NFL mock draft roundup
Which are the best mocks? I don't know. These are just the ones that came up and have been updated relatively recently, since someone posted the Kiper mock draft earlier. Top 5 + Michigan players + Detroit
ESPN ($, Jordan Reid)
- 1 CHI - Caleb Williams
- 2 WAS - Drake Maye
- 3 NE - Jayden Daniels
- 4 ARI - Marvin Harrison Jr
- 5 LAC - Malik Nabers (WR, LSU)
- 12 DEN - JJ McCarthy
- Russell Wilson could be released before the start of the new league year, which would leave coach Sean Payton in search of a young QB to mold in his offense. The Broncos might sign an experienced veteran, but McCarthy has some traits we've seen Payton gravitate toward in the past: The Wolverines star is an instinctive and accurate passer who makes plays to win games. He has really good ball placement, hitting 72.3% of his throws this season. Scouts have mixed opinions on McCarthy -- mainly surrounding his role in Michigan's run-heavy scheme -- and he's no lock to go on Day 1, but he has the chance to be a solid NFL starter.
- 28 DET - Bralen Trice (DE, Washington)
NFL (Bucky Brooks)
- 1 CHI - Caleb Williams
- 2 WAS - Drake Maye
- 3 NE - Jayden Daniels
- 4 ARI - Marvin Harrison Jr
- 5 LAC - Brock Bowers
- 29 KC - Kris Jenkins
- The Chiefs’ surging defense has thrived with a collection of young players slotted into prominent roles. Jenkins is an intriguing prospect with the bloodlines -- his father, Kris Sr., was a four-time Pro Bowler -- and physical tools to blossom into a star.
- 30 DET - Chop Robinson (DE, PSU)
NFL (Daniel Jeremiah)
- 1 CHI - Caleb Williams
- 2 WAS - Drake Maye
- 3 NE - Jayden Daniels
- 4 ARI - Marvin Harrison Jr
- 5 LAC - Rome Odunze
- 30 DET - Nate Wiggins (CB, Clemson)
- 1 CHI - Caleb Williams
- 2 WAS - Drake Maye
- 3 NE - Jayden Daniels
- 4 ARI - Marvin Harrison Jr
- 5 LAC - Brock Bowers
- 16 SEA - JJ McCarthy
- Seattle has a ceiling with Geno Smith at quarterback. It has a young roster and doesn't want to be left holding the bag when it is finally time to move on. It may be time to start fresh with a first-year head coach and a rookie quarterback.
- 30 DET - Quinyon Mitchel (CB, Toledo)
- 1 CHI - Caleb Williams
- 2 WAS - Drake Maye
- 3 NE - Jayden Daniels
- 4 ARI - Marvin Harrison Jr
- 5 LAC - Rome Odunze
- 19 LAR - JJ McCarthy
- J.J. McCarthy will likely be the most polarizing player in this class. He has an NFL skill set—there is no doubt about that. The issue is he played in an offense that didn't ask him to throw a ton and even when he was forced into throwing situations, the offensive coaches seemed scared to cut him loose. With that said, there are flashes of high-end NFL throws and he is a heck of an athlete. I personally wouldn't draft him here, but I could see NFL decision-makers wanting to mold him.
- 30 DET - Nate Wiggins (CB, Clemson)
- 1 CHI - Caleb Williams
- 2 WAS - Drake Maye
- 3 NE - Marvin Harrison Jr
- 4 ARI - Joe Alt (OT, notre dame)
- 5 LAC - Malik Nabers (WR, LSU)
- 30 DET - Ennis Rakestraw Jr. (CB, Missouri)
- 1 CHI - Marvin Harrison Jr
- 2 WAS - Caleb Williams
- 3 NE - Drake Maye
- 4 ARI - Rome Odunze
- 5 LAC - Dallas Turner (DE, Alabama)
- 13 LAS - JJ McCarthy
- With new coach Antoinio Pierce having a good handle on the defense with Maxx Crosby and some youthful promise, the Raiders need a QB first to better take advantage of their free-agent and draft investment in offensive weapons. Aidan O'Connell isn't the answer from the Big Ten, but McCarthy can with the ideal maverick moxie to go with his tough athletic playmaking and strong arm.
