There was no one in the world busier over the weekend than Ryan Wilson -- well, except for the guys trying to get the boat unstuck in the Suez Canal -- and that's because Wilson had to completely revamp his mock draft after the Dolphins decided to pull off two big trades on Friday.
With the 2021 NFL Draft now exactly ONE MONTH away, we'll be going draft heavy in today's newsletter. Not only will we be covering Wilson's newest mock, but we'll also cover the winners and losers of the two trades that Miami made. Also, in non-draft related news, I think Alvin Kamara hates that the NFL is about to expand the regular-season schedule. We'll touch on that and more in today's rundown, so let's get this thing started.
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1. Today's show: Mock Draft Monday
From now until the draft starts on April 29, every Monday will be Mock Draft Monday on the podcast. What this means is that we'll be bringing in our draft gurus each week to talk about how they think the draft will play out. This week, that means Will Brinson was joined by Ryan Wilson and Josh Edwards.
For Monday's show, the guys spent some serious time talking about a few of the big pro days coming up on the NFL calendar. For instance, Tuesday will be a huge day on the pro day circuit and that's because both Ohio State (Justin Fields) and Alabama (Mac Jones) will be holding their events. Wilson has been carrying the Mac Jones flag longer than anyone on the internet and he will not be surprised at all if Jones ends up going third overall to the 49ers.
The guys also analyzed some early draft props because you can now bet on the draft in most states. If you want to make some money while watching the draft this year, then you're definitely going to want to check out today's show. To listen to today's episode -- and to follow the podcast -- be sure to click here.
Also, since it's Mock Draft Monday, here's a look at Wilson's weekly mock.
- 1. Jaguars: QB Trevor Lawrence (Clemson)
- 2. Jets: QB Zach Wilson (BYU)
- 3. 49ers: QB Mac Jones (Alabama)
- 4. Falcons: OL Penei Sewell (Oregon)
- 5. Bengals: Rashawn Slater (Northwestern)
- 6. Dolphins: WR Jaylen Waddle (Alabama)
- 7. Lions: WR Ja'Marr Chase (LSU)
- 8. Panthers: QB Justin Fields (Ohio State)
- 9. Broncos: LB Micah Parsons (Penn State)
- 10. Cowboys: CB Patrick Surtain II (Alabama)
One thing you'll notice about this week's mock is that Wilson has Florida tight end Kyle Pitts falling out of the top 10. To find out where Pitts will land and who the Patriots will be taking as their quarterback of the future, be sure to click here.
2. Winners and losers of the big draft trades
Things got kind of crazy on Friday and that's mainly because the Dolphins decided to pull off two monstrous draft trades. First, they sent the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft to the 49ers in exchange for the No. 12 overall pick, a first-round pick in 2022, a third-round pick in 2022 and a first-round pick in 2023. And then five minutes later -- like, literally, five minutes later -- the Dolphins sent their newly acquired 12th overall pick to the Eagles so they could move up to No. 6 overall. (To move up the six spots, the Dolphins also had to throw in a 2022 first-round pick and 2021 fourth-round pick, 123rd overall.)
When you have a big trade like that, there are going to be some winners and there are going to be some losers, so we decided to make a list of both.
Winners
- Tua Tagovailoa: By trading out of the third spot, that likely means the Dolphins feel comfortable going forward with Tua as their starter, at least for 2021.
- Jalen Hurts: By trading out of the sixth spot, that likely means the Eagles feel comfortable going forward with Hurts as their starter, at least for 2021.
- Zach Wilson: The BYU quarterback now seems like a lock to be the second overall pick.
Losers
- Jimmy Garoppolo: They won't admit it publicly, but it seems like the 49ers are ready to move on from Garoppolo.
- Panthers: It's going to be a lot harder for them to get a quarterback in the first round now that the 49ers have jumped in front of them.
- Texans: When you make a list of winners and losers, you almost feel obligated to put the Texans in the losers section and to find out why they made the losers list this time around, you'll have to click here to check out the entire piece from Jordan Dajani.
3. Urban Meyer spoiling the NFL's draft drama
When it comes to the top pick in the draft, the NFL loves when there's some mystery involved about who's going to be selected, but apparently, Urban Meyer didn't get that memo, because the new Jaguars coach basically admitted over the weekend that his team is almost certainly going to take Trevor Lawrence.
"I'd have to say that's the direction we're going," Meyer told Peter King. "I'll leave that up to the owner when we make that decision official. But I'm certainly not stepping out of line that that's certainly the direction we're headed."
So what does Meyer like about Lawrence?
"Trevor checks all the boxes, you know?" Meyer said. "The number one common quality of every great player, not just quarterback, is competitive maniac. He's 34-2. Won a national title as a true freshman. Is a winner."
