mock drafts – Syndication Server

NFL Draft analyst gives Vikings some defensive help in latest 2025 mock draft

The Minnesota Vikings get some help along the defensive line in the latest 2025 mock NFL Draft from The 33rd Teams’ analyst Kyle Crabbs.

After two straight losses, the Minnesota Vikings have fallen to third place in the ultra-competitive NFC North division. While that sounds bad — and there’s certainly a lot for the team to be alarmed about given their performances the past two weeks — that still has the Vikings in the playoffs.

It’s not yet time for the Vikings or their fans to give up on the season and start setting their sights on the 2025 NFL Draft. That said, it’s never too early to start familiarizing yourself with the prospects available and the potential stars the draft could bring.

The Vikings are in a bit of a pickle regarding the 2025 NFL Draft. Thanks to several trades, Minnesota is currently sitting with just three picks in next year’s draft and only one of them — a first-round pick — in the first two days of the draft.

Minnesota will likely receive a third-round compensatory pick for losing quarterback Kirk Cousins and outside linebacker Danielle Hunter in free agency, but that still doesn’t leave them with much capital to improve their team. So, what direction might the Vikings take in the 2025 NFL Draft?

NFL Draft expert Kyle Crabbs with The 33rd Team has the Vikings picking up some help along the defensive line in his latest mock draft. With the 26th pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, Crabbs has the Vikings taking defensive tackle Walter Nolen out of Ole Miss, saying:

Thanks to Brian Flores’ schemes and disguises, Minnesota’s front is dangerous already. But adding a disruptive talent up front like Walter Nolen feels like a dream come true, thanks to the potential free runs he can get.

Add in the disruptive ability when Minnesota still drops into coverage. Nolen could totally change the complexion of the Vikings’ front.

The Vikings made a trade on Tuesday with the Jacksonville Jaguars to acquire left tackle Cam Robinson, but that should have no impact on the Vikings’ 2025 NFL Draft plans. Robinson is likely just a one-year rental, as his contract expires after the season, and there’s no reason to believe injured tackle Christian Darrisaw won’t recover.

The Vikings didn’t give up any of their limited draft capital in 2025 to make the deal, either, so that likely doesn’t play into their decision-making process. The Vikings have several areas of need heading into the 2025 NFL Draft, but bolstering the defensive line up front is a smart direction.

New NFL mock draft has LSU’s Will Campbell going 1st overall

Will Campbell has the chance to be one of the first players selected in the 2025 NFL draft.

LSU left tackle [autotag]Will Campbell[/autotag] anchors one of the best college offensive lines in the country, and he’s sure to find himself playing on Sundays in 2025.

Campbell entered the year viewed as one of the top tackles in the draft and a likely top-10 pick, and nothing has changed on that front. In fact, some prognosticators have become even higher on him, and in the latest mock draft from Yahoo! Sports’ Charles McDonald and Nate Tice, they have the Jacksonville Jaguars taking Campbell with the first overall pick.

The Jaguars have struggled to protect young quarterback Trevor Lawrence early in his career, and that’s part of the reason the offense has sputtered this fall as Jacksonville is the only winless team in the NFL through four weeks.

Here’s Tice’s breakdown.

Campbell is a technician on the left side who constantly stays balanced and in a winning position. His upright stance looks funky, but he’s a good athlete with light feet who can move in space and has the core strength to bring pop in the run game. Campbell is a consistent and smart player for a franchise desperately needing some of that.

If this prediction ultimately held true, Campbell would be the fourth LSU player to be taken first overall and just the second non-quarterback after [autotag]Billy Cannon[/autotag] was taken with the first pick all the way back in 1960.

He’s one of four LSU players projected to go in the first round in this mock, joining [autotag]Garrett Nussmeier[/autotag] (10th overall, New York Giants), [autotag]Emery Jones Jr.[/autotag] (15th overall, Chicago Bears) and [autotag]Harold Perkins Jr.[/autotag] (30th overall, Tampa Bay Buccaneers)

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LSU’s Will Campbell a top-5 pick in latest PFF 2025 NFL mock draft

Will Campbell is one of three Tigers projected to go in the first round in Pro Football Focus’ latest mock.