- (They left out the last 4 slots for the remaining playoff teams)
Walter Football (I think this has been around for a while, although it's maybe just a guy?) also 3 rounds
Round 1
- 1 CHI - Caleb Williams
- 2 WAS - Drake Maye
- 3 NE - Jayden Daniels
- 4 ARI - Marvin Harrison Jr
- 5 LAC - Brock Bowers
- 16 SEA - Kris Jenkins
- The Seahawks are terrible against the run, and they could also use another player to put pressure on the quarterback, given that they’re in a division with Brock Purdy and Matthew Stafford. Like his father, Kris Jenkins Jr. is a disruptive interior presence.
- 30 DET - Marcellas Dial (CB, South Carolina)
Round 2
- 44 LAS - JJ McCarthy
- With zero completions in the final three quarters against the Chiefs, the Raiders need another quarterback. J.J. McCarthy is an accurate quarterback with a solid arm and mobility.
- 62 DET - Layden Robinson (G, Texas A&M)
Round 3
- 73 DET - Calen Bullock (S, USC)
- 89 GB - Blake Corum
- A.J. Dillon was horrible as a replacement for Aaron Jones this past season. Blake Corum runs with great strength and balance.
- 94 DET - Jermaine Burton (WR, Alabama)
January 22nd, 2024 at 3:06 PM ^
Look at all those players we beat showing up in first round projections.
Also JJ seems like a consensus day one and good chance he goes first round, which seems to validate his decision. Going mid-to-late 1st could potentially put him on a roster ready to win around him, too.
January 22nd, 2024 at 4:33 PM ^
Also to a team that has a short term incumbent QB that will give JJ time to develop. I don't necessarily think he needs a ton of time to develop but after watching Jordan Love start to thrive after sitting behind Rodgers, I'm kind of coming around to the old school concept that QBs don't need to be forced into starting as a rookie and can benefit from learning the offense and getting acclimated to the speed of the NFL game.
But to be clear if he goes somewhere without that situation I'm confident JJ can succeed from day 1.
January 22nd, 2024 at 5:21 PM ^
JJ is almost consensus first round however Brady Quinn will advise you to NEVER BRING THE FIANCEE/GF TO THE GREEN ROOM!
January 22nd, 2024 at 5:52 PM ^
If nothing else, she has an excellent name. It would be perfect for a barista or restaurant server.
January 23rd, 2024 at 9:34 AM ^
He definitely traded up with his current wife.
January 22nd, 2024 at 5:37 PM ^
Yeah, he's being projected where you gotta jump if you're a QB. He's far more likely to go to a team that can give him some time and will have more pieces around him that can compete.
January 23rd, 2024 at 10:15 AM ^
This is the first time in a while that I know a good portion of first round draft picks in these mocks. Not because I pay super close attention to them all the time, but because we played and beat most of them.
January 22nd, 2024 at 3:07 PM ^
You'd think a National Championship would guarantee us a pick. Let's see, who would we take?
January 22nd, 2024 at 3:30 PM ^
I think the majority of first rounders might be next year, ironically. Johnson, Grant, Graham and Loveland have had first round projections. I could see Grant surprising everyone and going top 10. The talent is there.
Donovan Edwards is a wild card imo.
January 22nd, 2024 at 3:09 PM ^
It’s really interesting to see where our players are projected relative to college performance and team success. Is it system, is it our players don’t have the same pro measurables as osu players, is it our coaching is better, or is it a combination?
I will be happy to have osu win the draft and offseason while we keep kicking their asses!
January 22nd, 2024 at 3:47 PM ^
I think we have an excellent set of mostly B+ players. There are a lot of A's all over the with better measurables.
