Alabama

Arnold fills a huge need in the CB room, as there is very little depth behind Tyson Campbell and Ronald Darby. Arnold's RAS is good enough for Trent Baalke, and Baalke also heavily favors players from Power 5 conferences.

Georgia

For weeks now, team sources have maintained that an OL was the most likely 1st Round selection, even after signing RT Trent Brown. And it's true that Brown has had trouble staying healthy, and that Joe Burrow has been getting hit too much. Mims, because of his Incredible Hulk build and upside, just seems like he fits the profile for Duke Tobin. Silva called his tape "virtually impeccable." Even with Latham and Fautanu on the board, my gut is that Cincy can't resist Mims.

Washington

It seems as if the entire mock drafting world has been slotting a DT or DE to the Rams for a while now, or maybe a CB. But certainly not an offensive player. However, Peter Schrager, who is extremely plugged-in leaguewide and who has team sources all over the place, dropped this little nugget regarding the Rams' pick at 19 in his first mock that was released on April 16: "I'll go on record with something of a guarantee here: If the Rams do not trade back, you better believe Sean McVay's first-ever first-round selection will be an offensive player." This is eyebrow-raising, that's for sure. (For the record, Schrager's mocked pick for the Rams was Tyler Guyton.)

Anyway, I think I have to make an adjustment here to an offensive player. So who's it going to be? Would the Rams dare take Penix or Nix at QB? I think Penix would be the better fit and I think he's clearly the better player, and if Stafford privately informed the Rams, similar to what Aaron Donald did last year, that he may only have a year or two left before he hangs it up. who knows. (Of course, Penix is gone in this mock, leaving just Nix.) An OT may make sense. Though LT Alaric Jackson was adequate last season, he'll be an unrestricted free agent at season's end (and is on a relatively modest contract of less than $5MM this year), and it's unlikely that swing tackle Joe Noteboom will be brought back. Also, stud RT Rob Havenstein turns 32 in May. All this is to say that if it's an OL, perhaps Mims and Guyton would be the likely considerations because of a projectability to LT, or Fautanu if he were still there. (It's notable that the Rams had multiple meetings with Fautanu, once at his Pro Day and another in a virtual meeting, per the Prospect Visits Tracker here on the WalterFootball site.) At WR, Thomas Jr., Worthy, or Mitchell could be the splashy type of player the Rams might be coveting. Recency bias might have some thinking that the Rams have a proclivity to taking only "slow" WR's like Kupp and Nacua, but in Les Snead's tenure, they've invested in speedy WR's as well. Tutu Atwell was a 2nd Round pick, for example, and many moons ago, Snead took Tavon Austin in the top 10. And beyond that, the team traded for Sammy Watkins and Brandin Cooks, both of whom were burners at the time. Any of these receivers could be groomed as a situational deep-ball specialist as a rookie and then be a fixture in 3-wide sets next year. There's also a chance that Demarcus Robinson could be unseated during the season at some point from 3-wide sets. This also would act as insurance for this year, if the Rams are concerned about Kupp's increasing injury problems.

Decisions, decisions. Verdict: a potential franchise LT is added. Mims has to be tantalizing if available, and I could certainly see the team really liking Guyton. But Fautanu checks a lot of boxes for the Rams as a seasoned college player from a winning program who is considered to be a refined pass protector, with a nasty disposition to boot. For the record, if the Rams took a WR here I think it would be Worthy over Thomas Jr.

Duke

The Steelers usually host their eventual 1st Round picks on official 30 visits, so it's very much worth noting that Latham, Mims, and Barton all met with the club for official 30 visits, and they met multiple times with Mims and Barton. I'm going to guess that they have more interest in Barton to fill the hole at center.

Alabama

TRADE! Miami trades #21 to Baltimore for #30, #93, and #130.

It's a huge run on OL, with the fourth in a row coming off the board here. Miami makes sense as a trade-down team because they lack 3rd and 4th Round picks. Meanwhile, the Ravens have to come away with at least 2 OL starters before the season opens, and Eric DeCosta moves up the board for the Alabama product who should fill the RT role seamlessly. I know that Latham's O/U is a bit lower than this, but there does not seem to be consensus on how the OL order will go after Alt, and it just happens to be how the board has fallen that Latham slipped a bit. He could probably go as high as 11 to the Chargers (if they trade back) and would also be a possible fit to the Raiders at 13, the Bengals at 18, and the Steelers at 20.

