The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Klatt’s Final 2024 NFL Mock Draft

Episode Date: April 22, 2024

NFL Draft week is finally here and Fox Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt reveals his final Mock Draft ahead of Thursday’s First Round. In this Mock Draft, Klatt predicts two trades in the Top 10 as he believes teams will be moving up to find a franchise QB and an elite Wide Receiver. He discusses the decision that Washington will have to make at #2 as they decide between Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels. Klatt also details which team is the best landing spot for one of the top QB’s to have success early in their career. He lays out how the Chicago Bears could end up with a perfect First Round with their two selections. His Mock predicts 6 Quarterbacks going off the board early as J.J. McCarthy, Michael Penix Jr and Bo Nix find landing spots inside the Top 20 selections. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It is finally here. It is draft week. And we have the Joel Clatt show mock draft 3.0 right now. 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.

What's up, everybody? Welcome into the Joel Clatt show. I am Joel Clatt. And it is here. It is finally draft week. And we're about to finally start hearing some names. And this is about to be official. Okay, some quick logistics here during the course of the week.

I was at Michigan for the spring game. I will be doing a full Michigan breakdown of their spring game. That'll be released tomorrow. So on Tuesday, come back for that one on Tuesday. But for now it's going to be all about the draft. And we're going to do mock draft 3.0. Remember to follow us and subscribe wherever you're listening. Subscribe on YouTube.

Follow us on social media, wherever you like to. social media at Joel Clatt Show. And we are there. You can follow me personally. I'm on Twitter. Do we still call it that? Not sure. At Joel Clat. I'm also on Instagram at Joel underscore Clat. Okay. Let's get into it. Mock draft 3.0. This is my final one. This is my final answer, if you will. Mock draft 3.0. Let's start with the bears. At number one, we all know where they're going. Put it in there. Caleb Williams. And Caleb Williams is going to a place now where they are so much better suited to have success with Caleb Williams than they were when they drafted Justin Fields. So I think that Caleb Williams can have a lot of success there in Chicago and I hope that he does.

That's not quite the case with all of these places that are going to be drafting quarterbacks. I am not envious of these guys. Now, listen, would you love to be a top pick in the NFL dress? Obviously, yes. But remember, fit and location have a lot to do with your success. than your own ability. I think that we could see that in spades last year with Bryce Young. Carolina was in no position to succeed around Bryce Young, and look what happened.

And by the way, look to the foreseeable future there. I don't exactly know what their answers are around Bryce Young. So we get into these areas where there are questions around the quarterback position. Bears, I think they're set up pretty well for Caleb Williams to succeed. Then you go to Washington. What is it going to be? I've been hearing a lot of things about Washington, and I personally would draft Jake May.

He's got the higher upside. I just hear way too much in the NFL circles about Jaden Daniels and how much these guys love Jaden Daniels. And part of that is that he's a bit of a safer pick. He might not have the overall ceiling that Drake May does, but he is a safer pick. And I know that Cliff Kingsbury-Berry loves Jaden Daniels, and I think that Washington goes with Jaden Daniels.

He's obviously got the ability to run, and that's going to be a huge feather in his cap because defenses and defensive coordinators hate seeing that. It's the one thing that they cannot stand. He obviously throws the ball well, and that's the thing. He's not just a runner. He throws the ball beautifully from the pocket, outside of the pocket.

He reads defenses. He's very smart. He's mature. He's got arm strength. He's got it all. Love Jaden Daniels. and I think Washington takes Jaden Daniels at number two. At number three with New England.

Now, this is what's interesting is I think New England, depending on how much they love J.J. McCarthy, they could be willing to deal with this pick. And I think that that's an interesting little insight there. Now, if they stay Pat, see what I did there. I think it's Drake May. Drake May for me again, he's got a ridiculously high ceiling. Now, of all the places to draft quarterbacks, New England, I would say, has the least around the young quarterback to succeed early in his career.