Despite so much transition at the skill positions, LSU’s offense has remained one o fhte SEC’s best so far in 2024. An elite offensive line returning four of five starters is a major reason for that, and that unit is anchored by a superstar in left tackle [autotag]Will Campbell[/autotag].

Campbell headlines LSU players selected in the latest 2025 NFL mock draft from Pro Football Focus’ Trevor Sikkema, projected to go inside the top five at third overall to the New England Patriots, which will likely be looking for protection along the offensive line for 2024 first-round pick quarterback Drake Maye.

Here’s Sikkema’s breakdown of Campbell’s fit in New England.

The Patriots’ offensive line struggles are the reason we haven’t seen quarterback Drake Maye yet. They’ll be heavily targeting offensive line help in the 2025 draft.

Campbell, a three-year starter at left tackle for LSU, could be the first off the board with his combination of agility and power.

Campbell isn’t the only LSU player Sikkema has going in the first round. His counterpart on the right side, [autotag]Emery Jones Jr.[/autotag], is projected to go 24th overall to the Detroit Lions.

The Lions are a team with few glaring needs, but they could follow the Howie Roseman approach by investing premium capital in the offensive line to keep it a strength before it becomes a need.

Jones has played right tackle for LSU over the past three seasons but may be best suited as a guard in the NFL. His versatility fits perfectly with Detroit’s draft plan, especially as Kevin Zeitler is 34 years old, though they also have Christian Mahogany.

Finally, Sikkema still projects [autotag]Harold Perkins Jr.[/autotag] to go in the first round despite his season-ending ACL tear, projecting him to the Seattle Seahawks at No. 27.

This is more of a projection pick, but the more I consider it, the more it makes sense. Perkins is a gifted and explosive athlete. His best work as a freshman came as a pass rusher, but he’s not quite big enough to play on the edge full-time in the NFL.

Over the past two years, he’s transitioned to off-ball linebacker to maximize his speed. Unfortunately, he tore his ACL early this season and will miss most of the year. Still, imagine a world where Mike Macdonald has that kind of speed anchoring the middle of his defense.

Perkins’ future in Baton Rouge is unclear as he has the option to return for another season but was viewed as a surefire first-round pick prior to his injury.

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3 LSU players projected as 1st round picks in latest ESPN 2025 NFL mock draft

Could the Tigers have a trio of first-round picks for the second year in a row?

LSU had three players selected in the first round of the 2024 NFL draft, the program’s most since 2020.

While the Tigers lost a lot of talent from last year’s team, even in addition to first-rounders [autotag]Jayden Daniels[/autotag], [autotag]Malik Nabers[/autotag] and [autotag]Brian Thomas Jr.[/autotag], there are quite a few potential top draft prospects on this year’s roster, as well. Only time will tell if LSU can match its 2024 first-round total in 2025, but according to the latest ESPN mock draft from Matt Miller, it has a chance.

Miller has three Tigers players going in the first round. Here’s where each of them lands and his breakdown of each.

OT Will Campbell (No. 6, New England Patriots)

The Patriots ranked last in the NFL in pass block win rate last season (43.4%), and even after signing Chukwuma Okorafor and bringing back Mike Onwenu this offseason, addressing the offensive line next offseason is a must. Campbell is part of college football’s best tackle duo alongside LSU teammate Emery Jones Jr. He’s a two-year starter who didn’t allow a single sack and only 15 total pressures last season. He could be long-term protection for Drake Maye in this offense.

Miller has the Patriots trading back from the first overall spot to take some protection for quarterback Drake Maye. [autotag]Will Campbell[/autotag] is the second tackle off the board in this mock, but he could easily be viewed as OT1 by draft time.

LB Harold Perkins (No. 12, Tampa Bay Buccaneers)

Perkins was misused at linebacker last season, but he will move back to edge rusher in new defensive coordinator Blake Baker’s scheme this year. And we could see him use his great speed to eclipse his 13 career sacks this season alone. That might entice the Buccaneers, who are looking for a defensive end to break out and emerge as a true threat to opposing offenses. Veteran Shaquil Barrett is gone in free agency, and Tampa Bay’s 27.3% pressure rate ranked 24th in the league last season, so adding to this group could be a frontline need come next offseason.

