It\u2019s NFL mock draft season, ahead of dynasty drafts and the best-ball drafts that will inform fantasy football ADP leading into the summer. Let\u2019s look at where the projected landing spots are for the consensus top first-round picks later this month. After the NFL draft, we\u2019ll assess their actual landing spots.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m listing prospects in order of fantasy importance. Most leagues value running backs the most, and an RB is the highest-rated rookie. He also might be the only RB to go in the first two days of the draft. Then we have three first-round receivers by consensus, one tight end who is an all-time athletic freak and a quarterback who will have no individual relevance except in Superflex leagues, though he is the bet-your-house-on-it No. 1 overall selection for the Las Vegas Raiders come April 23.<\/p>\n
Data is courtesy of Mock Draft Database<\/a>, which \u201cuses rankings from 128 big boards, 989 first-round mock drafts and 1,152 team-specific mock drafts.\u201d<\/p>\n 1. RB Jeremiyah Love (1.04, TEN)<\/p>\n Tony Pollard, who is aging out of relevance entering his age-29 season, was somewhat effective last year (25th among 48 qualifiers in rushing yards over expected per carry). But there is a whole new regime in Tennessee now. Brian Daboll is running the offense for new head coach Robert Saleh. Daboll was brought over to develop second-year quarterback Cam Ward. Maybe the plan is to give Ward more balance with a top runner. The Titans\u2019 offensive line is being overhauled, but using all this draft capital on a running back would limit opportunities to upgrade the line via the draft.<\/p>\n Daboll\u2019s offenses have finished top 10 in rushing yards seven out of 12 years, but top 10 in rushing TDs in just three of those years, including 2025 (when Daboll was fired after 10 games). As for Love\u2019s ability, the Notre Dame star is considered by many to be the best prospect in the draft and is expected to add considerable value as a receiver. As an overall playmaker, he\u2019s described as a bigger Jahmyr Gibbs.<\/p>\n 2. WR Carnell Tate (1.08, NO)<\/p>\n Tate is projected to go eighth, which is a pick the Saints hold. I\u2019d be shocked if the Saints took a wide receiver that early. Mock Draft Database just assigned the slot and not the team, so perhaps the consensus is a trade of that pick by the Saints? But USA Today said the Giants and Saints are the two most likely landing spots for Tate, and The Athletic\u2019s Larry Holder listed wide receiver as one of the team\u2019s top needs<\/a>.<\/p>\n Most teams view wide receiver as more of a final piece, but perhaps the Saints are well ahead of schedule because of their success in finding a quarterback in 2025 (Tyler Shough). The Saints may consider their more pressing need to be replacing free agent DE Cameron Jordan (age 37 season in 2026). This is a year to draft an edge, according to the draftnicks.<\/p>\n Tate ran a slow time for his size at the combine (4.53) and then didn\u2019t run on his Pro Day \u2014 not that anything in gym shorts projects NFL wide receiver production. Everyone basically has Tate as the No. 1 receiver in the draft and a top-10 pick. He\u2019d have a better chance of being the top-targeted WR for the Saints than with the Giants, as Chris Olave could be used primarily as a field stretcher to open the field up for Tate. This would be an excellent landing spot for Tate, if you believe in Shough, as I do.<\/p>\n 3. WR Makai Lemon (1.11, MIA)<\/p>\n Lemon reportedly bombed his interviews at the combine<\/a>. But this hasn\u2019t seemed to have impacted mock drafts, where if anything he\u2019s moved up from a mid-first-round pick to the potential to go higher. You\u2019ve probably heard the comps for Lemon \u2014 basically some cross between Puka Nacua and Amon-Ra St. Brown. That sounds great. However, in Miami, he\u2019d be in what is expected to be a low-volume pass offense. Still, he\u2019d have basically an uncontested path to 125+ targets, maybe even 150, in an offense with a ceiling of around 500 attempts. That projected pass attempt total may be even lower despite the Dolphins\u2019 expected high loss total in 2026.<\/p>\n Lemon would not merely be the big fish in a small pond, but the only fish among the receiving corps. It\u2019s a solid landing spot, though the preference is for these types to slide to teams with greater expected passing volume. Would the Chiefs pass on Lemon? Kansas City would be the preferred destination, as Rashee Rice is looking at a potential 12-game suspension in 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n 4. WR Jordyn Tyson (1.13, LAR)<\/p>\n It seems virtually certain the Rams will draft a receiver to replace Davante Adams, who is entering his age-34 season. As a sign of respect, they have already met to tell Adams their plans. It\u2019s also likely 2026 is Matthew Stafford\u2019s last year, and the Rams, a Super Bowl favorite, are going to need to fortify their attack if they want Stafford\u2019s finale to culminate in a title.