SOJA Final Mock

[SOJA]

Here is how the draft is going down

Note: this isn't what I want to happen as much as what I think is going to happen. 

Edit: posted a full seven round mock later in the thread assuming no trades 

 

 

1 Cleveland: Myles Garrett. The Trubisky thing is very real, but Cleveland isn't passing on Garett- no chance, we'll come back to Mitchell. Alternative pick: Trubisky, Watson

2 49ers: Solomon Thomas. Lynch is tempted to take Adams here, they just might. Alternative pick: Adams, Hooker, Lattimore

3 Bears: Jonathan Allen John Fox is still big dog over there right? Alternative pick: Thomas, Adams. 

4 Jaguars: Leonard Fournette Things get interesting here. I personally think Jacksonville needs a QB and could see Watson as the pick here, or Mitch. But cooler heads probably prevail. Hooker, Adams and Fournette all in play here. But Jax ends up with Fournette. Alternative pick: Adams, Hooker

5 Tennessee: Jamaal Adams Tennessee is salivating right now. Lattimore, Hooker, and Adams are still on the board. Any could help them. They go with the safest pick and take Adams. Could look pass catcher here too. Alternative: Lattimore, Hooker, Howard, Williams, Ross.

6 New York Jets: Marshon Lattimore Jets are content to let the board play out in front of them. They desperately need a QB, but do the Jets love any of the prospects? For the purpose of this draft I'm saying they don't go QB but if the Browns get wind the Jets might snag Tribusky or that the Jaguars might- look for the Browns to leapfrog both of those teams. Jets end up going with the best prospect on the board for them. Alternative: Howard, Ross, Hooker, Fournette

7 Los Angeles Chargers: Malik Hooker. Things fall perfectly for the Chargers here. They desperately need a dominate safety after the departure of Weddle and their defense is very, very solid if they can avoid injuries. Alternative: Allen, Barnett, Mike Williams, Marlon Humphrey.

8 Carolina Panthers. There has been a trade. The Cleveland Browns have traded. The #12 overall pick and the #65 overall pick (round 3 pick 1) to the Carolina Panthers in exchance for the #8th overall pick. 

Cleveland's logic: Cleveland wants both Trubisky and Garett and they are going to do their damnedest to make that happen, they want to wait till 12 but Buffalo at pick 10 is threatening to draft him or trade up with Carolina to get him (see McDermott connection). Cleveland is LOADED with picks and can afford to lose a third rounder to get their top two prospects and effectively change the trajectory of the factory of sadness. Again look for Cleveland to leapfrog the Jets or Jaguars if they get wind of Trubisky heading there. Mitch is a fantastic prospect AND fits well with Hue's offense AND he loves Cleveland. It's a no brainer for Cleveland to get both Garrett and Mitch. 

Carolina's logic: Gettleman is not happy his top four prospects: Allen, Thomas, Adams and Fournette are off the board. Those were 1a blue chip players. Now we're going to get a 1b player. Good but not worth ignoring Cleveland's phone call. 

8 Cleveland Browns: Mitch Trubisky. Mark this down, it's happening with Cleveland's second pick whenever that does occur. 

9 Cincinatti: John Ross. Cincy curses their luck that they couldn't get a trade up partner as well. They are in the same boat as Carolina just missing out on the 1a guys. Don't be surprised if Cincy goes WR or TE here, their offense really missed Sanu and Jones last year. Ross is a firecracker. Alternative picks: Barnett, Howard, Williams

10 Buffalo Bills: Deshaun Watson. First suprise pick of the draft and I'll tell you why it makes sense. New regime in Buffalo warrants a new QB of the future. They almost didn't get a deal done with Tyrod this offseason. Buffalo is itching to start over. Enter Deshaun. He's polarizing but the guy flat out wins. Who better to mentor him for a year or two: Tyrod Taylor. McDermott sees the need for a big-time QB coming off Cam and holds off on picking defense. Alternative picks: Reuben Foster, Barnett, Taco. 

