2024 NFL Mock Draft
1: Chicago Bears
The Pick: Caleb Williams/QB/USC
You can write this one down in pen. The Bears ultimately made the correct decision to move on from former 1st round pick Justin Fields. Chicago looks to open a new championship window with their new face of the franchise, who boasts a revamped veteran WR core to work with.
2: Washington Commanders
The Pick: Jayden Daniels/QB/LSU
The most dynamic playmaker in this year's draft class heads to the nation's capital. Daniel’s is a built-in offense on his own, and it will require a Lamar Jackson-like commitment on Washington's part to make sure the scheme matches the skillset. With needs at RB and across the OL, I would love to see Washington turn a blind eye to the glaring needs on D, and stock the cupboard on offense moving into 2024. It’s a rebuild that will take time, but Commander’s fans will see a glimpse into a promising future with this pick.
3: Minnesota Vikings* (NE Trades pick to Minnesota)
The Pick: Drake Maye/QB/North Carolina
The worst kept secret in this year's draft cycle. Minnesota got the wheels moving on a move to acquire their future franchise QB in mid-March, when the Texans agreed to send the 23rd overall pick to Minnesota. I believe the JJ McCarthy connection to MIN is real, but you don’t mortgage your future for a system QB (who I still think can be really good!). Taking this swing would net you the best arm talent in this year's draft. Maye’s college tape reminds me a lot of Jordan Love’s tape at Utah State; throws from outer space mixed with raw, and poor decision-making. I’m adamant about my take that Maye needs to sit for 1-2 years upon entering the league. Minnesota has the perfect infrastructure in place to let Maye sit for a year behind Sam Darnold. If they are willing to practice patience with this pick, Minnesota could enter 2025 with a top-10 skill group on offense, and a Herbert/Love-type talent waiting in the wings. Now, go back up the brinks truck for that WR you have that’s pretty good….
4: Arizona Cardinals
The Pick: Marvin Harrison Jr/WR/Ohio State
Pick #4 is an obvious trade-out spot, and I’m sure the Cardinals will get plenty of interest for the pick. If the Cardinals were in need of more draft capital to continue building their roster, a trade-down would make plenty of sense. This, however, is not the case, as AZ already holds a second 1st round pick VIA Houston later in the night. There haven’t been many “sure things” in Birdland in the past decade, making a plug-and-play 1,000-yard receiver enticing. The cards get the most NFL-ready player in this year's draft to fall to them at #4.
5: Los Angeles Chargers
The Pick: Malik Nabers/WR/LSU
The Chargers resist their Joe Alt temptations and stand pat to select Nabers, a player who I think can be used like Amon-Ra St. Brown. Nabers owns a much higher ceiling than St. Brown and has the ability to elude and break tackles at an alarming rate. Between Odunze and Nabers, I think Odunze goes on to have a better NFL career. Nabers is the pick at 5 due to LA already having several big-bodied receivers in-house. Nabers becomes the change of pace Herbert needs to stay on top of his game.
6: New York Giants
The Pick: Rome Odunze/WR/Washington
The temptation to select a QB here is strong, but I cannot get over Daniel Jones’s remaining contract and cap hit. Pick 6 could be a prime trade-back spot for New York, but you run the risk of losing your shot at the last true elite receiver on the board. My draft darling comes off the board to NYG with the 6th pick in R1. I’m in the minority on this one, but I truly believe Odunze has a ceiling that neither Nabers nor MHJ can reach. A rare size and speed combination paired with a highly productive final season at the collegiate level. Odunze has the ability to run a diverse route tree, and constantly win at all levels of the field. Look for New York to try and sneak back into the 20s and target Michael Penix later on.
7: Tennessee Titans
The Pick: Joe Alt/OT/Notre Dame
Gun to my head, if you asked me who I think will collect the most All-Pro recognitions from this year's draft class, I’d spit out Joe Alt instantaneously. After all the major skill players on offense come off the board, I am begging Tennessee not to overthink this. With NFL bloodlines, Alt boasts a monstrous 6’9, 321-foot frame with some of the longest arms in the draft. He uses his length to his advantage, displacing pass rushers with his long arms and a flawless right hand from the left side. Pairing Alt and Skoronski together in back-to-back drafts will position the Titans to win in the trenches for years to come.
8: Atlanta Falcons
The Pick: Dallas Turner/EDGE/Alabama
After investing significant dollars in Kirk Cousins this offseason, the Falcons offense finally looks equipped to utilize the weapons they have selected in the past three NFL Drafts. This, combined with former Rams Defensive Coordinator Raheem Morris taking the throne in ATL makes me believe this pick will address the defensive side of the ball. Three sneak names to watch here are Terrion Arnold, Byron Murphy, and Nate Wiggins. Ultimately I believe a team that is primed to score plenty of points of their own will opt to try and disrupt the QB as much as possible. The pick here is Dallas Turner, the most polished EDGE rusher in a weak 2024 class for the position.
