2019 Post-Combine & Free Agency NFL Mock Draft 1.0

By the Football Garbage Time Staff

The NFL Combine is over and we’re well into prospect Pro Days, so it’s about time we took stock of who would go where in the 2019 NFL Draft.  It’s just a short time away on April 25 through 27, where we’ll have brand new roster additions for every team over 254 picks.  And although there are great picks across all 7 rounds of the draft (case in point being last year’s Super Bowl winning QB), that first round is where every team is looking to strike gold.

To help everyone sort this out, the staff of Football Garbage Time normally does a Twitter Mock Draft in early April with various other media and news outlets to get insight as to what each team may be looking for in the first round and where each prospect might end up.  But this year, we wanted to give everyone an early post-Combine look because, well, we just love doing nice things for our readers.

So over the course of a week in mid-March, 5 staff members of Football Garbage Time mock drafted all 32 picks of the first round of the NFL Draft over Twitter (check them out at #FGTMock).  And now we collect our Twitter Mock Draft 1.0 picks below with our thoughts as why we made those picks.  Curious what your favorite teams will do?  Well, take a look and sound off if you disagree!

And don’t worry, the Twitter Mock Draft 2.0 is still set to go in early April!  So keep it turned it!

1 – Arizona Cardinals

Pick: Kyler Murray – QB

Staff: Scott King

The new staff wants their own QB. They move off Rosen quickly and take Murray. I think he’s too small, but we’ll find out.

2 – San Fransisco 49ers

Pick: Nick Bosa – DE/Edge

Staff: Scott King

Probably the best player in the draft. He’ll be up the road from his brother. Bosa off the board.

3 – New York Jets

Pick: Jonah Williams OT

Staff: Ryan Whitfield

While some Jets fans wanted to get chirpy with me on Twitter (What a shocker), the fact of the matter is that this is the pick that the Jets need to make. For how many more years are we going to watch them try to assemble an all-time defense and ignore the offensive side of the ball? Williams may be a bit undersized, but his tape shows he can play Tackle, and he is one of the best overall prospects in this draft. With pieces coming together on the offensive side of the ball now, the Jets need to fortify their offensive line. Williams is the guy to do that.

4 – Oakland Raiders

Pick: Drew Lock – QB

Staff: Joanne Kong

With another Super Bowl win coming from the AFC East…or should I say…the New England Patriots (because lets face it…with competition like the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills and the Miami Dolphins, who are respectively 3, 9 and 13 in the first round draft pick…you’re bound to win your division), I needed some time to love football again. Unfortunately, I’m not there yet, but that doesn’t mean the sport of football stops. Nope…it keeps on going with the combine, trades, free agencies and the NFL draft. Yup…It’s called the “off-season,” but a lot is going on behind the curtain before OTA’s (Organized Team Activities) begins.

The Oakland Raiders finished the 2018 season 4-12, lead by new head coach Jon Gruden, who made some interesting moves during the season. He traded top defensive linebacker, Khalil Mack, wreaking their defense. He traded top wide receiver Amari Cooper, devastating their passing game. In the end, Gruden’s Raiders have three first round draft picks in 2019. Unfortunately, they would need all 32 picks to get this Raiders team off the bottom of the floor. But since, that’s not an option, we’ll start with pick number 4.

Friction between Gruden and Derek Carr didn’t go unnoticed in the 2018 season.

If Gruden is truly looking to start from scratch, the smart move would be to cut Derek Carr, and draft a quarterback. If released before the 2019 season, the Raiders would only be obligated to a 7.5 Million cap, instead of being responsible for a back heavy contract, owning 19.6 Million dollars until 2022.

The addition of Drew Lock would be the center piece of Gruden’s rebuild. A familiar relationship after working with Lock at the Senior Bowl, Gruden is looking for someone to mold. Lock might be that someone.

However, if Gruden is sticking with Derek Carr for the 2019 season, as he stated he would in various interviews.

The quarterback position should be the least of his priority in rebuilding the team.

5 – Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Pick: Josh Allen – LB/Edge

Staff: Scott King

One of my favorite players in the draft, I wish he’d fall to the Lions.

6 – New York Giants

Pick: Dwayne Haskins – QB

Staff: Joey Alibro

Giants are in desperate need of a QB to take over for Eli whether it be at some point this year or in 2020. Haskins has the tools to thrive in an intermediate passing game like the one being built in NY.

