2017 NFL Mock Draft Extravaganza: Part One

Ryan McDowell Posted On June 1, 2016

The post-NFL Draft portion of the off-season is always an exciting time for dynasty players. Not only do we have brand new players and situations to digest, but the majority of rookie drafts are held soon after the conclusion of April’s premiere event. If you’re an NFL Draft fanatic, and most of us involved in this hobby are, you immediately begin looking forward to the next NFL Draft, even though it’s now nearly a year away. This look ahead often results in a “way too early” mock draft and as improbable as these projections might be, we can’t get enough.

In past years, there might have been one or two lists released by the major media outlets giving us some names to watch for the following draft, but as our infatuation with the NFL Draft process and the NFL in general has ballooned, those lists grew into full first round mock drafts and their numbers grew. This year, I’ve studied eight 2017 first round mock drafts. Most of these were released soon after the conclusion of April’s NFL Draft and despite the difficulty of predicting draft picks a full year out, I think there is a lot we can learn from these mocks.

Here’s the list of mock drafts used in this exercise:

Sports Illustrated by Chris Burke

The Big Lead by Jason McIntyre

The Sporting News by Eric Galko

Bleacher Report by Matt Miller

CBS Sports by Dane Brugler

SB Nation by Dan Kader

Pro Football Focus by Steve Palazzolo

ESPN by Todd McShay

With so much data to process, I’ll break it down looking at the individual mock drafts themselves, then the players being projected and finally the teams potentially selecting these players and what it all means for our dynasty teams.

Sports Illustrated

1.01 Brad Kaaya, QB CLE

1.02 Deshaun Watson, QB SF

1.05 Leonard Fournette, RB JAX

1.09 Christian McCaffrey, RB NO

1.12 Mike Williams, WR ATL

1.13 Dalvin Cook, RB BUF

1.16 Patrick Mahomes, QB CHI

1.23 OJ Howard, TE MIN

1.29 Corey Davis, WR GB

1.30 Baker Mayfield, QB PIT

1.32 Cooper Kupp, WR NE

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This projection has many unique choices, including the only draft of the eight with anyone not named Deshaun Watson as the top pick. Instead, another quarterback, Brad Kaaya is the call with the top overall selection. This is also the only mock to include Patrick Mahomes, Baker Mayfield and Cooper Kupp. The inclusion of Kupp is somewhat surprising considering talented receivers like Juju Smith-Schuster and Malachi Dupre were omitted from this list.

The Big Lead

1.01 Deshaun Watson, QB CLE

1.02 Leonard Fournette, RB CLE

1.05 Brad Kaaya, QB MIA

1.07 Juju Smith-Schuster, WR TEN

1.09 Malachi Dupre, WR SF

1.14 Corey Davis, WR BAL

1.16 Dalvin Cook, RB DET

1.21 Mike Williams, WR TB

1.22 Ricky Seals-Jones, WR OAK

1.26 KD Cannon, WR KC

1.30 Christian McCaffrey, RB NE

1.31 Royce Freeman, RB PIT

1.32 Luke Falk, QB ARZ

The headline of this mock draft is Cleveland potentially landing the top two picks in the 2017 NFL Draft. The majority of mocks I studied featured a pair of quarterbacks with the top two picks, just as we saw in the past two seasons. This scenario would certainly eliminate that option though. The Browns nabbing both Watson and Leonard Fournette at the top of the draft would be a game changer for the city of Cleveland. This draft also includes the most wideouts of any mock I looked at, including the only appearance for Ricky Seals-Jones and KD Cannon.

The Sporting News

1.01 Deshaun Watson, QB CLE

1.03 Leonard Fournette, RB SF

1.06 Dalvin Cook, RB DET

1.08 Juju Smith-Schuster, WR TEN

1.09 Mike Williams, WR TB

1.10 Christian McCaffrey, RB NO

1.21 Brad Kaaya, QB KC

1.23 Nick Chubb, RB MIN

1.29 Malachi Dupre, WR GB

The Sporting News gave us the fewest amount of fantasy relevant players in the first round with just nine players making the list. One trend I noticed in most of these mocks is that many project Watson and Kaaya as the top two quarterbacks and then see at least one more being selected later in the first. Here, we have Kaaya as the quarterback falling to the mid-first with no others being tabbed as first round picks.