11 New Orleans Saints: Marlon Humphrey. The Saints debate for a long while about screwing the Panthers over, but at the end of the day they just can not excuse not picking defense here. CB is a sore need for the Saints and with no deal for Malcolm Butler done look for them to go with a great talent at the position. Alternative picks: Reuben Foster, Taco, Jabrill Peppers (he's going high to someone), Barnett, etc. 

12 Carolina Panthers: 

Christian McCaffrey. Panthers luck out big time here and their favorite 1b prospects are still on the board: McCaffrey and Howard. Shula makes a case for a tight-end and Gettleman pats him on the ass and tells him to suck it up. Panthers get a dynamic player maker who is flying up draft boards. He's worth the 8th pick but in this scenario the rich get richer. McCaffrey is a life long Broncos fan- there is some poetry in there. He immediatley upgrades 3rd down RB, Slot WR, KR, PR- not to mention he is a playmaker. In an offense full of big bodies- we need a little lightening. 

There has been a trade. The Miami Dolphins have traded the #22 overall to the Panthers for #40 overall and #64 overall (Panther probably throw in a late round pick to sweeten the pot.)

Miami's thinking. Miami was close last year, but they are still far away from the Pats. Miami takes a page out of New England's book and stockpiles two more second rounders to round out there team. 

Carolina's thinking: Gettleman feels great about trading up back into the first. We've got the ammo from the Browns and Pats trade and the pick is a special guy. A guy they actually considered taking at 12. A category 1b guy. 

22 Carolina:

David Njoku. The guy has been compared to Greg Olsen but has even greater althetic potential. There would be no better mentor than Olsen. Shula finally gets his second tight end that the Panthers have nearly drafted for a few years running, see: Tyler Eiferet (would have been the pick if Star hadn't been there), and Hunter Henry (probably was going to be the pick had Gettleman not just loved Butler's potential and the KK situation). From what I'm reading I actually think the Panthers like Njoku more or just as much as Howard. Jeremey is reporting that Howard is kind of a last ditch option for them. I tend to agree. Howard has all the tools you want, but the production scares me. 

65 Carolina: 

Tanoh Kpassagnon. This is a bit of cheating on my part, because I mocked him to us last time. Gettleman wants this man. His potential is through the roof. Reminds me somewhat of JPP when he was drafted but even more raw. There will be no one better to mentor this guy than Pep so Gettleman rests easy knowing this guy isn't just going to get thrown into the fire. Alternative picks: Zay Jones, a CB or S from a school you've never heard of. 

98 Carolina

Samaje Perine. *cue the Huddle implosion because there were some "big names" still on the board* Oh yea, I can feel this one in my bones happening. McCaffrey and Perine in the same draft. The hatred of this pick will vary from: "Perine is an awful prospect why didn't we just draft Mixon" to "I can kind of understand one back, but TWO?". Listen these picks are partially what I want and partially what I think could happen. We've been heavily linked to Perine and there is good reason for it. In a class full of stud RBs this guy could be an absolute steal. He has amazing balance and is basicaly a Stewey clone. Stewart is retiring a Panther and he will be able to teach perine the ways. Perine + McCaffrey and our backfield will be one of the best in the league for the next 10 years. Alternative: OT from a school you've never heard of, CB, DT- do not rule out defensive tackle. I'm not kidding. 

 

[ncfan]

Good Mock. Im in the same boat. All the tea leaves point to a Clevelamd trade



Sent using the amazing CarolinaHuddle mobile app

[SOJA]

2 hours ago, ncfan said:

Good Mock. Im in the same boat. All the tea leaves point to a Clevelamd trade



Sent using the amazing CarolinaHuddle mobile app
 

thank you

[Hoenheim]

I'd love the Perine and McCaffrey picks. Makes too much sense, no body can complain we dont have a young power runner , we could groom them to be our future double trouble essentially.

