The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Joel Klatt’s Post-Free Agency Mock Draft

Episode Date: March 17, 2025

FOX Sports’ lead College Football analyst Joel takes stock of the Free Agency moves in the NFL and reveals his latest Mock Draft for the 2025 NFL Draft. He explains where he believes the top prospects like Travis Hunter, Abdul Carter and Mason Graham will land on Draft Day and whether Shedeur Sanders will be selected in the Top 3 or slide down in the First Round. Ohio State, Michigan, Texas and Georgia’s programs are all well-represented with multiple selections in the First Round including former Michigan HC Jim Harbaugh selecting one of his former players. Klatt has the Dallas Cowboys adding a dynamic playmaker on Offense while the Super Bowl Champion Eagles find another potential game-wrecker on Defense. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Shador is catching the ire of people because of that. That's why everyone is attacking his draft stock. And guess what? I think it's so lazy and it's so unfair. You're going to get the rinse and repeat articles about like, well, some teams didn't like him at the Combine in their meetings. And it's like, oh my gosh, it is the laziest article out there. 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, what's up, everybody? Welcome into the Joel Clatt Show. I am Joel Clatt, and this show is brought to you by Hampton by Hilton. We thank them for their support. Hey, remember, wherever you're listening, go ahead and rate and review us. And most importantly, go follow us and subscribe on YouTube. Leave a comment below the notification. And then wherever you like to social media, we are there

at Joel Clatt Show on social media. We're getting into another mock draft, and I want to just get into it nice and quick. Listen, at the end of free agency, now we have a better idea of what these teams are from a roster standpoint. And we can now better project what they're going to need come NFL draft time in April when we will be in Green Bay. Just a reminder, I do go and work for the NFL network. I'll be on night one and night two on the desk there with Rich Eisen and Daniel Jeremiah and Charles Davis.

Love doing that. Those guys are phenomenal. So I will be there for night one and night two on the desk with NFL network in Green Bay. So here we go. Let's dive into it. In my first mock draft, I had a couple of trades at the top. I'm going to actually avoid that. Again, we have a much better picture in terms of rosters now that free agency is basically done. And we can kind of start to place those needs and players because of those needs here in the first round. So let's get started. Tennessee is going to stay there at number one. I had them trading out in that first mock draft. But here we go. Tennessee, they need a quarterback. I'm going to go with Cam Ward from Miami. after the combine and throughout this process, Cam Ward has continued to impress. I think his top end is very good. You guys know that I've loved Cam for a long time,

even back to his time at Washington State. It was a great signing for Miami when they were able to get him. And he's just got enough gunslinger in him to really go out there and take a bad team and improve them because he's going to be willing to take chances. He's going to be willing to go out there and go put it on the line. They've bulked up their offensive line and free agency. They signed Dan Moore. from Pittsburgh. And if you're the Titans, you're not going to go anywhere unless you figure out

quarterback. And so Kim Ward is going to be my guy. They're at number one to the Titans. Let's go to number two. The Brown's now signing Miles Garrett to an extension. I would have a thousand times out of a thousand placed Abdul Carter here thinking that Miles Garrett was going to be somewhere else. But now that he's going to be in Cleveland, they can continue to bolster the roster. So because they've got Garrett, now I'm looking. looking in other position groups, and obviously they can address a lot of different things. But I just, I don't know if you can pass up Travis Hunter right here at number two. Travis can improve both sides of the ball.

And there's really been no player that you can say that about ever in the history of this draft. And he can tangibly improve both sides of the ball. I believe that he's going to be a great corner in the National Football League. I think he can be a top five corner in the National Football League. What makes him so special is he can also then couple that with being a, I think, a number three slot-style wide receiver. And because he would be like a number three, a slot style, and maybe not in on every single play and every position group, then you're going to minimize his snaps just that way.

Therefore, he's going to be impacting both sides of the ball at the NFL level very similar to what he did for Colorado en route to the Heisman Trophy. I just don't think you can pass him up there. So Travis Hunter improving both sides of the ball for the Browns at number two. Number three, the relationship there with New York and the Sanders and Shador specifically, I think is strong. Now, I'm going to have Shador going to New York. And here's the deal. They have flown out to Colorado several times, even going back to the season in the fall, to scout, meet with and get to know Shador to a much deeper level.