I think the sum is greater than the parts, and a good bit of that, especially on the defensive side is coaching/scheme. Sainristil is a gamer, but if he played at most other schools, he wouldn't have been as spectacular because this defense allows him, to shine.
January 23rd, 2024 at 2:19 PM ^
5* are generally that for their projectable NFL body types. Michigan doesn't get many of those. We will place a bevy of 2nd to 5th round types annually.
Rashan Gary was drafted high since he had those attributes and a franchise said they could get the best out of him vs "setting an edge" mostly as he did here. They were right.
January 22nd, 2024 at 3:09 PM ^
JJ is the only shot at the first round unless the combine is nuts for Jenkins, which it could be... We always over value our guys
January 22nd, 2024 at 3:18 PM ^
Who else did you expect, we have a team full of Pro's but there are only 32 slots my guy? With Zinter's injury it sounds about right to me. Remember that Jenkins got lots of first round grades LAST year. 10 guys will get drafted on Offense, 3-5 on defense, maybe Harrell and Wallace are UDFA's but they'd be worth a late rounder too.
January 22nd, 2024 at 3:21 PM ^
I don't expect us to get any.. we have lots of very good, contributing players, but we don't frequently have the high-end unique talents (Hutchinson, Woodson, etc..) like some other schools.
My point was, we overhype our guys in the summer, and even if they have great years, they're often not elite as far as the NFL draft goes, and I'm okay with that...
Jenkins was the "freak" athlete type that we couldnt stop talking about last year, as you said, but you look at DLmen, and I don't think he's at the top of the board. Same with our other top guys... they're great for us, but not always elite at the next level. Even on the OL, we churn out great players in college, but rarely elite lineman in the pros... high floor, low ceiling.
So, this year, with 15+ guys likely to be drafted, I would expect the bulk in the mid-late rounds with maybe an exception or 2 - JJ, Jenkins, Zinter? earlier than the 3rd.
Everyone will do the same thing next year with Johnson --- and he probably is a 15-40 pick, not top 10.. he's great, but OSU churns out 1-2 of these guys a year and there are elite players across the country to compete with.. its cool.
Lets win 4 in a row!
January 22nd, 2024 at 3:35 PM ^
Agreed that we overvalue our own guys however I do think Johnson is more likely to go closer to the 10-19 than 25+. Either way his #1 draft clip is going to be the OSU pick vs Marvin Harrison and the #2 clip will be the adjustment to the pick on Penix for us to enjoy.
January 22nd, 2024 at 5:00 PM ^
Will Johnson locked down Rome Odunze and Marvin Harrison and those guys look poised to go top ten in the draft. I don’t think we are overrating him; I think we are underrating.
January 22nd, 2024 at 5:22 PM ^
^^^^^^ While battling injury ^^^^^^^^^^
January 22nd, 2024 at 3:11 PM ^
- 30 DET - Chop Robinson (DE, PSU)
I like this draft prediction. Could you imagine having to game plan for Chop and Aidan at the same time?
January 22nd, 2024 at 3:18 PM ^
Lions need an Edge and CB1, no more doubles for Aiden would be fun to watch!
January 22nd, 2024 at 5:36 PM ^
Agree, Chop Robinson would be a great pick for the Lions. I thought he was the most underrated player in the B1G and obviously this forecast agrees. Man, the Lions are going to be good for a long time
January 23rd, 2024 at 10:54 AM ^
That was the one that made me take notice. I kind of wanted the Lions to pick up Chase Young at the trade deadline, but I like this a whole lot better- take some of the heat off of Hutch, and all of a sudden the back 7 gets a lot better.
January 22nd, 2024 at 3:19 PM ^
JJ is going to be fascinating to follow in terms of how he pans out. He's got an NFL arm, he can move, he can throw on the run, guys seem to love him as a team leader.
But we've also never seen him play a game where he was under siege all game (ala Milroe in the semifinal) and whether he can win a game under those conditions. He played behind the best offensive line over the past 2+ seasons and the one time he did face that (PSU), we basically went away from any semblance of a passing game. We know how a guy like Caleb Williams plays when he's running for his life on every other play due to a weak offensive line, but NFL teams just don't have that data because Michigan's o-line was so damn good.