I don't know what they're doing on the offensive line. They don't seem to have a ton of weapons. So this might not be the most advantageous place to go for one of these guys, but still, you would want to get drafted as high as you possibly can. And I think it's Drake May. Again, Drake May, high ceiling. When you watch his tape, I understand some of the criticism. and does he play loosely at times? Yes, I believe that's because he's hyper competitive.

He had a team around him that wasn't the best, and he was trying to do everything in his power to win. This guy has all the tools that you would possibly need to succeed at the next level, and I hope that he does. That leaves Arizona, and now we start thinking about, okay, when are the trades coming? Because at this point, the three quarterbacks are gone, which creates urgency for J.J. McCarthy.

Now, Arizona doesn't have to move because the player that they need and want is there, and that's Marvin Harrison, Jr. I think that they sit in that spot at number four, and they take Marvin Harrison Jr. He, to me, in so many ways, is outside of Caleb Williams, the best player available in the draft. He's so good, in particular on third downs, his body control, his ability to get open. He's a hard worker. I think that he is the type of a guy that can be a number one wide receiver for a long time in the National Football League. And he's a guy that I would be shocked if he's not an all pro at some point. I just really would. And now the draft gets really interesting because a lot of people are going to have this top four.

You know, maybe Jaden Daniels and Drake May in the opposite order. I know I've had Drake May at two and so on and so forth. But when the chargers come on the clock at number five, that's when it's interesting. Let me just paint the scenario really quickly. Minnesota is calling. Maybe, heck, maybe Vegas is calling. J.J. McCarthy is on the board. Minnesota has the ammunition. They've got both of their first round picks sitting there.

They can trade with the chargers, which means, which means, think about it. Jim Harbaugh holds the keys to where his college quarterback is going to play. I would be shocked if they aren't in communication. I think that Jim Harbaugh in a lot of ways wishes he could take JJ McCarthy. Now, they won't do that. They're not going to trade Justin Herbert. I don't think it's because they don't. Let's just say, I think that they've kicked the tires on that.

The problem is that the money doesn't work. You would owe Herbert too much and he would count against your cap too much in the next couple of years in order to trade him and move on and go with a younger quarterback. but I don't think that they have totally abandoned that type of thinking because Jim Harbaugh loves J.J. McCarthy for obvious reasons. And now he holds the keys to JJ's future. Who does he trade with? It's Minnesota.

It's Minnesota because if you're any of these quarterbacks, Minnesota is the best place to go for any of the young quarterbacks, even Caleb Williams, Jane Daniels, Jake May, J.J. McCarthy, Ineum, Bo Nix, Michael Pinnix. You ask them, what would be the best place to go? Well, they're going to say, like, well, Chicago, because it's number one. But really the best place to succeed, the best place to have a C.J. Stroud-esque rookie season is Minnesota. Minnesota does the deal with Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers. They select J.J. McCarthy. And because Jim loves him, he does that trade. And he sets him up in a position to succeed, a spot with Jefferson, Jordan Addison, play caller that is offensive-minded, and Kevin O'Connell is going to put his quarterback in position to succeed. And so that's where Jay-J McCarthy goes. And that's where the draft to me is so interesting, is that five-spot. Now at six, with the Giants, they need help on the outside. They need a lot of help on the outside. It's either going to be Roma Dunezay or Malik Neighbors. I'm hearing a lot

of buzz about Malik neighbors. What he does after the catch with the ball in his hands is special. His speed is special, his explosiveness, special. All of these things are going to pay huge dividends for whatever organization. You watch him eat up the cushion of the defensive backs and then turn into an absolute threat with the ball in his hands. It doesn't matter if he's running a deep route and taking the top off the defense or you're throwing him the ball at the line of scrimmage. He is a threat to go the distance at any moment. Malik neighbors, number six, to New York. Now the Titans would be up. And here's what's interesting is that, you know, you're you could easily, if you're the Tennessee Titans, take one of the offensive linemen or the top

offensive linemen in the draft. You could take Joel right there. You absolutely could do that. Or you could realize what's going on. Neighbors is now off the board, which leaves, I think that there are three wide receivers that are like premium, premium top six, seven players in the draft, which leaves Roma Dunseh there as the one remaining great top in. wide receiver. So now there's going to be some push for like, hey, if we really love Rome, we better go get them. And there's a team that's just a couple of picks later that might be thinking to themselves, you know what? We might need to go up there and grab this pick, just a few spots. And so the New York Jets trade with the Titans and they go up to number seven to select