Bleacher Report

1.01 Deshaun Watson, QB CLE

1.04 Brad Kaaya, QB SF

1.06 Leonard Fournette, RB DET

1.09 Christian McCaffrey, RB NO

1.11 Mike Williams, WR TEN

1.13 Dalvin Cook, RB WAS

1.17 OJ Howard, TE HOU

1.21 Mason Rudolph, QB KC

1.24 Corey Davis, WR DAL

1.25 Luke Falk, QB ARZ

1.26 Juju Smith-Schuster, WR CIN

1.32 Nick Chubb, RB NE

I mentioned earlier that it is clear these draft gurus are doing their best to project which quarterbacks might make the leap into first round range and this version from Matt Miller includes both Luke Falk and Mason Rudolph. Neither are sure things by any means, but both could land here with the constant search for a franchise quarterback. I’ll talk more about specific players and fits later, but Corey Davis in Dallas and Smith-Schuster in Cincinnati would bolster their value even more.

CBS Sports

1.01 Deshaun Watson, QB CLE

1.08 Leonard Fournette, RB DET

1.09 Dalvin Cook, RB CLE

1.14 Brad Kaaya, QB CHI

1.15 OJ Howard, TE HOU

1.17 Christian McCaffrey, RB OAK

1.21 Juju Smith-Schuster, WR KC

1.22 Samaje Perine, RB IND

1.24 Mike Williams, WR DAL

1.25 Chad Kelly, QB ARZ

1.29 Jake Butt, TE GB

1.32 Bucky Hodges, TE NE

The class of 2016 appears to include a weak tight end class but that could change next season and the CBS projection has three tight ends as potential first rounders, including the highest projected draft position for OJ Howard, the star of the national championship game for Alabama. Along with tight end Bucky Hodges, this is also the only time we see running back Samaje Perine as a potential first rounder.

SB Nation

1.01 Deshaun Watson, QB CLE

1.02 Brad Kaaya, QB SF

1.05 Juju Smith-Schuster, WR TEN

1.07 Chad Kelly, QB NO

1.09 Leonard Fournette, RB CLE

1.14 Mike Williams, WR CHI

1.17 Dalvin Cook, RB OAK

1.18 Nick Chubb, RB NYG

1.25 Malachi Dupre, WR ARZ

1.28 Jake Butt, TE DEN

1.32 Christian McCaffrey, RB NE

Unlike the earlier mock draft, the Browns didn’t need to sped the top two picks on their new quarterback and running back, but they do still land both Watson and Fournette. I like what I see from a lot of this draft, including Smith-Schuster in the top five, but Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly as a top seven pick is a major surprise.

Pro Football Focus

1.01 Deshaun Watson, QB CLE

1.08 Corey Davis, WR TEN

1.09 Dalvin Cook, RB NO

1.11 Leonard Fournette, RB MIA

1.12 Juju Smith-Schuster, WR TB

1.15 Mike Williams, WR BUF

1.20 Christian McCaffrey, RB OAK

1.21 Nick Chubb, RB KC

1.25 Mason Rudolph, QB ARZ

1.32 OJ Howard, TE NE

This mock from PFF certainly does not lack the bold predictions, including the highest potential draft slot for Corey Davis and the only occurrence of someone other than Leonard Fournette as the top drafted back as Dalvin Cook is slotted for the ninth overall pick.

ESPN

1.01 Deshaun Watson, QB CLE

1.02 Brad Kaaya, QB SF

1.04 Leonard Fournette, RB MIA

1.08 Juju Smith-Schuster, WR TB

1.10 Malachi Dupre, WR TEN

1.16 OJ Howard, TE TEN

1.24 Christian McCaffrey, RB BAL

1.25 Mitch Leidner, QB DAL

1.26 Dalvin Cook, RB CIN

1.30 Nick Chubb, RB GB

1.32 Mike Williams, WR NE

ESPN and draft experts like Todd McShay often get a pass, but Minnesota quarterback Mitch Leidner feels like a bit of a rogue pick in the first round. This mock also features the lowest projected draft position for both Mike Williams and Dalvin Cook.

There you have it, all of the basic data behind a slew of 2017 NFL mock drafts. In the next edition of this series, I’ll take a deeper look at the players expected to be selected in the first round of the NFL Draft and what we might be able to expect for their dynasty value.

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Ryan McDowell

Contributor at Dynasty League Football

In addition to his senior leadership role here at DLF, Ryan is also a husband, father of three and PE teacher. Ryan is the commissioner of multiple dynasty leagues, most notably the Kitchen Sink Dynasty Leagues. Here at DLF, Ryan’s focus is on identifying, monitoring and analyzing player value.