I really like Shador's game. Okay, I know that he has taken some arrows in this process, and guess what? It is as old as time that we get a polarizing player because someone doesn't like him or people don't like his brashness or whatever it is. In this case, it's because of the name on his back. And his dad happens to be the head coach at Colorado and happens to be, I would say, like, the most, I don't want to say like showy, but Dion was the first of, of what has now become a showman. And he was probably, and probably still is, the greatest showman in the history of sports. And so Chodor is catching the ire of people because of that.

That's why everyone is attacking his draft stock. And guess what? I think it's so lazy and it's so unfair for all of these articles. And again, every single year, you take the most polarizing player in the draft process. And typically it's a quarterback, but sometimes it can be. somebody else, but you're going to get the rinse and repeat articles about like, well, some teams didn't like him at the combine in their meetings. And it's like, oh, my gosh, it is the laziest article out there. And unfortunately, Shador is kind of the target of some of those articles

and sentiments as of late. You know how I feel about him. I believe that he can be surgical when he is protected. He can be a magician when he is not. Not many guys can do that. And he can be productive because of it. Last thing I would say with Shudor is Colorado was a one-win team. They were terrible for two decades. And when I say terrible, I mean like terrible. They had one winning football season in two decades before Shador Sanders got there.

And yes, you can give a lot of credit to Dion and certainly as a head coach you can command a lot of credit. You can give a lot of credit to the Heisman Trophy winner, Travis Hunter. But he didn't have the football in his hands on every single play. Do you know the reason Colorado improves so drastically and so quickly, Shador Sanders? And now, I believe that he can do the same in the NFL for his next franchise. And I believe that franchise is going to be the New York Giants.

And number four, if this plays out because of the needs up there and all of a sudden, you might be thinking to yourself like, there's no way Abdul Carter would fall this far. Well, you know who's going to love that in New England? And so I've got Abdul Carter going to New England. I think they would run to the podium. I think that that would be a terrific selection for them. What a great scenario to have him sitting there at number four. They've been super active in free agency in Mike Braybill's first off season,

particularly on the defensive side of the ball. They can then further build up that defensive side with Abdul Carter. I know that the offensive line still has issues here, but I've got to be honest, there's no way that they would be taking an offensive lineman if Abdul Carter was on the board. So a lot of this is just like, hey, he's too good to leave there, at four. They've still got an early second. They've got two thirds. They can address some of those

offensive needs later in the draft. Okay, this is not the only pick that you get in order to improve your team. And Abdul Carter, this guy is phenomenal. I loved covering him. This guy, he's been an off-the-ball linebacker. He's been an edge player. They moved him all over the place in Tom Allen's defense last year at Penn State. He was very effective and disruptive. And I think he will be, again, when he gets to the National Football League. That takes us to number five. Jacksonville. They were last in the NFL and past defense and takeaways last year. They went out and signed Jordan Lewis from the Cowboys, so he can occupy kind of the slot there. And now they can get their lockdown corner on the outside. That lockdown corner, and my estimation, is Will Johnson.

Will Johnson, I'm really not frustrated, but it's like, it sucks that we didn't get to see him for a full year last year at Michigan. because of the turf two injury that he was battling through. Dude can play, man. He is excellent. He's got great ball skills from the time he stepped foot on the campus in Ann Arbor. He was terrific and one of their, if not the best cover guys on the outside. He's tough. You can't play in that defense unless you will rally up and make tackles and stick your nose in there.

Ever since he was young, he could make plays on the football, which he did. If you're watching on YouTube, you're seeing the interception that he made against Purdue in the Big Ten championship game. A lot of those picks, he's taken back for six. In fact, nine interceptions, three of those pick sixes in his three seasons in college football. The incredible interception, not this last season, but the year before, right in front of Marvin Harrison, when Ohio State was there. Will Johnson is perfect for them right there at five. That brings us to Vegas. Okay.

