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Final 2020 First Round Mock Draft and Some Thoughts Heading Into Tonight

Mark Morse
Mark Morse on Twitter
April 23, 2020 at 9:20 am ET

Final 2020 First Round Mock Draft and Some Thoughts Heading Into Tonight(PHOTO: Douglas DeFelice - USA TODAY Sports)

🕑 Read Time: 5 minutes

With the 2020 NFL Draft set for tonight, here’s a look at how I believe things may go down as team’s begin making their selections:

  1. Joe Burrows                      QB          LSU

CIN selection is the consensus #1 pick

  1. Chase Young                     EDGE     Ohio St

WAS has that Edge rusher every team covets

  1. Andrew Thomas OT          Georgia

MIA TRADES with DET to jump ahead of NYG. They want that stud LT to anchor their OL for years to come. MIA was scared off by Tua’s medical reports.

  1. Tristin Wirfs OT          Iowa

NYG get their plug and play RT who will eventually replace Solder at LT

  1. Isaiah Simmons                LB           Clemson

Big surprise here as DET switches to the swiss army knife defender they can play all over the place.  They can pick up a pretty good CB in rd 2.

  1. Justin Herbert                  QB          Oregon

LAC don’t waste any time in taking Herbert a laid back cool cat that will be the face of the Franchise for years to come.

  1. Derek Brown                    DT           Auburn

Talent wise, Brown may be the best player in this draft.  CAR is thrilled to get him

  1. Jeff Okudah                      CB           Ohio St

Arizona can’t believe the best CB just fell in their lap.  They were trying to trade up to insure they got a good CB

  1. Jedrick Wills                       OT          Alabama

The 3rd of the big 4 OL.  JAX forgoes taking Tua to solidify the OL for Minshew.

  1. CeeDee Lamb                  WR         Oklahoma

CLE starts the run of WR’s.  Could this mean OBJ is on his way out of CLE?

  1. Mekhi Becton                   DT           Louisville

NYJ pull a surprise here by not taking a WR.  They get the 4th Big Ugly OT.  He is so big that he needs his own zip code!  They can get a WR in the 2nd round

  1. Jerry Jeudy                        WR         Alabama

LV grabs a speedy WR just like days of old.

  1. Henry Ruggs                      WR         Alabama

SF can’t pass on taking the super talented Ruggs.  Nice book ends with Deebo Samuel.

  1. CJ Henderson                   CB           Florida

TB get their shutdown CB.

  1. K’Lavon Chaisson            EDGE     LSU

TRADE – DAL gets this pick to jump ahead of ATL who also needs an EDGE rusher.

  1. Yetur Gross-Matos         EDGE     Penn St.

ATL takes the next best thing in Matos.  Reminds me of Chandler Jones

  1. Justin Jefferson               WR         LSU

DEN moves back a couple of slots and still gets their WR

  1. Tua Tagovailoa                 QB          Alabama

MIA was concerned enough not to take him at #4.  Value is too great here.  They also received calls to trade this pick.

  1. Jordan Love                       QB          Utah St

LV feels the Love.  Not sold on Carr.

  1. Javon Kinlaw                     DT           South Carolina

JAX get an anchor for the DL this time.  Knee concerns dropped him in the 1’st round

  1. AJ Terrell                            CB           Clemson

PHI need at CB prompted than to take Terrell

  1. Ezra Cleveland                  OT          Boise St.

Big surprise here.  MIN felt his big move up the draft board justified taking Cleveland here.

  1. Kenneth Murray             LB           Oklahoma

TRADE – NE makes trade with one of their regular trade partners BAL who covets Murray.

  1. Josh Jones                         OT          Houston

NO can’t get their QB here so switches gears and takes Best OT available

  1. Brandon Ayiuk                 WR         Arizona St.

MIN grabs their replacement for Diggs.  Aiyuk reminds me of Pats Harry.

  1. Isaiah Wilson                     OT          Georgia

MIA takes another OT in the 1st.  Bookends for years to come

  1. AJ Epenesa                        EDGE     Iowa

SEA takes the player many Pats fans hoped they would select

  1. Xavier McKinney            S              Alabama

NE recognizes they have aging S and get younger.  Trade gets them 2nd rd #60 while giving up 3rd #87 and 5th #172 to make the trade work.

