Our NFL Mock Draft Deep Dive Picks 25-28

I got the Chicago Bears coming at number 25 and.

I, I think that there's a couple of things that we can do here.

I think the most sensible thing that we can do here though is, is, is probably take another offensive lineman.

Am I right on that?

Or are you, yeah, I mean, I, I, it just sort of depends on, like, to me it's like, how do you feel about Ozzie Traillo, who I think played pretty well at left tackle before he got hurt.

And like his recovery from the, the, the torn patellar tendon because that's a really bad one for a big man, you know, so like, you know, are you, are you OK with Going forward and patching it together with, with what you have, which they brought in Jedrick Wills, they still have Braxton Jones there, and you're just kind of like duct taping it together until Ozzie Traillo is ready.

Is Ozzie Traillo gonna be the same as he was.

He could wind up missing the whole year, you know , so there's still some questions there and I think tackle is definitely something you have to consider here.

I mean, tackle, you know, like if we're looking at what's left, um, you know, we have some interesting, we still have a Cooper at wide receiver.

Um, we have some edge players that are like, uh, you know, like I think you could probably talk yourself into it.

Um, you have, you know, do you, if you're the Bears, do you step up and do you take, The cream of the crop in terms of the interior, um.

In, in terms of the interior tackle group, um, or if you're Ben Johnson, because again, I mean, God, you know, like, the Bears were not good on the interior defensive line last year.

And that's another one, right?

Where it's like, do you, Uh This is a tough one, cause again, like Joe Tooney, for example, you know, again, like this team was so.

Fortunately healthy on the offensive line last year.

And do you buttress yourself there?

And do you take someone like Blake Miller, who you know can play tackle, is an Ironman, um, could slide into guard if you, you know, if you like what you have at tackle.

I mean, I, I just feel like, I mean, I think that's where I'm going to go.

And again, I'm, I'm sure they're Bears fans just like pounding the table because again, there are good, they're good defensive interior guys, but maybe if you're Chicago, you, Yeah, let me see what they have here.

Uh, maybe trade back up, uh, into the early 2nd to, to catch one of these, uh, uh, oh yeah, OK, because you have the, you have the extra 2nd round pick.

So you're picking a 25, 57, and 60.

1 of those defensive interior guys might fall to them in the 2nd round.

Maybe they know that.

I don't know.

Um, I'm gonna take, I'm gonna take the kid from Clemson just because, I don't know.

You saw it in Detroit with Ben Johnson and how critical that offensive line was to doing exactly what he needed to do.

And then when that offensive line fell apart with the Lions, how quickly that saps the lifeblood out of this team.

So, I think building a stable of these guys is of utmost importance.

And so, I don't know, we're going to slap Blake Miller on the board here from Clemson.

Right, right, so, and he was.

So most of his starts came at right tackle.

He had one start in college at left tackle.

So now, are you talking about Darnell Wright going to the left side or are you projecting Blake Miller to the left side?

That'd be the question.

But they did just do that like Trapillo played some left tackle at Boston College, but finished up as a right tackle there.

So, um, OK, so Buffalo at 26.

So , I, I, I don't know the corner is really a strength for them, but they did draft Hairston last year in the 1st round.

Um, I'd say edge rusher and receiver are two positions you want to look at if you're them.

Um, but they did get some veterans in those spots, and, uh, and bringing in Bradley Chubb and obviously trading for DJ Moore.

Um, so you don't have a ton of needs.

They're another team that I think could use an interior defensive lineman, although the kid they drafted from Kentucky last year, um, Dion Walker, like has a chance, I think to be really good, a massive human being, right?

So, I, I think like the Bills have some flexibility here to say, do we take the edge or do we take the receiver?

And I think edge is probably a bigger need right now.

But God, do I love Omar Cooper, um, and God, do I think that that's a good fit, you know what I mean, like just tough as nails, a war daddy, and like everything you want, and I just think as far as like You know, I remember last year just kind of the revolving door at receiver and they're, they're cycling Brandon Cooks through there and, and shavers and it's just like it felt like, God, like they, they just kind of keep trying to like patch like ever since.

Ever since losing Stefon Diggs, they've been like patching this thing together, you know what I mean, a receiver, and so you have your number one now in DJ Moore.

He's a little older, and then you have your next one in the pipeline with Elmar Cooper.

So I'll go with Elmar Cooper from Indiana there, which I love that if you're, if you're Brandon Beane, uh, and you're able to because this is about winning.

This is about winning the battle, right?