So Vegas is interesting in my estimation. I think right here, in particular because they went out and got Gino Smith, I think that that they can look at best player available. And they're also looking at a division now where Patrick Mahomes is sitting there and Justin Herbert is sitting there and to a lesser degree, but maybe, you know, on the up and come is Bo Nix and Denver, you know, these quarterback-led kind of offensive teams, even though Denver had a good defense. And so now I'm looking at this and I'm thinking to myself, boy, wouldn't they watch the

Super Bowl and they would watch what the Eagles did and they would think to themselves like, that's a great blueprint for us in division, not just against Patrick Mahomes, but the other quarterbacks that we've got to beat and play twice a year. And so Mason Graham is sitting there and available at number six. You've got your quarterback in Gino Smith, and you can continue to bolster what is an already strong defensive line. So you've got Max Crosby on the edge, Christian Wilkins on the interior, and now all of a sudden you can put Mason Graham in there and all of a sudden you become, I think, at least, the most

disruptive defensive line in football. And that's, I think, what you need to go out and beat Patrick Mahomes. Mason Graham is an absolute man-child. I think he's an excellent player. I don't think that there has been a defensive tackle quite like him in a long time come out. Equally good against the run and the ability to disrupt and what I would call like blow up blocks. He's a block destroyer, and he can blow up blocks and get to the quarterback. He's excellent.

And I like him right there at six with Vegas. So the Raiders get their guy in the middle. All right, the Jets. Olu Faschinoo from last year's draft, and he played left tackle and right tackle last year. Okay, so where are you going to go if you're the Jets? You can pick up another first round offensive lineman. I think that that would probably be the way to go. There are concerns, I think, rightly so, about some of the depth of offensive linemen in this draft.

but Will Campbell from LSU is a really good player. And I'm not as concerned with his arm length like some of the people coming out of the combine. So for me, I've got the Jets taking Will Campbell there. Again, the arm length is, I mean, I did it, but he was excellent at LSU. So there are times when you have to watch the tape and you're like, if that didn't show up, and it wasn't a concern for me on the tape, I'm not going to just let a measurement, you know, show up all of a sudden at the combine and scare me off.

So Will Campbell to the Jets. They're at seven. Number eight, the Carolina Panthers. The Panthers had the worst scoring defense in the league. I think they've got to address the defensive side of the ball. And it's a strong defensive draft. Good edge rushers, really good defensive tackles, some good linebackers in there.

And I'm looking at Jalen Walker. And I think Jalen Walker fits what Carolina needs. Again, we're scoring defense in the league last year. Walker is kind of a do-it-all linebacker, so he's not going to be position-specific. He can play inside and make tackles, but he's also explosive off the edge. And again, if you're looking at modern defenses,

second-level players have to be kind of hybrid-style players. That's exactly what Jalen Walker is. I'm a big fan of Jalen Walker, and I think he could improve Carolina right away. So Carolina takes the Georgia linebacker, Jalen Walker. That moves us to New Orleans at number nine. all right, as we're kind of rounding out the top 10. Mikel Williams had an incredible pro day.

Edge player from Georgia. He was, what was he, 260 pounds. He's 6'5. He runs a 473.40 at the pro day. The only reason Michael Williams didn't have a better year is he had some nagging injuries, an angle more specifically. I think he could have had a huge year. The Saints defense needs help.

They were 30th in the league in total defense a year ago. The roster needs playmakers. I think Michael Williams fits that mold. So I'm going back-to-back, Georgia, defenders right there, and Williams goes to the Saints. Bears at 10. Now, this is, I think this is an interesting pick because they are really close to having a really solid roster.

You look at this and you're like, okay, there's not a ton of needs with Chicago. They're going to have a ton of picks, right? So they're going to continue to bolster. They've got two picks early in the second round that they're going to continue to add, I think then on the offensive side. And I think that you can still add offense right here. And I think that you can go offensive line. Bolstering the offensive line is important.

Ben Johnson comes in as their new head coach from the lines. And they're going to need, I think, to transform their offensive line so that they can properly evaluate Caleb Williams and just say like, okay, let's give him every tool necessary to go out and succeed. And if he doesn't, then we can move on. we need to, but I do think he will. They've already got DJ Moore, Roman Dunesay, Colt Commit. They've got all these guys there.

