The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Joel Klatt’s FINAL Mock Draft for the 2025 NFL Draft: a shake-up in the Top 5

Episode Date: April 21, 2025

Draft Week is finally here and FOX Sports’ lead College Football analyst Joel Klatt has his final Mock Draft ahead of the First Round on Thursday. His Mock opens with a shake-up at the top of the Draft with a surprise player move up into the Top 5. He reveals whether he believes the Browns or Giants will opt for a Quarterback or who ends up with blue chip prospects like Abdul Carter and Travis Hunter. He also projects where Shedeur Sanders lands and which team will select Jaxson Dart. He has the Dallas Cowboys making a splashy selection that will bolster Dak Prescott’s offense next season while Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs add a crucial piece to their offense. 0:00-2:10 Intro 2:11-3:05 Tennessee Titans 3:06-4:09 Cleveland Browns 4:10-5:28 New York Giants 5:29-6:47 New England Patriots 6:48-8:29 Jacksonville Jaguars 8:30-9:23 Las Vegas Raiders 9:24-10:29 New York Jets 10:30-11:10 Carolina Panthers 11:11-13:03 New Orleans Saints 13:04-14:17 Chicago Bears 14:18-15:29 San Franciso 49ers 15:30-16:42 Dallas Cowboys 16:43-17:32 Miami Dolphins 17:43-19:08 Indianapolis Colts 19:09-20:07 Atlanta Falcons 20:08-21:08 Arizona Cardinals 21:09-22:22 Cincinnati Bengals 22:23-23:25 Seattle Seahawks 23:26-24:10 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24:11-25:48 Denver Broncos 25:49-26:47 Pittsburgh Steelers 26:48-27:46 Los Angeles Chargers 27:47-28:32 Green Bay Packers 28:33-29:06 Minnesota Vikings 29:07-29:57 Houston Texans 29:58-31:03 Los Angeles Rams 31:04-31:49 Baltimore Ravens 31:50-32:22 Detroit Lions 32:33-33:48 Cleveland Browns (trade with Washington) 33:49-34:08 Buffalo Bills 34:09-34:47 Kansas City Chiefs 34:48-36:15 Philadelphia Eagles Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I have got my final mock draft ready for you. Number five, here we go. It's the first big surprise, I think, of my mock. If it was me picking, I want to be very clear. Shadour would be my top quarterback off the board. I really should have had both the tight ends off the board by this point. Both Tyler Warren and Colston Loveland from Michigan, their top 10 talents in this draft. College football has never been better.

Interest has never been higher. I believe that we are at the dawn of the golden age of college. football. Hey, what's up everybody? Welcome into the Joel Clad show. I am Joel Glad. This show is brought to you by Hampton by Hilton. We thank them for their support. As always, I have got my final mock draft ready for you before we get set for the 2025 NFL draft. I'm very excited about it. Here we go. We're going to get going. Before we do, just remember subscribe to the channel, hit the notifications button because everything that we do is on YouTube and everything that we're going to continue to do is on YouTube. You can find us wherever you like to social media.

We're there. We're like the three amigos. At Joel Clat Show, wherever you like to social media. Like and review us wherever you're listening on your podcast. Okay, here we go. Final mock draft, and I'm excited about it. I think that this is going to be an intriguing draft. And as you heard in the episode with Daniel Jeremiah, and by the way, if you have not listened to or watched the last episode, my conversation, with Daniel Jeremiah, the NFL network draft guru, and really great guy. There's a lot of great information about the draft. So make sure to go and check that out because I'm going to reiterate one of the things that

we talked about, which is this might not be a star power draft, but there's a lot of starters in this. So we're going to get our starter jackets out right here. By the way, back when I was a kid, I had a Chicago Blackhawks starters jacket. And it was sick. Yeah, yeah, it was awesome. And I wish I still had it. All right, here we go.