January 22nd, 2024 at 3:27 PM ^
In the CFB against Georgia he was under siege and played well as a Freshman.
January 22nd, 2024 at 3:31 PM ^
I feel like we saw in bits how jj performed w a rush. We don’t remember it bc he handled it so well. There were countless times during the season where there would be a free rusher and jj would dance around him and throw a completion. Remember he has one of the better passing profiles in the country when outside the pocket .
January 22nd, 2024 at 10:51 PM ^
It sure did look like there were many times when they seemed to be afraid to let McCarthy throw. If the offensive philosophy stays the same, it’ll probably be a long time before Michigan sees another QB with that kind of talent.
January 23rd, 2024 at 9:46 AM ^
You can draft JJ, let him sit for 2 years, and he'd still be younger than Penix, Daniels and Nix are at the moment/when drafted. Saw a tremendous point recently how Fields, Lawrence, Penix and Nix we're all born within 6 months of each other. Fields and Lawrence will be in their 4th NFL year next season.
January 22nd, 2024 at 3:20 PM ^
Fuck you Green Bay. Keep your hands off Blake.
There's exactly ONE NFC North team whos colors he's allowed to wear and it's just a different shade of blue than he's used to.
January 22nd, 2024 at 3:28 PM ^
Mock drafts are dumb. That being said, if Chop Robinson is actually available at 30 I would take that all day. I know the Lions have issues in the secondary, but I'm a firm believer that pass rush makes your secondary better, at least to some extent. On top of that, you will take some doubles away from Hutch.
January 22nd, 2024 at 3:38 PM ^
Drake Maye will be Danny Jones 2.0. I'm not impressed.
January 22nd, 2024 at 3:44 PM ^
Or Mitch Trubisky
January 22nd, 2024 at 3:43 PM ^
If the Packers draft Corum, I imagine half this board would cry itself to sleep for a week straight knowing they have to root against him 2x a year.
January 22nd, 2024 at 3:45 PM ^
Probably more than half. Add all the Bears and Vikings fans to that list. There is a sizeable Michigan alum population in/from Chicago.
January 22nd, 2024 at 3:45 PM ^
Unless JJ really kills it at whatever combine stuff they go through, I have a hard time seeing anyone spending a 1st on him. imo JJ is too much of an unknown for someone to draft him that high
January 22nd, 2024 at 5:30 PM ^
There’s at least 6 QBs that will go in the first round this year. It’s a deep class for qbs overall. Those 6 are:
-Williams- mid floor high ceiling
-Maye - mid floor decent ceiling
-Daniels - low floor high ceiling
-JJ - mid to high floor decent to high ceiling
-Penix - high floor low ceiling
-Nix - high floor low ceiling
Penix and Nix are more developed and closer to what they can/will be in the NFL. Williams seems like either a spectacular bust or amazing talent and I’m not sure which one the nfl will see. Maye and Daniels can both develop into pretty good nfl qbs but will need time. JJ is the real enigma. Is the system at Michigan really that close to an nfl offense? If yes then JJ could be successful right off the bat, depending on the situation he ends up at. If no, he’s still got nfl arm talent and pretty good mobility and given the right offense situation could be highly successful.
January 22nd, 2024 at 9:46 PM ^
Penix has a low ceiling, really? He's 6'3" and can make every throw. He's 23 but it's not like QB's don't get substantially better in their 20's. He's more mobile than you think and his biggest downside is that he is pretty fragile. I would say his floor is quite low if he can't stay on the field but he could be a top 15 starting QB in the NFL if he can stay healthy.
January 23rd, 2024 at 8:03 AM ^
Yeah, but his injury history has to be part of the calculation. The floor could be another acl and out of the league after his rookie deal because he can’t stay healthy.
Also, he’s not great on the move and seemed to have trouble reading M’s defense (though that is true of every qb M played this year).
