NFL Draft Lounge

I’ve long been an NFL Draft addict, but this is my first time covering it for NFL Draft Lounge. My path to today accidentally began at my bachelor party, which just so happened to be on the night of the 1st round of the 2021 NFL Draft. That story is below. Otherwise, feel free to skip ahead to the picks in this final 2023 NFL Mock Draft. My best man, knowing me well, made a game of predicting the top 10 picks (I certainly would’ve gone all 32, but not so much for all the attendees). If you don’t remember, most people were confident the top two picks would be Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson so essentially the draft, and the bachelor party game, started at 3. The rumor, met with plenty of skepticism, had been that the 49ers traded up for Mac Jones even though many assumed it had been for the athletic yet inexperienced Trey Lance. Lucky for me, unlucky for most of my competitors, and probably thanks to my addiction to reading every possible draft rumor even on the weekend of my wedding, I picked correctly. I viewed picks 4 and 5 through the lens of being an Eagles fan. “We” were in desperate need of an elite pass catcher after whiffing on JJ Arcega-Whiteside and Jalen Reagor in back-to-back drafts with Justin Jefferson and DK Metcalf on the board (#pain). Say what you want about Howie Roseman’s history of hitting on 1st round picks, but nobody reads the draft and slides up or down better. As soon as he moved out of the 6 spot I assumed he was confident that both Ja’Marr Chase and Kyle Pitts would not have been available and while I felt strongly the Bengals should focus on protecting Joe Burrow with an elite OT talent like Penei Sewell, it appeared they were more interested in reuniting him with Chase. I don’t recall if I had any specific reasoning on Jaylen Waddle being the pick for the Dolphins other than the idea that teams were going out of their way to pair their QBs with their WRs from college, but I’m sure it was rumored somewhere. I was able to nail pick 7 being Sewell and pick 9 being Patrick Surtain II. As a Justin Fields believer, I was offended when my first wrong pick was at 8 when the Panthers passed on him for Jaycee Horn. Sitting here today, with no offense to Horn, I think the Panthers would like that one back. Lastly in the top 10, I had Rashawn Slater. While he clearly turned out to be a stud worthy of a top 10 selection, it was probably a mistake because I was essentially projecting a team trading up for him specifically at 10.