Tennessee Titans are on the clock, and I think that we all generally know, I think, where they're going to go. And it's Cam Ward from Miami. He's been assumed to be the number one pick for a long time. And I am not going to change that now. As we get into the late stages here, as there's a lot of smoke and mirrors being thrown around,

Tennessee addressed its hole at left tackle by bringing in Dan Moore from Pittsburgh to protect Cam Ward. So this fits in a lot of ways. And you guys know how I feel about Cam. Live arm. He can stretch the field, attack every blade of grass, as Daniel said it, which I thought was a great way of putting it. He's a bit of a gunslinger.

And that's really the only thing that gets him in trouble is that he thinks he can make every single throw on the field. And there are times when he can put the ball in a precarious spot. But other than that, I'm a huge fan of Cam Ward. I love his story. I love his backstory. his road to this point, and he's going to be my top pick in the draft. At number two, now we start getting some intrigue because Cleveland, New York,

two and three, where are we going? Do we have a second quarterback taken in the top three? I think that's the biggest question. I teased this last week in a couple of those other episodes. I am not going quarterback. So with Cleveland, I'm going to go Travis Hunter, the wide receiver corner from Colorado, Heisman Trophy winner. When you listen to Andrew Barry, the GM of the Browns, he references Travis Hunter as a unicorn.

And I don't think that they're going to put a limit on where he is and the amount of football that he's going to play on each side of the football. The Browns can get substantially better on both sides of the ball. Again, you guys know exactly how I feel about Travis. I think he's the best wide receiver in the draft. I think he's the best corner in the draft. So when you're talking about value to your organization and to your team, from a production standpoint, there is no greater value than the best player on my board, Travis Hunter, and I think that Cleveland selects him at number two.

At number three, I think everyone's going to be interested. Is it going to be Shador Sanders? I actually think the Giants are going to go to Abdul Carter, edge rusher from Penn State. Listen, again, I've talked a lot about Abdul Carter. This guy is phenomenal. I think that he could have an even bigger impact than Micah Parsons in the National Football League, partly because he's a bit longer and he's more raw on the edge. He can go back and play the second level.

He can go to the edge. He really only played out there one year. And he was a monster, whether it was playing Ohio State, playing Notre Dame in the playoff. I mean, every single game, the opposition would have to game plan for number 11. an explosive get-off and just a game rucker. And I really love what they could build, by the way. Speaking of the Giants, think about that defensive front. So you would have Abdul Carter, which you can move around and you can create, again,

a Parsons-like impact, Brian Burns, Kavon, Thibodeau, and Dexter Lawrence. Now you're starting to mimic what Philadelphia was able to do in terms of a front board that can put pressure on anybody in the National Football League. I know that they need a quarterback. Unfortunately, I think that somebody might beat them to the punch later in the first round. That's a professional tease to wait until the end of the first round. Okay, number four, this is the worst possible scenario for New England is to see Travis Hunter and Abdul Carter go two and three.

They are going to be desperate for Cleveland or New York to select Shador Sanders. Because that would leave Hunter or Carter for them, which they would gladly run to the podium and take. But if Hunter and Carter are off the board, save trading down, which I almost did here, I just don't know if anyone's going to jump up to this point for any particular player. So I think New England's going to be stuck,

and I think that they're going to overdraft, a player that I really like, but at four, this is going to be a bit of a stretch. Will Campbell, offensive tackle from LSU. Will's an excellent player. I really like him. again is incredibly high. The future for the Patriots is Drake May.

So why not give him some more protection up front? I think that that's an easy selection. Again, I just think that they're going to be thinking, boy, we could get him at 7, 8, 9, 10, potentially, or even an Armand Mimbu and select some offensive tackle. But I think they're going to be forced into picking here, and they're going to go to protect May with Will Campbell. So that's number four.