Florida State

TRADE! (See #12 for details.)

Walt's take that Denver has one of the worst rosters in football is something that I completely agree with, so they could just take the best player available. As a bigger edge player with a good motor, Verse could appeal to Sean Payton, whose Saints teams often preferred bigger pass rushers. Of course, the team could feel compelled to take Nix here, even though it now has a 2nd Round pick, as there could be a natural worry that another team (the Giants?) could out-maneuver them during the 2nd Round and come away with Nix instead. However, six 1st Round QB's would be a record, so I will slot them Verse and I guess we'll see what happens with Nix in the 2nd Round.

Penn State

TRADE! (See #4 for details.)

With the second of its three 1st rounders, Arizona turns its attention to the freakishly-athletic Chop, who is a whopping -800 to go in the 1st Round. A chopping, whopping -800!

Oklahoma

Dallas fills an obvious hole at tackle with Guyton, the rangy, athletic prospect who could allow Tyler Smith to stay at LG.

Iowa

DeJean checks so many boxes for the Packers. Positional need at CB/slot corner/safety? Check. Satisfies RAS requirements? Check. Proved his health? Check. Possible BPA here? Check.

Missouri

I liked Chop Robinson for this pick, but since he's gone, I'm going to switch to a different Robinson, Darius. He played more edge snaps in his final season at Mizzou, and he could have that tweener versatility where he can go back inside on certain snaps. Invited to the draft green room, he has -375 odds to go in the 1st Round, which is tough to ignore.

Illinois

I ultimately don't see Newton slipping out of the 1st Round because, as Hayden Winks astutely pointed out, the top 11 DT's in the NFL make more money than the richest CB. This is to say that the NFL is telling us that it values the DT spot as a premium position, and we saw just last year Calijah Kancey going 19th to the Bucs, a similar undersized, yet dynamic DT. I still may be too low on Newton; he's -300 to go in the 1st Round as of the early morning hours on Wednesday. This would give Arizona quite the impressive 1st Round haul of Odunze/Chop Robinson/Newton.

LSU

Perhaps Buffalo will feel compelled to trade up for Thomas or another WR, but in this scenario, they simply stand pat and he falls to them. I think it's possible that the LSU product could fall simply due to something that Scott Smith reported, which is that he has a labrum issue that may eventually require surgery.

Alabama

Yes, Carlton Davis was added, but Cam Sutton was cut in the wake of some disturbing domestic violence allegations. The Lions were outstanding against the run a season ago, with their clear weakness being against the pass. Adding another corner with a strong pedigree could make sense here, and McKinstry was recently in on an official 30 visit. He would seem to be a better fit for the type of player the Lions look for, as opposed to the slighter-built Wiggins, who has a perception of not necessarily being a willing tackler. McKinstry can play press-man coverage, and DC Aaron Glenn often asks his boundary corners to play on an island.

Texas

TRADE! (See #21 for details.)

The depth chart is incredibly thin after Hill and Waddle at WR. Additionally, as Tua needs to get paid a big contract soon, it's unlikely that both Hill and Waddle will be on the roster in a couple of years, since Waddle will need a new contract after his rookie deal expires. Worthy's 4.21 wheels will fit right in with Miami's track team, and I'm reminded of Mike McDaniel's giddiness at Worthy's Pro Day.

Arizona

Although there's speculation that Brandon Aiyuk could be traded on draft night, I'm going to move away from Adonai Mitchell because there's chatter that Mitchell is off some teams' boards because of character concerns, including a worry that he doesn't manage his Type 1 diabetes well. Charlie has reported this, as have other multiple reputable insiders. And he did drop to -450 (from -600) to be a 1st Round pick overnight and he may continue to drop. Instead of a WR, then, perhaps the team goes with OL, the betting favorite. I'll slot them Morgan, who could start out at a guard spot or perhaps challenge McKivitz at RT. He could have LT potential down the road, as well.

BYU

I'm seeing this connection in way too many sharp mocks. Way, way too many. I can't ignore it any longer. We all know about the Rashee Rice legal situation, but as WR is so deep this year, KC can likely find an extremely talented wideout late in the 2nd Round.