7 – Jacksonville Jaguars

Pick: D.K. Metcalf – WR

Staff: Joanne Kong

With Blake Bortles released from the Jacksonville Jaguars, their first need would be a quarterback. But, unless the Jaguars are looking to trade up, at Pick 7 – they’d be smart to go for another needed position, wide receiver.

Jaguars have released QB Blake Bortles. pic.twitter.com/ETQxq5VR1u

— NFL (@NFL) March 14, 2019

Regardless of whoever steps into the quarterback position, the Jaguars need to have a playmaker downfield to have any chance of success in the 2019 season. D.K. Metcalf had 569 yards, with an average of 21.9 yards per reception, and 5 touchdowns. He might be just what the Jaguars need.

8 – Detroit Lions

Pick: Montez Sweat – DE/Edge

Pick: Scott King

Even with Flowers the Lions need help up front.  From right up the road from me, Montez Sweat is that help.

9 – Buffalo Bills

Pick: T.J. Hockenson – TE

Staff: Ryan Whitfield

I’ll be clear here that I am first and foremost a Noah Fant guy when it comes to the Iowa tight ends. With that said, Hockenson is the man for Buffalo. He is a three-down tight end who can block and catch the ball and will be a valuable red zone asset for an undersized receiving core in Buffalo. The Bills need versatile players that can help protect Allen as well as give him options in the passing game. Hockenson fits this bill at a high level.

10 – Denver Broncos

Pick: Ed Oliver – DT/DE

Staff: Ha Kung Wong

Except for 2014, John Elway has taken a defensive front seven player for the Broncos with at least one of his top two selections in every NFL draft.  I would have said that this year would be different, at least in the first round, in light of how much Elway is smitten with Drew Lock, even with the Broncos signing Joe Flacco.  But, Lock was taken in our draft by Jon Gruden, who also has some serious interest in him taking over after he kicks Derek Carr to the curb in 2020, and with the top 3 QBs gone, I thought carefully about taking Daniel Jones, but then decided to go where I think the Broncos most need help — and where Elway usually likes to go in the draft — on the defensive line.

Ed Oliver is an impactful interior defensive lineman who racked up 53 tackles for loss and 13.5 sacks in his three seasons with Houston, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t come with some concerns.  There’s some criticism about his size and lack of clarity as to whether he would be of an effective pass rusher in the NFL, but the upside is for real.  Plus, putting him on the inside along with Von Miller and Bradley Chubb on the outside sounds like a crazy nightmare for opposing offenses.

11 – Cincinnati Bengals

Pick: Devin White – LB

Staff: Joey Alibro

The Bengals just cut troubled LB Vontaze Burfict which leaves a gaping hole at middle linebacker for a team already lacking talent on that side of the ball. White is the best player at his position and projects to be an absolute stud at the next level.

12 – Green Bay Packers

Pick: Jachai Polite – DE/Edge

Staff: Ha Kung Wong

Clay Mathews is an unrestricted free agent and the Packers are now in serious need of a pass rusher, so I think they do well taking Jachai Polite.  Although a little undersized at 6-2, 242 pounds, and coming off an underwhelming Combine, Polite’s speed and athleticism are crazy on the field and his pass-rushing skills are undeniable, earning him second-team All-American honors from the AP and second-team all-conference honors from SEC coaches. He led the Florida Gators in 2018 with 17.5 tackles for loss and 11 sacks on the year and led the nation with 6 forced fumbles.  He’d go a long way to building up the Packers defense into the future.

13 – Miami Dolphins

Pick: Daniel Jones – QB

Staff: Ryan Whitfield

The Dolphins still haven’t replaced Dan Marino, think about that. For a second, the Fitzpatrick signing made me think this pick would no longer be relevant, but I realized that the exact opposite is actually the truth here. Fitzpatrick essentially guarantees the Dolphins a six to eight-win season. Simply put, the Dolphins won’t have a shot at Tua in 2020. Jones is no sure thing, but I like what I’ve seen on film. There is no more pressing issue for the Dolphins than to find their next QB. They need to throw every piece of capital at it until they find the guy.

14 – Atlanta Falcons

Pick: Quinnen Williams – DT

Staff: Scott King

The Falcons would sprint up to take Williams off the board here, they need D line help.

15 – Washington Redskins

Pick: Hakeem Butler – WR

Staff: Joey Alibro

The Redskins still need a QB, but with the Keenum trade and Alex Smith still under contract, going with a physically gifted receiver in Butler is a great building block for whoever they eventually make their QB of the future.

16 – Carolina Panthers

Pick: Jawaan Taylor – OT

Staff: Scott King

Cam needs blocking, Taylor off the board.