At number five, here we go. Are we ready for this? It's the first big surprise, I think, of my mock. Not going to be surprised if Jacksonville runs up there and takes Ashton Genty from Boise State. New head coach Liam Cohen, new GM, James Gladstone. Jags need to put playmakers around Trevor Lawrence. And as I'm talking to people around the NFL about this draft, man, everybody loves Ashton Gentine.

And rightly so. Rightly so. The guy was running around on that blue turf like he had Vaseline rubbed all over him. He's like, you can't tackle him. You know, he's like the greasy chicken in Rocky. You know, he is excellent, his balance, his vision. He can catch it even though he didn't catch it a lot last year. Remember, I talked about this idea of Boise,

giving him more rushes than anything as far as touches go for that. that rushing yards mark. Look at what he did against Oregon to Daniel Jeremiah's point last week when we started talking about Ashton Genty. Look at what he did to Washington State. Like he did it against teams that were very good. Oregon was undefeated in the number one team of the country until they got beat by Ohio State.

So just watch out for this. Travis E.T.N is entering the final year of his rookie deal. Are you really going to want to pay him a lot more when you could get a player that might be even better on a rookie contract. Gentie would be the highest drafted running back since Sequin went number two overall in 2018. That worked out not for the Giants who selected him, but that worked out for the Eagles. All right, now we go to number six. The Las Vegas Raiders, I've got them taking Mason Graham tackle from Michigan in a division with Mahomes and Herbert and now Bo Nicks in Denver. I think having a dominant defensive lineman, in particular in the

interior that can push the pocket into the lap of those quarterbacks is advantageous. This is what this kid can do. I think he's going to be an outstanding player. In a lot of ways, he's been, at least in my estimation, as I've evaluated college football, he's been one of the most disruptive interior defensive linemen since Endomacan Sioux. Heck, I mean, he basically beat Ohio State last year with the help of maybe a banged-up quarterback and some interesting play selections. But he's amazing.

Got Gino Smith on offense. Carroll comes in, gets this organization back on track. How? Front to back inside out. That's how you build defense. Front to back inside out. Who's that? Mason Graham.

He's like a cornerstone piece. Now it's the Jets at number seven. You know, the Jets are always an interesting one because, again, they're the Jets. I'm going to go Armand Mimbu from Missouri. I'm going to go offensive line here. I don't have a ton of confidence in this pick, but I'm going to go with Mimbu. He's getting a lot of chatter and draft circles. You can put him at right tackle where he played in college.

You compare him with old new fashion new at tackle and potentially have your bookends set for the foreseeable future. And you can be protecting Justin Fields. You know, that's not a bad idea. Remember, Fields did not have a ton of protection in Chicago as Bears fans know. And maybe you give him protection and he takes the next step. Think of all the quarterbacks in the National Football League who had almost like a, like a second lease on life at a second organization, a third organization, and then succeeded. I mean, look at a guy like Baker Mayfield.

Maybe Fields could have that. Why not give him some protection up front? All right, Carolina at number eight. Probably should have had more edge players go here because they're always in such need. You know that the NFL decision makers want edge players. So I'm thinking here, I'm like, all right, the Panthers had the worst scoring defense in the league last year. year. They've got to get better on that side of the ball. Jalen Walker is the pick here. So Jalen Walker from Georgia goes at number eight. He's a do-it-all linebacker. He can play inside. He makes a lot of

tackles. But he's also a really explosive player and you can go down and put him on the edge as a pass rusher. So to me, where they are defensively and what he can do from a versatility standpoint, makes a lot of sense. Jalen Walker, the Bulldog goes to Carolina. Now we get to number nine. All right, don't have Schoer Sanders off the board, and here we go. This is where I think the draft gets very interesting because Cleveland still is going to need to address the quarterback position. New York still needs to address the quarterback position, and probably Pittsburgh needs to address the quarterback position. And yet, largely there's only one guy that we would all say, including me, say like, okay, he's certainly in the top two. New Orleans needs to address the quarterback issue, and I think that they do it right here.

