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Here are a few options for Tampa Bay as the second day of the draft draws nearer:
The Bucs are soon to be on the clock again on Day 2 of the NFL draft, where they have a pick in Round 2 and Round 3 each. After taking DT Calijah Kancey in the first round, there are a few other options the team could go with its Day 2 picks.
Here are five players the Bucs could look to target:
With the first round behind us, here are the best remaining players on managing editor Tyler Forness’ big board.
With just one pick on day two of the NFL Draft, the Minnesota Vikings have several options after selecting USC wide receiver Jordan Addison in the first round. The team could explore various directions, and there are ten remaining prospects that the Vikings could potentially consider.
Managing editor Tyler Forness put together a big board prior to the NFL draft beginning and there are still multiple players in his top 20 left on the board. Here are the top 10 players available on Forness’ big board.
With the NFL Draft just a little over a week away, here is one cornerback for the Minnesota Vikings in every round of the Draft.
At the start of the offseason, the Minnesota Vikings had a clear priority: to address the cornerback position. They released Cam Dantzler and allowed Patrick Peterson to leave in free agency. Even after signing Byron Murphy Jr., the Vikings still needs additional players in the cornerback room
Fortunately, the upcoming NFL Draft has one of the deepest cornerback classes in recent memory. Let’s take a look at some potential fits for the Vikings at the cornerback position in every round of the draft.
Clark Phillips III, a unanimous All-American and the reigning Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, is visiting the Jaguars.
The Jacksonville Jaguars continue to do due diligence on cornerbacks in the days before the 2023 NFL Draft and are hosting Utah’s Clark Phillips III on a Monday visit, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network.
Phillips doesn’t exactly fit the tall, lengthy mold that Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke typically looks for at the cornerback position at 5’9, 184 pounds with 29 1/8-inch arms. However, the reigning Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year was a unanimous All-American in his final season with the Utes, finishing 2022 with six interceptions, two pick sixes, a sack, and two tackles for loss.
While his lackluster size and athleticism (4.51 40-yard dash and 33-inch vertical jump) make it unlikely that Phillips will hear his name called in the first round, his clean technique and knack for big plays have made him a popular prospect. According to Pelissero, the Utah product has met with all 32 NFL teams in the lead up to draft day.
The Jaguars began the 2022 season with Tyson Campbell and Shaquill Griffin as their starting cornerback duo. While Campbell shined in his second season, Griffin struggled before landing on injured reserve with a back injury. After cycling through a few players in the starting lineup, the Jaguars found stability late in the year with Darious Williams on the outside. However, the team has little depth at the position and likely wants a long-term starter opposite Campbell.
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The Minnesota Vikings trade out of the first round to get two picks on day two in the last seven-round mock draft.
The Minnesota Vikings have a lot of different ways they can go in the NFL draft. There will be some discussion on what needs are most important but the Vikings can address most of them through both free agency and the NFL draft.
I have now done eight mock drafts for the Vikings this offseason and they all have taken a slightly different turn each time. This one has the Vikings trading back and focusing on the defense with the first four picks.
Mock draft 1.0
Mock draft 2.0
Mock draft 3.0
Mock draft 4.0
Mock draft 5.0
Mock draft 6.0
Mock draft 7.0
Mock draft 8.0
In the case of the Seahawks, they’re clearly 100% focused on improving their defensive front-seven – especially their defensive line.
Free agency is over, so now we have a clearer idea of what each team’s needs are heading into the 2023 NFL draft. In the case of the Seahawks, they’re clearly 100% focused on improving their defensive front-seven – especially their defensive line. In a new three-round mock draft from Curt Popejoy at Draft Wire, the Seahawks double up on a pair of highly-ranked DL prospects in the first round.
Here’s who Seattle selected in the three-round mock.
A look at the strengths and weaknesses of the Utes star, measurables and film links, and how he fits in with the Cowboys’ defense. | From @cdpiglet
The Dallas Cowboys have turned a question mark into a strength with potentially excellent depth. Trevon Diggs was already the top corner on the roster, and now that he is paired with Stephon Gilmore the Cowboys sport one of the top duos in the league. Add last season’s breakout performer, DaRon Bland, veteran Jourdan Lewis, and hybrid defensive back Israel Mukuamu and Dallas has an excellent corner room for 2023.