17 – New York Giants (from Browns)

Pick: Brian Burns – LB/Edge

Staff: Joey Alibro

After trading Olivier Vernon, the Giants have a huge hole at EDGE. Brian Burns is a fast twitch guy with outstanding use of leverage and can step in and produce day 1 for a depleted Giants defense.

18 – Minnesota Vikings

Pick: Greg Little – OT

Staff: Ha Kung Wong

It’s been since 2012 that the Vikings selected a offensive lineman in the first round of the draft, but they could certainly use the help after a lackluster 2018.  In could step Greg Little, who would be an immediate upgrade to the line protecting Kirk Cousins, having allowed just 10 pressures in 493 pass blocking snaps in 2018.  He has perfect size at 6’6″ and 325 pounds and shows great speed and athleticism along the line at a critical position left tackle position.  Cousins has a crazy high guaranteed contract, so mission one has to be keeping him upright.

19 – Tennessee Titans

Pick: Clelin Ferrell – DE/Edge

Staff: Joanne Kong

There is a question of whether the Titans can do with an upgrade in quarterback with Marcus Mariota showing minimal progress in his four years in the NFL, and suffering injury every year. But at pick 19, quarterback isn’t an option the Titans should consider.

Wide receiver is also a position that the Titans need to strengthen. With no play makers, expect TE, Delanie Walker, who’s getting older, Mariota is hard up for targets down field. With Delanie Walker injured for most of he 2018 season, Corey Davis, a second year WR, definitely stepped up with 891 receiving yards and 4 touchdowns. Luckily for the Titans, the 2019 draft class is deep with wide receivers. And with D.K. Metcalf off the board, it might behoove them take another position.

Yes, I am aware that the Tennessee Titans added an edge rusher, Harold Landry, in the first round of the 2018 draft. In his rookie season, Landry ended up with 4.5 sacks. The Titans finished the season allowing the eighth fewest yards in the league, and the tenth most sacks, 47. Making a good defense better, might just bring this Titans team to the next level.

20 – Pittsburgh Steelers

Pick: Greedy Williams – CB

Staff: Joey Alibro

Another year, another gaping hole at CB for Pittsburgh. In a lackluster draft for top end cornerback talent, Greedy Williams is their best option at pick 20. I wouldn’t be surprised if Georgia defensive back Deandre Baker is the name called on April 25 in Nashville either.

21 – Seattle Seahawks

Pick: Rashan Gary – DL

Staff: Scott King

They take the Wolverine and continue the deep D line draft. He blasted the Combine with the fastest 40-yard dash among DLs (4.58), the highest vertical jump among DLs (38.0 inches), second longest broad jump among DLs (120.0) and the fourth fastest 20 yard shuttle among DLs (4.29).  In 2017, he earned first-team All-Big Ten honors at Michigan with 66 stops, 12 for loss, and 6 sacks in 13 starts, and followed that up in 2018 with another first-team pick compiling 44 tackles, 7 for loss, and 3.5 sacks in 12 games.  Gary goes here.

22 – Baltimore Ravens

Pick: Marquise Brown – WR

Staff: Joey Alibro

The Ravens have been searching for a number 1 wideout for what seems like the last 5 years. Breshad Perriman didn’t pan out, and another tight end in the first round is not going to solve their passing game woes. Marquise Brown was a stud at Oklahoma catching passes from Kyler Murray, and he should see similar success hauling them in from a QB with a similar skill set in Jackson.

23 – Houston Texans

Pick: Noah Fant – TE

Staff: Joanne Kong

If the Houston Texans see quarterback, Deshaun Watson, as a franchise player, the Texans would be smart to protect him. The Texans offensive line allowed 62 sacks in the 2018 season. Not great. Unfortunately, with the 23rd pick, and a mock draft that loves offensive lineman, the Texans pick another needed position, tight end.

The tight end position has been an uncertain one for a while for the Texans, and they could use a solid player to round out the offense.

24 – Oakland Raiders (from Bears)

Pick: Christian Wilkins – DL

Staff: Joanne Kong

With wide receiver, Antonio Brown, added to the Oakland Raiders roster, the wide receiver position should fall on the list of priority need for the team.

RAIDER NATION… IM HERE ? https://t.co/d3X7tEjBTC pic.twitter.com/nqcUpmXbVX

— Antonio Brown (@AB84) March 14, 2019

With both sides of the line in need of work, Oakland need to focus on their defense with the second pick in the first round. We’ve all seen the success a good defense can bring to an NFL and team, and that’s exactly what the Raiders need…some defensive success.