A winner is exactly what the Jaguars need and that's mainly because they haven't fielded too many winners over the past decade. Over the past 10 seasons, the Jaguars have only finished the year with a winning record ONE time (2017). On the other hand, they've finished with six wins or fewer a total of nine times.
As for that draft drama, it looks like we'll have to wait until the Jets are on the clock before the real fun begins.
4. Alvin Kamara is not a fan of playing 17 games
The NFL's 32 owners will be holding their annual meeting this week and when that happens, they'll be voting on whether or not to expand the regular season to 17 games (spoiler alert: It's going to happen). Over the weekend, ESPN's Adam Schefter tweeted about the subject and Kamara saw the tweet, which prompted him to respond with a tweet of his own.
"[Crap] dumb... as hell.." Kamara wrote of expanding the schedule to 17 games. Also, he did not use the word "crap," he used a word that rhymes with spit. (You can see the tweet by clicking here, but remember, there is a word in there that's NSFW.)
Kamara wasn't the only one who lodged a complaint about the NFL's plan to add a game. Packers safety Adrian Amos and Eagles cornerback Darius Slay also didn't seem too thrilled about the idea of playing 17 games.
Unfortunately for all three of these guys, the 17-game schedule is going to happen and it's likely going to be voted through as soon as Tuesday. According to NBC Sports, the owners will be holding a two-hour Zoom meeting that day (1-3 p.m. ET) and that's when they're expected to vote on the expanded schedule.
5. Ranking the best NFL draft picks of all time
With 31 days to go until the start of the 2021 NFL Draft, we decided to kickoff a new series this week that features the top draft picks of all time. The way this is going to work is pretty simple: Since there are 32 picks in the first round, we went through and listed the top-five picks for each one of those 32 spots and we'll be releasing them over the next 32 days. (The series actually started over the weekend, so don't worry, we'll get it all in before the draft actually starts.)
With that in mind, here's our list of the top-five No. 32 overall picks of all time:
1. Drew Brees (2001, Chargers)
2. Bob "The Geek" St. Clair (1953, 49ers)
3. Logan Mankins (2005, Patriots)
4. Lamar Jackson (2018, Ravens)
5. Benjamin Watson (2004, Patriots)
If you want to read a deeper explanation on the list, be sure to click here so you can check out Tyler Sullivan's full story. On the other hand, if you'd like to yell at Sullivan on Twitter for his list, feel free to click here.
To keep tabs on our entire rankings as we count down to the top-five No. 1 picks of all time, you'll want to click here.
6. Rapid fire roundup
After multiple big trades went down on Friday, I thought things might get a little crazy over the weekend, but it turns out, that didn't happen at all. Instead, there were only a few moves made, so that's what we're going to cover in today's roundup.
- Tyson Alualu bails on the Jaguars. At one point over the weekend, it looks like Alualu was going to sign with the Jaguars -- he even agreed to terms on a contract -- but when push came to shove, the defensive end decided he didn't want to go to Jacksonville and who can blame him. Instead, he signed a deal to stay in Pittsburgh.
- Raiders land another receiver. After spending the past three years in Baltimore, Willie Snead is headed across the country to Las Vegas after he agreed to a one-year deal with the Raiders.
- Vikings add some help in the secondary. The Vikings beefed up their secondary with two signings over the weekend. Not only are they bringing back Mackensie Alexander -- who spent last season in Cincinnati -- but they've also signed former Cowboys safety Xavier Woods.
- Chiefs beef up their defensive line. Seahawks defensive tackle Jarran Reed decided to ditch Seattle so he could sign a one-year deal with the Chiefs.
- Deshaun Watson facing three more lawsuits. The Texans quarterback is now facing a total of 19 lawsuits after three more were filed on Monday. For the latest details on the Watson situation, be sure to click here. Last week, Watson's attorney categorically denied all the allegations against the 25-year-old.
7. The Kicker: Tom Brady celebrated his favorite holiday over the weekend
I'm not sure what Tom Brady's favorite day on the calendar is, but I'm guessing that March 28 is in the top five and that's because Brady seems to mention it on social media every year. (You can see his tweet celebrating the day by clicking here.)
So why does Brady mention this random day? I know what you're thinking, and nope, it has nothing to do with the fact that March 28 is National Hot Tub Day. Brady celebrates March 28 because it's written out numerically as 3-28 and as we all know that was the score the Patriots were trailing by in the third quarter of Super Bowl LI. Since the most famous football player on the planet celebrates the 3-28 day every year, I'm starting to feel like the Falcons might not ever live down that blown lead.