That impressive depth is boosted by the potential upside of two top-100 picks from 2021 in Kelvin Joseph and Nahshon Wright. As of now, they are bubble guys; that says a ton about the depth in front of them. However that depth doesn’t mean the club should be done thinking about the position. Three of the five names are set to be free agents at the end of this coming season and Dallas needs to keep the pipeline churning. A third young player to pair with Diggs and Bland for the long-term would be a perfect addition.
The one piece missing could be a player like Clark Phillips III. A 5-foot-10, 183 pound corner would previously be seen as a slot only guy, but in today’s NFL that guy can now also slide outside if the match up is against a smaller, quicker WR. Here’s a look at whether Phillips has what it takes to be that level of player.
From Devon Witherspoon to Julius Brents, here are Doug Farrar’s top 11 cornerbacks in the 2023 NFL draft class.
The 2023 NFL draft presents one of the strongest cornerback classes in recent memory, to the point where some lucky NFL teams are going to get players at the position with a ton of starter traits all the way into the third day of the draft.
That isn’t always the case, and the thing about this class that seems particularly interesting is the number of bigger (over six feet tall) cornerbacks with positive traits and intriguing ball skills. Most classes tend to be more of a grab-bag in terms of the NFL’s preferred size profile, but in our Top 11, nine of the cornerbacks are at least 5-foot-11, and only two (Utah’s Clark Phillips III and TCU’s Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson) are obviously under the “You must be this tall to ride this ride” limit.
From there, it’s all about the traits you need. This class of cornerbacks has everything from press-man monsters with ridiculous wingspans to zone and match detectives who have perfected the art of working receivers into frustrations they didn’t quite expect.
So, it’s time to separate the skill sets for our Top 11 cornerbacks of the 2023 NFL draft class.
You can also read our list of the top nine safeties in the 2023 class right here.
(All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus, Sports Info Solutions, and Football Outsiders unless otherwise indicated).
(All prospect measurement percentiles courtesy of MockDraftable.com).
Here are a few players Tampa Bay could target in the draft to make up for losses in the secondary this offseason:
The start of free agency took a toll on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ secondary. Their best bet to reload at defensive back is in the draft, where they have enjoyed no small amount of recent success.
A big reason for the Bucs’ defensive resurgence in recent years is general manager Jason Licht’s focus on drafting in the secondary since 2018 when the Bucs selected corner Carlton Davis and safety Jordan Whitehead in the second and fourth rounds. A year later, Licht took corners Sean Murphy-Bunting and Jamel Dean and S Mike Edwards across the second and third rounds.
The selection of these five players correlates with significant improvement of the Bucs defense. In 2018, they were 32nd in the NFL in defensive DVOA. By 2020, they were fifth and have remained in the top half of the league since.
The Bucs re-signed Davis last season while losing Whitehead to the New York Jets. This offseason, they managed to lock up starting cornerback Jamel Dean, but have since lost safety Edwards and Murphy-Bunting.
The loss of Edwards and Murphy-Bunting leaves Tampa looking to replace 1244 defensive snaps and 171 special teams snaps. Edwards in particular is a major blow as he was effectively a starter at safety next to Antoine Winfield Jr.
In any case, the Bucs need multiple defensive backs, and it is likely that Jason Licht returns to the draft well to address their needs down the depth chart.
Here are five defensive backs the Bucs should target in this year’s draft:
Through nine weeks, we have collected 192 unique mock drafts from across the industry and cornerbacks still dominate the discussion at 23
Mock draft season is upon us and that means our mock draft roundup is back!
What we do every week is track the mainstream outlets mock drafts and aggregate how many times a player gets selected. Last season, we tallied up 173 mock drafts and only 10 of them were on offense. This season could end up being much of the same.
We will track them and try to determine trends and patterns, along with giving my own analysis on how they could fit with the Minnesota Vikings.