I think this is a good spot for Shador Sanders. He's going to go to New Orleans at number nine. Derek Carr's shoulder means that they've got a huge need, huge need. Why not go to a dome and an offensive-oriented coach? I think that this would be a great position for Shadur Sanders, and you know how I feel about him as a player. I think Shadur is a great player. In fact, if it was me, listen, this is a mix of what I think is going to happen

and what I'm hearing. If it was me picking, I want to be very clear, clear. Shadour would be my top quarterback off the board. Okay? I think he's that good. I know that there are people out there that totally disagree with that take, but again, when you look at what he does when the pocket is clean, it's surgical. When you look at what he does when the pocket is not clean, which is often he's a magician. He escapes, extends the play, keeps his eyes down the field, and then he's so accurate throwing the football down the field. He can fit the football in a shoebox.

I think his game is going to translate much better to the National Football League than maybe it even did at college at times. I really do. He processes information. He's a great decision maker. He took care of the football. He made plays down the field. Shador, New Orleans, at number nine. At number 10, here we go with the Bears. All right, Bears fans. What do we want? What do we not want? I don't care what you want. You need offensive line help.

So that's where I'm going with the Chicago Bears. Kelvin Banks Jr. from Texas, I think that this guy, outside of one game, really, or maybe one and a half games against Georgia, he probably would be the number one tackle on the board. But yes, he did struggle against Georgia. The entire team struggled against Georgia. Let's face it. And because of that, he kind of moved off of that perch as a guy that I thought could

have been O.T. Number one, if you will, offensive tackle number one in this draft. Really good player. I like him a lot. Ben Johnson comes from Detroit, who had one of the best offensive lines in the league. I could see him trying to bolster that area. They upgraded the interior of the offensive line through some trades and free agency. They added three veterans, starters at both guard positions and center. In order to get the best out of Caleb, I think you got to protect him. You've got to protect the investment. Caleb needs to work. If Caleb doesn't work, it's like, well, we're square one again. So you've got to give him the resources to try to work. And part of that is the offensive line, which they've already invested in. And now they can double down on that in the draft Kelvin Banks,

Jr. at number 10. Number 11, San Francisco, they need help all over. They need to rebuild the roster in a lot of places. They lost a ton of guys in free agency. And so in some ways, I think that they can just take best player available. And there's a guy that has slipped to this point in the draft that otherwise would have gone probably in the top five or six, save for some injuries that he had, and specifically an injury to his toe. And that's Will Johnson, the corner from Michigan. I look at Will Johnson as kind of a perfect San Francisco 49er.

I think he fits what John Lynch wants to do. He's long. He's tough. He's got great instincts, great ball skills, and he's a terrific corner. Again, if he wasn't hurt, he'd definitely be off the board at this point. But he has struggled with that turf toe to stay on the field that kept him out really majority of the season. But when you looked at when he was healthy, even when he was playing great offenses and wide receivers like Ohio State with Marvin Harrison, Jr., man, this guy is a dog. He's making plays early in his career as a freshman.

He's making plays on the football, taking him back for six. He's really, really good. So Will Johnson to San Francisco, I think that makes a lot of sense. right there. Dallas, I had Ashton Genty in a lot of my mock drafts, and now he's off the board. So where does Dallas go? That's a great question. Again, they could probably address a few different areas, but they need help in the run game. They can address that later. I think that there's always going to be second and third round running backs where you can go and you can give value with players that can come in and step into the offense right away and start. So why not

go out and get a wide receiver to go with CD Lamb to try to take some pressure off of CD Does it make sense? I don't know. I don't know. Does what Dallas does a lot make sense? No, I don't know. Tedroa McMillan from Arizona. Why not?

Big body receiver. He can go out there and make plays down the field. You're giving Dak Prescott more weapons. You can infuse some help into the run game later in the draft, because as we know, we can always get a good running back on the second round. We can't always get a wide receiver with the 50-50, ability, the big frame, like we can get right here with Teteroa McMillan. I think he's a really solid player.

