4 guys do a 2-round mock draft: Rams select a linebacker from Alabama

What happens when you’re told to stay inside and distance yourself from people, rarely leaving your home for weeks at a time? You get on a Zoom with three of your friends and conduct a two-round mock draft, obviously.

That’s what I did last week with my buddies Ryan, Greg, and James.

None of us are draft experts, however you want to define that word, but we’ve all been following the NFL and the draft for many years. I long considered the first round of the NFL draft to be my favorite day of the whole year and these three friends of mine wouldn’t find that to be an appalling belief. Some of them may even share it.

But I’m not going to pretend like any of us have specifically tailored our careers towards it. I’m certainly a person who writes about the NFL for my profession but my niche within that is not scouting college players. I do, however, pay a lot of attention to the guys who will soon be NFL players, especially around this time of year.

Ryan, Greg, and James all work in comedy. (No it is not Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops, and James ... Gregory. Which happens to be the first suggestion when you Google “comedian James.” I would have also accepted James Spader as a funny answer or James “Colin” Mochrie.)

Ryan was kind enough to divide all 32 teams among the four of us and he did so not by giving us an equal amount of teams to manage, but an equal amount of picks. That meant that I had nine teams to manage over our two-round mock draft.

I had the New York Giants, Arizona Cardinals, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Philadelphia Eagles, New Orleans Saints, Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, and Chicago Bears.

Ryan had the 49ers, Browns, Chargers, Colts, Falcons, Lions, Patriots, Steelers, and Titans.

Greg had the Bengals, Broncos, Dolphins, Rams, Seahawks, and Vikings.

James had the Cowboys, Jets, Packers, Panthers, Raiders, Ravens, Texans, and Washington.

We allowed trades to happen and there were plenty, especially early. By the second round, you can tell that we had grown a bit tired of throwing trades around but attempts were made. I’m not going to show what the trade details were. Why?

A) While mocks themselves already require a lot of fancy guesswork, projecting trade scenarios on top of that is an even more difficult exercise and it doesn’t really matter anyway because we could just “fake” make the offers better or worse and still wind up with the team in the draft place you wanted them to be originally.

B) Comments about any trades being “bad” were expected and not necessarily the focus I wanted over the players taken.

I have included one trade detail, which is that the Chiefs traded Chris Jones to the Miami Dolphins for a first round pick. The Dolphins have a lot of money, cap space, and draft capital, and Jones is an elite defensive tackle who is in a rare category of players who are available at such a young age. Kansas City needed to get him off the books for the best value they could get, which happened to be midway through the first when I remembered that I had the Chiefs and Jones was a valuable trade chip.

I have also included some comments we made in the first round.

We did the first round on one day, got tired, and came back a few days later to wrap up round two. This allowed us to also have a selection for the LA Rams, who of course don’t have a first rounder this year and aren’t on the board until pick 52.

Feel free to hate any picks you want to hate and make a comment about them. Your comments, even hateful ones, will help us learn more about the perceptions and expectations of this draft class.

Who went far too early?

Who went far too late?

Who can’t you believe is still available?

Who can’t you believe isn’t available?

Who had the best draft?

Who had the worst draft?

What do you think of the Rams pick made by Greg?

It’s not Greg Proops.

Round 1

1. Cincinnati Bengals - Joe Burrow, QB, LSU

2. Washington - Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Alabama

“Dwayne Haskins is not the answer. They have an incredible defensive line already.” - James

“I’ve been watching a lot of Tua highlights. He’s good. He looks the part.” - Ryan

3. Detroit Lions - Chase Young, DE, Ohio State

“The Lions could not be happier.” - Ryan

4. New York Giants - Isaiah Simmons, LB/S, Clemson

“What prospect best represents the modern NFL? Isaiah Simmons.” - Kenneth

5. Cleveland Browns (via Miami Dolphins) - Mekhi Becton, OT, Louisville

6. Minnesota Vikings (via LA Chargers) - Jeffrey Okudah, CB, Ohio State

7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (via Carolina Panthers) - Tristan Wirfs, OT, Iowa

8. Arizona Cardinals - Jedrick Wills, OT, Alabama

9. Jacksonville Jaguars - Justin Herbert, QB, Oregon

“While the Jaguars appreciate Gardner Minshew quite a lot and believe they have a good starter for 2020, given the quality of prospect we believe Herbert to be, his draft position availability, and the state of the team, Jacksonville believes this was too good of a spot to not double-down on a QB.” - Kenneth

“Now that Herbert is gone, we’re tradin’ down again, y’all” - Greg

10. San Francisco 49ers (via Miami Dolphins) - CeeDee Lamb, WR, Oklahoma

11. New York Jets - Derrick Brown, DT, Auburn

12. Las Vegas Raiders - Jerry Jeudy, WR, Alabama

“The 49ers didn’t know what the Raiders and Jets were doing, that’s why they had to do that big jump.” - Ryan

13. Miami Dolphins - Andrew Thomas, OT, Georgia

14. Carolina Panthers - Javon Kinlaw, DT, South Carolina

15. Denver Broncos - Henry Ruggs, WR, Alabama

“I love it, you can’t get away from it.” - Ryan on how every mock has the Broncos taking Ruggs

16. Atlanta Falcons - C.J. Henderson, CB, Florida

“I fuckin’ knew it, you piece of shit.” - James (on not getting Henderson for a team later)

17. Dallas Cowboys - Justin Jefferson, WR, LSU

“The top slot receiver in the draft and the need that we believe will put us over the top.” - James