Yeah I've been saying for a while now that I wouldn't hate McCaffrey at 8, but in a trade down with a mid round team makes more sense to me.

I would really like this draft player wise, but I think it's too convenient trade wise. Trade down only a few spots to grab the best elusive/speed back in the draft, and trade up back into the first for probably the 1st or 2nd best TE in the draft, things rarely work out that well on draft day.

I personally do mocks just for fun, its really difficult to predict what will happen in a little less than two weeks from today (sucks I won't get to watch R1 have to work, but will watch on Friday).  Everyone here is harping for an offense player with our 1st , I think it's probably more realistic to believe that since we're picking so high, one of the blue chip players probably WILL fall to us, probably Allen, Hooker, or Adams. I have seen too many mock drafts that keep Adams and Hooker both always going top 5 and Garrett/Solomon going  1 and 2 99 times out of 100, its probably not going to be that way and its going to throw everyone's predictions off. Especially if there's multiple QBs taken in the top 6 which at the moment almost no one is predicting, teams in the top 10 dont always make the safe pick . Also dont expect us to be the only one that might do a trade. Any trades that happen before us could change things up considerably .

 

[Hoenheim]

I tried to do a simular mock of my own

The two homerun hits are McCaffrey and Westbrook , both add sorely needed speed and suddenness to our offense that currently features an aging injuring prone RB , two starting WR who struggle to get seperation, a couple of washed up bench WR , CAP cant even get on game day rosters half the time, I'll admit fozzy has been servicable as a backup RB but clearly not the answer for the long term future.

Round 1 Pick 14 (PHI): Christian McCaffrey, RB, Stanford  (trade down to the middle of the round, bit of a risk trading 6 picks downwards but McCaffrey, Howard, C.Robinson , Corey Davis still there) (Don't really need to say alot about mccaffrey, already very long threads in the main forum going into the details of how he solves multiple probems for us)
Round 1 Pick 26 (SEA): Obi Melifonwu, SS, Connecticut (I could see the Panthers getting a little jumpy near the end of the 2nd and not believing Obi will be there by 40 after the combine. They think he will be the equalizer they need to cover freaks of nature like Julio Jones who roasted us last year)
Round 2 Pick 32: Ethan Pocic, C/OG, LSU (A) (a true BPA at this point. Not a pressing need but R.Kalil going down last season has the staff a bit worried and thinking towards the future. Can also be insurance in case we can't pay either Norwell or Turner in the near future . At worst a really good backup option to Kalil).
Round 3 Pick 34 (COMP): Dede Westbrook, WR, Oklahoma (A+) (Despite drafting McCaffrey we still need a primary speed burner threat down the field. Westbrook is the man. Yes he's got his own character concerns but I'm willing to be the Panthers see this is as too good to pass up as Westbrook is compartively fast game-speed wise to Ross and ran a smooth 4.3 40 at his pro day. At 6'0'' he's got some decent size for a speed threat too.
Round 4 Pick 8: Tanoh Kpassagnon, DE, Villanova (A)  (This is probably the only real project pick of the whole draft, the staff believes Tanoh can either be a devestating game changing DE or a total flop. Its the 4th round though and they're more likely to gamble here in the mid rounds and on. Fun fact he is about the same height and weight as Julius Peppers right now, 6'7'' 289 he's actually a little heavier than Julius) (The staff thinks if this pick works out along with Obi it will be transformative to our defense. We're literally one great edge rusher and one decent saftey away from being back in defensive business).
Round 5 Pick 8: Sam Rogers, FB, Virginia Tech (A) (They decide to get serious about grooming a functional FB when they do decide to run more traditional running formations from under center)
Round 6 Pick 8: Marquez White, CB, Florida State (A) (CB depth, maybe even challnege Worely for #2 CB who knows, you get even a decent rotational guy in round 6 and its a solid pick IMO.
Round 7 Pick 15: Jake Elliott, K, Memphis (A) (Some young competition for Gano, there has to be some way to keep him honest, the organization can not afford to put no pressure on a kicker who may be average statastically but has an annoying penchant for whiffing in big time moments)

[uscgamecocks]

I would be thrilled with this outcome.  I think the key to the trade up for Njoku is the first trade down - I'd be against trading away #40 and #64 if it meant our picks were #8, #22, and #98.  We've got too many needs and too many guys coming up for big contracts to not build cheap depth through the draft.