The Bucs have already drafted one former LSU linebacker in recent years in [autotag]Devin White[/autotag], and they could look to add another in [autotag]Harold Perkins[/autotag], who had a bit of a disappointing sophomore season but could bounce back in a big way this fall.

OT Emery Jones (No. 15, Jacksonville Jaguars)

The biggest weakness on the Jacksonville roster is at offensive tackle; Anton Harrison struggled on the right side as a rookie, and Cam Robinson was among the worst run-blocking left tackles in the league last season. But Jones — who starts at right tackle for the Tigers — has easy movement skills despite a 6-foot-6 and 315-pound frame, and I see the agility and balance to play left or right tackle in the pros. He has to clean up some timing issues, but his jump from freshman starter to sophomore standout (seven sacks allowed in Year 1 compared to four in Year 2) showed his potential.

The Jaguars were all about LSU players in 2024, selecting three including Thomas in the first round. They could go back to that well to land more protection for Trevor Lawrence in [autotag]Emery Jones[/autotag], who is being a bit overshadowed by Campbell but is one of the nation’s best tackles in his own right.

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Yes, Jason Licht reads your mock drafts

Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht admits to perusing NFL draft projections from the media

Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht is just like the rest of us.

Yep, this time of year, even the top personnel executive for an actual NFL team is scrolling through mock drafts.

“Yeah, I’m not going to lie,” Licht said when asked if he reads the plentiful predraft projections from various media outlets. “You just kind of want to see in general where guys may be. Somebody is talking to somebody that is putting the mock draft together, so you like to think that there is something there, but you never rely on it.”

Licht probably gets far more insight from his sources throughout the league that he’s likely to garner from a random mock draft, but he particularly enjoys the media projections that connect the Bucs with a player they’re not actually targeting in real life.

“Sometimes,” Licht said when asked about seeing the same player mocked to the Bucs over and over. “When it’s the guy that we’re not targeting, I love to see it.”

What about when a mock draft does have the name the Bucs are actually going after in the first round?

“We do what we can to make sure that name isn’t on there again, you know,” Licht said with a hearty laugh.

So, keep churning out those mock drafts, folks. At least one general manager is getting a kick out of them, one way or another.

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Cory Bonini’s 2024 NFL mock draft 1.0

Make sure to check out Cory Bonini’s first mock draft of 2024.

Here’s my first 2024 NFL mock draft. Be sure to check our NFL Draft Central page for the rest of our mocks, player scouting reports, and post-draft analysis of every key pick relevant to fantasy football.

Where Jayden Daniels goes as CBS Sports projects QB trade in top five in latest mock draft

Could trades in the top five affect Jayden Daniels’ landing spot?

As we approach the 2024 NFL draft, the stakes for the quarterback position seem clear.

The top three teams in the draft all need signal-callers, but there are no guarantees all three of those teams stay in place. In the latest NFL mock draft from CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli, he projects the Vikings trading up to take a passer.

It’s not [autotag]Jayden Daniels[/autotag], however, as he’s already off the board by the third pick. Fornelli has Washington staying in place at No. 2 to draft its quarterback of the future in Daniels.

Here’s Fornelli’s breakdown of Daniels’ fit with the Commanders and offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury.

I’m confident Caleb Williams will go first, but as for the second QB off the board, it’s anybody’s guess. Opinions vary across the league on who the best QB is in this class after Williams. In this mock, the Commanders are lured by the tantalizing playmaking and potential of Jayden Daniels.

Fornelli projects [autotag]Malik Nabers[/autotag] going a few picks later to the Giants at No. 6.

I don’t know how Giants fans would feel seeing this flurry of action in front of them, but when the dust settles, they still have excellent options available to fill multiple needs. For me, the value of adding Malik Nabers to an offense with a serious devoid of playmakers is too much to pass up.

