Happy Silly Season, everybody! Time to Mock Around the Clock!
Confession: My approach is to draft for need(ish) -- I generally swing for one of the top players on the board at a position of relative need according to me. As I see it right now, the areas of primary need for us are OL and DL, and those happen to be fairly plentiful around our 1st round pick. So I'm tending towards one of those guys in my drafts -- more towards DL, not because I view it as a greater need, but the players who tend to be there tend to be DLs.
That said, occasionally Jeanty falls, and I'll take him. Maybe an Egbuka. Point is, there's a general theme but nothing's etched in stone.
So here's my favorite this morning (all players were among top 5-10 available at time of selection):
1) There's almost no chance Banks is there, but the draft gods gaveth, so I tooketh.
2) Walker is another who might not be there, but he's massive, good against the run, and the kind of beef that could help us fight the tush-push 2-3x per year.
3) Higgins is a big body (6-4, 200+) who produced and tends to be there around our 3rd pick across different mock tools, so I feel like he could be a real option
4) Sampson is all over the place across different mock platforms. One of the scouting reports is that you have to take his great #s with a grain of salt because Heupel's O has him playing in space. Sounds like a Kliff-fit to me!
5) Webb was a 5-star who started at UGA, best OL in his conference now, plays G, may better project to C. Our backup C sucks like a Hoover, and OL depth and versatility is always a need.
6) First time I've seen Batty, allegedly a very good run defender on the edge with developing pass rush. Worthwhile project for a late 6th.
7) Pegues is another wide-bodied DI run-stopper. Another brick in the wall.
8) We over-drafted a KY LB named "Jay-mihn" in the 1st, here's our change to even the scales by hopefully under-drafting one in the 7th.
(Swear to God, I won't do this every time I post a mock -- just had to get it out of my system.)