Most of the mock drafts we have seen have had Kyle Hamilton being selected somewhere shortly after the fifth pick in this coming NFL draft. We shared Mel Kiper’s first mock of the season where it had Hamilton going fourth to the New York Jets.
Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.com has weighed in with his new mock draft and has Hamilton going even higher as he sends him to the Houston Texans at number-four overall.
Here’s what Jeremiah says about Hamilton and the Texans fit:
Hamilton feels like the “Patriot pick” for NE South. He’s big, fast, versatile and smart. Those characteristics are highly valued in New England, where Texans GM Nick Caserio spent two decades honing his craft.
Personally I wasn’t aware that drafting a guy who can do a lot of things really well and has great size and smarts was just a Patriots thing. I thought most teams liked doing that but perhaps I am wrong. I do follow the Chicago Bears closely after all…sigh.
Regardless, that would be great for Hamilton in the sense of more money the higher he goes but the flip side is he’ll almost certainly be playing somewhere a big rebuild is taking place.
A full, 3-round mock draft simulates how the first two days of the 2021 NFL draft might go, based on perceived needs and values.
With the NFL draft now less than 48 hours away, final exercises are being run in team war rooms around the country as clubs look to simulate every conceivable possibility of what might happen over the draft weekend. Which players are likely to be available when they are on the clock is juxtaposed with the off-the-wall scenarios of being either wiped out or having so many choices a trade down makes sense.
For the Dallas Cowboys sitting at No. 10, the choices are tremendous. The brass alluded to as much in Tuesday’s pre-draft press conference. In our annual group exercise among Cowboys Wire contributors, we tried to simulate the entire league’s needs and wants and embarked on a full, three-round mock draft exercise where we took control of all 32 clubs and went about 105 picks.
The rules?
Only trades involving this year’s first-round picks were allowed. Other picks could be included, but it would drag on forever if we jockeyed for prospects while going through Rounds 2 and 3, so we kept it a bit limited. Although teams use their own value charts, it was best if we stuck to the tried and true Jimmy Johnson model to keep things moving as well.
Other than that, GMs were only tasked with studying their assigned team’s needs. Here’s how it all shook out. One note, the first round of the mock was completed mere hours before the Kansas City Chiefs traded with Baltimore to acquire tackle Orlando Brown. We had the chiefs making a trade out of the first round and getting a tackle, so we were on the right path!
The NFL Wire network made its picks for the first round of the 2021 NFL draft.
The NFL Wire Network is a collection of 34 blogs (32 team sites, Touchdown Wire and Draft Wire) covering the NFL in a fan-centric manner. Our team of editors and contributors works hard to measure the pulse of the fan and provide timely and thorough content on a 24/7/365 basis.
In a collaborative effort, we made picks for each team in the first round of the upcoming NFL draft (April 29-May 1). Take a look and see who we sent where.
Running through three different mock draft simulations for the Packers in the 2021 NFL draft.
Picking at No. 29 overall presents a million different scenarios for the Green Bay Packers in the 2021 NFL draft, especially coming off a 13-3 season and with a variety of different short- and long-term roster needs to consider.
Running through as many different pathways as possible helps provide a preview of how the Packers could attack the draft in a few days.
Here are three different mock draft simulations for the Packers:
Running through three different mock draft simulations for the Packers in the 2021 NFL draft.
Picking at No. 29 overall presents a million different scenarios for the Green Bay Packers in the 2021 NFL draft, especially coming off a 13-3 season and with a variety of different short- and long-term roster needs to consider.
Running through as many different pathways as possible helps provide a preview of how the Packers could attack the draft in a few days.
Here are three different mock draft simulations for the Packers:
Breaking down the latest two-round mock draft from ESPN’s Todd McShay, which sees the Cowboys add Jaycee Horn and Christian Barmore.
Even though the Dallas Cowboys have signed or retained nine defensive players through the early portion of free agency, there is no denying the club can and will continue upgrading the unit that struggled so badly a year ago.
Luckily for Dallas, the NFL draft is right around the corner and could provide them with the defensive improvements they are still seeking. ESPN’s Todd McShay seems to think so as well, as his latest two-round mock draft forecasts the Cowboys to add two extremely talented defensive prospects.
“Jourdan Lewis is back in Dallas, but the Cowboys still want to upgrade the cornerback position opposite Trevon Diggs. Perhaps it’s Virginia Tech’s Caleb Farley, though his back procedure might cause concern. Instead, I’m tabbing Horn, a speedy and versatile press corner. The Cowboys gave up 34 passing touchdowns last season, so expect them to address that area here — unless they opt to help protect the $160 million man, QB Dak Prescott, with one of the class’ top tackles.” – McShay
Horn recently joined The Nosebleed Seats Podcast from 105.3 The Fan to discuss his future and the former Gamecock stated, “It would definitely be big to be drafted by the Cowboys,’ Horn said. ‘A team with a lot of history. But anywhere I go, I’ll be happy to suit up for that team.’
Alabama corner Patrick Surtain II is arguably the most commonly predicted player to be added by Dallas, but in this experiment the Cowboys never had a chance at Surtain, as he was selected by Denver with pick No. 9.
The Cowboys first-round selection has also been heavily linked to the draft’s top two offensive tackles, Oregon’s Penei Sewell and Northwestern’s Rashawn Slater. Sewell and Slater go off the board at No. 13 and 14, respectively, in this mock, meaning McShay chose Horn for Dallas over those potential offensive options.
