TNT NFL mock draft: Pats pull surprise; Seahawks deal down yet again — then return to USC
The sun will come up.
The top quarterbacks will go right away.
And the Seahawks will trade down.
These draft-day truths are about all you can count in this unprecedented, wholly remote 2020 NFL draft that begins Thursday from more than 100 different homes across the league and nation.
They’ll all be linked by video conferencing, by cell phones—and by more draft-day trading by Seahawks general manager John Schneider.
The highlights of my annual News Tribune mock first-round of the draft:
LSU’s Joe Burrow will come home to his native Ohio to be Cincinnati’s new franchise quarterback at No. 1 overall.
Ohio State’s Chase Young will go second, to Washington.
Then LSU’s K’Lavon Chaisson and Penn State’s Yeuter Gross-Matos, this draft’s other elite pass rushers, will go later in round one.
Schneider and Seattle coach Pete Carroll once again have fewer players rated as first-round talent than the slot their team owns in round one. That’s why the Seahawks are going to trade their first-round pick for the ninth consecutive year.
This draft like no other will begin with commissioner Roger Goodell addressing our coronavirus pandemic from a video camera in his basement in suburban New York City. Then each team will get 10 minutes—or more, if the remote communications aren’t working as they rehearsed with the league on Monday—to make their first-round choices.
Carroll, Schneider and their scouts and assistant coaches will be in separate locations, mostly their homes, connected by video conferencing, FaceTime, cellular phones and land lines.
The Seahawks’ information technology team has been in Schneider’s house outfitting it with upgraded internet and remote capabilities. Staffers have even been tacking white dry-erase boards to the walls of the GM’s family home, to create a remote draft board. Those will approximate the two boards Schneider and his staff maintain in the huge, double draft room they have set up inside team headquarters in Renton in years there isn’t a pandemic halting normal life.
Schneider will have on one of his home walls the Seahawks’ draft board of players they want. Another wall will have a board of what Seattle’s staff has projected and is tracking for the 31 other teams in each of the draft’s seven rounds.
Last week on his Flying Coast podcast with Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, Carroll likened this all-remote draft and its unprecedented challenges with communication and improvisation to “the wild, wild West.”
Here’s how I predict it will go on Thursday in round one—with an addendum of high local interest for the top of Friday’s second round.
1. CINCINNATI: Joe Burrow, QB, LSU: Bengals get their home-state guy who tore up college football with an incomparable 2019. His job: Oh, only to resurrect the Cincinnati franchise.
2. WASHINGTON: Chase Young, DE, Ohio State: It’s a passer-and-sack-the-passer league, as the Seahawks are acutely aware. The best QB goes first. The best pass rusher goes next.
3. DETROIT: Jeff Okudah, CB, Ohio State: My KJR radio pal and former UW and NFL quarterback Hugh Millen said with me on the radio Monday that Okudah is his DK Metcalf this year: the one player who excites him the most for his pure athletic talent.
4. NEW YORK GIANTS: Mekhi Becton, OT, Louisville: They got their new franchise QB last year in Daniel Jones. Now the Giants desperately need the best tackle in this draft to protect him.
5. MIAMI: Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Alabama: Loaded Dolphins (14 picks) have ammunition to deal with Seattle, and everyone else. But they have a bigger need for a quarterback for their franchise revival. The Great Tua Medical Debate ends here.
6. LOS ANGELES CHARGERS: Justin Herbert, QB, Oregon: The annual first-round run on quarterbacks, in mini form. The polished Duck takes over for departed Philip Rivers. If the Dolphins go Herbert, Chargers take Tagovailoa.
7. JACKSONVILLE (mock trade with CAROLINA): C.J. Henderson, CB, Florida: Some believe Henderson is the best corner in the draft, ahead of Okudah. Jaguars need a few great ones.
8. ARIZONA: Derrick Brown, DT, Auburn: If I was the division’s last-place team that has to defend Russell Wilson, Jared Goff and Jimmy Garoppolo six times every season, I’d take the most destructive interior pass rusher in this class.
9. CAROLINA (mock trade with JACKSONVILLE): Isaiah Simmons, LB, Clemson: Listing him as a linebacker is a slight. He’s this draft’s most dynamic defensive player. Can be a safety, a nickel corner. Would be a Seahawk if he would stay available down to 27—which he won’t. And, no, Schneider will not trade up to get him.
10. CLEVELAND: Tristan Wirfs, OT, Iowa: Browns rebuild their offensive line to give their many playmakers a better chance. Or at least some chance.
11. NEW YORK JETS: Jedrick Wills, OT, Alabama: Jets are thrilled the brick wall some have as the best blocker in the draft is still here.
12. LAS VEGAS: Jerry Jeudy, WR, Alabama: Jon Gruden gets his stud receiver for his offense’s Vegas debut. My pal Jerry McDonald, Raiders writer for the Bay Area News Group, says Jeudy is the guy over CeeDee Lamb.
13. SAN FRANCISCO: CeeDee Lamb, WR Oklahoma: Almost a coin flip between Jeudy and Lamb in these consecutive spots.
14. TAMPA BAY: Javon Kinlaw, DT, South Carolina: Bruce Arians got Tom Brady. Now his Bucs need to stop somebody—anybody—from gaining yards and points on them. Kinlaw is beastly.
