25. Minnesota Vikings (10-6): Jaylon Johnson, CB, Utah
There is need, there is desperate need, there is Oh-My-God-Are-You-Kidding-Me need, and then, there’s how much the Vikings need to upgrade at the cornerback position. Outside starters Xavier Rhodes and Trae Waynes combined to allow nine touchdowns with just one interception in 2019, and while Mike Hughes was decent at times, and Mackensie Alexander was good in the slot, it’s highly unusual for a Mike Zimmer defense to be without a single credible boundary defender. The potential of losing safety Anthony Harris in free agency unless the Vikings are somehow able to rectify the NFL’s worst salary cap situation compounds this issue. Johnson isn’t a big name, and some teams might shy away because he’s only 6-foot-0 and 195 pounds (those measurements may hit a dose of reality at the combine), but he can dominate as a disciplined zone cornerback.
26. Miami Dolphins (from 10-6 Houston Texans): Zack Moss, RB, Utah
How much do the Dolphins need a running back? Consider that after they offloaded Kenyan Drake to the Cardinals last October, Miami was in a unique position to allow Ryan Fitzpatrick, their 37-year-old quarterback, to lead the team in rushing. Which he did. There are several backs in this class you’ll hear about as potentially the best in the group, but nobody breaks tackles like Moss, the 2019 Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year. Per Pro Football Focus, Moss forced 87 missed tackles on his 234 rushing attempts last season; 1,042 of his 1,412 rushing yards came after contact; and he added 33 more missed tackles on his 66 career receptions. More than just an inside bruiser, Moss also has the wiggle to get through inside gaps and the acceleration to move outside the tackles and pick up extra yards. There are also some elements of peak Marshawn Lynch’s demonic playing style in Moss’ game.
27. Seattle Seahawks (11-5): Antoine Winfield Jr., S, Minnesota
Trading for ex-Lions safety Quandre Diggs last October probably saved the Seahawks from missing the playoffs last season. After moving on from Earl Thomas, Seattle tried to replace the future Hall of Famer in the aggregate, which didn’t go well. Diggs is under club control through the 2021 season at ridiculously reasonable prices, but if we’re ever to see a reboot of the Legion of Boom, Pete Carroll and John Schneider are going to have to get another shot-calling safety with range, field smarts and a nose for the ball. Enter Winfield, the son of the former Bills and Vikings cornerback. The younger Winfield missed all but eight games in 2017 and 2018 due to injury, but he recovered brilliantly to pick off seven passes last season. I recently watched tape with Winfield, and he explained how he’s able to add to his already estimable athleticism by understanding what’s going to happen on the field even before it happens.
28. Baltimore Ravens (14-2): Curtis Weaver, EDGE, Boise State
It’s very tempting to select an off-the-ball linebacker in the first round for the Ravens, and nobody would be surprised if Baltimore went for C.J. Mosley’s longtime replacement early. But the extent to which the Ravens had to generate pressure through blitzing — they ranked first in the NFL last season by far with a 54.9% blitz rate — has to be a concern for a legitimate Super Bowl contender. The secondary is good enough to handle the additional responsibilities generated by blitzing that much, but it still leaves little margin for error. Weaver, who put up 34 sacks in three seasons for Boise State, is a run-and-chase edge disrupter who can slip inside to generate pressure from multiple gaps. As is the case with 90% of collegiate pass-rushers, he’ll be even more effective when he learns to use his hands to generate a variety of moves.
29. Tennessee Titans (9-7): Yetur Gross-Matos, EDGE, Penn State
As Pro Football Focus recently pointed out, “The Titans had nine players with 100 or more pass-rushing snaps [in 2019]. The only one with a pressure rate above 10% was Cameron Wake.” Wake, who just turned 38, also played in just nine games and had just 2.5 sacks. Linebacker Harold Landry is a rising star, and we all know how good defensive tackle Jurrell Casey is as a multi-gap force, but it’d be nice for Tennessee’s defensive coaching staff, still likely reeling from coordinator Dean Pees’ retirement, to have more options at the edge. Tremendously athletic at 6-foot-5 and 264 pounds, Gross-Matos needs help with his hand moves (which can be said of nearly every collegiate defensive lineman), but he’s got the potential to be the final piece in what could be a formidable group of quarterback disrupters.
30. Green Bay Packers (13-3): Patrick Queen, LB, LSU
Packers defensive coordinator Mike Pettine loves to roll out different dime packages, and that requires his linebackers to be full-field rovers who can read and react with impunity, especially against the run. To put it kindly, Green Bay’s linebacker corps did not present this ideal scenario in 2019. So as much as the Pack needs to come back with more receiving targets for Aaron Rodgers, an every-down linebacker might be the bigger need. Queen fits the modern linebacker paradigm at 6-foot-1 and 227 pounds, but he’s not just a safety with a linebacker’s positional designation — he can zoom through gaps to help stop the run, and he’s an impressively physical player all over the field. More importantly, Pettine won’t have to wonder what his only linebacker on the field is trying to accomplish anymore.
31. San Francisco 49ers (13-3): Grant Delpit, S, LSU
As impressive as San Francisco’s defense was through most of the season, there was that late-season lag when Dee Ford, Kwon Alexander and Jaquiski Tartt were out with injuries. Tartt is under team control through 2020, but the 49ers could lose Jimmie Ward in free agency, and Ward might be fungible based on performance, anyway. Like any great defense, San Francisco’s requires a true shot-caller at safety, especially because so much of what coordinator Robert Saleh runs is more execution-based than scheme-dependent. So if Delpit is still on the board at 31, general manager John Lynch should run a quick 40 and turn in Delpit’s name. The LSU alum could fill multiple roles in Saleh’s defense, especially after he cleans up his issue with missed tackles. More importantly, per Pro Football Focus, Delpit allowed just 13 receptions on 21 targets for 196 yards and one touchdown versus two picks in 2019.
32. Kansas City Chiefs (12-4): Jordan Elliott, DL, Missouri
The reigning Super Bowl champs could go a few different ways here — cornerback and linebacker for sure, and with defensive lineman Chris Jones about to get a nuclear (and well deserved) payday in free agency, it would also be wise to reinforce the defensive interior. Let’s start there in this case, since the Chiefs have $13,674,494 in cap space before any releases, and Jones is going to get somewhere between $17 million and $20 million per year. Like Jones, Missouri’s Elliott is a relentless pocket-pusher who can wreck a double-team when he remembers to use his hands to get separation, and at 6-foot-4 and 315 pounds, he fits the paradigm that defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo likes in his defensive tackles — ruthless to the quarterback, and effective in multiple gaps.
Picks 1-8 | 9-16 | 17-24 | 25-32
Touchdown Wire editor Doug Farrar previously covered football for Yahoo! Sports, Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report, the Washington Post, and Football Outsiders. His first book, “The Genius of Desperation,” a schematic history of professional football, was published by Triumph Books in 2018 and won the Professional Football Researchers Association’s Nelson Ross Award for “Outstanding recent achievement in pro football research and historiography.”