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USA Today Sports Media Group

Sport

Brennen Rupp

Patriots address offense in latest 2-round full NFL mock draft

Patriots Jayden Daniels Penn State Caleb Williams Drake Maye Tee Higgins Eagles LSU Washington D.C. Aaron Rodgers

It’s Mock Draft Monday and the 2024 NFL Draft is 101 days away. Let’s get to mocking!

1st: Chicago Bears – Marvin Harrison Jr, WR, Ohio State

To keep Justin Fields or take a quarterback? Harrison Jr is the best player in this draft and pairing him with D.J. Moore would set Fields up for one last chance to prove he’s the long-term answer.

2nd: Washington Commanders: Caleb Williams, QB, USC

Terry McLaurin will be dancing in the streets with this selection. Will the Commanders take Drake Maye or Caleb Williams. Let’s roll with Williams in this mock.

3rd: New England Patriots: Drake Maye, QB, UNC

New England needs a complete teardown on the offensive side of the ball. The remodel begins with the selection of Maye.

4th: Arizona Cardinals: Malik Nabers, WR, LSU

The LSU wide receiver is the complete package. He’s a YAC threat. He tracks the ball like a centerfielder. Kyler Murray gets a dynamic weapon.

5th: Los Angeles Chargers: Olu Fashanu, OT, Penn State

Protect Justin Herbert at all costs. Fashanu is a plug-and-play starter at the second most important position in football.

6th: New York Giants: Joe Alt, OT, Notre Dame

Daniel Jones, Jayden Daniels, Kerry Collins. It doesn’t matter who is under center for the Giants if they can’t keep the quarterback upright. After giving up a league-leading 85 sacks, New York needs to revamp the offensive line.

7th: Tennessee Titans: Brock Bowers, TE, Georgia

The Titans selected Malik Willis in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft and followed that up by selecting Will Levis in the second round last year. Do they give Willis a full year to show he could be the franchise quarterback or do the Titans select Jayden Daniels? Let’s give Levis a weapon.

8th: Atlanta Falcons: Jayden Daniels, QB, LSU

With Bijan Robinson, Drake London and Kyle Pitts the Falcons have plenty of talent on the offensive side of the ball. Now they need somebody to stir the drink. Enter Daniels.

9th: Bears: Dallas Turner, Edge, Alabama

Let’s get Montez Sweat a long-term running mate. Dallas Turner finished the season with 10 sacks and 55 pressures.

10th: New York Jets: JC Latham, OT, Alabama

It would be tempting to give Aaron Rodgers another weapon. Priority number one for the Jets should be to keep Rodgers healthy.

11th: Minnesota Vikings: Jared Verse, Edge, Florida State

My guess is Kirk Cousins will be back on a one-year deal for the Vikings. With Captain Kirk back, the Vikings take the best defensive player on the board.

12th: Denver Broncos: Jer’Zhan Newton, DL, Illinois

It’s been eight years since the Broncos made the playoffs. They are coming off the embarrassment of the Russell Wilson deal, which could wind up looking like this era’s version of the Herschel Walker deal, with how lopsided it feels. They need a safe pick and Newton would upgrade the team’s front seven.

13th: Las Vegas Raiders: Rome Odunze, WR, Washington

Will Davante Adams request a trade this offseason? Even if he’s back in the Sin City, the Raiders need another playmaker on the offensive side of the ball.

14th: New Orleans Saints: Laiatu Latu, Edge, UCLA

Latu led the nation with 64 pressures. To go along with all those pressures, he recorded 13 sacks. Pressure the quarterback and prosper.

15th: Indianapolis Colts: Terrion Arnold, CB, Alabama

The Colts all of a sudden find themselves in the same division with an explosive young offense. Let’s give them a cornerback.

16th: Seattle Seahawks: Chop Robinson, Edge, Penn State

The Seahawks need to invest in the front seven this offseason. Chop Robinson has all the tools in the shed to develop into a gamewrecker.

17th: Jacksonville Jaguars: Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB, Alabama

As you’re reading this the Jaguars just gave up another explosive play through the air. They finished the season as the 26th-ranked team against the pass and McKinstry has the ability to take half the field away.

18th: Cincinnati Bengals: Keon Coleman, WR, Florida State

Let’s replace Tee Higgins with a Tee Higgins clone. Coleman is built like Higgins and is cut from the same cloth.

19th: Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Brian Thomas Jr, WR, LSU

Will Mike Evans wear another uniform next season? Even if the Bus re-sign the veteran wide receiver, they may need to start thinking about life after Evans. Thomas would give Baker Mayfield or whoever is throwing passes for Tampa Bay next season a dynamic weapon.

20th: Los Angeles Rams: Amarius Mims, OT, Georgia

It seems like every offseason there is talk that the Rams need to address the offensive line. Or maybe that’s just a dialogue that I’ve created in my head. Mims would be an upgrade at right tackle or left tackle for the Rams.

21st: Pittsburgh Steelers: Taliese Fuaga, OL, Oregon State

The Steelers want to get back to Pittsburgh ground and pound. Fuaga is a mauler and plays with a mean streak.

22nd: Miami Dolphins: Tyler Guyton, OT, Oklahoma

Guyton moves like a tight end. The Sooner offensive tackle could step in and replace pending free agent Austin Jackson.

23rd: Houston Texans: Bralen Trice, Edge, Washington

The pressure king. Trice finished the season with 62 pressures, which ranked third overall in college football. Pairing him with the explosive Will Anderson would give the Texans a pair of edge rushers to build around.

24th: Dallas Cowboys: Byron Murphy II, DL, Texas

The Cowboys just got gashed by Aaron Jones and they need a game-changer in the interior to help alleviate some pressure off Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence.

25th: Green Bay Packers: Cooper DeJean, DB, Iowa

Play him on the boundary, in the slot or move him to safety. It doesn’t matter, the Packers need a playmaker like DeJean in their secondary.

26th: Arizona Cardinals: Chris Braswell, Edge, Alabama

After getting a weapon for Murray with Nabers, the Cardinals get a much-needed pass rusher.

27th: Philadelphia Eagles: Nate Wiggins, CB, Clemson

Another instance where the Eagles just sit back and take the best player on the board. Wiggins is in the argument to be the first cornerback off the board and the Eagles get a steal with the 27th overall pick.

28th: Kansas City Chiefs: Troy Fautanu, OL, Washington

Left tackle or guard, it doesn’t matter, the Kansas City Chiefs will skip to the podium to take the Washington offensive lineman with all the top receivers off the board.

29th: Buffalo Bills: Kamren Kinchens, S, Miami

Call him Verizon because he covers a lot of ground. Micah Hyde is a free agent and Jordan Poyer isn’t getting any younger.

30th: Detroit Lions: Quinyon Mitchell, CB, Toledo

The Lions finished 29th against the pass this season and Mitchell would give them an athletic cornerback that could develop into a lockdown cornerback that they desperately need.

31st: San Francisco 49ers: Graham Barton, OL, Duke

Will the 49ers view Barton as a tackle, guard or center? My guess is they’d plug him in at center.

32nd: Baltimore Ravens: Kalen King, CB, Penn State

The Baltimore Ravens have something like 13 cornerbacks that are set to be free agents. Okay, it’s only five. With a need at cornerback, the Ravens take the Penn State product.