Two other thoughts:

I think we'd probably get more out of Cleveland than just their third.  As you indicated, they would likely be trading up for a QB and that tends to enable a team to extract a premium.  Would love to get their early 2nd rounder, even if we had to give up a pick in the process (1.8 + 2.64 for 1.12, 2.33, and we get our 4th next year back?).

I'm a fan of the McCaffrey / Perine pairing, but I'd also throw out there that we just extended Stewart for two years.  I think it's very possible that we draft McCaffrey and use Stewart as the short yardage hammer - which would enable us to wait a year or two in finding another big back to pair with McCaffrey.

For example, that might enable us to draft a promising speed WR (Godwin / Taylor / Henderson) with the early 3rd and then grab TK with the late 3rd rounder.

 

McCaffrey and Njoku would provide the evolution the offense so desperately needs.

[ncfan]

My updated Mock for us

 

Trade like you said with Cleveland

trade #8, 6th rounder

recieve #12, #52, and 2018 3rd

 

#12: OJ Howard- the shoe drops.  No one between 8-12 needs a TE and has other interest and needs.  We luck up with Howard at 8

#40: Obi Melfonwu- remember how we got TD as the Vick Spy?  Obi is a big freak SS to help combat Julio and up and comer Mike Evans. While raw we signed vet Adams coming off consecutive pro bowls and is a real good thing for Obi

#52: Chris Godwin- fast, good size up and comer.  Came out a little early, could have been the top WR next year.  Good #2 option to slide Funch to a slot hybrid WR/TE weapon.

#64: Teez Tabor- As close a Norman comparison as you can have.  Firecracker ball hawk who likes to jaw. Deep draft drops him to here.

3rd round: Tanoh Kpassagon- big freak DE to come in a Heavy Vet group which is the best case scenario for a guy like him.  Willmmajnly be a redshirt year but will get some PT to get his feet wet

4th: Perine- he last here we'll jump all on him.  A hammer to spare Stewart.

Option b. Carlos Henderson  fierce competition for a WR group Gettleman was embarasssed of last year

5th: TJ Logan- APY guy like CM.  Can really catch the ball and great return man 5 KR TDs in college

7th: BPA

[Kevin Greene]

Love the trade but I want their 2nd pick not 3rd rounder.

[JawnyBlaze]

I could get behind that. Don't love the two RBs selected, but I wouldn't whine if that's how it went down. 

[SOJA]

9 hours ago, ncfan said:

My updated Mock for us

 

Trade like you said with Cleveland

trade #8, 6th rounder

recieve #12, #52, and 2018 3rd

 

#12: OJ Howard- the shoe drops.  No one between 8-12 needs a TE and has other interest and needs.  We luck up with Howard at 8

#40: Obi Melfonwu- remember how we got TD as the Vick Spy?  Obi is a big freak SS to help combat Julio and up and comer Mike Evans. While raw we signed vet Adams coming off consecutive pro bowls and is a real good thing for Obi

#52: Chris Godwin- fast, good size up and comer.  Came out a little early, could have been the top WR next year.  Good #2 option to slide Funch to a slot hybrid WR/TE weapon.

#64: Teez Tabor- As close a Norman comparison as you can have.  Firecracker ball hawk who likes to jaw. Deep draft drops him to here.

3rd round: Tanoh Kpassagon- big freak DE to come in a Heavy Vet group which is the best case scenario for a guy like him.  Willmmajnly be a redshirt year but will get some PT to get his feet wet

4th: Perine- he last here we'll jump all on him.  A hammer to spare Stewart.