Romo Dunse. The Titans can, I think they can hold the auction right there for the third wide receiver. That would be a really good spot to be in if neighbors is picked at number seven. number six. And the Jets can go all in for Aaron Rogers. So now they would have Garrett Wilson. They would have Romo Dunesay. And that's a pairing that I'd really like. And I'm sure Aaron Rogers would really like as well. Now at number eight, Atlanta, I think this is the first time that you start thinking about a defensive player. That defensive player, this is an easy one. They need help on the edge. Getting to the quarterback, Dallas Turner. This one, I would be really surprised if this is not the pick. The Falcons taking Dallas Turner. Now Chicago is up at

Number nine. What a draft this would be if Chicago could sit there and get Caleb Williams at the top of the draft and then watch as the Titans leverage the seventh pick in order to make the Jets move up for the third wide receiver. And now all of a sudden, the bears in this scenario are sitting there and guess what? Guess who hasn't been taken top offensive linemen in the draft? Joe Alt. So you're telling me the Bears could sit there and in the top 10 get Caleb Williams and Joe all. That would be a massive first round for the Bears. They took right tackle, Darnel Wright in the first round last year. That would be great bookends for the foreseeable future, young players,

staple players, foundational players. And this is why I keep talking about Caleb being in a better position to succeed early in his career than Justin Fields was because there's just better pieces around. Caleb Williams in Chicago. And I think that would be a widely acclaimed draft, a really good one for the Bears. The Titans, now they would only do that pick if they were confident that they could still get the help on the offensive line that they needed.

And I believe that there is that player in Olu Faschanoo. They can move back, still get a left tackle, a guy with a lot of upside, smart, tough. He's going to get better and better in the run game. He's already athletic enough to really dominate in pass protection. So I like Olu Faschonu to the Titans there who move back from 7 with a trade with the Jets to number 10. Now 11 pops up and guess who's sitting there. Now it's Jim Harbaat 11.

Why can he move back? Because the player that he covets, the player that he likes in the position group that he covets is still available. And he picked up an extra pick here in the 20s in the first round. So he can not only go Brock Bowers right here as a tied in, but now he can sit here and still take an offensive lineman because that position is very deep during the course of this first round. And so he's going to get Brock Bowers and some offensive lineman later. But Bowers is prototypical for a Jim Harbaugh offense.

Everyone's talking about, well, they need a wide receiver. They need a wide receiver. It's a perfect position for a wide receiver. Jim Harbaugh has never, never prioritized wide receiver. That doesn't mean he hasn't had good. ones, but he hasn't prioritized that. He inherited a couple in San Francisco, but what has he prioritized? Tide ends. Why does he prioritize tight ends? Because he wants to run offense out of 12 personnel, one back, two tight ends. He wants to because that puts pressure on the defense. You can be

in a spread set and throw the ball, or you can get big and run those extra gap run schemes that he loves to run, counter, gap, pin and pull, all these things that he likes to do. And I think Bowers is, by the way, an underrated run blocker, even though I don't think you're just going to sit him in there just to be a run blocker, but he can own the middle of the field. You know how I feel about players in the passing game that can own the middle of the field. You don't generally win a Super Bowl unless you have that style of player, i.e. in the last eight years, Gronk, Cooper Cup, Travis Kelsey.