Now protect your quarterback, allow him to reach his full potential, and you've got something. You can put Banks at left tackle, Kelvin Banks, the left tackle, that's where I'm going. You can put former first round pick from two years ago, Darno right at right tackle. So Kelvin Banks, the tackle from Texas, is the pick for me for Chicago. I like this a lot. It allows them more depth. Again, they've got more picks early in the second. They can go anywhere they want right there.

And Chicago really should be a lot better here in the next couple of years. San Francisco at 11. Man, I tell you what, you talk about a team that's lost a ton. If you take a look at what their roster was in the Super Bowl a couple of years ago, they've only got 11 of the 22 starters that are going to be back on that team. So they've been decimated by free agency. John Lynch can start the rebuild. You can probably go in a lot of different places.

I've done this a couple of times now. I'm going back to back to back. What did I do? I got back to back Michigan. I got back to back Georgia. Let's go back to back Texas. Jada Barron, the defensive back from Texas. I like him a ton.

I think that he fits what San Francisco wants to do defensively. Barron's an excellent player. I think he's physical. He's got elite ability at the football. he's athletic, and I think he's a competitor and he can improve them. I like his game a lot. He's around the football, and that's exactly what John Lynch is going to want. Okay, let's go to number 12.

Dallas is up at 12. I did this in the first mock draft. I'm going to do it again. I think Ashton Gentie from Boise State is the pick there. They got nothing from their run game a year ago. I mean, nothing. You need to put someone back there with Dak to help him out. Genties that guy.

Some have Gentie going a lot higher than this. But the only reason. that I don't is not a knock against Ashton Genty. I think that he's excellent and will be excellent in the National Football League. The problem with, I think, drafting him higher than this, maybe inside of the top 10, is that it's a really good running back class and there's some depth there. So I don't think there's an urgency that you have to take the best running back early and quickly when you know, like, okay, if we don't get Ashton Genti in the top 10, maybe we can continue to, you know, look for running back help in the second round.

He is excellent. Great vision, great balance. He got a ton of carries, obviously, at Boise. One of the reasons why he didn't catch the ball more out of the backfield is that they wanted him to have rushing numbers because those rushing numbers are the way that he was trying to get to New York and ultimately try to win the Heisman trophy. He didn't quite do it. He comes in second, but they were going after Barry Sanders record.

You don't get that record if five of his touches are going to be catches rather than runs. So that's one of the reasons why he didn't catch a lot. But rest assured, he can. And I think he's got good hands. Let's go to Miami at 13. Looks like their second round pick from last year, Patrick Paul is going to be sliding out to left tackle.

I think they still need to look at offensive line. Obviously, when you got Tua back there, you've got to protect him. And so let's go with a guy that can go in and play in the interior and really solidify the interior. Let's go with the interior offensive lineman from Alabama. I've got Tyler Booker going to the Miami Dolphins right there at 13. I'm a fan of Booker. I think that he can solidify that offensive line in the interior. And he's a guy that I think can play for a long time in the National Football League.

There's no doubt. Going to 14, Indianapolis. This one's, I don't want to say difficult, but I have this really good player that I'm looking down and I'm like, man, is he really going to slide this far? And I'm thinking to myself, probably not. but if he does get to Indianapolis, man, what a great fit that would be, in particular with some of the things that they've got going on at quarterback. I've got Tyler Warren, the tight end from Penn State going to Indianapolis. They're still trying to figure out quarterback right now. Daniel Jones seemingly coming in to kind of compete with Anthony Richardson.

Warren can give either quarterback a huge big-time target in particular on third down, a guy that is versatile. You can snap it to him, pitch it to him, hand it to him, throw it to him, all of it. great with the ball in his hands running the football. Don't know why he didn't get any carries inside of the five against Ohio State, but he didn't and they lost. He was really their best offensive weapon. I know that their running backs were very good, but, man, in terms of versatility and the ability to really impact the defense

in so many different ways, Warren was certainly that. He is an excellent player. I love his mentality and his makeup. He's great in the seam right down the middle of the defense. And so for me, I like Warren there to Indianapolis at 14. 15, the Atlanta Falcons. They need some help rushing the pastor. I like Shemar Stewart probably more than most,

mostly because the production wasn't there in college. But man, the traits are there. Like when you look at him, when you watch him and you're like, you know, I think that this guy is going to be really good. He's an athletic specimen. did not have a ton of production, like I said, only four and a half sacks in his college career, but I think you can be drafting him on the up and on potential here. And this might be wrong.