9: New England Patriots* (CHI Trades pick to New England)
The Pick: JJ McCarthy/QB/Michigan
After trading back to pick 11 with Minnesota earlier in the draft, New England makes a deal with Chicago and comes up two spots to select their new franchise QB. McCarthy is polarizing for many, given the nature of how little he had to do at Michigan to win games. I think McCarthy can be an above-average QB in the NFL in a Shanahan-based scheme predicated on play action and making intermediate throws over the middle of the field. He’s more mobile than you think and looks for opportunities to extend plays outside of the pocket with his legs. New England can come away feeling good about this pick, knowing they were able to select a QB early, while also netting more picks than they lost moving back up, given the hefty package they will receive from MIN.
10: New York Jets
The Pick: JC Latham/OT/Alabama
The Jets sured up their offensive line this offseason with the additions of Tyron Smith, Morgan Moses, and John Simpson. A popular pick here has been Brock Bowers, however, I just don’t see a TE who is a defacto slot receiver aligning with Aaron Rodgers' preferences. After losing their long-awaited Franchise QB just minutes into the 2023 season, I think the Jets will make sure to have reinforcements along the OL in 2024. Latham is a bruising tackle who could wear a gold jacket someday. What makes the pick here is Latham’s ability to kick inside to either Guard position. This type of versatility will be coveted by NY, who cannot afford to have turnstiles along the line with a 40-year-old QB slinging the rock.
11: Chicago Bears* (Via NE)
The Pick: Jared Verse/DE/Florida State
There's a lot of excitement in Bears land right now, and rightfully so. You are about to select Caleb Williams, and you have added Swift and Allen to your offense while keeping the core together on defense. What we tend to forget is there's a reason why this team earned the #1 pick just two years ago. There are plenty of holes left on this roster, and the Bears have just 4 picks in the entire draft. Trading back from 9 to 11 nets them some Day 2 picks while also allowing them to access another upper-echelon player in round 1. Eberflus and Co should look to pair Montez Sweat on the edge with a player who reminds me a lot of him. After testing well in Indy, the Bears go with Verse and form a big, physical duo on the edge.
12: Jacksonville Jaguars* (Denver trades pick to Jacksonville)
The Pick: Terrion Arnold/CB/Alabama
The third Alabama player comes off the board, as Jacksonville trades up 5 spots to land my hands-down favorite CB in the draft. Arnold excels when he is asked to play man or zone coverage, and he is a human being everyone raved about throughout the draft process. In a division with three promising young QBs emerging, DBs may be flying off the board to the AFC South.
13: Las Vegas Raiders
The Pick: Taliese Fuaga/OT/Oregon State
The Raiders need a Quarterback, and Penix Jr. is absolutely in play here. 13 feels high for me for a guy who needs a good to great infrastructure in the NFL to have success. The Raiders go with Fuaga at 13. He’s a mountain of a man with positional versatility. Some think he will end up as a guard, but I think trying him opposite of Kolton Miller at tackle is the correct first step. I think he sticks. Look for LV to push hard to get back into the 20s to select their QB.
14: New Orleans Saints
The Pick: Olu Fashanu/OT/Penn State
Once widely regarded as a top 5 pick, Fashanu put together arguably the best collection of pass-blocking reps on tape in his 2023 campaign in Happy Valley. In an OL class that I really like, Fashanu is the last true plug-and-play tackle on the board. It’s a boring pick, but one that New Orleans should clearly make if the opportunity presents itself. Whether it's Olu or Fuaga, NO and LV would benefit from each of these guys interchangeably.
15: Cincinnati Bengals* (Indy trades pick to CINCY)
The Pick: Brock Bowers/TE/Georgia
The pick to get the people going!! I think Bowers falls to this range, if not further on draft night. I have tons of questions about his ability to play In-line TE in the NFL. There are few teams who run schemes that can provide Bowers consistent opportunities to be split out wide or into the spot. The Bengals are one of them. Due to a calf injury, Burrow played ¾ of the year without taking regular snaps from under center. For a team that loves to go 4 wide out of the gun, Bowers is a match made in heaven for a team that is already towards the front of the pack in the AFC arms race.