Bowers is that type of a guy. And I think Harbaugh loves Brock Bowers. So I've got him at 11, which leaves Denver at 12. Denver has to get a quarterback. I believe that they value Bo Nix. Now, I think Denver is going to desperately try to trade down in this position. Because I think in their mind, they can get Bo Nix later. The problem is there's not really a player when you're mocking this out,

that you would sit there and say someone has to move to 12 to get. There's just not that guy. You got the best edge rusher off the table. You got the best wide receivers. Now the best tied in. You're not going up there for a running back, obviously. I don't think the corners are of that value. So it's like, who senses the urgency that they've got to jump to 12 to make that pick?

I don't think that there is that team, which means that Denver is going to take the guy that they target. Now, is this maybe an over-draft of Bo Nix? Yeah, it might be, but this is the right fit for Bo Nix. And there's got to be more attention paid to fit for the quarterbacks than just best player available. I think Sean Payton's offense is perfect for Bo Nix, perfect for him. He wants a point guard out there, a guy that wants five free releases, can protect himself with his mind, is accurate, can get the ball out. quickly. He doesn't want a Russell Wilson style who wants to create and hold the ball

and throw it way down field. I think Bo Nix in a lot of ways is a version of Drew Brees. He might not be as polished a passer coming out of college that Breeze was out of Purdue, but Nix is a similar style in terms of their cerebral nature

and their point guard nature and their ability to distribute the football. That's a good fit. Bo Nix to Denver at 12, which leaves the Raiders on the clock at 13. And Similarly, I think that the Raiders are sitting there and they've got to answer questions at the quarterback spot. They just do. They could go in a lot of different ways here, but Michael Pennix at 13 to Vegas makes a lot of sense to me. He is one of the most polarizing players in the draft.

I don't know why, though. This guy was asked to do at Washington exactly what he's going to do in the National Football League. You don't have to project. We got to see him 15, 20, 25 times a game, drop back and have to control the field from the pocket. Make full field reads. Make those reads that are combination routes that are adjustments down the field based on secondary look. And he made those beautifully. And I always make this point when I talk about Michael Pennix because it's my favorite one. He's the best deep ball thrower in this draft.

But it's not just that. I think that that sells him short. He passes the football down the field. When you watch the leverage and ball placement that he uses down the field, it is better than anybody in this draft and better than a lot of people that I've evaluated in the last few years. He's constantly putting his wide receivers and pass catchers in better odds, giving them better ratios than 50-50 in a 50-50 situation, right? It's tight coverage down the field and he's always putting the ball on the offensive player's side, throwing them away from the defender. And that's a trait that I really love with Michael Pennix.

All right, saints are up now. Taliesi Fugga fits here for me. I think that they could go in a lot of different directions. He played right tackle. Their right tackle, Ryan Ramchek, not recovering well from that knee surgery. There are concerns about his ability to play this year. So to me, this makes some sense. Fawaga at 14 to the Saints.

Then you move to 15, and here's the Colts. I think the Colts need help in the secondary. My best secondary player is Quignon Mitchell, the corner from Toledo. I think there's some discussion, whether it's going to be Terry and Arnold or Quinion Mitchell. Mitchell ran a faster 40. He's stronger. I love his length.

I'm not scared off by the fact that he played at Toledo because I'm watching Soss Gardner blossom into the best corner in the league, and he played at a lower level. So to me, the Toledo thing is not an excuse, and I've got Quineon Mitchell right there to the Colts. 16, the Seahawks. Mike McDonald, new head coach of the Seahawks. is he going to want to do? He's going to want to implement his strategy, his defensive philosophy. What does he need? A run wall. It starts with a run wall. It starts with defensive tackles. Byron Murphy is right there, the Texas defensive tackle. And Byron Murphy, to me, is a great fit in Seattle for

Mike McDonald. It fits what he wants to do from a philosophy standpoint. He can really lean in to what that defense is, which is build a run wall, create hybrid players and hard edges on the outside, second level and middle of the field players, guys like Mike St. Resil and Junior Colson from Michigan, those are the type of people that they want, and Byron Murphy starts that. There's an old adage that you build a defense front to back and inside out. Well, if you're starting to build a defense, Byron Murphy is a great piece right there, a foundational piece in the interior.