So, you know, cold take here, potentially. I think we're going to look up in a couple of years, and Shemar Stewart's going to be one of the better pass rushers in the league. Now, the unfortunate part about this is that it is a bit risky because if he goes and flames out and doesn't produce, just like he didn't produce at Texas A&M, the floor is really low. But the upside, the potential is there. And so this is high upside, high ceiling, low floor style of pick for the Falcons. But Shemar Stewart, I think they roll the dice and they go with Stewart right there at 15.

Okay, the Cardinals at 16. The Cardinals at 16, this is a perfect spot, at least for me, to draft a guy that I think is going to be, again, he might have a little bit lower floor than some of the other tackles, specifically his teammate from college Mason Grant, but Kenneth Grant from Michigan has tremendous upside. The Cardinals made a big free agent splash by signing Josh Sweat from the Eagles. They can continue to bolster that defensive line. And again, what did the Eagles do so well to win not only the NFC, but the Super Bowl?

They played great up front, and this is always a copycat league. So these guys that can be disrupted from the interior, and trust me, big number 78 can do this, they're going to be valuable. And I just like that. The cards were towards the bottom of the league last year in yards per carry it aloud. You insert Grant into that,

and you fix that virtually overnight. And so Kenneth Grant, they're at 16, which is a bit of a bummer because I really wanted to send him to Jesse Mentor with the Chargers. I did it in my first mock draft. I just don't think he's going to make it there. I really don't. I think he's too good. Bengals at 17.

Okay, looks like Trey Hendrickson is going to be leaving them, permission to find a trade. So Hendrickson, who just led the league in Sacks last year, he's on his way out. He had 17 and a half. The rest of the team only had 18 and a half combined. So they have to get some pass rush help. To me, it's a pass rusher here. I like Mike Green from Marshall, covered his game against Ohio State this last year. I was really impressed.

and his play in that game against Josh Simmons, who's going to be a first round offensive tackle before he was injured. He played really well against Simmons in that game against Ohio State. So his stock is going to be high. I like him in the first round. And because of Hendrickson and all that drama there with the trade or pending trade, impending trade, I like Mike Green going to Cincinnati there at 17.

That leaves Seattle up. Okay, so Seattle now has traded away Gino Smith. they traded away D.K. Medcalf. They've got to replace both of those. They went Sam Darnold on the quarterback side. And even with those couple of games at the end of the season, which he didn't play well, he was still really good for the bulk of the season. I think that they believe in him from that respect. But now they've got to add depth on the wide receiver side. The only real wide receiver they have in the group is Jackson Smith and Jigba, whom I love. But I think that he's primarily a slot guy. You've got to get a true outside threat. Tetaro and McMillan, the wide receiver from

Arizona, makes a ton of sense right here, a ton of sense. I think Seattle taking a true, big, solid, you know, win one-on-one situations outside wide receiver is the way that they need to go. You pair him with Jackson Smith and Jigba, and now your new quarterback, Sam Darnold, has something to target on the outside. So Teteroa McMillan, big wide receiver. receiver from Arizona going to Seattle. Number 19, the Bucks. Bucks had one of the best offenses in the league last year. I think they can focus on defense because of that. Again, the offense was terrific. I like Jihad Campbell from Alabama. His potential is there. I think that he is an excellent player. Bucks can look at this and be like, okay, who are some of the better

defenders left? Campbell certainly fits that bill. And they can take him at 19 right there. And I think that that's kind of a plug-in-play. You improve your defensive side of the football, which they need to do, and immediately they can become a better team. Number 20, the Denver Broncos. Denver's been interesting because they signed, I thought tight end was the way that I was going to go here. And I thought Colston Loveland was the perfect pick for them. That's why I had them mocked with in 1.0. But they signed Evan Ingram to give them some pass catching help from that position. So Bo Necks has as a guy on the outside to go with Cortland Sutton, Marvin Mims. They've signed a bunch of guys on the defensive side.