January 23rd, 2024 at 9:06 AM ^
I should have probably specified that the floors and ceilings I listed were in development, not the actual level of their play.
I put both Penix and Nix as high floor low ceiling types because of their maturity. It’s not really a knock on either one of them because they both, given the right situation, could be decent starters from day one in the NFL(better chance of them doing that than the other 4), and will develop some but not to the heights a Williams, Daniels or JJ could climb to (if they are drafted to the right situation). That speaks to both Nix and Penix having such high development and experience already. They are much closer to their ceilings than the other 4 I mentioned.
January 23rd, 2024 at 9:49 AM ^
Fragile, come on man!!! The 1st time he played against a high caliber D, not PAC 10 Flag or Ole D, he barely made it through the game. NC game exposed him as nothing more than a candidate for 28 Olympic Flag Football team.
January 23rd, 2024 at 10:59 AM ^
Penix was an amazing college player, but if I were a GM he's the one QB in the first round I just would shy away from- I'm scared of that injury history. Dude is a warrior, and a great player, I'm just saying what I would do if I were in charge.
January 22nd, 2024 at 4:13 PM ^
The thing with being a first-rounder is that you only need one team to believe you're a first-rounder
January 22nd, 2024 at 5:30 PM ^
It seems like this is the year where several teams (Raiders, Broncos, etc.) are going to take a chance on a JJ kind of guy. It's not every year that QBs are in such demand, but we've seen the demise of guys like Carr, Russell W, etc. where any coach knows if he doesn't get a QB high in the draft, his career may end in 3 years.
January 22nd, 2024 at 4:18 PM ^
This site says they aggregate mocks & big boards and has JJ at 43 (ATL), Jenkins at 46 (IND) in their two round mock.
Their consensus big board has these guys in the top 100:
- JJ - 31
- Jenkins - 44
- Corum - 58
- Zinter - 79
- Colson - 85
- Wilson - 94
- Mike - 96
Seven guys in the first three-ish rounds isn't bad if that holds up.
January 22nd, 2024 at 4:25 PM ^
I'm excited to see the lions NOT pick a CB for it to turn into gold anyway.
January 22nd, 2024 at 4:42 PM ^
This is why I think JJ should return. Too uncertain if he's a first round pick. Never heard of the Draft Network but I don't see LAR using a 1R pick on JJ to be a backup to Stafford. Teams should only use a 1R on a QB if they are pretty certain he's going to be the guy in season 1 no later than season 2. SEA could be interesting - Geno is 33 and signed for two more seasons. LVR could be a destination as well.
January 22nd, 2024 at 4:53 PM ^
I still can't get past the Lions at THIRTY. That's my only take away from this even though it's intended for UM haha
January 23rd, 2024 at 10:41 AM ^
Let's go ahead and just make it 32. Might as well.
January 22nd, 2024 at 4:57 PM ^
Been thinking a lot about the best landing spot for JJ. A spot like the Rams seems ideal; he can sit behind an established starter for a year or two and then take the reins with an offensive-minded head coach. Think the Dolphins are similar if they decide to move on from Tua after next year (which I think they should).
Denver is an interesting prospect. He would be a step above The Corpse of Russ and Sean Payton knows a thing or two about a thing or two. I also like a lot of their weapons on offense.
Expecting JJ to walk in and immediately be the savior of a franchise seems lofty, and the Raiders have a lot of unknowns on the coaching staff.
Really hoping for the best for him.
January 22nd, 2024 at 9:07 PM ^
Between the LV and Denver (per the draft boards) I hope JJ can avoid Sean Payton, and his finger pointing, Wilson shenanigans, and pay for injuries history.
January 22nd, 2024 at 5:07 PM ^
Lions have three good young safeties. They aren’t taking another one.
Lions draft needs: CB, G, Edge, WR
Zinter with the Lions would be fantastic. A Campbell guy. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lions go with ZZ at 29 if they address CB spot in free agency,