I’m not good at making Mock Drafts, but I do know that big things will happen! A bunch of football players have their dream come true once Roger Goodell announces their name on the Radio City Music Hall stage in New York City. Here’s a list of some things I think will happen in this year’s upcoming draft:
1. There will be at least five trades in the first round. Last year, there were 11 trades in the first round of the draft! That messed up everyone’s Mock Draft! This year I see a lot of trades, because some teams will look for more quality picks than more quantity of picks. However this year, it is a very deep draft class for almost every position, so I see teams getting exactly what they need at every pick.
2. Michael Sam will get drafted in the first round. Sam is the 1st Team All-American defensive end out of Missouri. He’s a very talented pass rusher and a gifted athlete. He also made history recently by being the first NFL prospect to publicly announce his homosexuality. So I see him as the first openly gay athlete to play in the NFL. I don’t think teams will draft him to say that they drafted the first gay football player, but teams should focus more on his play-making ability on defense and the way he could attribute to his team on the field rather than off of it. I could see him go to the Tennessee Titans at pick 11 or possibly the San Diego Chargers at pick 25. Either way, he will be a great player in the NFL in the near future.
3. Four quarterbacks will be taken in the first ten picks of the draft. This draft class is loaded with talented quarterbacks. You got Johnny Manziel, the first freshman quarterback to win the Heisman; Teddy Bridgewater out of Louisville; Blake Bortles, the Tebow-like player out of UCF; Derek Carr, brother of former 1st overall pick David Carr, out of Fresno State; A.J. McCarron, the quarterback out of Alabama that has won a ton of football games; and many more. Houston, Jacksonville, Cleveland, and Oakland all need quarterbacks and we could possibly see four quarterbacks taken in the first five picks of the draft, but you just never know.
4. Jadeveon Clowney won’t be a top five pick. I’m not saying this to downgrade Clowney’s talent, I’m just saying that teams won’t really need him until later on in draft. Clowney is probably the most gifted and talented player in the draft, but last season was kind of disappointing for him. He didn’t exceed expectations and that’s probably why teams will hesitate to draft him. His work ethic and off the field antics would probably cost him a top pick. I will say this though, whoever gets him will get a future Pro Bowler. He’s going to have to land at the right team with the right coach to get him in that direction.
5. The San Francisco 49ers will be the winner of this draft. Jim Harbaugh knows a good football player when he sees one. This year, he has 11 picks in the draft, the most out of any team this year. Are the 49ers going to draft 11 players? Absolutely not. They are going to use these draft picks to trade up in the draft to get better quality players. I see them drafting probably only five or six players, but those five or six players will probably be future stars in the NFL. Not only that, but the 49ers already have Super Bowl talent on their team. So if they get a hold of five or six great, talented players, they could shove Seattle out of the way as the big contender in the NFC West. Look for San Francisco to draft high quality receivers and offensive line to counter the Seahawks’ defense.
If I do want to toss up some mock draft picks, I would say that Johnny Manziel will be the first pick overall by the Houston Texans. It would be a great fit for both him and Houston. Manziel would get to stay in his home state of Texas and Houston would get an exciting player that will bring in ticket sales like never before. Also, if Detroit gets Manziel’s teammate, wide receiver Mike Evans, the Lions would have the best passing offense in the NFL. Having a big receiver like Evans would take a lot of pressure off Megatron. I predict that Matthew Stafford will have a career year if the Lions get that number two receiver that Calvin Johnson needs. That’s my prediction for this year’s NFL draft and I can’t wait for it to start! I hope the Redskins get someone good.
The Basket Foot 