And again, you pair him with CD, take some pressure off of that side of the field, and allows Dak Prescott to go to work. Now we get to number 13, the Miami Dolphins. They picked up Chop Robinson last year in the first round. He had a really good rookie year. Chop was terrific from Penn State. Both Bradley Chub two years ago and Jalen Phillips last year have had knee injuries over the last couple of years. So I know I'm going into a position where they might not need this, but I do think

that the edge player from Georgia Mikel Williams is an interesting pick right here, his versatility, his ability level and overall measurables are off the charts. So why not draft a guy that you think has a lot of potential and a guy that can impact the game? on the defensive side, that could be Mikel Williams. All right, number 14, the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts have to figure out what they have at QB with Anthony Richardson. They've got to figure that out. They brought in Daniel Jones this offseason.

Is anyone excited about that? Exactly. Tyler Warren, Penn State. I really should have had both the tight ends off the board by this point, because if you're just looking at a big board, both Tyler Warren and Colston Loveland from Michigan, their top 10 talents in this draft. But when you start looking at positions of need,

so on and so forth, they could slide a little bit. If Warren's there for the Colts, I think that this makes a ton of sense because it gives your quarterback, your young quarterback, a really solid third down option to go to. And again, I don't think anybody,

at least at the tied-in position, exploits space on the field in a creative manner like Tyler Warren. This guy, he does it all. Snap it to him, hand it to him, toss it to him, screen it to him, throw it to him. He can get down to the seam. They handed it to him inside of the five-yard line against Ohio State. They likely score a touchdown there rather than getting stopped on fourth down by not giving Tyler Warren the football.

That might have been like a bit of a band-aid ripped off that hasn't quite healed yet for the Nittney Lion fans. But Warren is sensational, and the Colts could use something like that. So I like that idea of Warren going to Indianapolis. At 15, the Atlanta Falcons come up. I like Mike Green from Marshall. This is a production over traits. You know, Mike's not going to blow you away with his traits,

but boy, no one was more productive. He led college football with 17 sacks. He was terrific against Ohio State. his coach Charles Huff told me if he was at Alabama, he would have been a starter. He would have been right there with Anderson and all those great defenders as one of those players that we were talking about as an absolute game record. Now, he's got a little bit of a checkered pass with what happened to him at Virginia. There was allegations thrown around. Nothing really came of that.

But he was dismissed from the team. He ends up transferring to Marshall. He has a really good year. last year, like I said, led the country in sacks. And here he is with the Falcons. They need help on the edge. Second few is sacks, by the way, in the league last year. So I like Mike Green right there.

Arizona at number 16. Just truth be told, this is my middle son, Samuel, who just turned 11. Sam is the best. I love Sam. I love all my boys. Sam loves the Arizona Cardinals. So he asks me all the time. Dad, who are the Cardinals going to select?

So, Sam, here we go. I haven't told you until now. Cornerback Jod A. Barron from Texas. I like that. Cardinals made a big free agent acquisition on the edge with Josh Sweat. So now Sweat comes in from the Eagles. Now they can improve on the back end with the Thorpe Award winner, Jodd A. Barron. Huh?

What do you think, Sam? I like it too. I can feel your affirmations right there, my man, and I love you. Again, though, this makes a lot of sense. you can get much better, tangibly better on two different levels of your defense of your Arizona by bringing in sweat and free agency and then selecting the Thorpe Award winner Joday Barron

there for your secondary. At 17, here come the Bengals. The Bengals took care of Jamar Chase and T. Higgins, but they're still in an awkward position because Trey Hendrickson, they gave him permission to field a trade, right? So you would think they'll lose Hendrickson who led the league in sacks. So I think that they desperately need pass rushers.

Let's go Shamar Stewart. I think Shamar Stewart is interesting right here. Now, didn't have great production, but boy, you talk about talent, you talk about potential. Now, potential can get you fired in the National Football League. He didn't have, again, a ton of production, but, man, you look at him and you see the way he tested. You watch him on the field and you're like, it should be there.

