It is SOOOO early in the NFL season, as it’s only ⅓ of the way done at this point but it’s time for our first 3GML mock of the year. I’m not going to go into each player or anything like that and this is mostly a consensus big board, but i’ll do a write up for each 3GML team based on its picks. Let’s get into it as the NFL season is ⅓ over and the college football season is halfway done so why not.
DRAFT SLOTS ARE BASED ON TODAY’S DRAFT ORDER 10.15
New England Patriots - Travis Hunter, ATH Colorado
Cleveland Browns - Tetairoa McMillan, WR Arizona
Jacksonville Jaguars - Will Johnson, CB Michigan
Carolina Panthers - Shedeur Sanders, QB Colorado
LA Rams - Malaki Starks, S Georgia
Tennessee Titans - Cam Ward, QB Miami
New York Jets - Malaki Starks, S Georgia
Cincinnati Bengals - Luther Burden III, WR Missouri
New Orleans Saints - Will Campbell, OL LSU
Arizona Cardinals - Kelvin Banks Jr, OT Texas
Las Vegas Raiders - Jalen Milroe, QB Alabama
New York Giants - Quinn Ewers, QB Texas
Miami Dolphins - Benjamin Morrison, CB Notre Dame
Seattle Seahawks - Deone Walker, DT Kentucky
Denver Broncos - James Pearce, EDGE Tennessee
Dallas Cowboys - Ashton Jeanty, RB Boise State
Philadelphia Eagles - Emeka Egbuka, WR Ohio State
Chicago Bears - Abdul Carter, EDGE Penn State
Indianapolis Colts - Shavon Revel, CB East Carolina
Green Bay Packers - Nic Scourton, EDGE Texas A&M
The Packers have to be thrilled at what they see this year from Carl Granderson who has played very well through 6 games. They also have big money invested in Harold Landry on the other side. That said, they have zero depth at the position, and while Landry has looked better this year he’s not an elite QB pressure guy. Yes he had a 14 sack season but throughout his career he’s converted a crazy high percentage of his pressures into sacks and has never topped 64 in a season. He’s pretty damn good, but they need him to be great.
Enter Nic Scourton. He’s a 285 pound guy who give this team a chance to maybe get into the right spots defensively. He is a great run defender who also has way higher than normal movement skills for someone his size. He gives them depth at the position and an opportunity to move away from Landry if they choose soon with the contract coming due.
Also for what it’s worth I think the Packers look HARD at trading back in this draft. With the high payouts for the 3 stars they extended this season, and the Tua situation that could present the team with limited financial resources, moving back and acquiring cheap talent is something they could focus on. Also depth in some key positions is lacking so this could solve some issues - if they can find a trade partner in a weaker draft.
Tampa Bay Bucs - Aireonete Ersery, OT Minnesota
Baltimore Ravens - Jonah Savaiinaea, OL Arizona
Buffalo Bills - Kenneth Grant, DL Michigan
Pittsburgh Steelers - WR Isaiah Bond, Texas
Houston Texans (From Washington) - Jack Sawyer, EDGE Ohio State
I honestly don’t know what the Texans are looking to do in this draft as their team is pretty well stocked, particularly on the DL. However, after ANOTHER injury to Jaelen Phillips you have to wonder if GM TH is going to extend him and pay him big time money after 3 serious injuries in college and now two in the NFL. He’s great when he plays, but he doesn’t play. Enter Jack Sawyer. He’s a 265 pound edge who plays the game the right way and has been great the past two years in the Big 10. Sawyer racked up 37 pressures and 8 sacks a season ago and is on pace to get more pressures this season, while also being a plus run defender, bordering on plus-plus. Not sure his upside is great but he’d be a nice piece to add for both depth and high quality play. High floor boring pick at a position they need. Not sure this is the move but it makes some sense.
Atlanta Falcons - Mykel Walker, EDGE Georgia
LA Chargers - Carson Beck, QB Georgia
It looks like the Will Levis experiment has failed for the Chargers, so in a draft where you can find a quality player late, the Chargers try again. Levis jumped onto the scene last season with a 4TD game in his debut agains the Falcons and looked like a potential superstar. Since then he only has 2 games in which he’s thrown 2 or more TD passes and has the second lowest QBR in the NFL. Levis hasn’t shown an ability to run, a calling card of his in college that could increase his floor, as he’s ran for more than 25 yards just twice and hasn’t had a QBR in a game over 45 in any game since his debut. On top of it, his turnovers this year have been backbreaking.
Time to move on. Carson Beck doesn’t have the ceiling that Levis did, but he’s got a super high floor. While it does look like he’s come back a bit this season compared to last over the past two years he has 39 TD’s, just 11 interceptions and has completed 70% of his passes. A highly accurate passer with a very catchable ball, Beck can play point guard to a team with an INSANE amount of high end weapons. It’s a lower ceiling, but a much higher floor.
Detroit Lions - Harold Perkins Jr, LB/EDGE LSU
San Francisco 49ers (SOS determined) - OL Emery Jones, LSU
San Francisco has done an exceptional job in the rebuild on the fly. Love has been great, the team has continued to win games, and the 49ers have purged some bad contracts - that’s a really positive season. The team still does have some needs though, and chief among them is on the offensive line. While the tackle spots have the stud with two first names Zach Tom playing right tackle, they could use depth on the LT side and at guard and that’s where Jones comes in. I think he’s probably best at tackle, but his power and size could obviously push him inside to guard as well. Given his potential he seems like an easy answer for the 49ers here at 29.
The reason I doubt this happens though is GM CD is an analytically driven GM and Jones hasn’t been great this year. In fact, neither LSU tackle who are projected to go in round one have been particularly dominant in 2024. Jones has struggled at times as a run blocker and while he PROJETS as a really impressive player given his H-W-S, he only showed it in 2023. You wonder how much someone wants to take a projected stud in round 1 versus a higher floor player like or a guy at another position, choosing to build up depth with a day 2 pick or two.
Houston Texans - Josh Simmons, OT Ohio State
I could see Houston moving up or back in this draft and I think the odds of them staying put where the current picks are is virtually zero. That said, if they DO stand pat, they might be looking for OL depth. While their current group of Jones, Risner, JMS, Jenkins, Rosengarten, and Lucas is solid, they could really use some upside here. Rosengarten has showed some good things in his rookie campaign, but we have zero idea of Abe Lucas’s knee injury is career threatening. It looks at best to be a consistent problem. I know GM TH likes Jones at LT long term if the price is right, but if it’s not Simmons provides a great answer.
He played RT at San Diego State, has switched to LT at Ohio State and looks like a natural at that spot. His game against Oregon was pretty rough this last weekend though, maybe pushing him down a bit. However, he’s good in pass pro, giving up just one sack over the past two seasons to go along with just 12 TOTAL hurries in that time frame. He’s a decent run blocker who can play either scheme and looks like he could be a candidate to kick inside as well as his length looks just okay. The Texans like versatility and someone who has already played both tackle spots but looks more primed for an interior role might be exactly what they’re looking for.
Minnesota Vikings - Tacario Davis, CB Arizona
Kansas City Chiefs - Landon Jackson, EDGE Arkansas