I know that they want a running back. I just don't know if this is the spot for the running back. In particular, a running back that can catch it really well out of the backfield. Think of all the great offenses that Sean Payton has had over the years, and they've always had a back that can hurt you running the football and catching it out of the backfield. It's something in his schematics, you know, he has this thing called the jerk route. And if he's got a back that can run the jerk route really well, then, you know, watch out.

And Bo Nix will have something. Now, I think this is too high because the bulk of the running backs will be, I think, drafted in the second round. And Denver can probably wait until the second round and get one of those guys. So here, I'm looking there and I'm like, I... I don't love the wide receivers left. I think that they're very good. I'm going to go with Matthew Golden from Texas.

Again, their defense was solid. They resigned a bunch of guys. And I think that you can go with Matthew Golden, who, by the way, at the end of the year, became really Texas's number one option. So he transfers in, and by the end of the year, like he was their passing game, and he was the target that Ewers was going to look at.

and some of those CFP games in particular. I liked his game in preparation for that Michigan game that I called early in the year, watching some of his tape. I think Matthew Golden's a really good player. And again, his trajectory last year and him improving every single week and then ultimately being the guy for Texas is going to show you something and prove something to you for the next level. So Matthew Golden going to Denver at number 20. Number 21, the Steelers. They went out and traded for D.K. Metcalfe. and I like Armand Mimbu from Missouri.

He had a really good combine. You can bolster the offensive line. The Steelers would be banking on the upside here. I like that. You can offer some flexibility on the line. I think either tackle or guard, they lost their left tackle, Dan Moore, to the Titans in Free Agency,

so they need to replace him a bit. You can move your first round pick, Broderick Jones, over from right tackle to left tackle. You can put last year's first round pick, Troy Fontenou at right tackle. This just gives you a lot of flexibility if you're the Steelers. And so Mimbu at 21 from Missouri to the Steelers. 22, the L.A. Chargers.

Jim Harbaugh, if any of these Michigan players that are first rounders, it's not going to happen with Will Johnson. And it's not going to happen with Mason Graham. But if Kenneth Grant or Colston, Loveland get to number 22, the chargers are going to take them. And so Colston Loveland, tied in from Michigan. He's not letting Colston Loveland go. He traveled to this town of 3,000 people to recruit Colston Loveland. Loveland is so good. He's more a typical tied end than a Tyler Warren who flashes to creativity. If Warren would remind you a bit of Kelsey, then, you know,

I think that Loveland would be a little bit more kiddle. He's more of a typical tight end, although he flexes out really well. It's not about their ability to be in line or flex out. It's the creativity with which you use them. The ability to run clean as scripted routes. Loveland's a terrific route runner. He's big. He's got great hands.

He's good with the ball after the catch. They drafted well last year grabbing Ladd McConkey in the second round. Now they can give Herbert another big time weapon. you know how much Jim Harbaugh loves Justin Herbert. Why not give him another weapon? Colson Loveland is excellent. That would be a no-brainer right there. At number 23, the Green Bay Packers,

they took Jordan Morgan out of Arizona last year in the first round. He battled some injuries in his first year, but played guard rather than tackle where he played in college. I think you're looking at a guy, and in this process, you're always going to see a guy that can be passed over early in the process, likely because of an injury he suffered during the year. And then as the medicals come out and as he meets with teams,

and as you start to figure out how healthy these guys are that had season-ending injuries, you start to get a better idea of where their stock is. Well, Josh Simmons, the tackle from Ohio State, from what I've been hearing, you know, the reports are good. in terms of his injury and how he's been healing from that knee injury that he suffered last year in the Oregon game that loss up in Eugene for the Buckeyes. So at first I had Connerley to the Packers, I believe, in the Mach 1.0. Now I'm going to go with Simmons because I think his stock is rising because of that injury news. Again, good quality injury news for Simmons that's kind of pushing him up the draft.

He goes to Green Bay and solidifies that officer. offensive line. 24, the Vikings. They have strengthened the interior of their line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, offensively and defensively. I think they can grab a guy like the safety from Georgia Malachi-Starks here and really improve their team. You got to strengthen a pass defense that gave up the fifth most passing yards

in the league a year ago. So that's got to be a priority for them. And Starks does that. He's a really good player. Great instincts. You can't go wrong. drafting Georgia defenders, by the way. We've seen that over the years.

