After a long season, the NFL is preparing for another NFL Draft to help teams retool to make a championship run, and the sports staff here on spotlight gave our opinion on who will be picked where.
Since the beginning of last season, the consensus number one pick has always been Trevor Lawrence, a quarterback out of Clemson University, so that is who the staff decided to be our number one overall pick.
“Trevor Lawrence is the only correct answer for the number one pick. He does so many things well and it is hard to see the Jaguars going with someone else, especially considering their struggles at quarterback this year,” junior Leo Wurth said.
The next two picks were also selecting quarterbacks. The Jets and 49ers went with Zach Wilson out of BYU and Trey Lance out of North Dakota State, respectively. The talented Tight End out of Florida, Kyle Pitts, went next to the Falcons. The staff decided on Offensive Lineman Penei Sewell out of Oregon for the Bengals to protect their future quarterback Joe Burrow.
“Jamaar Chase is obviously really talented, but the Bengals front office needs to set their priorities on keeping defenders out of Joe Burrow’s face before they could start drafting weapons. Sewell is insanely talented, polished, and mobile for a guy of his size,” senior Chase White said.
The next nine picks see teams filling needs in their respective positions, including the Eagles fixing their nagging wide receiver issue by taking Heisman Trophy winner and Alabama wide receiver, Devonta Smith. After those nine picks, standout Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields finally goes off the board, despite many beliefs he could be among those top three quarterbacks off the board.
“Fields isn’t good enough to be a week 1 starter, he needs to sit behind a veteran QB for at least a year and learn from him and the head coach. I think Fields definitely gets that in Cam Newton being on a 1-year deal there along with a QB whisperer in Bill Belichick. I also think his playstyle is very similar to Cam and it would be an easy transition for him,” freshman Kendall Diller said.
The rest of the lottery was rounded out by Jaycee Horn to the Cardinals, Gregory Rousseau to the Raiders, and Najee Harris to the Dolphins.
This year the draft comes on the heels of the NFL’s change in schedule from a 16 game season to 17 games.
Because of this rule change, the statistical history of the league will be thrown off forever, with single-season records being easier to break. Many players were not happy with this change because they feel that the league doesn’t care about their health because this year there were many injuries this year and now they’re adding another game where they could potentially get hurt in.
“I think that it’s unfair to the older NFL players to see some of their records will be broken very soon because of an extra game added, but it will be entertaining to see what kind of numbers they could put up with another game to rack up stats. It will be hard for players to stay healthy for 17 games, though,” sophomore Cooper Tabor.
The NFL Draft is set for April 29 - May 1 and this mock draft was made before the draft had started.