Jaguars are up at 17. I think corner is a good spot. So let's say Colts went Terry and Arnold, they could take Quineon Mitchell, but if Terry and Arnold's on the board, that's a terrific spot for Terry and Arnold. He can solidify that secondary. I really love his story. He was recruited by a lot of people as a safety. Nick Saban knew he was going to play him as a corner, redshirted,

then was a freshman All-American, his redshirt freshman year, then was an All-American last year and a real ball hawk. And he doesn't have a ton of experience, which to me means that he's got tremendous upside. I wish he would have run faster at the combine, but I love his game. He's aggressive. You know he's coached well.

Terry and Arnold to the Jaguars right there at 17. Now the Bengals are up. I think that this is an interesting spot for the Bengals because it's a deep draft at wide receiver. And they need some insurance as it relates to T. Higgins, right? So I like Brian Thomas from LSU. We're just running back the whole LSU thing. We're just going to from tigers to bangles. You know, we got all these guys and another LSU tiger up there with Joe Burrow.

I like this pick a lot. Brian Thomas is a heck of a player. In any other draft, he would be pushing the top 10, but those three at the top are just elite players. So this is a good spot for Brian Thomas with Cincinnati. Rams, they're going to be sitting there and they're going to look at this draft and they're going to think to themselves like, man, we can get our second best edge player in the draft. How about Jared Verst there to the Rams?

To me, that makes a lot of sense. I love his production. Okay, Jared Verse, he's a really good player. He has produced at a high level. And to me, that says everything. You got to have that production. I love his quickness, his strength, and the fact that he plays hard on every down. You see him go hard against the run.

You see him go hard when he's trying to get to the pack. at number 20 Steelers. This one was a little bit harder for me because I'm like, you know, what are the Steelies really going to do with Russell Wilson and Justin Fields? What does this look like? And to me, I'm thinking to myself like, okay, you've got Broderick Jones, who now you can move to left tackle. And now you can take a former teammate of his at Georgia and go Amarius Mims at right tackle. So Mims makes some sense for me at Pittsburgh. And it lets them lean into this line of scrimmings. toughness mold that they've always been. So to me, an offensive lineman there for Pittsburgh makes a lot of sense.

Then we get to 21. Miami fans, I hear you. You're all over me. Michael Pinnix. I thought Michael Pinnock's in Miami would have been fantastic. And until Tua actually got a contract, I mean, I was open to the idea. You were having none of it, though. Oh, yeah.

The Tua folks, they were having none of it. None of it. Tua was fantastic last year. He really was. Now, Pinnix is a better deep ball thrower than Tua. I don't really care what you say. That's absolutely the truth. You can just watch the film.

Having said that, though, Tua is going to be their quarterback moving forward. And they've made that abundantly clear and good for them. If they feel like they found that guy, then go protect him. How do you protect him? You protect him in particular at his stature by keeping people out of his lap. You do that by drafting in the interior or the offensive line. So this is about Tua. Jackson Powers Johnson from Oregon.

I love him in the interior. I think that would be a good pick to help Tua, not only stay healthy, but keep people out of his face. So he can build on a year in which he was one of the better quarterbacks in all of the national football league. He certainly put up the numbers to suggest that he is one of those guys. Now, I don't think he's going to get a borough contract. I don't think any of us believe that he's going to get a borough contract.