And this is what we always know about the National Football League is that somebody believes I can get the production out of him. He only had one and a half sacks each of his years at Texas A&M. So four and a half sacks and three years at A&M. I know. Everyone from Cincinnati just went, what? He was 12th in the SEC and quarterback pressures. So that's solid.

But he's 65-267. At the combine, he ran 459, third fastest defensive end. He had a 10-11 broad jump. That's first among defensive ends. Again, someone's going to be like, oh, I'll get him to the quarterback. You give me 10-11 broad jump and 459 at 6-5-267. It's like, I'll get them to the quarterback. And so in my mind, that's Cincinnati.

18, Seattle. Mike McDonald sees Michigan tight end, Colston Loveland. And he's like, yep, boom. Colston Loveland goes to Seattle. The offense will look different this year. Sam Darnold at quarterback. Cooper Cup at wide receiver to pair with Jackson Smith and Jigba. Why not give him a guy who, like I said, creates his own space.

Doesn't exploit the space on the field like a Tyler Warren, creates his own space with awesome routes. Very good route runner. Again, he can go out and be a single wide receiver. He can line up in line. He's very versatile in terms of that. And I think Loveland is too good to pass up and reunites with Mike McDonald right there, who, of course, was the defense coordinator at Michigan.

just a couple of years ago. At 19, Tampa Bay comes on the board. Bucks look to improve on the defensive side here. I think that they're going to grab what I think is a really versatile quality player and Jihad Campbell from Alabama. This fits for me. They can get better on defense. Again, versatility is the name of the game on defense,

in particular from the linebacker perspective, because what you get is teams that sit in 11 personnel or 12 personnel, and then they get into all different sets where they can bring them in, tight the tight ends and run the football. They can then widen the tight ends out, flex them out, and throw the football. So you've got to have guys that are versatile

that can line up on the edge, maybe back up and play off the ball. Campbell can do that. So I think Tampa goes with him at 19. At 20, the Denver Broncos come on the clock. So Peyton used his first round pick on running backs twice before. He's selected Reggie Bush and Mark Ingram in his life. Pretty good selections, by the way.

Kind of like we draft. Well, never mind. I'm going to go with Omari on Hampton from North Carolina. So in my top 50, if you've been paying attention, I actually have Travionn Henderson and Quinchon Judkins above Hampton. Now, I want to be crystal clear. That is not an indictment on Hampton. As much as it is, I really think that Judkins and Henderson are undervalued.

Hampton is phenomenal. He does everything well. And if you put him in Denver with a creative offensive guy like Sean Payton, a young quarterback like Bo Nix, they need help in the run game. They need help on third down. A lot of different things he can come in and help with. Put Hampton behind a good offensive line, pair him with Bo Nix.

Hampton can catch it, which you know Sean Payton loves. I think Trayvion Henderson could be a good fit here. I even think Quinn Sean Judkins could be a good fit here. But again, the Broncos and what I'm hearing right now in NFL circles is Hampton is largely the consensus number two. He wasn't on my board, but he's largely the consensus too. The Broncos are close. That's who should be drafting a running back early. Use these young legs.

I think the Broncos could make a little bit of a run. Why not go with a running back and in particular a young running back? 21, Pittsburgh Steelers. All right, so are we talking quarterback here? I think it's a little too rich for a Jackson Dart at this point. So the guy who I just think oozes Pittsburgh Steelers at this point is the safety from South Carolina, Nick Emanwari. It's going to be a temptation to go QB here.

The Rogers saga, at least as we're taping here, it's Good Friday as we're taping. And that's continuing. Eman Worry is a downhill safety. Tell me that doesn't scream Pittsburgh. This guy is big. He's physical. He does not shy away from contact and he can run.