Just asked the Philadelphia Eagles. So for me, Malachi Stark makes a lot of sense right now with where the Vikings are sitting at 24. At number 25, Houston, they traded away Laramie Tunsell. So you've got this big hole in the offensive line, and you've got a young quarterback that you have to be able to protect. It's not like C.J. Stroud is going to run around and protect himself, like some of these other mobile quarterbacks.

he's more typical and wants to be in the pocket. So you've got to get better on the offensive line. So now I'm going to go with Josh Connerley from Oregon. Again, this is one of those positions of need, obviously, after the Tunsel exit, and the Texan's going to need some help. I think Connerley is the pick right there. Brings up 26 and the L.A. Rams. The Rams decided to let Cooper Cup go, but they did bring in Devante Adams.

But remember now, he's 32. So if you look at players that regardless of where teams sit in the draft, a lot of times it's a fun exercise to just think about players and just fits. Again, if anyone could draft them, where do they fit the best? And I've thought of this like Sean McVeigh getting a really smart, talented wide receiver that's a great route runner, catches it really well, and is experienced. A Mecca Abouca with Sean McVeigh and Stafford and those guys,

like, I think that works. I think that works. He can occupy the slot if you want him to. He can go outside. He's very creative in his route running. He's a technician. He's a great leader. He's a guy that you want in your locker room.

All of those things are important to Sean McVeigh. and a mecca-abuka has been one of my favorite players to cover. I mean, just a joy to cover. His faith is very strong to him. He made that very apparent. And he was a leader of men on that Ohio State team. They don't win the national championship without a mecca-abuca just because of the man he is.

And so when you can draft somebody like that, I think that that's really, that's a plus for your locker room. That is a huge plus. So Sean McVeigh and the Rams taking a mecca abuca at 26. At 27, the Ravens, they prioritized resigning their left tackle Ronnie Stanley. They got that done. They did, however, lose a guard in McCari, Patrick McCarrey. Why not go guard?

Okay. And so I've done this a lot in this first round where it's like back-to-back players from the same team. You look at what Donovan Jackson did last year, moving around on the offensive line, guard, tackle, and solidified. what at one point was a real weakness for them was the offensive line because of the injuries. And then all of a sudden, like, he is the leader in there. And he bumps out to left tackle, plays it really well on a run all the way to the national championship. He's been excellent at Guard, all-American caliber guard.

And now you can plug him in there in the interior. And it makes up for Patrick McCarie, you know, not getting them and losing him. and now you can continue to have an offensive line in front of Lamar Jackson that gives him a chance. I like that a lot, man. Donovan Jackson is a heck of a player. And again, he was out of position for a big chunk of the season and did it with no questions asked, and he did it really well. 28, the Lions. The Lions had one of the best offenses in the league a year ago, but again, you know, they're going to lose their offensive coordinator.

The defense was ravaged by injuries. They're going to get better just. purely because they're healthier. They're going to get Hutchinson back. He was one of, if not the best player in the league on the defensive side before he went down. And to me, this is a bit of a luxury pick for them because they don't need a ton. This roster is ready to win. Now, these windows are short and they're specific.

And again, you look at the blueprint here. If you're going to have to go out there and you're going to have to beat a Jalen Hertz, if you're going to have to go out there and beat some of these quarterbacks in the league in order to win a Super Bowl, you better get after the quarterback. So why not give Hutchinson a little bit of help on the opposite side? I like James Pierce from Tennessee. I like that a lot. He's a huge talent pairing two big-time pass rushers.

They can cover up a lot on defense, in particular in the back end. So James Pierce from Tennessee going to the Lions, I think that could fit, man. That could fit. I've also toyed with like Jack Sawyer. That kind of fits what Dan Campbell could do. But again, something in the vein of just best available. if you could have anybody, what would you do? We'd probably rush the passer a little bit better.

Take some attention off of Aiden Hutchinson on the opposite side, and I think you could do that with James Pierce. 29, the commanders. They acquired Laramie Tunsell. They got Debo Samuel. So Jaden Daniels is getting some help. And this is a team that went all the way to the NFC championship game. One of the things that they didn't do well was stop the run.