Uh, you, you, you came out on top, uh, in the arm wrestling match.

Sean McDermott's not there anymore.

You got a new stadium, you got an exciting young head coach, uh, you got a defensive coordinator that I would be thrilled about if I were the if I were Bills fans in, uh, in Jim Leonard.

Uh, I'm biased, so I covered Jim as a young man.

And, uh, And then you walk into this thing with a receiver like Omar Cooper who slipped to this point in the draft and you're Brandon Beane, you say, I'm taking another swing at it, baby, you know, like that's all you can do.

This is the, I love like I, I've got some of my notes here from the scouts and I think this is like.

So, like, here's one, one's a really versatile inside, outside, inside strength, he's got playing strength, he's got size, a lot of production, he can play everywhere, good hands, you know what you're getting.

Tough, like in the receiver class as a whole, you look at him versus Guys like Tyson and Concepcion where you're not as certain on them.

Another 11 of the most productive rack kids in the country, played more outside in 2024, inside this year, and was a lot more productive, won't blow you away speed-wise, but plays really fast.

He's instinctive, he's strong, he's tough.

Like I just think like, this is a guy who He's gonna be a really good player, you know, and like, what that looks like in 5 years, we'll see, but I, I think it's just like you're projecting less with him than you are with, you know, a Concepcion, a Tyson, uh, you know, like, it's just, I, I think that there are some teams that view him, like I'll just say this, I think there's some teams that view him as the 2nd-best receiver in the class behind Carnell Tate.

That'll stun some people.

Um, but like a lot of the stuff you hear about Makai Lemon, you hear about Omar Cooper as well, you know, so, um, and he was, and look, like part of it too for him, if you look at like the situation he was in last year, like he had two other like really good receivers next to him and Elijah Surratt, who was like the ultimate back shoulder fade.

Um, you know, contested catch guy, and then the young guy, Charlie Becker, who is gonna be a really good player for Indiana this year, was a sophomore last year.

Uh, I just like Cooper all the way around, and, um, I think a lot of the league does too, and it just, again, you know, it feels like for, for Brandon Beane, that would be parking one in the middle of the fairway.

Speaking of which, I'm gonna park another one right in the middle of the fairway.

Uh, with my next pick, I, I would have, I think if the Forty-Niners had not gotten Mike Evans, we have an interesting conversation to be had hereoper would be perfect for the Niners, I know, right?

Um, and if he'd gotten there, I think, you know, and, and maybe would they have traded up because again, we didn't do trades in this one.

And so I, I think that's worth mentioning too is like, you know, are some of these teams going to position themselves in a certain way.

You mentioned Caleb Lomu.

Uh, you know, I, I think that if you're Kyle Shannon, you can't keep kicking the can down the road here with Trent Williams.

He's 38, you know, and then we're getting to this point every year where you're being held hostage contractually.

I, I think Lomu, and I'm curious what you kind of have on your notes on this, but it just seems like it's not a finished product by any stretch.

But if you can sit him behind, and, and here's the other thing, right?

The Eagles don't have um.

The Eagles don't have Jeff Stoutland, but the Forty-Niners have Chris Fer, OK, and Chris Ferer is one of the best offensive line coaches in the NFL, period, right?

And so do you feed him a little bit of that, you know, this to me is like exactly what you're talking, what we were talking about, right?

So like with Lou, um, I'll give you a couple.

11 scout said really young, good athlete, pass protection.

He's a strength, 21 years old, he's not there yet in run blocking.

Um, he's not very physical, but that can come with age.

Um, he's not a bully in the run game, finesse player.

Uh, hold on one second.

Um, and then, Um, you know, people are now another scout, people are now recognizing what kind of athlete he is, he can bend, he's never on the ground.

Um, he's young , so he's not as strong yet, but he'll be a good player in pass protection right, right away, and the run, run blocking is the question.

So you get a lot of the same things on him.

No other steady offensive tackle, guard flex, good, good size and length, steady player, still young with a lot of upside, um, so like it's just like it's, it's, it's one of these kids where it's like you look at him, you know, in a way it reminds me a little bit of how people talked about, um, uh.

The, um, about Joe Staley, um, you know, to, to, to spin it back Niners-wise, when Joe Staley was coming out of Central Michigan, and this was such a long time ago, but he was kind of one of these guys that, he's a really good athlete, maybe he, like, and he could get there.

And if you remember, like Scott McLuhan actually traded.

His pick the next year for him, so that wound up being a top 10 pick he gave up to get Joe Staley at 28, but they had real conviction.