In 2018, Wilkins had 25 solo tackles, 6 sacks and a forced fumble.

25 – Philadelphia Eagles

Pick: Joshua Jacobs – RB

Staff: Joey Alibro

The Eagles are one of the more complete teams in the league. I usually am against selecting a RB in the first round, but this is a luxury this team can afford. Jacobs is polished runner with excellent vision and should make Carson Wentz’s job a lot easier come September.

26 – Indianapolis Colts

Pick: A.J. Brown – WR

Staff: Joanne Kong

The Indianapolis Colts have done a great job in fixing their offensive line, allowing only 18 sacks in the 2018 season. The least sacked quarterback in the league. Comparatively, in 2017, the Colts offense line allowed the most sacks on their quarterback, 56. Quarterback, Andrew Luck also returned from injury in 2018, looking in form.

To strengthen the Colts offense, the priority should be placed on drafting a wide receiver. T.Y. Hilton is their biggest play maker, and an obvious target for the Colts offense down field. An addition to the receiving core would allow the Colts to boost their scoring power.

27 – Oakland Raiders (from Cowboys)

Pick: Deandre Baker – CB

Staff: Joanne Kong

Fixing the offensive or defensive side of the game is done by trial and error. Sometimes, fixing the right position boosts up every other. But the bottom line, there are no guarantees during the draft. We’ve all seen top picks fail, and lower draft selections excel in the NFL.

With the addition of Antonio Brown, a wide receiver shouldn’t be a priority for the first round. Instead, they should focus on building their defense. With the position of the defensive line previously selected, the Raiders could use some work on their secondary. Challenging offensive receivers and breaking up plays can not only boost the defensive line, but win games.

28 – LA Chargers

Pick: Jerry Tillary – DT

Staff: Ha Kung Wong

I really thought about taking Jeffery Simmons here, even with the horrible history and the ACL tear.  But I just can’t take that chance for the Chargers in light of the immediate need on defense.  So I’m going with Jerry Tillery instead.  He has the perfect frame at 6’6″ and 295 pounds with solid speed and strength to have immediate impact on the Chargers defense providing a significant inside pass rush, as well as be an anchor into the future.  He’ll need some time to grow, but I watched a bunch of tape on him at Notre Dame, and he consistently found his way up the middle to the QB.  He’s a solid late first round pick.

29 – Kansas City Chiefs

Pick: Dre’Mont Jones – DT

Staff: Ha Kung Wong

It’s clear that the Chiefs have most of what they need on offense with breakout star Patrick Mahomes, but the other side of the ball is a different story.  They definitely need impact players on defense, and I think that Dre’Mont Jones fits the bill.  He had a stellar last year with 43 tackles, 13 for loss, 8.5 sacks, one interception, and three fumble recoveries, earning him first-team All-Big Ten honors.  The Chiefs were one defensive stop away from the Super Bowl this year, but Jones’ demonstrated solid pursuit angles and strong pursuit speed just might be enough to get them over the hump next year.

30 – Green Bay Packers (from Saints)

Pick: Dalton Risner – OT

Staff: Ha Kung Wong

The Packers have to make sure that Aaron Rodgers stays upright, as we all saw what happens when he’s injured.  So grabbing a OT at this point makes a lot of sense, and Dalton Risner is one of the top prospect to grab.  In 2018 he was named a second-team Associated Press All-American for his play at right tackle and he was named one of three Offensive Linemen of the Year and first-team all-conference.  He’s a great anchor that can resist power rushers and plays wide to keep defenders in front of him, which is all going to make him Rodgers’ best friend.

31 – LA Rams

Pick: Dexter Lawrence – DT

Staff: Scott King

More D line and protects from Suh leaving. Lawrence off the books.

32 – New England Patriots

Pick: Devin Bush – LB

Staff: Ryan Whitfield

Ahh, the seemingly annual Patriots pick at 32. Get it? It’s because they win the Super Bowl so bleeping often. Does that suck for you? The exception here, of course, is if they’ve cheated again and had to cough up a first round pick. And now that I’ve pissed off both sides we can jump into the analysis. This pick makes sense for so many reasons. One, the aging Hightower makes linebacker a position of need. Secondly, Belichick loves legacy guys. Bush’s Dad played several years in the league and won a Super Bowl with the Rams and a National Title with FSU. Thirdly, Bush is a big leadership guy which would again be important to replacing Hightower in the future. Lastly, if Bush really is available at 32, this means he fell and the Patriots can draft a top 25 talent at 32.