It’s that time of year again. I always wait until the last minute to make my mock draft because I want to gather as much information as possible. This year appears to have a ton of talent, but because of that there’s not a lot of chalky picks and I cannot wait until the NFL Draft officially begins, but until then here’s my mock! And here… we.. go…

Chicago Bears - Caleb Williams - QB - USC

Not since Cam Newton have I seen a clearly best prospect in the draft get piled on like Williams has. Y’all need to chill with the Williams hate, it is insane. Williams checks all the boxes, athleticism, accuracy, pocket movement, creativity, he does everything well. I also don’t find him to be particularly arrogant, he’s arrogant, sure, but it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. He’s clearly the best quarterback in this draft and to argue against that is just being a contrarian for contrarian’s sake.

Washington Commanders - J.J. McCarthy - QB - Michigan

Do I think McCarthy is the second-best player in this draft? No. I don’t even think he’s the second-best quarterback in this draft? Also no. But the more I think about it the more this pick makes sense to me. The Daniels to Washington hype, the more I look at it, appears to come from outside of the organization, the Commanders have been extremely tight lipped about who they want. Given the social experiment the Commanders decided to run, bringing in all the top prospects and seeing who people gravitated to, and the fact that Daniels’ camp is really ticked off about it, tells me he didn’t perform well. You know who probably did perform well in that little experiment? McCarthy. Plus at the owners meeting all the team owners thought this is who they were going to draft, I trust the owners’ instincts over the media when it comes to this kind of stuff.

New England Patriots - Jayden Daniels - QB - LSU

The Patriots are reportedly taking calls, but I think they turn them all down if Daniels makes it past Washington. Daniels is largely seen as a more pro-ready prospect than Drake Maye. Daniels’ running ability also makes him a more viable starter on Day 1 because he can rely on his rushing ability while he develops. Maye is seen more as a project and Robert Kraft wants to win now; Daniels does that for him.

Arizona Cardinals - Marvin Harrison Jr. - WR - Ohio State

The Cardinals reportedly want three first-round picks to move back and with quarterbacks going in the first three picks, no one wants to pay that price for QB4. That works out just fine for the Cardinals, who get their Larry Fitzgerald replacement for the next decade. Harrison is the most polished WR coming out I’ve seen, maybe in my life, and he’s far and away the best non-quarterback in this draft.

Los Angeles Chargers - Taliese Fuaga - OT - Oregon State

The Cardinals can’t get anyone to bite to come up and neither can the Chargers. Jim Harbaugh has made it clear he wants to build in the trenches and he wants to run the ball. Even if he doesn’t, his new offensive coordinator, Greg Roman, will definitely want to. Fuaga is the best run blocking tackle in this class, and he fills a need for them at right tackle. The Chargers consider Brock Bowers here, but ultimately decide to go O-line.

New York Giants - Malik Nabers - WR - LSU

Peter Schrager, in his most recent mock, had the Giants moving up for McCarthy. Well, McCarthy is off the board in this mock so they can’t do that. What they can do is continue to build this offense the best they can. Nabers would be the top receiver off the board in any draft class Harrison isn’t in. He’s an extremely explosive WR who doesn’t slow down when he cuts and isn’t afraid to attack the catch point.

Tennessee Titans - Joe Alt - OT - Notre Dame

Perhaps this is a bit anecdotal, but playing as the Titans in the most recent Madden game is nearly impossible to do because of how bad their offensive line is. The Titans have made some moves to improve it this offseason but they’re far from finished. Alt is coming off of two incredibly productive years at Notre Dame and is arguably the safest tackle prospect in this draft.

Atlanta Falcons - Dallas Turner - DE - Alabama

I don’t think Turner is the best edge in this class, but I do think he’s the best fit for Atlanta. Turner is an explosive edge rusher who proved himself this season when he was the primary threat on the defensive line for Alabama. He can also drop back in coverage. Raheem Morris loves to drop his edge players into coverage.

*TRADE* Minnesota Vikings - Drake Maye - QB - North Carolina

The Vikings get nervous about getting leapfrogged by Denver or Las Vegas and decide to move up, just a little bit, to secure their guy. The Vikings under General Manager Kwesi have a history of getting in-division deals done, so I’m not too worried about the fact that it’s the Bears they’re trading with. I mostly believe that because I don’t think the Bears are targeting Rome Odunze, which is a popular pick you see for them. But more on them later. Darnold can start for a few months to a whole season while Kevin O’Connell gets to work getting Drake Maye pro ready on the bench.

New York Jets - Rome Odunze - WR - Washington

There’s a lot of talk that the Jets would go Brock Bowers here, but Aaron Rodgers has never really thrown to tight ends much in his career and the Jets are in their “Do Whatever Aaron Wants” phase, so even if Odunze wasn’t here I don’t think they’d go Bowers. With that said. In this mock, Odunze is here, and adding another weapon for Rodgers is a huge priority.

*TRADE* Chicago Bears - Jared Verse - DE - Florida State

Like I said earlier, I don’t think the Bears are targeting Odunze, I think with the Keenan Allen signing, along with the depth of this WR draft class, the Bears feel comfortable passing on a pass catcher at this time. Instead they look to bolster their defensive line. They just traded for, and paid, Montez Sweat, but it takes more than one pass rusher to generate an effective pass rush as a defense. Verse was an extremely productive pass rusher for Florida State who is a plus athlete at the position.

Denver Broncos - Bo Nix - QB - Oregon

Look. You just can’t roll into the 2024 season with Zach Wilson, Jarrett Stidham and Ben DiNucci as your quarterback room. You just can’t. In a vacuum, I have Nix as QB6 because of his perceived lack of upside. However, I think Nix wouldn’t be much lower than QB3 on Head Coach Sean Payton’s board, because the things Nix does well are the things Payton values in a quarterback. This is a pick that will get slammed as an egregious reach on draft night, but will age very well.