Staley, I believe Staley and Patrick Willis were the same draft.

They got two of them in the same draft, and obviously they both became like all-time players for them.

And so I think like that's a decent comp.

Like it's looking at like somebody like Staley who developed.

You have the line coach.

You have the infrastructure.

I think you're gonna have, I think they'll work it out with Trent Williams.

So you have Trent Williams for another year.

So like you don't have to force anything yet, you know, you could play him somewhere else on the line if you needed to for now, or you could redshirt him and the thought would be to have him ready to go at left tackle in 2027, yeah, and I think that puts a, you know, and, and I don't know what that does.

Does that escalate the Trent Williams situation?

Does that aggravate the Trent Williams situation?

Probably gives you like a little leverage too, which is probably, I mean, it's not why you do it, but it might be a side benefit.

Yeah, it's just like, OK, man, you know, uh, it's, you're obviously the best, one of the best who's ever done it, um, but we need you in here and we need it to cost a certain amount of money and if you don't want to, then we got to roll.

Um, all right, that's, that's interesting.

Now we have the Texans at 28 who Albert, I, I, my guess would be possibly didn't like the fact that we just picked a guy that could have been pretty useful to them there.

Yeah, and like, so I look at it like, um, You know, their offensive lines obviously like a, a huge work in progress and something that they've been trying to get right for a while.

And I think it's like the one spot on their roster right now that, that remains unsettled.

Now, I will say like they were pretty happy with Ariante Ursay at left tackle last year, um, as somebody that they really felt like, all right, like, you know, we've got something like he, like he can be either a left tackle or right tackle of the future.

Um, they bring in Braden Smith.

They have Wyatt Teller, they bring in, um, they bring back Ed Ingraham.

So it at least looks like they've got, um, a starting five, right?

Like a starting five ready to go.

Um.

I still think they need one more, and I still think that like this is something where you, you're looking to kind of get this fixed long term and the idea of having two tackles on rookie contracts really, I think would be appealing.

And if you have some flexibility to develop a guy, maybe you take it the same way we were way we were talking about Lou, and I just don't think these sorts of opportunities are gonna be there later in the draft.

So I'm gonna take Maxhanachore from Arizona State, um, with the twenty-eighth pick .

I, I think he is, he's a great story for people who don't know.

Um, went to junior college, was convinced to give football a try.

He was a, he's a Nigerian immigrant.

I think he moved here when he was in his, in his teens.

Um, soccer player, basketball player, um, played basketball, I believe, at the junior college, was convinced to give football a shot , um, wound up becoming like this revelation like, oh my God, what can he become?

So like he's barely scratching the surface of who he is athletically.

For people who don't know, he is the guy who was wrestling with Mike Vrabel at the pro day.

Oh yeah, yeah, so he, he's, I, I think like.

I, I just think that there's like a real potential here.

You know what I mean?

Real potential for him to be something.

He was a right tackle in college.

So, um, I think Braden Smith's a nice get for the, for the, the Texans, but with his injury history and some of the other stuff, I don't know how much you can rely on it.

And so, I just, I don't know.

I think if you're, um, you know, and I believe they've got a couple of 2nd-round picks as well, um.

I just think that the likelihood of there being, you know, another, and I was sort of tempted to maybe, like, you don't know, you know, a corner like opposite, um, you know, what, what's gonna happen with Kamari Lassiter opposite Derrick Stanley, can you afford to pay him too?

Do you get ahead of that and draft Colton Hood from Tennessee, um, you know, I, I, I, Yeah, I have some thoughts creatively because they don't have a lot of holes, you know, they just don't have an area where you look at, could you take a Cayden McDonald or a Kristen Miller here and, and like just keep feeding that D line.

Like I guess you could do that, right?

But, um, I still think like when I look across the board at where they're at and the way Nick Casarios built that roster up and the way that Damio Ryans and his staff have developed it, I think getting a Hanna tour in the pipeline makes sense.

I have to just shout out, um, PFF did a, uh, uh, their latest mock draft, and, uh, they had the Texans taking that kid Jacob Rodriguez out of Texas Tech because, uh, Aziz Alshir, uh, is going to be a free agent at the end of this year and just watching him and, you know, because that made me kind of dig in a little bit more on him and just, uh, oh my God , like how much fun and I'm not, you know, he probably a little early for him there, but if you're Demio Ryan.

Oh yeah, and they have 2 2s.

If you're Damio Ryans, how are you not sticking your head in that room every 5 minutes being like, hey, is he around?

Can we have that guy?

Looks pretty good.