2021 Mock Draft – Page 3 – Syndication Server

Lions 7-round mock draft 4.0: The fantasy episode

Most mock drafts are predictive in nature. Not this one…

Most mock drafts are predictive in nature. Not this one. For v4.0 of the Lions Wire’s full Detroit mock draft, I turned the dial to Fantasy Island.

It’s time to dare to dream!

Being that this is a dream, everything written here is intended to be narrated by BBC news presenter Alan Kasujja, whose deep tones and accented diction help guide me to sleep most nights.

Don’t expect any of this to actually happen. That’s not the point. This is my ideal fantasy for how the 2021 NFL draft would play out for the Lions.

Cowboys News: Dak MVP odds high, OTA boycotts bubble while McCoy wants do-over

Also, Ezekiel Elliott finds himself at a crossroads, Drew Pearson talks about his journey, a small-school DB prospect, and retooling at OT.

It’s still mock season, and legendary draft guru Mel Kiper has a new one that defensively-minded Cowboys fans should be happy with. But amidst the hype and hoopla of the countdown to draft day, there’s sobering news on the COVID-19 front as the players union recommends that its members boycott their teams’ voluntary workout programs over heightened virus concerns. Several Cowboys players in particular stand to lose out financially if they don’t attend in-person workouts, so things could get sticky soon.

Elsewhere, we’re spotlighting the offensive tackle position, checking out a late-round small-school DB, dissecting the deals of the two newest Cowboys free agents, talking about a possible return by Gerald McCoy, and exploring Ezekiel Elliott at a critical moment in his career. Also, Dak Prescott’s comeback season now has MVP odds attached to it, and “The Original 88” looks back on his football journey as he prepares to be enshrined in Canton. That’s all on tap in this edition of News and Notes.

2021 NFL mock draft: Mel Kiper’s latest full of surprises, question marks

The latest two-round NFL mock draft from ESPN’s Mel Kiper is loaded with trades, surprises and head-scratching moves

This time of year especially, everybody wants to know what Mel Kiper thinks. His latest 2021 NFL mock draft, complete with trades, should certainly get folks talking.

Kiper’s latest projection starts out as expected, with three quarterbacks in the first three picks (Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence to the Jaguars, BYU’s Zach Wilson to the Jets, and Alabama’s Mac Jones to the 49ers). Then comes his first trade, and it’s a head-scratcher, as the Miami Dolphins trade back up to No. 4 for Florida tight end Kyle Pitts.

It’s a strange trade because it ends with the Dolphins basically trading down just one spot from their original pick, and not having nearly as much draft capital to show for it. After loading up on all those extra picks from other trades, it would be odd to see them give away a good chunk of it, even for a player as special at Pitts.

Kiper explains his reasoning:

We know the Falcons have talked to other teams about moving out of the No. 4 spot, and they could be open to the highest bidder. There’s a catch, though; they surely don’t want to move too far down, or else they’ll miss on their guy. So this trade allows them to add assets and still pick at No. 6.

I don’t think it would cost the Dolphins a first-round pick in 2022, but it’s tough to predict without knowing who else is bidding. For this exercise, I think it could take something like a second- and third-round pick next year for Miami to move up two spots. (The Dolphins have an extra third-rounder in 2022 from the 49ers.)

Why would the Dolphins move up two spots? To ensure that they get their guy, and to ensure that another team doesn’t trade into that spot to take that guy. Cincinnati at No. 5 could also take the prospect the Dolphins want.

Even if Miami stays at No. 6, though, they’d be assured of getting either Pitts, LSU wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase or Oregon offensive tackle Penei Sewell at that spot. Any of those three would be a huge win for them, so spending premium picks to move up for one of them seems unnecessary.

The Atlanta Falcons win big in this move, dropping down two spots and still landing their quarterback of the future in North Dakota State’s Trey Lance. Getting rid of Matt Ryan won’t make much financial sense for at least two more years, so picking Lance over Ohio State’s Justin Fields actually makes some sense here for the Dirty Birds.

Kiper’s next trade makes way more sense, as he sends the New England Patriots up from No. 15 overall to No. 10 overall to steal Fields. He should be the second quarterback off the board in this draft, so landing Fields at No. 10, as the fifth passer selected, would be absolute robbery.

To check out Kiper’s full two-round projection at ESPN.com, click here.