15. DENVER: Henry Ruggs, WR, Alabama: Speed thrills John Elway. Ruggs was once measured by GPS tracker he was wearing to be running 23.3 mph in a game. Yes, he runs faster than you drive through the Fife curve when there’s not a pandemic going on.
16. ATLANTA: A.J. Terrell, CB, Clemson: The Falcons would love Henderson, but he’ll be gone. Atlanta allowed foes to complete 66 percent of their passes with 28 touchdowns in 16 games last season.
17. DALLAS: K’Lavon Chaisson, DE, LSU: If he gets past the Cowboys, Schneider may abandon his habitual trading to pick the second-best edge rusher at 27 for Seattle. Chaisson won’t get past the needy Cowboys.
18. MIAMI: Xavier McKinney, S, Alabama: The Dolphins wouldn’t be so in need of a safety if they hadn’t traded an exquisite one (who also played at Alabama), Minkah Fitzpatrick, to the Steelers last year.
19. BUFFALO (mock trade with LAS VEGAS): Yetur Gross-Matos, DE, Penn State: The Bills get into round one. The Raiders get the second-round pick GM Mike Mayock really wants. And Buffalo gets a powerful edge rusher they absolutely would not have gotten with its original 54th-overall pick in round two.
20. JACKSONVILLE: Justin Jefferson, WR, LSU: An exquisite route-runner for Gardner Minshew to target with the Jaguars, now that they are going all in with the former WSU quarterback this year.
21. PHILADELPHIA: Tee Higgins, WR, Clemson: Sounds like Alshon Jeffery and his $15.4 million salary-cap charge for 2020 may be on the way out of Philly. Higgins tied DeAndre Hopkins and Sammy Watkins for most receiving TDs in Clemson history (27).
22. MINNESOTA: Trevon Diggs, CB, Alabama: The Vikings REALLY need a corner. Diggs is NFL-ready big for the league’s bigger receivers—though not DK Metcalf big. The Seahawks host the Vikes this coming season.
23. NEW ENGLAND: Jordan Love, QB, Utah State: The biggest surprise of the first round: Bill Belichick lets Brady go, then takes a wild-card as the legend’s eventual replacement in New England. Love’s potential is all over the place. Could be brilliant. Could bust.
24. NEW ORLEANS: Kenneth Murray, LB, Oklahoma: Saints think Taysom Hill can eventually replace Drew Brees. So they pick a renowned person and all-over-the-field linebacker to pressure other teams’ QBs.
25. MINNESOTA: Brandon Aiyuk, WR, Arizona State: The Vikings need corner and receiver. They get good ones four picks apart.
26. MIAMI: Josh Jones, OT, Houston: The Dolphins instantly get the protector they need for Tagovailoa, who coming off season-ending injury for Alabama. If Miami doesn’t take Jones, Seattle may not trade and draft him instead.
27. SEAHAWKS trade to INDIANAPOLIS: For the Colts’ 34th-overall pick in round two, 122nd-overall choice in round four and 197th pick in round six.
Yes, everyone who knows a football isn’t round knows Seattle needs mega help with its sickly pass rush. But after the top three edge rushers, the quality drop in this draft for sack men is a free fall. So Schneider does it again. On the first day of the draft he turns seven total picks into nine. This gives Seattle three picks in the GM’s more coveted second round. The Seahawks will have the second pick of round two when the draft resumes Friday.
27. INDIANAPOLIS (from Seahawks): Denzel Mims, WR, Baylor: The Colts really wanted to get into the first round—and really wanted Love at quarterback to replace retired Andrew Luck. They’ll take the game-breaking WR instead.
28. BALTIMORE: Andrew Thomas, OT, Georgia: The Ravens like Austin Jackson, the impressive tackle from USC. But they can’t believe they had the best record in the AFC last season—then see what many believe is a top-10 quality pick fall all the way to them. So it’s Thomas. And the Seahawks exhale.
29. TENNESSEE: A.J. Epenesa, DE, Iowa: The Titans were asking about Jadeveon Clowney in free agency last month. They get this bull rusher extraordinaire off the edge instead.
30. GREEN BAY: Kenneth Queen, LB, LSU: Packers can’t believe he’s still available.
31. SAN FRANCISCO: Ross Blacklock, DT, TCU: Blaclock, son of a former Harlem Globetrotter, would sweetly fit Seattle. He’s skilled inside as a pass rusher the Seahawks need, with a Poona Ford-like motor to chase down plays. But the rival 49ers swipe him. Their rich defensive front gets richer.
32. KANSAS CITY: D’Andre Swift, RB, Georgia: Coach Andy Reid gets to choose between Georgia’s runner and catch and Ohio State’s bullish J.K. Dobbins. Either one will make Patrick Mahomes even more lethal for the Super Bowl champs.
Then on Friday...
34. SEAHAWKS: Austin Jackson, OT, USC: Germain Ifedi is gone, to Chicago. George Fant is gone, too, to the Jets. Duane Brown is 35 coming off surgery. His contract ends after 2021. The nosedive in quality of edge pass rushers in this draft means the Seahawks will get one later in round two, and perhaps more after that.
Jackson was an All-Pac-12 tackle last season—after missing a month of training to donate bone marrow to change his younger sister’s life. Yes, please, in Seattle.
This story was originally published April 21, 2020 at 9:07 AM with the headline "TNT NFL mock draft: Pats pull surprise; Seahawks deal down yet again — then return to USC."