Meanwhile, he has [autotag]Brian Thomas Jr.[/autotag] falling to the New England Patriots, who trade back from No. 3 to No. 23 in this mock.

Moving down from the third spot nets the Patriots a new left tackle in Olu Fashanu and a deep threat in the passing game who could evolve into much more in LSU’s Brian Thomas. In this scenario, it’s possible the Pats would take a quarterback with their second-round pick.

Things could get wild with trades in the first round, but it seems the general draft range for the three LSU stars is set.

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Jets land Oregon State tackle in latest Pro Football Network mock draft

The Jets may not be locked into selecting an offensive tackle with their first pick of the draft at No. 10, but it wouldn’t be the worst idea to still consider the position even with the additions of Tyron Smith and Morgan Moses.

The latest mock draft from Lorenzo Reyna of Pro Football Network does just that, sending Oregon State offensive tackle Taliese Fuaga to the Jets with the 10th pick of the draft.

While the New York Jets addressed offensive tackle in a big way by signing perennial Pro Bowler Tyron Smith and trading for Morgan Moses, that only addressed a short-term tackle need. There’s the long-term to address.

Taliese Fuaga is a massive mauler who can set an angry tone in the Jets trenches –- which should be to the liking of QB Aaron Rodgers and RB Breece Hall.

The Jets still could use both a swing tackle and, as Reyna noted, a long term option at tackle. Both Smith and Moses are only locked in for one season.

The Jets got a close look at Fuaga down in Mobile, Alabama at the Senior Bowl as defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich was one of the head coaches for the week.

In this case, Joe Alt (No. 5 to Chargers) and Olu Fashanu (No. 7 to Titans) were both off the board for the Jets. Tight end Brock Bowers, another popular pick now for the Jets, was also off the board, going to the Bears at No. 9.

Fuaga was certainly more than just a consolation prize for the Jets in this scenario. Fuaga can give the Jets a fine backup option initially behind Smith and Moses and would eventually take over as one of the starting offensive tackles.

Given the state of the roster on paper, the Jets can now go in multiple directions with their first pick. Fuaga would certainly be a fine direction.

Panthers mock draft roundup 2.0: Tracking the latest 2024 projections

Once again, there are plenty of wideouts to go around in the latest mock draft projections for the Panthers.

Now that the 2024 edition of the underwear olympics is completed, are the experts forecasting anything different for the Carolina Panthers in the upcoming draft?

Here are the latest, post-combine projections for the team’s first pick of the spring:

Three Tigers go in the first round of ESPN’s latest mock draft

Jayden Daniels, Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr. were all chosen in the first round of the mock draft.

ESPN recently released its latest mock draft which has been updated since the NFL combine and three LSU Tigers players made the first round of the mock draft.

[autotag]Jayden Daniels[/autotag], [autotag]Malik Nabers[/autotag], and [autotag]Brian Thomas Jr.[/autotag] were all chosen in the first round of the draft, here is who ESPN thinks will choose them. With the third pick of the 2024 NFL draft, the New England Patriots select [autotag]Jayden Daniels[/autotag], quarterback, LSU.

The Patriots have a plethora of problems. A franchise that used to be the standard for winning championships is now a franchise that has descended into madness. They’re hoping a new quarterback can save the day.

With the fifth pick in the [autotag]2024 NFL Draft[/autotag], ESPN has the Chicago Bears trading up to No. 5 (After drafting Caleb Williams at No. 1) and selecting [autotag]Malik Nabers[/autotag], wide receiver, LSU.

If the draft goes how most experts expect it to, the Bears will need some talent to surround their new franchise quarterback. They would get that in Nabers.

With the 30th pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, the Baltimore Ravens select [autotag]Brian Thomas Jr.[/autotag], Wide Receiver, LSU.

Thomas is a player who was on the fringe of being a first or second-round pick. After how he performed at the NFL combine, I think he will be a first-round pick. At 6-foot-3, 209 pounds, Thomas ran a 4.33 40-yard dash. The Ravens need a downfield threat and Thomas would be great in that role for Lamar Jackson.

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