16: Philadelphia Eagles* (Seattle trades pick to PHILLY)
The Pick: Quinyon Mitchell/CB/Toledo
I see the early teens to the early twenties in this year's draft being a circus littered with trades. Dan Schnieder loves to have picks to acquire veteran talent mid-season. He finds a match with Philly, who strikes and lands the DB with the highest upside in this year's draft. I love Mitchell, who quickly put all the Mid-Major competition talk to bed with a monster performance at this year's combine. Guys that run a 4.33 and put up 20 reps on the bench at his size don’t grow on trees. I would encourage NFL GMs to look to draft this cat EARLY.
17: LA Rams* (Denver trades pick to LAR)
The Pick: Laitu Latu/EDGE/UCLA
I see Denver as a team looking to do two things in this year's draft: 1. Acquire their preferred QB. 2. Acquire as many picks as possible. In typical draft cycles with only 2-3 QBs seen as future NFL starters, it would be impossible to do both. This year, I think they can wait out the process and strike where they see fit. Now back to LA… With the loss of Aaron Donald, the Rams need to find a way to get after the Quarterback. Pairing Laitu Latu with Byron Young, an impressive first-year player coming off an 8-sack season, would give LA a young (and cheap) pass-rushing tandem to build around.
18: Indianapolis Colts* (Via Cincy)
The Pick: A.D Mitchell/WR/Texas
Indy could go in several different directions with this pick. After locking down their impact players on the defensive end, Chris Ballard will look to supply Anthony Richardson with a speed demon to complement Pittman Jr., Downs, and Pierce in an offense that looks to take massive strides this season.
19: Denver Broncos* (Via Jacksonville, then LAR)
The Pick: Bo Nix/QB/Oregon
Denver finally sticks and selects their QB. Nix seems like the guy Sean Payton would target given their position in this year's draft. I don’t love Nix as a prospect, but I do think there is a pathway to success in a Sean Payton offense that thrives on getting the ball out quickly and making mostly throws of low difficulty. If Denver can move back and collect draft capital before selecting Nix, taking him much higher than his consensus won’t hurt them.
20: Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pick: Troy Fautanu/OT/Washington
Another lineman in this year's draft who played elite tackle at the college level, but might see his best position become guard in the NFL. The Steelers have needs at Center and Tackle, making Jackson Powers-Johnson and Amarius Mims intriguing options. Fautanu is the most pro-ready lineman left on the board, and I think Pittsburgh would be inclined to try him opposite 2023 1st round pick Broderick Jones.
21: Miami Dolphins
The Pick: Byron Murphy/IDL/Texas
Miami is in a peculiar position entering the 2024 season. They are loaded with talent on both sides of the ball but are riddled with injuries and cannot seem to get their regular-season success to translate to the postseason. This is a team that just lost Christian Wilkins and saw Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips end their years with significant injuries. To continue, the interior offensive line stinks. There are a number of guys in play here: Graham Barton (OL), Chop Robinson (EDGE), Nate Wiggins (CB), and Darius Robinson (DE) could all make sense here. Murphy has some of the highest upside in this year's draft, and can eventually become a disruptor that collapses the pocket consistently. He’s easily a top-15 player in this draft, but there are character/legal concerns. If Miami is comfortable with the personality, this is the direction I would go.
22: Seattle Seahawks* (Via Philly)
The Pick: Chop Robinson/EDGE/Penn State
Seattle is in a position where there isn't a glaring need to fill anywhere, but there's plenty of room to improve. A high-upside player like Mims, or this year's best LB, Edgerrin Cooper might be enticing, but you have to affect the QB to win games in 2024. Chop Robinson is an athlete with freakish traits, but extremely raw and unpolished pass-rushing ability. Seattle has shown the willingness to invest in players like this, (Boye Mafe) and they might just reach into the well once again…
23: New England Patriots* (Via Minnesota)
The Pick: Brian Thomas Jr./WR/LSU
Arguably the most freakishly gifted athlete in this year's draft. When you look at the Patriots roster, you see nearly all of the pieces returning from a defense that was a top 5 unit in the league just two years ago. They’re getting old, but there's no reason to think they can’t be a defense that helps you more than it hurts you. Thomas Jr. would never be a Bellicheck pick, but times are changing in Foxborough. This might be a guy who doesn’t reach his potential for 2-3 years, but the upside and raw traits are ones you don't come across often Thomas Jr. could be a legit “X” receiver in an offense that has struggled mightily in generating big plays.
24: Dallas Cowboys
The Pick: Amarius Mims/OT/Georgia
There's no better landing spot than Dallas in this year's draft for Mims. There are plenty of concerns about Mims’s inexperience with only 8 collegiate starts to his name. Standing at 6 '8, 340 pounds, Mims lands in the “freak” category of this year's draft by matching monstrous size with superb athleticism. This is the type of tackle Jerry Jones and the Cowboys covet, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s better in the passing game on day 1 than some might imagine.