Option b. Carlos Henderson  fierce competition for a WR group Gettleman was embarasssed of last year

5th: TJ Logan- APY guy like CM.  Can really catch the ball and great return man 5 KR TDs in college

7th: BPA

I love the TJ logan and Henderson choices. Logan is very underrated. 

[SOJA]

8 hours ago, Kevin Greene said:

Love the trade but I want their 2nd pick not 3rd rounder.

Definitely something I think is a possibility. Cleveland is going to really want Mitch come draft day. 

[SOJA]

15 hours ago, Hoenheim said:

I tried to do a simular mock of my own

The two homerun hits are McCaffrey and Westbrook , both add sorely needed speed and suddenness to our offense that currently features an aging injuring prone RB , two starting WR who struggle to get seperation, a couple of washed up bench WR , CAP cant even get on game day rosters half the time, I'll admit fozzy has been servicable as a backup RB but clearly not the answer for the long term future.

Round 1 Pick 14 (PHI): Christian McCaffrey, RB, Stanford  (trade down to the middle of the round, bit of a risk trading 6 picks downwards but McCaffrey, Howard, C.Robinson , Corey Davis still there) (Don't really need to say alot about mccaffrey, already very long threads in the main forum going into the details of how he solves multiple probems for us)
Round 1 Pick 26 (SEA): Obi Melifonwu, SS, Connecticut (I could see the Panthers getting a little jumpy near the end of the 2nd and not believing Obi will be there by 40 after the combine. They think he will be the equalizer they need to cover freaks of nature like Julio Jones who roasted us last year)
Round 2 Pick 32: Ethan Pocic, C/OG, LSU (A) (a true BPA at this point. Not a pressing need but R.Kalil going down last season has the staff a bit worried and thinking towards the future. Can also be insurance in case we can't pay either Norwell or Turner in the near future . At worst a really good backup option to Kalil).
Round 3 Pick 34 (COMP): Dede Westbrook, WR, Oklahoma (A+) (Despite drafting McCaffrey we still need a primary speed burner threat down the field. Westbrook is the man. Yes he's got his own character concerns but I'm willing to be the Panthers see this is as too good to pass up as Westbrook is compartively fast game-speed wise to Ross and ran a smooth 4.3 40 at his pro day. At 6'0'' he's got some decent size for a speed threat too.
Round 4 Pick 8: Tanoh Kpassagnon, DE, Villanova (A)  (This is probably the only real project pick of the whole draft, the staff believes Tanoh can either be a devestating game changing DE or a total flop. Its the 4th round though and they're more likely to gamble here in the mid rounds and on. Fun fact he is about the same height and weight as Julius Peppers right now, 6'7'' 289 he's actually a little heavier than Julius) (The staff thinks if this pick works out along with Obi it will be transformative to our defense. We're literally one great edge rusher and one decent saftey away from being back in defensive business).
Round 5 Pick 8: Sam Rogers, FB, Virginia Tech (A) (They decide to get serious about grooming a functional FB when they do decide to run more traditional running formations from under center)
Round 6 Pick 8: Marquez White, CB, Florida State (A) (CB depth, maybe even challnege Worely for #2 CB who knows, you get even a decent rotational guy in round 6 and its a solid pick IMO.
Round 7 Pick 15: Jake Elliott, K, Memphis (A) (Some young competition for Gano, there has to be some way to keep him honest, the organization can not afford to put no pressure on a kicker who may be average statastically but has an annoying penchant for whiffing in big time moments)

Love the Sam Rogers pick. 

[LinvilleGorge]

I wouldn't give Cleveland #8 for #12 and their 3rd. I'd make them give #33 or I'd tell them to pound sand and take my guy at #8.

[SOJA]

10 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I wouldn't give Cleveland #8 for #12 and their 3rd. I'd make them give #33 or I'd tell them to pound sand and take my guy at #8.

That's fair I just went off a trade value chart and that math worked out