Jp's Xs & Os Blog

 Mock Draft Picks 6-10

1. Tennessee Titans — Carnell Tate (WR, Ohio State)
2. New England Patriots — Francis Mauigoa (OT, Miami)
3. Denver Broncos — Jeremiyah Love (RB, Notre Dame)
4. Seattle Seahawks — Jordyn Tyson (WR, Arizona State)
5. New York Giants (via trade) — Sonny Styles (LB/S, Ohio State)

NFL Draft Picks 6-10

Kansas City Chiefs – Mansoor Delane (CB, LSU)  

Cleveland Browns – Sonny Styles (LB, Ohio State)  

Chicago Bears – Jordyn Tyson (WR, Arizona State)  

Dallas Cowboys – Spencer Fano (OT, Utah) 

New York Giants – Francis Mauigoa (OT, Miami)  

This mock draft was a complete toss-up, a rarity to this extent. Through the draft history, we haven’t really seen picks 6–10 change this much. It’s normal to see a few picks in the top 10 change team-wise, but the result was a full transformation. We start with pick 6 given to the Chiefs, which is actually a beneficial trade for the Titans. They chose to add to their strong defense and selected Mannsoor Delane, a cornerback out of Tulane. His experience and being able to play slot and outside corner will make a great addition. The Browns made their move with a great pick, being Sonny Styles. Styles had one of the best combine performances with a RAS rating of almost the 100th percentile. Adding an edge/linebacker to complement Myles Garrett who already leads the league in quarterback pressures and sacks, will put them over the mountain they’ve been climbing for years now. When the Bears received the 8th pick, I think everyone in Pittsburgh knew they had to go with an offensive weapon here to give Caleb Williams some help, so that’s exactly what they did. Picking Jordyn Tyson from Arizona State hurt many teams around the league simply because of his length and ability to create separation at the top of his routes. This ability is nothing like what you usually see in a young player, which made him beyond valuable in the draft process. With the ninth pick, the Cowboys selected Spencer Fano, which was very surprising to me at the time but came to make sense later on in the draft process. Early on I was expecting them to shoot for a defensive star early. But they didn’t disappoint by later drafting Caleb Downs. But the big question in this scenario is how do you truly make an effective mock draft once the picks continue? As the draft progresses, there are several strategies and techniques that can give you a competitive edge. Where most people go wrong when preparing for the draft is prioritizing talent on the board rather than logical picks. For example, a team with an early pick might have the opportunity to grab a talented player but ends up passing on him. This leads to many disgruntled fans, but when you use logical and long-term thinking, drafting that talented player over a player that will ultimately put them in a better place long-term will always be the better move. Year after year, we see teams going after the most talented player, and what tends to happen is that the player loses years of their career to a team that didn’t really need to choose them in the first place. Not only is the situation unfair to the player, but it leaves an organization in a bind as well. They are stuck paying millions upon millions for a guaranteed deal on a player who will never truly see the field. If teams and mock drafters take this advice and apply it to their work, it’ll increase their chances of guessing correctly.