He can run. You put him in Pittsburgh and it's one of those selections that we all look up at the end of the day and we're like, well, that's the most Pittsburgh selection you could possibly make. And so Nick Eman Worry to the Steelers. 22, the Chargers are up. Guess who's still on the board in this mock draft? Kenneth Grant. Kenneth Grant will get selected if he's still on the board by the Chargers.

There's no doubt in my mind. Jim Harbaugh, Jesse Minter, they both love this guy. They've told me since he was a young guy, that he's going to be the best of all of them, that he's going to be a dominant NFL player. He's just scratching the surface of his potential. He's explosive. You're seeing him right now if you're on YouTube.

And if you're on YouTube, congratulations. everyone should be. He was hawking down Nick Singleton from Penn State. He's disruptive. He will continue to get better and better and better and more polished as it relates to being a pass rusher as he gets more experienced. He doesn't have a ton of experience, but man, he is strong. He is big and he's a guy that can be disruptive. And mark my words, if he's on the board, Minter and Harbar are going to run and select him. There's not a doubt in my mind. Twenty-three. The Green Bay Packers. Packers opt for help on the edge here. Asaraku, Donovan Azaraku from Boston College.

He was second in the country in sacks last year. This guy is production, man, 16 and a half sacks. So just behind Mike Green. And he can get after it. Only 12 games he got those. So he actually led the country in sacks per game. Again, that's good value at 23. He might not have the traits of a Shamar Stewart, who I've got going to Cincinnati at 17.

But Azaraku is a hell of a player. And I think that he would fit in Green Bay. And I think that they could use that help. 24, Minnesota, the Vikings have strengthened the interior of that offensive and defensive line through free agency. They can grab somebody outside of that. Look at a guy like Malachi Stark. Now, again, I think Malachi Starks is undervalued at this point in the draft. Safety from Georgia, he steps into Kirby Smart's defense, and he started right away as a true freshman.

They can grab Starks at safety, strengthen the past defense that gave up the fifth most passing yards in the league a year ago. Makes a lot of sense right there. At 25, Houston, C.J. Stroud was sacked the second most of any quarterback in the league last year, And then they decided to trade Laramie Tunsel to Washington. So do you think they need offensive line help? Yep. How about Josh Simmons from Ohio State? Simmons transferred to Ohio State from San Diego State.

He's coming off of a Patela injury. And everything that I've heard, the medicals are coming back really positive for Simmons and his recovery from that Patella injury. It was a non-contact injury, which sucks. But if he would have stayed healthy, he would have been an All-American. and he would have been in the picture, I think, for the top offensive linemen drafted. We saw what happened when Stroud and got to the playoffs with Houston. Kansas City was all over him.

What was he sacked like eight times? So give him some help up front. At 26, the Rams. Okay, so this one is like, to be fair, I don't know. I don't know where the Rams are gone. So this one's kind of like, I would love to see them draft. my favorite player in the draft right here, smart slot receiver,

Ameca Abuka. I don't think you can go wrong drafting Ameca Abuka. He's one of the great people I've ever covered in my career, covering college football. He's a great leader. He's an excellent route runner.

He's reliable catching the football. He's a technician. And everybody that comes from that wide receiver room is excellent. So you pair someone like that late. They lost Cooper Cup. So, hey, like, they bring in Devante Adams. That's not a long-term fix.

That's a two-year contract. And would anybody be surprised if it was only one? No, so let's get someone young that can be there and be another threat for staff. I like that. Best culture guy in the draft, a mecca Abuka. At 27, the Ravens are on the clock. Hey, shout out to North Dakota State. You won the national title in the FCS, and you get a first rounder.

Interior offensive lineman Gray Zabel. I like him going to Baltimore. Baltimore got a deal done with left tackle Ronnie Stanley. They could use some help on the interior because they lost a guard of theirs, Patrick McCarrey. So Gray Zabel, who I think is an excellent player. He played a lot of football in North Dakota State. Just farm tough, man. Like this guy, he talks about the three Fs.