<\/p>\n Tyson is not an ideal pick, though, considering he\u2019s been fighting a hamstring injury for five months and reportedly still is not healthy<\/a>. No team has any idea how fast he is. The Rams also have some off-the-field concerns with their star WR Puka Nacua, with a non-zero chance that he could face suspension. The Rams desperately need some field-stretching speed and explosiveness. Besides his history of hamstring and knee injuries, long speed is one of Tyson\u2019s weaknesses according to NFL.com<\/a>. Lance Zierlein gives Tyson a Terry McLaurin comp. So project McLaurin into the Rams passing game with Stafford, and you can get excited.<\/p>\n Is that a Year 1 story, or will it take Tyson longer to emerge? The Rams develop players very well \u2014 consider the immediate dividends Nacua returned (105 catches as a rookie). Tyson should be the top-drafted WR if he lands in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n 5. WR Omar Cooper (1.16, NYJ)<\/p>\n This seems like a reach, but many mocks now have Cooper, previously considered a second-round pick, going to the Jets in the middle of the first round. Cooper has basically the same grade as Tyson and ran a 4.42 40 at 6-foot, 200 pounds. His athleticism score ranked 18th among WRs in this draft class, but his production ranked third. He\u2019s been compared to Deebo Samuel, but he seems more like Davante Adams to me \u2014 Copper has 20 touchdown catches since the start of the 2024 season. Cooper, however, is not a polished route runner, say the scouts. Obviously, Adams has been elite at that, but it took him a couple of years to become a productive route runner\/player.<\/p>\n Geno Smith will be the Jets quarterback, and I\u2019d say there\u2019s a 40% chance he is the QB we thought he\u2019d be last year \u2014 which is to say, serviceable. If they take Cooper, the Jets will have solid skill players and a good offensive line around Smith. I\u2019d expect Smith to be a higher-volume yardage passer, but he always struggles to convert in the red zone. I\u2019d give this landing spot for Cooper a B-minus.<\/p>\n 6. TE Kenyon Sadiq (1.19, CAR)<\/p>\n The problem with tight ends, even one with the explosive receiving traits of Sadiq, who runs faster than most wide receivers, is that offenses are not designed to feature the tight end heavily. So, will Sadiq be a 90-target player or a 125-target player? He will be operating in the middle of the field, and Bryce Young is just too short to see over the linemen for the quicker, rhythmic throws that a tight end needs to be productive.<\/p>\n Sadiq is small for a tight end, both in weight and height. But he could operate as basically a gigantic wide receiver, an equally athletic and fast A.J. Brown\/DK Metcalf \u2014 only bigger. I\u2019d prefer Sadiq going to a team where he\u2019d be at least No. 2 in the passing game to start. Right now, Tetairoa McMillan is No. 1 for the Panthers, and they also have serviceable No. 2 and No. 3 WRs in Xavier Legette and Jalen Coker (however you order them). I worry about Sadiq getting just 75 targets as a rookie in Carolina. At best, this would be a D-grade landing spot.<\/p>\n 7. QB Fernando Mendoza (1.01, LV)<\/p>\n OK, Brock Bowers. That\u2019s a great place to start. But Tre Tucker and Jalen Nailor are both one spot higher in the passing hierarchy than they reasonably deserve. This team needs a No. 1 wideout. Tyler Linderbaum was a great addition to the Raiders\u2019 offensive line, but the unit was so abysmal that even with the game\u2019s best center, it is still poor. The Raiders desperately needed the draft capital from the Ravens in the aborted Maxx Crosby trade to build an offensive line around Mendoza, who I fear will be running for his life. There are just not enough premium picks to address the needs the Raiders have around a rookie QB, so I expect Mendoza will struggle, through no fault of his own, in his rookie year. There are typically no great landing spots for No. 1 overall picks, but even so, this seems bad \u2014 C-minus at best.<\/p>\n One could argue that Bowers is there and Ashton Jeanty can give Mendoza a running game and offensive lines can be built unexpectedly on the second and third days of the draft and via free agency. This amounts to threading the needle, though. It\u2019ll probably take another draft or two to fortify Mendoza with his bodyguards and put him on the fantasy radar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s NFL mock draft season, ahead of dynasty drafts and the best-ball drafts that will inform fantasy football…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[462],"tags":[39586,5,4,465,466],"class_list":{"0":"post-537562","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl-draft","8":"tag-fantasy-football","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-nhl-draft","12":"tag-nhl-entry-draft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116337994957861144","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}