By Jason Benedek, Sports Editor, and Daniel Carr, Staff Writer
With the start of free agency and the draft on the horizon, the NFL is off to a crazy start even though opening day isn’t until September 7th. The first round of the NFL Draft will be on Thursday, April 27th, and rounds 2 through 7 will be on the 28th and 29th. We put together a mock draft for the first round of the NFL Draft. We put each team’s positional needs, best players available, and best fit for each team in consideration for each pick we predicted. Below is our prediction for the first 31 picks of the draft.
This year’s draft has 4 highly anticipated quarterbacks that are projected to go early in the first round. Will Levis, a gunslinging quarterback with crazy accuracy and a quick release, played for University of Kentucky. Anthony Richardson is a tough, athletic and slippery quarterback who is very impressive outside of the pocket. He played for the University of Florida. Bryce Young is the most successful quarterback entering the draft. With the University of Alabama, he won the national championship his freshman year in 2020, and the Heisman Trophy for the best player in all of college football the following year. C.J. Stroud, who we predicted would be drafted as the first overall pick in the draft, has the athleticism of Anthony Richardson, and the accuracy of Will Levis. We picked him to be the first player taken in the draft because of his outstanding play at Ohio State for the last two years.
“I think Bryce [Young] and C.J. [Stroud] will be the first two picks selected for sure,” stated senior Christian Delauney, “but whether the Panthers pick Bryce or C.J. as the first pick could definitely go either way.”
With multiple teams (The Panthers, Texans, Colts, Falcons and maybe Ravens) desperately in need of a new starting quarterback, it will be interesting to see where the next potential star quarterbacks in the league will end up.
Regarding the Ravens’ need for a wide receiver, Ben Burton claimed, “ I want the Ravens to land Jaxon Smith-Njigba, or even Quentin Johnson. We haven’t had a star receiver or really just a true deep threat basically ever. It’s time the Ravens hit a home run while drafting a receiver.”
While the Ravens are looking to lock up a wide receiver, the Commanders need someone who can cover a good wide receiver. To beef up their secondary, the Commanders should definitely be drafting a defensive back in the upcoming first round.
“Because the Lions just got Chauncy Gardner-Smith, they might not need to draft Christian Gonzalez from Oregon, but either way I’d be happy if we could pick him, [Devon] Witherspoon or Joey Porter Jr,” explained long-time Commanders fan Omar Hassan.
The NFL draft is one of the most exciting events in sports. Although there is no physical competition to watch, it’s a blast to watch a ton of young men’s dreams come true, and a lot of fans get fired up for the bright (or not so bright) future of their favorite NFL franchise. As Saquon Barkley once said, “From watching the draft and following the NFL closely, anything can happen in the draft.”