  1. Kristian Fulton                  CB           LSU

TEN cut Logan Ryan and Malcolm Butler is not the answer.

  1. Michael Pittman              WR         USC

GB takes a shot at the big receiver I wished we had taken.  6’ 4” and runs under 4.5

  1. Patrick Queen                  LB           LSU

SF has addressed the WR with the 1st pick now goes for the speedy LB.

  1. D’Andre Swift                   RB           Georgia

KC offense gets the top RB in the draft.  He can catch and pass block too!

This is going to be one of the wildest drafts dating back to the days of the old AFL and a telephone draft.  In one of those drafts, the Patriots drafted the wrong player with the same or similar name.  The player they drafted was actually dead.

– Sorry to read about the passing of former New Orleans Kicker Tom Dempsey.  He held the record for the longest FG in the league for quite awhile.   Dempsey had a shod foot and kicked straight on with a specially designed squared off boot.  What many people didn’t know was that Dempsey played locally for the then Lowell Giants minor league football team.  He lived across the street from my wife in Lowell.

– The pressure is on Bill Belichick and the scouting staff to have a good draft.  The team desperately needs to find some good young talent.  Outside of the secondary, the team is woefully weak at all the skill positions.  They haven’t developed a drafted Pro Bowl caliber player in the last six drafts.

– Look for Joe Thuney to get dealt during the draft.  Mike Reiss reported the team has made no progress in signing Thuney to a long term deal.  I read a tweet from Armando Salquero the Dolphins beat writer for the Miami Herald.  He stated the Dolphins have been interested in Thuney since he was a Unrestricted Free Agent.  When the Patriots Franchised Thuney, Miami was still interested in trading for Thuney in March.  They were prepared to pay him back then and would now.  They have the cap room.  The Pats franchised Thuney as much to keep him from AFC east foes Jets and Dolphins.

– Miami owns the first round.  latest rumor is they want to trade up and guarantee they get one of the top OT’s.  Appears they aren’t thrilled with either Tua Tagovailoa or Justin Herbert.  The medical reports on Tagovailoa must not give the Phins a warm and fuzzy feeling.

– LSU Saadhig Charles, a late round OT prospect tested positive for marijuana at the combine.  Charles had several positive tests that resulted in a 6 game suspension by LSU last year.

– Something that snuck past the transactions is the Patriots have hired Eliot Wolf as a personnel consultant.  This is a role that Mike Lombardi held for awhile.  Wolf is the son of long time Green Bay Packers GM Ron Wolf.  I am sure Wolf will be one of those connected to Belichick in his lair.

– Have you seen the setup SF GM John Lynch tweeted out?  He has 7 monitors laid out in front of him in a crescent shape.  Three multiple phone line phones (land lines) and computer keyboards, switches, and multiple power strips.  Beyond that he has the league issued tripod, phone and lighting system.  Further in front he has three 50″ TV/Monitors and one larger 70″ TV mounted on the wall.  If I didn’t know any better I would have sworn it was Crystal Palace inside Cheyenne Mountain!    I thought I was bad last year, I had a 60″ TV showing the draft, computer monitor showing the Bruins game, and a 50″ computer monitor and laptop on a separate table.  I sat in my lounge chair with my wireless keyboard and took it all in.

– On a sad note, this corona virus has touched all our lives and changed the way we are living.  A friend and long time Patriots fan passed away last night.  We attended the last Patriots game in San Diego with our wives and other friends.  He fought the good fight right up until the end.  Keep his family in your prayers for he is now in a better place.

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About Mark Morse

Merrimack Valley native and lifelong fan of the New England Patriots. My earliest memories of the Patriots were attending as a child with my dad, the off-season practice at Phillips Academy. I was at the Patriots game at Harvard Stadium in 1970 where Bob “Harpo” Gladieux was called out of the stands by the stadium announcer over the PA to play in the game. Analyzing the draft since ESPN first started to televise it in 1980 and former writer for the Lowell Sun Newspaper.


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