But having said that, if he is going to get a contract, you better protect him. and I think Jackson Powers Johnson is a good pick right there. Eagles, you know, you could go interior offensive line, and I think that that's pretty obvious. You could also go corner here. Nate Wiggins is, I think, a good selection here. Nate Wiggins from Clemson,

I've got going to Philadelphia at 22, and that leaves the Chargers on the clock with now their second pick. So they trade down, they get 11, and I told you they're going tight-in Brock Bowers. so they can get what I think Jim Harbaugh will value as maybe his best tied end, and he can get Brock Bowers at 11. Now he can pick here at 23, and there's a number of quality offensive linemen that he can add to that front so that he can do what? Create more gaps, run a football team in his image. If we think Jim Harbaugh is going to all of a sudden transition and win a different way,

he has won the exact same way everywhere he's been. been, University of San Diego, Stanford, the San Francisco 49ers, and Michigan. It's not changing. It is not changing. He told me a story about his philosophy. And Gus and I were sitting there and we were talking about his philosophy. And Gus just said, like, well, where does this come from? Where does this come from? And he says, well, if you ask my dad, he would say, when you finally bury me, I want a diagram of the power play on my tombstone. That's how deeply they care about the physical nature of how to run the football. They will do that with the Chargers.

Make no mistake about it. And I think Herbert will flourish with that system. Almost every quarterback he's had has been able to flourish because of that commitment to being tough up front, adding extra gaps to the run game. So this is offensive line for me. You get Bowers at Tide End and now you've got J.C. Latham from Alabama after that trade with the Vikings. And so Bowers and Latham, I like that.

love that. I love that. Now, if you're thinking to yourself like, why not just take Mike Sainerstil and Zach Zenter? I think he might want to do that as well. Jim's hardest point about this draft is going to be not taking Michigan players that undoubtedly he's going to overvalue you as it relates to the rest of the draft. But that'll be interesting, more so on day three. Number 20, what are we at? 24 here. Dallas Cowboys. Here we go. Cowboys. Cowboys could do a lot of things, but I think that they need flexibility up front. They've got to protect Jack Prescott. There's a lot of these offensive linemen.

Troy Fontenou from Washington, I like him a lot. When you talk to people up around that organization, that program, I should say, in Washington, they'll talk about Romo Dunseh. They'll talk about Troy Fonnew and what these two guys have meant to the program. In fact, I know

I was talking with Brock, and Brock Heward talks about Troy glowingly, said he's one of the his favorite Washington Huskies that he's ever seen wear that uniform. And for a former Husky who has seen a lot of the huskies, that's really high praise. And so to me, that would be a solid pick for the Dallas Cowboys. Packers, they could go interior offensive line here.

Again, we're getting this run on offensive linemen. You got Latham to the Chargers, Fontaineau to the Cowboys. And then how about Graham Barton from Duke, interior offensive line? He can go to the Packers right there, help continue to solidify the interior of their offensive line. I like Graham a lot. I think Graham, who's got some center in his background and can go back there and play, but he can play all three interior positions, either guard and center. So from that standpoint, I like this pick.

Bucks now can go edge because I've only taken two edge rushers so far in this mock. And now all of a sudden, Chop Robinson is still available. Now, they could go Laotu Latu from UCLA. There's going to be some questions about his neck injury history. So if they had their pick, I think they would go, Chop Robinson from Penn State here. I've got Chop Robinson going to Tampa Bay. This guy's first step, his quickness, it's elite.

It is elite. Everyone talks about the Michigan game that they played and like, wow, Michigan ran the ball 32 straight times. Wow. The reason they did that was Chop Robinson. No other reason. They were not going to be able to block him in particular at home. It gets loud.

And this guy times up the snap cadence. And he is fast. He is explosive and he creates problems in the backfield. Mani Diaz's defense for Penn State. I know Diaz has moved on, but Manny's defense really has its origins back in the Mickey Andrews, Florida State defenses of the 90s and even prior to that. Aggressive, athletic, up-the-field gap penetration. And CHOP does that really well.

So that would be the type of player that the Buccaneers were getting there. 27, Cardinals. Marvin Harrison up at the top of the draft. And now if chop is gone, they could also go edge and a guy that I think in this spot, only because of that neck injury that I was mentioning, this is a steal. Layatu Latu from UCLA.