Now, rather than give them interior guys up front, I'm looking at this, and Nick Eman Worry from South Carolina is a guy that is big. He played linebacker in his past, and now he's like a really good box safety. And Eman Worry is, he broad jumped 116. He's 6, 3, 220 pounds. I think he can help the commanders be a more physically imposing defense. And he doesn't have to do that at the line of scrimmage. He can play down low.

He can play back. I think he's got good enough cover skills. I mean, heck, guys, he ran 438 in the 40, 43-inch vertical, 116 broad jump at 220 pounds. So commanders could be looking at that and thinking to themselves, man, he makes us better. And I like that pick right there at 29. At 30, the bills, they're looking up and they're looking at Patrick Mahomes and they're like, okay, how do we help Josh Allen? Well, the chiefs have gotten beat the exact same way. way in two different Super Bowls.

And they don't get beat very often. And so it's like, well, isn't that the blueprint? Isn't that the blueprint? Tampa played great defense in particular up front and got after Patrick Mahomes and they won the Super Bowl. The Eagles played great up front, got after Patrick Mahomes, and won the Super Bowl. So if you're the bills, I think that you've got to look at defensive front. And they can continue to build the D-line that already has a,

Ed Oliver in the middle. They can follow that blueprint from the Eagles. And I like Derek Harmon, the defensive tackle from Oregon, going to the bills. He's physical. He's active. He's a guy that can get to the passer. He makes them a better team. And he makes them a team that from a blueprint standpoint, I think you look up and

you say, okay, they match up better with Patrick Mahomes now than they do before. because of the ability to be more stout and active up front. So Derek Harmon from Oregon, going to the bills at 30. All right, Chiefs, Chiefs at 31. Left tackle was a problem for them last year. Now they've traded away Joe Thuney to the Bears who stepped in out of position. They signed Jaylen Moore from the 49ers to play left tackle, but he's been a backup for basically the majority of his career.

So let's not overthink it here. Let's protect Patrick Mahomes better. It's the reason you lost the Super Bowl. Bowl. Let's look at the best available offensive lineman. In my estimation, it's the All-American from Minnesota, Ariante Ursore. He's a very good player, Ursary, again, All-American. He made 38 starts at left tackle. He's very experienced. He's a guy that can step in and play really well for you in front of Patrick Mahomes. This is one of those that it's like, for a lot of years, they've had this luxury of not having a position of need. They no longer have that luxury.

They have to get an offensive lineman, and I think ursery is likely going to be the last, well, not the last one, but one of the quality ones, the best one available at 31. That brings up the Super Bowl champs number 32, the Philadelphia Eagles. Eagles lost a few pieces on the defensive line to free agency. Josh Sweat, Milton Williams. Roseman has shown that he values talent over everything, okay? And there's a guy that I haven't drafted yet here, folks. And trust me, he might not get to this point. But the Eagles have been. done a great job building themselves into a Super Bowl champion by taking the best player available, taking players that produced, players that you know can come in and step in and play and produce right away. Walter Nolan from Ole Miss. If he's on the board right there, everyone's going to throw up their arms and be like, how in the world did Walter Nolan get left on the board until 32? And you know what? That's fair. And I might be dead wrong saying that he's going to be available 32. But if he is, the Eagles are surely going to run up there and put his name in.

Former number one player in high school, I just love his talent. I love his upside. And he continues to make them really good on the defensive side, which is exactly how they won that Super Bowl over Patrick Mahomes. So there you have it. Mock 2.0 is in the books. Remember now, we're going to continue to have these lists. A couple of more mock drafts as we get closer to the draft in Green Bay at the end of April. Next Monday, we'll have another episode of the Joel Clatio.

stay tuned and subscribe to the YouTube channel because we do have understanding football. More of those episodes are in the work, so we're going to have more of that. You can follow us on social media wherever you like the social media at Joel Clatt show. You can follow me. I'm on X at Joel Clat. That's where you can find me personally. I hope you have a great week, everybody. Really enjoy your week with the ones that you love.

And we're back next Monday with a brand new episode of the Joel Clat Show.