No, don't go there. Don't you dare. This is a family show. Farming, football, and family. Goodness gracious. This is, I cannot believe you did that. We move on. 28.

Detroit Lions. There's a lot of potential with James Pierce from Tennessee. On the edge, this is a traits versus production. We talked about it with DJ. Pierce had the production a couple of years ago. In fact, after his what was a 10 sacks in 2020, you look up and you're like, man, he could be one of the top players in the draft. But then that production fell off just a little bit.

I think you pair him up with Aidan Hutchinson on the edge and you've got something cooking there in Detroit. I really like that. All right, let's get interesting here. 29. Washington doesn't have a third round pick. So I don't think they would mind dropping back here. Why?

You're not going to draft anybody at 29. that's going to be substantially different than drafting somebody at 34. 33. Browns have the first pick in the second round at number 33. So they can drop back literally four picks. And they'll select someone just fine. Meanwhile, Cleveland and New York, as I told you earlier, passed on the quarterback in the first round.

And so now they're going to be sitting there and they're going to, I think, jockey for position. I think Cleveland beats him to the punch. Washington needs a third round pick. Cleveland jumps in at 29 and selects Jackson Dart, Ole Miss quarterback. And he goes and we have a third quarterback selected in the first round. The Browns, they passed on the quarterback early.

Now they get into the back end of the first round and they get Jackson Dart. I think Jackson Dart is very talented. He's going to need to grow a little bit from a play. standpoint because of all the things that were schemed and scripted for him at Ole Miss in the best possible way, by the way, but that was the case. So Jackson Dart goes there at 29.

At 30, the Buffalo Bills, they beef up the defensive line, not a bad option for a team that has to somehow beat Patrick Mahomes at some point. How about defensive tackle Derek Harmon from Oregon, transferred into Oregon and had a magnificent season? He's disruptive in the middle.

He's powerful, and I really like what he brings to the table. And then you look at what we've gotten the last couple of picks here. 31 to Kansas City and 32 with Philadelphia. Kansas City needs offense of line help. We saw that in the Super Bowl. Josh Connerley, also from Oregon. So a couple of ducks there at 30 and 31. Mahomes needs more protection. The chiefs traded away Joe Thuny to the Bears, and he was a makeshift left tackle anyways last year. Connerly would be a great pickup for them. And they basically can address their biggest need. So Connerley at 31, that's perfect. At least in my estimation, if I was a chiefs

chiefs fan, I would feel really good about that. And then the Eagles, last pick of the first round. Most Eagles pick possible, Walter Nolan, former number one defensive tackle in the country, all of a sudden slips to the Eagles. And everyone's thinking to themselves, how did we let that happen? Walter Nolan from Ole Miss and Texas A&M, I continue to like the idea of this match. I did this my last mock. There's some rebuilding that they've got to do on the defensive line. They lost Milton Williams, Josh Sweat, both the free agency. Howie Roseman has bet on talent in the draft in recent years and it's paid off huge for them. Look at what happened last year in the Super Bowl.

The idea of Jalen Carter, Walter Nolan in the middle of that defensive line sounds terrifying. And that's why I think they'll do it. So Walter Nolan rounds out the first round of my mock draft 3.0. I hope you enjoy the draft. be there live with the NFL network on Thursday and Friday. We will have more content, my reaction to the draft coming up next week right here on the Joel Clatchio. Make sure to subscribe on YouTube because that's where all the cool kids are.

Make sure to go follow us wherever you like to social media because that's what you do at Joel Clatio. And I just appreciate you being a part of this. I'm taping this episode right now on Friday, which is Good Friday. you will be listening to this after Easter. I really hope that you had an amazing Easter with the ones that you love. I'm certainly thankful for my risen Lord and those of you that believe I'm sure are as well. So I hope you had a great Easter and I'm very thankful for you listening to this show

and we'll be back next week with my reaction to the NFL draft.