Again, there's going to be questions. If you don't know, he had a neck injury in practice at Washington early in his career and medically retired from the sport and thought he was never going to play again, was a student assistant coach the next year, then got a second opinion from the same surgeon that fixed Peyton Manning's neck,

and got a second lease on his football life. His position coach at Washington had moved to UCLA, so he found a new home with the Bruins, and then he was a monster. You talk about production. This guy was fantastic for the Bruins, and a big reason why they were so much better over the last couple of years with Chip Kelly.

They were good at the offensive line. They were good on the defensive line, and a lot of that was Laotu Latu. Quick, he's athletic, he's long, and he's got great instincts. And just for his story, I hope that this is the case that he continues to stay in the first round, even with that neck injury history. At 28, the bills could easily go wide receiver here, but there's a guy that I really love who's disruptive on the inside of the interior defensive line.

How about Jerzan Newton from Illinois? I think he's the second best interior defensive lineman. a lot of production from the interior defensive line. He is mean and nasty and can get up field, and I really like his game, like really like his game. They just tried to sign Eric Homestead when he was released by the 49ers, but they missed out. So this is a good chance to solidify the interior of that defensive line.

At 29 the Lions, man, by the way, can we just stop and pause? How crazy it is it to see the Lions pick this late in the draft? Right. Look, for years, they were a mainstay in the top six, and here they are at 29. And now, I looked at their draft last year. Big Ten heavy, Midwest heavy, guys that just produce, right? And I'm like, who's in that mold? Cooper Dejean, that's who's in that mold, DeGine, however you want to pronounce it. The Iowa corner, Cooper DeGene, is a perfect Detroit lion.

this guy has great instincts. I mean, great instincts. He is always around the football. In a lot of ways, would have been and was Iowa's best offensive player. He was their best chance to score. Their best chance to score last year was him picking a pass off and taking it back for six. They were going to start putting him on offense when he hurt himself. So he is coming off of injury.

But to me, this one just makes a lot of sense. Then we get into these last three picks in the first round. All right, 30, the Ravens. How about Darius Robinson from Missouri? They get some continued help on the outside. This is a team that always drafts the best possible player, best available player. That was probably Darius Robinson at that point at 30. At 31, the 49ers, you look at what they need to do.

They need to line up with Kansas City and stop Patrick Mahomes. How do you do that? You continue to get hybrid nickel safety type defensive backs and Kool-Aid Mawks. McKinstree could be that type. Now he's a great corner. You can play him outside, certainly, but early in his career, I don't think putting him in the slot is out of the question.

And then the last pick of the first round, and after everything that's happened this offseason, the Chiefs knew that they wanted to solidify the wide receiver position, right? They needed to do that. I couldn't believe that they won the Super Bowl with the wide receiver group that they had. Hollywood Brown in the offseason, he's a take the top off the defense type of guy,

but I still think that they need more of a number one. Rishie Rice is not going to be available or probably not going to be available with everything that's going on with him in the offseason. So they need a number one. How about Adnai Mitchell from Texas? I like his game a lot. I think he can be a number one. Good story.

He played a lot of different places in high school and then transferred, you know, obviously from Georgia to Texas. People don't realize he transferred Texas just to be around his daughter. Won a couple of championships at Georgia transferred to be closer to his daughter who's in Houston. So that's why he was at the University of Texas. I really love his game. And I think he can blossom into a real true number one. And there it is. Mock 3.0 is finished.

Thanks for checking that out. Remember, I'll be back tomorrow with my recap of the Michigan Spring game. So come back and check out that episode of Joel Clatio. I will continue to keep you guys updated on social for everything coming out prior to the draft at Joel Clat Show is where you keep up with us on social media. make sure to subscribe and follow us wherever you're listening to your podcast, as well as on YouTube, make a comment. I like to jump in those comments whenever I get a chance, and so I'll try to do that this week. Enjoy the draft, everybody. Tune into the NFL Network. I will be there with Daniel Jeremiah, Charles Davis, and Rich Eisen on the NFL Network, Night 1 and Night 2. Enjoy your week, everybody.