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Mel Kiper throws the Lions a serious 2-round curveball in his latest mock

Kiper projects his own 26th-ranked DE to the Lions as the No. 41 overall pick

Perhaps the most well-known NFL draft analyst, Mel Kiper Jr. from ESPN is always provocative. In his latest mock draft, Kiper took the provocation to a new level for Detroit Lions fans with his second-round projection for the team.

Kiper colored within the lines with his first Lions pick. At No. 7 overall he projected LSU WR Ja’Marr Chase. While it might not happen, Chase is certainly a plausible candidate worthy of strong consideration by Lions GM Brad Holmes at that spot.

Then came the second round. Kiper went way off the beaten path to project Buffalo EDGE Malcolm Koonce to the Lions with the No. 41 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft.

Here’s what Kiper had to say about Koonce,

Koonce is a natural pass-rusher who had 14 sacks over the past two seasons. He has great length and can be disruptive as a situational edge defender. He’s being underrated in the lead-up to this draft, but I love his tape.

Despite Kiper’s optimism, it’s a massive reach by draft standards. Koonce is the No. 33 EDGE defender in the rankings from The Athletic’s Dane Brugler. He’s the No. 166 overall player in The Draft Network’s current big board. Perhaps most condemning, Kiper’s own network at ESPN ranks Koonce as the 26th-best defensive end prospect in the draft.

I included Koonce as the seventh-round prospect in a “pass rusher for every round” piece at Browns Wire over the weekend. That seems more like the range where Koonce will be drafted, but crazy things certainly do happen in draft season.

Chiefs 2021 7-round mock draft v3.0: Trading down from first round

Our latest mock draft version explores what trading down from pick No. 31 could look like for the Kansas City Chiefs.

There are just 18 days to go until the 2021 NFL draft.

Each Monday leading up to the draft, I’ll be presenting a new 7-round mock draft scenario with a different theme. This week, we’re doing something that Brett Veach hasn’t done before during his tenure as general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs. We’re going to trade down and out of the first round of the draft.

In order to gauge player availability, I used the mock draft simulator from The Draft Network. Using a custom big board, I ran multiple simulations to see the players most frequently available at each of the Chiefs’ picks in order to compile this mock draft. If players weren’t available with regularity, they were eliminated from contention at a specific pick.

Before we take a look at the version 3.0 draft, here’s a look at the details of our trade:

Mock draft watch: Lions land top OL prospect in PFF’s latest

The most recent update to the Pro Football Focus menagerie of mock drafts shores up the offensive line in Detroit for years to come.

Analyst Andrew Erickson projects Oregon offensive tackle Penei Sewell to the Lions at the No. 7 pick in the 2021 NFL draft. The path to No. 7 features four QBs in the first four picks and none of them are Ohio State’s Justin Fields, and the Lions also pass on him to land Sewell. The rationale is straightforward,

New head coach Dan Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes can’t afford to miss on their first pick as members of the organization. Penei Sewell is the can’t-miss tackle prospect, and teams like the Lions can’t get enough guys like this. At just 19 years old, Sewell had the single highest-graded season we’ve ever seen from a Power 5 offensive tackle.

This would be a pretty big win for a team that is likely looking ahead to a top-three pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, where the QB of the future will await.

One of the interesting notes here is that Alabama WR Jaylen Waddle falls all the way to No. 15 overall. He’s almost universally projected as a top-10 pick.

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2021 NFL mock draft: Who else goes QB in the top 10?

See where this year’s top quarterback prospects land in the latest 2021 NFL mock draft from NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah

We already know that three quarterbacks are likely to be selected with the first three picks of the 2021 NFL draft, but which teams will be next to take a passer off the board, and will five of them land in the top 10?

That’s the scenario that plays out in the latest 2021 NFL mock draft from NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah, who has five quarterbacks taken in the first seven selections.

After the obvious ones (Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence at No. 1 overall to the Jacksonville Jaguars, BYU’s Zach Wilson at No. 2 overall to the New York Jets), Jeremiah sends Alabama’s Mac Jones to the San Francisco 49ers at No. 3 overall. At the very next pick, Jeremiah has the Atlanta Falcons taking North Dakota State’s Trey Lance as the eventual successor to Matt Ryan, while Ohio State’s Justin Fields heads to the Detroit Lions at No. 7 overall to challenge Jared Goff for the starting job as a rookie.