Whatever direction Dallas chooses to go in the first-round, it is imperative that they make the right decision, as they are selecting in the top 10 for just the second time in nine drafts.
Dallas adds another potential game-changer in Alabama’s defensive tackle Christian Barmore, taken here in the second round. The Cowboys continue their trend from the 2020 draft of getting great value on an Alabama defender on Day 2.
“Not only does Barmore fill a hole in the Dallas defense, he also comes at a great value. He is my 33rd-ranked prospect, as he’s super disruptive from the interior.” – McShay
An interior presence with immense upside, Barmore was the first of two defensive tackle prospects McShay predicated to go in the top 64 picks.
Barmore has the tools and talent to excel at every aspect of the position, but isn’t a higher prospect as he never fully put everything together while in Tuscaloosa. Still, Barmore showed flashes of true dominance at times, especially rushing the passer and especially down the stretch of the 2020 campaign.
Christian Barmore: 65 total QB pressures over the last two seasons
Dallas has two young mid-round 3-techs in Neville Gallimore and Trysten Hill, but unless the Cowboys are expecting a substantial jump in level of play from those two then it is hard to argue against adding a player with Barmore’s game-wrecking potential.
See the latest picks in our consensus NBA Mock Draft 2.0.
With the G League season underway and the 2021 NCAA Tournament nearing, several NBA prospects have been shooting up draft boards.
Oklahoma State’s Cade Cunningham and USC’s Evan Mobley are projected to be selected first and second, respectively, in the 2021 NBA draft later this year, but the draft order becomes much more difficult to predict after the first two picks.
Forty-four players appeared as first-round selections across the mock drafts we reviewed, down from 47 in the Consensus 1.0. If a player was left out of one of the mock drafts, he was assigned a value of 31 for each absence to determine his draft average. To give an approximate draft range, we’re also listing each player’s best and worst draft position across the five mock drafts, and indicating whether a player’s stock has risen or fallen since our last mock.
The draft order was set using each team’s current record, via Tankathon.
Here is our consensus mock draft 2.0, with all 30 picks in the first round:
The New Orleans Saints were linked to several interesting prospects in post-Super Bowl mock drafts, like CB Jaycee Horn and QB Mac Jones.
With Super Bowl LV wrapped up and the order of selections in the 2021 NFL draft established, it’s time for another quick survey of which prospects are being linked to the New Orleans Saints from around the league’s orbit.
And for the most part, mock drafts are adding more reinforcements on defense than on offense for the Saints. With pending free agents like Trey Hendrickson, Marcus Williams, Sheldon Rankins, and Alex Anzalone potentially hitting the market, that makes sense. But the uncertainty at quarterback is also a factor.
Here are the prospects picked by the Saints in the latest round of mock drafts:
Trevor Lawrence remains at the top, but did the Senior Bowl change anything? Plus, how do Deshaun Watson and Matthew Stafford alter plans?
The 2021 NFL draft may be months away, but perhaps the biggest pre-draft of this cycle is in the books: The 2021 Reese’s Senior Bowl. With the NFL canceling the scouting combine, the Senior Bowl will be the only centralized scouting event prior to the draft. Pro days will still take place, but without the combine, teams are going to have to trust the individual events and not the standardized testing the combine offers.
That being said, did the Senior Bowl really change anything? We won’t know for sure in a few months, but that does not mean we can try to answer that question through everyone’s favorite medium: The mock draft. Here is Touchdown Wire’s Mock Draft 2.0.
*Note: The current draft order is set through the Buffalo Bills at 30. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are picking in the 31st spot as the Kansas City Chiefs, picking at 32, are favored in Super Bowl LV.
Instead of the Minnesota Timberwolves, it was the Charlotte Hornets on the clock with the first overall pick. In O’Connor’s post-final mock, the Hornets moved up to the Timberwolves’ position to bring James Wiseman to Buzz City.
According to O’Connor, both the Golden State Warriors and Hornets “covet” the Memphis Tigers product.
Rumblings around the league suggest Golden State and Charlotte covet Wiseman; to get him, the Hornets might need to leapfrog to trade up.
With the 7-foot center off the board, the Warriors turned their attention to Georgia shooting guard Anthony Edwards with the No. 2 overall selection in The Ringer mock draft. According to O’Connor, Edwards landing in the Bay “makes logical sense.”
Golden State will likely target a wing if Wiseman is off the board, and Edwards makes logical sense to grow within their system. He has elite defensive upside, and could develop good offensive habits playing alongside so many proven winners.
In his first season in the SEC, Edwards tallied 19.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists per contest. In 32 games, Edwards shot 40.2% from the field and 29.4% from beyond the arc. Following his freshman campaign, the 6-foot-5 shooting guard was named SEC Rookie of the Year.
Upon arrival to Golden State, Edwards would instantly provide a much-needed jolt of athleticism to Golden State’s veteran-led backcourt. As he develops into an established role at the NBA level, Edwards could serve as a change of pace guard in Steve Kerr’s rotation.
Edwards’ ability to explode to the rim could provide Kerr’s backcourt a new dynamic when it comes to attacking opposing defenses. Once Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson come off the floor, Edwards could slide in next to Eric Paschall to form a formidable scoring tandem off the bench.
