Draftkings has a free contest where you pick the first 15 picks, and rather just go into it randomly I thought I’d do a quick exercise and show the work. So here goes nothing
1. Carolina – QB Bryce Young, Alabama
This is the Panthers guy. This is who they traded up for. And this is who they will take.
2. Houston – QB CJ Stroud, Ohio State
The Houston Texans have been scouting the quarterbacks at the top of this draft for at least a full year. They won their final game of the season so instead of getting Young they will happily settle with Stroud. He’s going here. Houston is not going to pass on their guy because of some weird test result that was a far bigger deal on Twitter than it was in the real world.
3. Seattle (trade with Arizona) – QB Anthony Richardson, Florida
I hate mock drafts with trades but let’s do one anyway. Seattle should absolutely take a QB in this draft. You need a franchise QB to win these days and Seattle is not going to be in this position for awhile if they believe they’ll get some good years out of Geno Smith. What Seattle will realize, if they haven’t already, that Indianapolis is going to take Richardson and they’ll be “left with” Will Levis as that QB. So they are going to trade with their divisional rival to jump the Colts, take a 20 year old kid that can sit behind Geno for a couple of years, and then give Seattle a solid decade of their next signal caller.
4. Indianapolis – QB Will Levis, Kentucky
Panic move from a team who will be blindsided by what Seattle does, Reddit speculation aside.
5. Arizona (trade with Seattle) – Edge Tyree Wilson, Texas A&M
Will Anderson is the first guy that I think should come off the board defensively, but the Cardinals seem to always do their own thing so I think they grab Wilson here.
6. Detroit – Edge Will Anderson, Alabama
The oddsmakers have them taking a cornerback here but I’ll give them Anderson I think he’ll still be here.
7. Las Vegas – RB Bijan Robinson, Texas
One of these teams in the top ten is going to make a move that seems so out of left field now, but after the fact we’ll look at it as a no-brainer. The Raiders are going to shake things up, take the explosive running back which will help them either move on from Josh Jacobs or give them one of the higher power offensives if the league if they keep both. Odds on Vegas taking a running back with their first pick are 50/1, might go down to Poto and place that.
8. Atlanta – DL Jalen Carter, Georgia
Jalen Carter stays close to home. Is that good? Is that bad? Will it matter? Who knows.
9. Chicago – OL Broderick Jones, Georgia
Could go with the local ties and grab Skoronski out of Northwestern but I’ll put Jones on the Bears. It’s important to remember that this mock draft is being assembled by looking at other mock drafts and then me making a choice based on that. I don’t really know what I’m doing here. But neither does anyone. Thanks for visiting BartWinklerShow.com powered by Sun Ant Interactive!
10. Philadelphia – OL Paris Johnson, Ohio State
Oddsmakers think Philly is going to end up with an offensive lineman, I’ll give them Johnson over Skoronski for no real reason.
11. Tennessee – OL Peter Skoronski, Northwestern
The Titans added Andre Dillard and Daniel Brunskill in free agency to bolster the O-line but there’s still room for improvement. Skoronski is solid and consistent, which are two of the best things you can say about an offensive lineman. The biggest issue he’ll face during the pre-draft process will be arm length and whether his NFL future is at tackle or guard. But like he told us at the combine, there are plenty of NFL offensive tackles who have long arms and struggle too. That’s not the final determinant of success. In Tennessee he can play inside on Day 1*
12. Green Bay (trade with Houston) – WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Ohio State
Houston wants to go defense here after taking their QB, but with more options available towards the end of round one they’ll trade back. Not sure who they will trade with, but it will be pretty obvious that Green Bay wants JSN. So we’ll get boned here. Or maybe we trade one pick. I’m gonna pivot and say that. Packers trade up one more slot and get JSN.
13. TBD (trade with Green Bay) (trade with Houston) – After doing some quick browsing of these trade value charts, I’m predicting Green Bay will give up also #149 in the 5th and #207 in the 6th to move up the one spot. Then Houston is going to trade back even further. So I don’t know who is taking who here. Let’s go with that cornerback people like…
TBD – CB Christian Gonzalez, Oregon
14. New England – CB Devon Witherspoon, Illinois
Shrug emoji
15. New York Jets – OL Darnell Wright, Tennessee
Obligatory Rodgers mention
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* I obviously cut and paste that from somewhere, credit Ryan Wilson at CBSSports.com
