I've been reviewing numerous mock drafts in recent days. It's not that I've wanted to. I don't. I really don't. It's just that they've become as ubiquitous as ***holes - everybody has one and I can't seem to avoid them.
I saw one in a classified ad group on Facebook. The 80-year-old widow next door has hers posted on her front lawn (changes almost daily). The cop who stopped me for a busted tail light the other night "accidentally" let his slip out of his citation booklet (I told him it was the best I'd ever seen and got off with a warning). I found another one dated April 16th, 2018 in the package of Chips Ahoy! that I just opened (at least I knew that the package was fresh!).
Anyway, the point is that, if this draft goes the way most of them go, all of these mocks (including Kiper's, Mayock's, etc.) should begin to get some holes in them around pick 11 or 12 - perhaps even in the top-5 this year, what with all the "which QB to whom?" melodrama. Around pick #11/#12, some prospect will get selected who was widely projected to be picked 5-10 slots later. Then another one by around Pick #14. Then some team will trade up to #20 to take a guy who was almost universally projected to be picked in the early 2nd round.
By the time pick #23 rolls around, most of the mocks will be in full-on disintegration mode. Numerous prospects who were projected as "late-1st/early-2nd" will be free-falling into late-2nd or the 3rd or even later, dragging some "Top-15 lock" prospect with them. Prospects who were casually discarded as being late-3rd/4th/5th or after will be getting selected in the late-1st/mid-2nd (NOT including Belichick's semi-annual DB plucked from obscurity).
Kiper, of course, will be setting yet another world speed record in the 100-yard Rationalization without breaking a sweat or mussing his hair. BB's DB pick will just get a shrug. At some point, Eisen and Mayock will get the giggles and begin reminiscing about the good old days (including clips of Mayock's two interceptions) while missing several consecutive picks crossing the stage. McShay's camera and mic will develop "technical problems, and Jeremiah will begin mumbling and then start reciting his segments with an "I can't stand it! I don't care anymore!" attitude.
Rank-and-file fans will have a choice of laughing it off ("Pshaw! I only did those 7-round mocks, hourly, for three months, just for the fun of it!"), or slinking away in shame - or pretending that they missed the whole thing ("Wait! The draft was THIS weekend?! Crap! I thought I still had time to do my final, final version - which was going to be radically different from all my previous versions!").
So, best of luck to all you "mockers" out there! Don't be too disheartened if you get only four correct in the first round - and then nothing until the Giants trade the #220 and #241 to the Raiders for #212 in order to take RJ Bergsdorf-Other, the QB out of Northwest Alaska State Technical institute. At least you'll have nailed that one when no one else saw it coming!
BTW - have you seen my latest weekly mock? All seven rounds for every team, including UDFAs, plus 43 different trades, including some for NFL players! (Two words: Fish Smithson).