That’s the end of the quarterbacks in this first-round projection, though, as the rest of the top 32 rattles off without another passer coming off the board, illustrating the significant gap between the top tier at the position this year and the rest of the class.

The first non-quarterback selected in this mock is Florida tight end Kyle Pitts (No. 5 overall, Cincinnati Bengals), followed by LSU wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase (No. 6 overall, Miami Dolphins). Northwestern’s Rashawn Slater is the first offensive lineman off the board (No. 8 overall, Carolina Panthers), going one spot ahead of Oregon’s Penei Sewell (No. 9 overall, Denver Broncos).

The first defensive player doesn’t come off the board until No. 10 overall, where the Dallas Cowboys opt for Michigan edge defender Kwity Paye over this year’s top cornerbacks.

To check out Jeremiah’s full first-round forecast at NFL.com, click here.

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Mock draft watch: Browns land versatile defensive help in PFF’s latest

Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah can play safety, LB or the heavy nickel

The latest mock draft from Pro Football Focus brings back a name not projected to the Cleveland Browns in a few weeks. PFF analyst Andrew Erickson thrusts the name Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, the hybrid linebacker/safety from Notre Dame, back upon the Browns at the No. 26 overall pick.

Owusu-Koramoah, or JOK in scouting shorthand, was a popular Browns projection earlier in the offseason but has generally been coming off the board well before Cleveland picks in more recent mocks. He certainly makes sense for the Browns defense with his coverage ability and versatility, as Erickson notes,

Clevelands’ main weakness on defense is at linebacker, which makes drafting Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah an easy choice for them. JOK’s diverse skill set as a box safety, explosive linebacker and slot defensive back allow him to make plays all over the field.

Last season, Browns linebackers played the second-most coverage snaps from the slot (197). Owusu-Koramoah’s PFF coverage grade from the slot (84.2) ranked first in 2020.

If he’s on the board, the Browns definitely need to consider JOK. His skills are an excellent fit for what the Cleveland defense needs.

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Mock draft watch: Lions trade back but still land premium WR in Draft Wire’s latest

The Chargers move up from No. 13 to land Penei Sewell

The latest one-round mock draft projection from our friends at Draft Wire offers up an interesting scenario. In this projection, Draft Wire editor Luke Easterling suggests what could happen with the Lions trading back from the No. 7 overall pick.

With the Lions on the clock and several premium talents (Penei Sewell, Trey Lance, Patrick Surtain, Jaylen Waddle, DeVonta Smith) still on the board, Detroit accepts the hypothetical trade offer from the Los Angeles Chargers and moves back to No. 13 overall. The OL-needy Chargers snag Sewell.

Down at 13, the Lions still land Waddle, the speedy playmaking wideout from Alabama. As Easterling notes,

This is a huge win for the Lions, who drop back six spots and still end up with a player they could have easily selected at their original slot. Yes, they’ve added some new faces to help replenish the receivers they lost in free agency, but none of them have the kind of explosiveness and big-play ability Waddle brings to the table. He’s a huge bargain here.

The exact details of what else the Lions acquired in the hypothetical trade back are not laid out, but from that range it would expect to be at least a 2022 first-round pick.

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Browns full mock draft v4.0: The ‘trade out of the 1st’ scenario

We explore what the Browns could get by trading out of the first round

We are now inside three weeks until Cleveland hosts the 2021 NFL draft. It’s getting to be crunch time for the Browns and all the other teams as pro days wrap up and scouting boards get finalized.

Mock drafts are a good chance to explore different scenarios, so in this edition, we’ll play with a new concept. What happens if the Browns traded out of the first round?

For that to happen, it takes a motivated buyer to come up to No. 26 overall. And I found one in the Miami Dolphins, who rocket back into the first round to snag Miami EDGE Jaelan Phillips, a perfect fit for their “multiple” defensive front.

In this hypothetical, Miami agrees to send the Browns both of its second-round picks in 2021, No. 36 overall (from Houston) and No. 50, in exchange for the No. 26 pick. The teams also swap seventh-round picks, with Cleveland moving up from No. 257 to No. 231, the Texans pick also owned by Miami via trade.

The trade leaves the Browns with the following 10 selections:

If you want to track the progression of the mock drafts, here are the first three editions:

Browns full 2021 mock draft v3.0: Post-free agency kickoff

Browns full 2021 mock draft v2.0

Browns full 7-round mock draft v1.0