CJD Pre-Combine Mock Draft 1.0

[CJD]

(02-19-2023, 08:30 PM)WhoDeyK Wrote: Sometimes these PFF grades make me laugh. Smith a B in round 2 and Washington a C in round 3??? I need to have a talk with my employer. Lol This draft would be a haul! Huge Washington fan and Harrison at the beginning of Round 2 would be solid. Definitely hit several areas of need. My only “knock” on this is I think the simulator gave you three first rounders. I don’t see Smith or Washington making it to either of those spots but I’d be very happy if they did.

Yea, this early in the draft process every mock draft simulator has different grades on different players. I was surprised both Smith and Washington were there. That's why I did mention Ricks and Ringo, who were available in the 2nd round, just to give an idea of who else I would be considering if Smith weren't there.

Washington in the third does seem silly considering he is getting first round hype right now, but raw receiving tight ends can fall in the draft sometimes. A good example of this would be Jelani Woods from last year. He was also a mountain of a man (6'7" 255 lbs), whose biggest knock was lack of production as a receiver, like Washington.

I will say that Washington is a better prospect because he's already an elite run blocker, whereas Woods merely projected as a good run blocker but Woods went in the third round (73rd overall), so I thought it wasn't insane that Washington was still there at 66. If he wasn't, I don't think I'd take Tucker Kraft, the next Tight End available, but I also had my eye on Jalin Hyatt as that speedy slot receiver, another player PFF has available down there for whatever reason (I think he could go in the first. He'd be a lock for the first round if Al Davis were still alive  ). I also could have gone pass rusher like Derick Hall or IOL with Joe Tippman and left TE for day 3 with someone like Josh Whyle or Luke Schoonmaker. Lots of options to choose from early in the 3rd. This is such a deep draft class (tight end is especially deep this year with like 5 day 1 or day 2 options.

The grades they give in the simulator are also pretty stupid haha. This was an A+ draft at every single pick for me :). There wasn't a single time I thought "ugh, I don't like any of these options." It felt like a slam dunk at every pick, so I had a good laugh at the simulator giving me just a B+.