In Terms of Huskies, There's No Mocking This NFL Mock Draft

They call them mock drafts for a reason. Usually you can make fun of them. Poke holes in them. Ridicule them. They're often no better than dart boards.

However, Pro Football Focus, after moving names around following a week of Senior Bowl workouts in Mobile, Alabama, has come up with a two-round NFL Draft preview that, well, puts the focus squarely on the University of Washington football program.

One look at this talent grab and there's no denying the Huskies should have played in the College Football Playoff national championship game.

In fact, how did they lose it?

PFF has five Huskies drafted in the first 54 picks — including four going in the first round — in wide receiver Rome Oduzne (No. 6), quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (13), offensive tackle Troy Fautanu (21), edge rusher Bralen Trice (26) and wide receiver Ja'Lynn Polk (54). Add to that group former UW edge rusher Laiatu Latu, who's included as a first-rounder (19), as well.

Conversely, national champ Michigan has no first-round players singled out by the football analytics outfit; instead the highest-ranked Wolverines, four in all, are relegated to the second round, beginning with quarterback J.J. McCarthy at No. 42.

If PFF's forecasting holds up, Odunze stands to become the second-highest Husky drafted ever, trailing only game-wrecking defensive tackle Steve Emtman, who went No. 1 in 1992.

At No. 6, this Las Vegas kid is projected to go to the Giants in New York, a city that seems most appropriate enough for him considering his media skills.

Everybody loves Odunze, after all. Just the watch the attached video to see how UW players often reacted to him without prompting.

Rome for president?

PPF has three quarterbacks in 2022 Heisman winner Caleb Williams, Drake Maye and 2023 Heisman winner Jayden Daniels, in that order, going in the first three picks, followed by Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. and Georgia tight end Brock Bowers. No arguments there. That's a lot of football firepower.

Speaking of quarterbacks, PFF doesn't subscribe to the notion that Penix isn't a first-rounder. That he's too fragile, too injury-prone, too risky. It has him going at the lucky 13th pick for him to the Las Vegas Raiders, which seems fitting since the left-hander played in his second-to-last college football game at Allegiant Stadium in Sin City, won there and was named top offensive player of the Pac-12 championship game.

Twenty-one picks in is Fautanu, the fastest-rising Husky in draft circles. PFF has made him a Miami Dolphin. He probably deserves a warm-weather pro football home considering his five years of practicing in the rain in Montlake.

Trice, if this mock draft holds up, will have an interesting dilemma on his hands in his new NFL home. PFF has him going to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a franchise that almost seems like a Husky clearinghouse these days, with alums in defensive tackles Vita Vea and Greg Gaines, tight end Cade Otton and, wait for it, edge rusher Joe Tryon-Shoyinka on the roster.

Former UW edge-rusher coach Ikaika Malloe famously once suggested that Trice would be a better player than Tryon-Shoyinka. Here's the chance to see if it's real. Let them go at it for the same position, same team, same snaps. Truly, let the best man win.

Again, the latest PFF mock draft can be accessed here.

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published. Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com or https://www.facebook.com/dan.raley.12

Follow Dan Raley of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @DanRaley1 or @UWFanNation or @DanRaley3

Have a question, direct message me on Facebook or Twitter.