18. Kansas City Chiefs (via Miami Dolphins for Chris Jones) - Kenneth Murray, LB, Oklahoma

“Trading Jones was necessary and this was a great value for him. The Chiefs can go a lot of directions here but Murray felt a bit like a BPA and an upgrade over their linebackers that would be more likely to help them immediately.” - Kenneth

19. Las Vegas Raiders - Patrick Queen, LB, LSU

20. Jacksonville Jaguars - Grant Delpit, S, LSU

21. Philadelphia Eagles - Denzel Mims, WR, Baylor

“I only go for thin on pizza if I’m trying to be relatively healthy. Although the thin is really good. I can inhale an entire large by myself though.” - Greg (James was ordering from Dominoes)

22. Indianapolis Colts (via LA Chargers) - Jordan Love, QB, Utah State

“I think they’re going to really try to do the whole Mahomes thing.” - Ryan

23. New England Patriots - Tee Higgins, WR, Clemson

“Gotta get Cam Newton some weapons.” - Ryan

“I agree, I think that’s where he’s gonna go.” - James

24. New Orleans Saints - Jacob Eason, QB, Washington

“Holy shit!” - James

“Kenny loves his quarterbacks” - Greg

“You gotta get your quarterbacks. Value is too good.” - Kenneth

25. Los Angeles Chargers (via Minnesota Vikings) - Josh Jones, OT, Houston

26. Miami Dolphins - Xavier McKinney, S, Alabama

27. Seattle Seahawks - K’Laivon Chaisson, DE, LSU

28. Baltimore Ravens - Cesar Ruiz, iOL, Michigan

29. Tennessee Titans - Trevon Diggs, CB, Alabama

30. Green Bay Packers - Jalen Reagor, WR, TCU

31. San Francisco 49ers - Antoine Winfield, Jr, S, Minnesota

32. Kansas City Chiefs - A.J. Epenesa, DE, Iowa

Who had the best draft?

“I like what the Vikings did to get Okudah” - Ryan

“Great for the Lions to get Young when they did.” - James

“I don’t see many better scenarios for the Raiders than getting Jeudy and Queen” - Greg

“If the Niners got CeeDee, that offense would be just disgusting” - James

“I like the Colts getting Jordan Love” - Ryan

“You just gotta get your quarterbacks, what can I say?” - Kenneth

Round 2

33. Denver Broncos (via Cincinnati Bengals) - Jeff Gladney, CB, TCU

34. Minnesota Vikings (via Indianapolis Colts) - Yetur Gross-Matos, EDGE, Penn State

35. Detroit Lions - A.J. Terrell, CB, Clemson

36. New York Giants - Kristian Fulton, CB, LSU

37. LA Chargers - Ross Blacklock, DT, TCU

38. Carolina Panthers - Zack Baun, EDGE, Wisconsin

39. Miami Dolphins - Jonathan Taylor, RB Wisconsin

40. Houston Texans - Neville Gallimore, DT, Oklahoma

41. Cleveland Browns - Justin Madubuike, DT, Texas A&M

42. Jacksonville Jaguars - Julian Okwara, DL, Notre Dame

43. Buffalo Bills (via Chicago Bears) - D’Andre Swift, RB, Georgia

44. Indianapolis Colts - Leviska Shenault, Jr, WR, Colorado

45. Pittsburgh Steelers (via Tampa Bay Bucs) - Brandon Ayiuk, WR, Arizona State

46. Cincinnati Bengals - Isaiah Wilson, OT, Georgia

47. Jacksonville Jaguars - Chase Claypool, WR, Notre Dame

48. New York Jets - Noah Igbinoghene, CB, Auburn

49. Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Jake Fromm, QB, Georgia

50. Chicago Bears - Donovan People-Jones, WR, Michigan

51. Dallas Cowboys - Josh Uche, EDGE, Michigan

52. LA Rams - Terrell Lewis, EDGE, Alabama

53. Philadelphia Eagles - Kyle Dugger, S, Lenoir-Rhyne

54. Chicago Bears - Bryce Hall, CB, Virginia

55. Baltimore Ravens - JK Dobbins, RB, Ohio State

56. Miami Dolphins - Jalen Hurts, QB, Alabama

57. Houston Texans - Michael Pittman, WR, USC

58. Minnesota Vikings - KJ Hamler, WR, Penn State

59. Seattle Seahawks - Lucas Nieng, OT, TCU

60. Baltimore Ravens - Bradlee Anae, DE, Utah

61. Tennessee Titans - Austin Jackson, OT, USC

62. Green Bay Packers - Adam Trautman, TE, Dayton

63. Kansas City Chiefs - Tyler Biadasz, OL, Wisconsin

64. Seattle Seahawks - Jordan Elliott, iOL, Missouri

Terrell Lewis, NFL.com Draft Profile by Lance Zierlein:

Overview

The evaluation requires both projection and a small leap of faith due to durability concerns after he missed most of two full seasons. He needs to fill out his long, athletic build with more girth and muscle to help set stronger edges and hold his ground against downhill rushing attacks. He’s played in just 26 games, so he’s less technically sound than most Alabama defenders at this stage, but he was still productive and showed growth as a player in-season. With more coaching and development as a rusher, he should be able to pair traits with skill to become a future NFL starter, provided his health issues are in the past.

The Draft Network:

Player Summary - Terrell Lewis is an enticing ball of clay that NFL defensive coordinators will be eager to get their hands on. Injuries have bogged down Lewis’ development and kept him off the field but his blend of first step quickness, length and flashes of penetration provide promise of what can be with more development and reps. Lewis will be a somewhat high risk investment given his injury history and raw skills — best off working into reps slowly while his hand usage and counters are developed.

Which player may you have preferred over Lewis?