and his DC this offseason.

Both have become head coaches. Don't let the small school fool you, okay? I covered Mike Green, the edge player from Marshall, when he played Ohio State. I thought he played really well that day against Ohio State and Josh Simmons, who just got selected, two picks ahead of him. And Mike Green is a guy that I think is a good selection here. Again, I wanted to go stepbrothers here, but I didn't. I didn't go full step close. So we're not getting prestige worldwide in Detroit.

I'm going Mike Green to Detroit. His head coach at Marshall was Charles Huff, who I actually really liked. Our meetings were fantastic. As an assistant, he was under Nick Sabin at Alabama. And he said Green would have started at Bama when he was there. He said he's the real deal. Minds him a lot of Will Anderson, perhaps not quite as powerful, but maybe more athletic. But no one's heard of him.

Why? Because he played a Marshall. He led the country in Sachs was 17, was second in the country and tackles for loss with 22 and a half, only behind Abdul Carter who played three more games than he did. So you might not know about Mike Green right now, but you will later. And maybe he goes full stepbrothers with Aidan Hutchinson, although they wouldn't have the rivalry. so it's not like they're going to have like, you know. Did you touch my drum set?

29th pick in the first round, Washington Commanders. Jaden Daniels was phenomenal. Love Jaden Daniels. What a year Jaden Daniels had. The future is looking bright in Washington. I really like what the commanders are doing. Now, they need to address the defense. They gave up 55 to Philadelphia and the NFC championship game.

That can't happen again. The commanders could be a potential trade partner with the Browns to go after Miles Garrett. Huh? What do we think about that? I think that that could be an interesting landing spot for him. Washington struggled against the run this past season. They were bottom five in the league and yards per carry defensively. So if you can get Miles Garrett, I think you go back a level or two and you get what I would consider to be the best run defending safety. Nick Emanwari from South Carolina. He's a big safety six three, two hundred and twenty five pounds. He can come up and help in the run game. I think The more he's at or near the line of scrimmage, the better his game is. So, man, Worry is a guy like, I like and fits.

But again, the caveat being, I think Washington would be a great spot for Miles Garrett. 30th pick, Buffalo Bills. If the mission for the Bills continues to be like, how do we get past Patrick Mahomes, then the Eagles laid out the blueprint. Okay? What's the blueprint? It's a copycat league. So what do you got to do?

Get after it up front. Get after it up front. overwhelm the line of scrimmage with pressure. So I'm going to go with a tackle who I think can do that. Walter Nolan from Ole Miss. Walter Nolan was the number one high school recruit in the country, went to A&M initially before transferring out to Ole Miss. Good player.

Bills have two second round picks as well, thanks to that Stefan Diggs trade. So they're going to be able to stock up. They might be able to get another edge rusher in the second round. But again, the blueprint, what did Philly just show you is that you can't just sit there and cover up in the secondary. You've got to affect Patrick Mahomes by getting to him. By the way, the only real bad losses Mahomes has had in his career

have been two Super Bowls. And in both cases, whether it was Tampa or this Philly one, they got after him and pressuring the quarterback with safe coverage. Not through the blitz, not through the blitz, but with a dominant four-man rush. And in order to do that, you've got to have quality guys even in the interior. And Walter Nolan certainly fixed that.

31st pick, Kansas City coming off of that Super Bowl lost, despite getting blown out in that Super Bowl. The Chiefs aren't going to go anywhere, folks. Okay, they're not going anywhere. They could use some help at the line of scrimmage, though. What did we just see? They got blown up up front. I'm sure they would love to add an offensive lineman here, but there isn't really a good fit, at least in my mind.

They could go O-line, could try to tray out, but there is some value on the defensive line. So why not give the defense further ammunition to also do what Philly was just able to to do, which is rush the pass. Are Chris Jones still dominant, but he's going to be 31 this summer. The Chiefs have no other defensive tackles currently under contract next year. Wharton started next to Jones this year, but he's not under contract for next year. So they own Walker, the tackle from Kentucky. This is a guy that was highly recruited coming out of high school, has been a little bit lost

in the shuffle at Kentucky, but I like his game, and I think he could fit nicely next to Chris Jones. And that comes to the last pick in the first round of our mock draft, the 32nd pick of the first round, the Philadelphia Eagles. I almost did the cheer, but I didn't. I didn't. Howie Roseman has two big free agent decisions to make on the defense. Zach Bond, Josh Sweat. Both are coming off huge years, obviously, great Super Bowls. That usually equates big paydays and not for the team that you won the Super Bowl with. Okay, so he might be having to fill some holes on that defense. Why not keep infusing the talent with defensive line players that can get after it?

As Aruka, Donovan Azaruka from Boston College is a guy that I think has been, he's been good in this process. Are there others there? Sure, maybe a Jack Sawyer from Ohio State. Azaruka is a good player, though. He was second in the country in Sacks with 16 and a half, just 12 games. So production. I'll always value production because if you produce at one level,

generally speaking, you'll probably produce at the next. Now, is that a tried and true fact? No, not all the time. But generally speaking, that is the case. So as a Ruka there to the Super Bowl champs, We're going to have lots of draft content over the next few months leading into the draft. We're going to continue to cover college football like we always do. We're going to have my top 50 players.

We're going to have position rankings, more mock drafts, no doubt. By the way, I've teased it several times. You've got to get over to YouTube, subscribe, hit the notification button because we've got the Understanding Football series up and started. The first three are there. We've got the next few in the works right now. And so those will all be debuting here in the next weeks and months. I have a mailbag episode of the Joel Clashio.

That's dropping on February 17th next Monday. Okay, so a mailbag episode, thank you for all of you that threw in questions. We just decided to do it on social. You can follow me on X at Joel Clatt. And that's primarily where I got a lot of those as well as Instagram. So we're going to have a mailbag episode of the program. That's coming up on Monday, the 17th. Until then, rate and review us wherever you're listening.

Subscribe on YouTube and share this show with a friend. Share this mock draft with a friend. I hope you enjoyed it, everybody. Thanks to Hampton by Hilton for all of their support. And we'll be back on the 17th with a mailbag episode.