Bleacher Nation

Mostly, this first edition made me think a lot about how to get this into shape and how others approach the draft from a “pro mocker” standpoint. To get an NFL mock draft right, I think it’s great to have lists of rankings by position but, you have to understand that if you ranked the top ten cornerbacks and had all 32 front offices do the same, you may have 33 different lists. So many factors come into play at each draft slot and all it takes is one team to do something weird and months of work don’t mean much as players fall to spots no one saw coming (looking at you, Raiders.) So, as my eyes turn to the combine, I’ll work on tightening up the lists and considering how each camp would hypothetically treat each positional group based on how they’ve drafted in the past, what type of player best fits their scheme/needs, and even what they’ve done in free agency in years past. With the combine will come hype, which will drive many articles but they can’t all be Travon Walker, and for every riser, someone has to fall. I’ll revise this early next week after some 40 times and Wonderlic results come in. So, roast me if you must but here’s my first 2023 NFL Mock Draft of the season.