25: Green Bay Packers
The Pick: Cooper DeJean/CB/S/Iowa
Let’s start here… Cooper Dejean is the most perfect Green Bay Packers fit ever, and will instantly become top 5 in jersey sales amongst his fellow cheeseheads if this is the pick. I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if he’s picked here, or much earlier in the 20s. The only knock on DeJean is that he may be a safety, which many teams have begun to devalue. That may not be the case for GB, who just invested 17M per year in Free Agent signing Xavier Mckinney. Green Bay has a history under GM Brian Gutekunst of only selecting elite athletes in the 1st round based on combine performances and RAS metrics. DeJean would fit the profile here after blowing all of his physical testing out of the water during his pro day.
26: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Pick: Graham Barton/IOL/Duke
Barton is a guy a ton of teams will covet. He legitimately has the ability to play all five positions on the line. A tackle in college, but many see him as a candidate to elevate his game as a guard or center in the NFL. Ironically, he gives me major Ryan Jensen vibes (minus the nastiness) and would be an elite pick for Tampa this late in the draft.
27: Las Vegas Raiders* (Arizona trades pick to LAS VEGAS)
The Pick: Michael Penix Jr./QB/Washington
I anticipate New York and Washington fighting tooth and nail to get back into the first round for Penix. Because of this, I think it's likely Penix goes in the late teens to early twenties. It’s going to take a 2025 First Round Pick for LV to get back into R1 and get their guy, but it could all be worth it. Arizona would likely jump at the opportunity to add high-end capital to a team that really has no timetable. If the Raiders leave Thursday night with Fuaga and Penix Jr, fans should jump for joy, regardless of what they had to give up to get it done.
28: Buffalo Bills
The Pick: Keon Coleman/WR/Florida State
The Bills are going to work the phones all night in an attempt to move up for a WR to replace Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis. If Odunze gets past pick 8, you could see the Bills take a major swing and flip this draft upside down. It’s probably a pipe dream, so the discussion moves to the next tier of Wide Receivers, including Thomas Jr, Mitchell, McConkey, and ultimately who I think they select; Keon Coleman. A big-bodied receiver who didn’t test as well as some might have liked, but his game speed shows up on tape, and is impressive. Josh Allen has yet to play with a receiver who owns this type of XL frame and can make contested catches on the regular. If it were up to me, I’d sit and pick at 28 if I were Buffalo, assuming Odunze comes off the board in the top 6.
29: Detroit Lions
The Pick: Nate Wiggins/CB/Clemson
Another player that I think a team will like enough to trade up for and develop elite athletic traits. A 4.33 runner at the combine with great length makes him a boundary corner in this league from Day 1. The knocks on Wiggins are his play weight and some effort concerns that popped up in a few too many draft reports. His play style reminds me a lot of Christian Gonzalez (NE,2023), and he could play an immediate role for a contending Lions team that is cornerback-needy.
30: Houston Texans* (Baltimore Trades Pick to HOUSTON)
The Pick: Jer’Zhan Newton/IDL/Illinois
After a trade with Minnesota to pick up someday two draft capital in 2024/25, the Texans wasted no time putting the league on notice with the acquisition of Stephon Diggs. You never would have said this at this time last year, but the championship window is now for Houston. They continue their aggressive streak by trading up into R1 for a plug-and-play Interior DL that was once considered a top-10 talent before a foot injury.
31: San Fransisco 49ers
The Pick: Jordan Morgan/OT/OG/Arizona
There are not many weaknesses on a loaded 49ers offense, but Colton McKivitz could be categorized as a problem. In a Kyle Shanahan offense that is dedicated to a heavy zone run scheme, you need a fleet-footed lineman that can pull, as well as hold the edge in the play-action game. For the first time in a long time, you saw opposing teams penetrate the pocket and affect Purdy in 2024. Morgan is a game-ready OG right now, and a developmental project at Tackle with high upside. It’s a perfect fit for San Fran.
32: Kansas City Chiefs
The Pick: Xavier Worthy/WR/Texas
The 7th and final WR comes off the board in the first round. With the uncertainty surrounding Rashee Rice and his pending legal situation, the Chiefs opt for a “F*** it, why not” pick, and draft the fastest player in NFL combine history. Because they were the team to hoist the Lombardi Trophy at the end, we glanced over the offensive struggles KC had for the first 60% of the season (as we should). A lot of their success down the stretch could be attributed to the emergence of Rice as their true number one WR. I’ve got a feeling we won't see Rice for a while, and Mahomes would jump at the opportunity to add some Tyreke-like traits back into the offense again.