2023 NFL Mock Draft, Pre-Combine Edition
I put together my first 2023 nfl mock draft on Sunday afternoon and immediately realized some things
- It’s much harder to do than you think surprisingly, I only started over three times.
- If you go by team needs to closely, invariably you will always have safeties, linebackers and tight ends fall down the board (not to mention running backs falling to day two).
- none of this matters until we have gotten through the combine.
- NONE OF THIS MATTERS until we have gotten to free agency.
- I am still very happy I put one together though, as now I have a baseline to work from.
Looking at Version 2.0
Mostly, this first edition made me think a lot about how to get this into shape and how others approach the draft from a “pro mocker” standpoint. To get an NFL mock draft right, I think it’s great to have lists of rankings by position but, you have to understand that if you ranked the top ten cornerbacks and had all 32 front offices do the same, you may have 33 different lists. So many factors come into play at each draft slot and all it takes is one team to do something weird and months of work don’t mean much as players fall to spots no one saw coming (looking at you, Raiders.)
So, as my eyes turn to the combine, I’ll work on tightening up the lists and considering how each camp would hypothetically treat each positional group based on how they’ve drafted in the past, what type of player best fits their scheme/needs, and even what they’ve done in free agency in years past. With the combine will come hype, which will drive many articles but they can’t all be Travon Walker, and for every riser, someone has to fall. I’ll revise this early next week after some 40 times and Wonderlic results come in. So, roast me if you must but here’s my first 2023 NFL Mock Draft of the season.
NFL Mock Draft Version 1.0
| Pick | Team | Player | Position | School |
| 1 | Chicago | Will Anderson | Edge | Alabama |
| 2 | Houston | Bryce Young | QB | Alabama |
| 3 | Arizona | Tyree Wilson | Edge | Texas Tech |
| 4 | Indianapolis | Will Levis | QB | Kentucky |
| 5 | Seattle | Jalen Carter | DL | Georgia |
| 6 | Detroit | Christian Gonzalez | CB | Oregon |
| 7 | Las Vegas | C.J. Stroud | QB | Ohio State |
| 8 | Atlanta | Devon Witherspoon | CB | Illinois |
| 9 | Carolina | Anthony Richardson | QB | Florida |
| 10 | Philadelphia | Myles Murphy | Edge | Clemson |
| 11 | Tennessee | Paris Johnson | OT | Ohio State |
| 12 | Houston | Quentin Johnston | WR | TCU |
| 13 | NY Jets | Peter Skoronski | OT | Northwestern |
| 14 | New England | Lukas Van Ness | Edge | Iowa |
| 15 | Green Bay | Jordan Addison | WR | USC |
| 16 | Washington | Broderick Jones | OT | Georgia |
| 17 | Pittsburgh | Joey Porter Jr | CB | Penn State |
| 18 | Detroit | Calijah Kancey | DL | Pittsburgh |
| 19 | Tampa Bay | Bryan Bressee | DL | Clemson |
| 20 | Seattle | Mazi Smith | DL | Michigan |
| 21 | LA Chargers | Jaxon Smith-Njigba | WR | Ohio State |
| 22 | Baltimore | Bijan Robinson | RB | Texas |
| 23 | Minnesota | Brian Branch | S | Alabama |
| 24 | Jacksonville | Michael Mayer | TE | Notre Dame |
| 25 | NY Giants | Zay Flowers | WR | BC |
| 26 | Dallas | Jalin Hyatt | WR | Tennessee |
| 27 | Buffalo | O’Cyrus Torrence | G | Florida |
| 28 | Cincinnati | Kelee Ringo | CB | Georgia |
| 29 | New Orleans | Nolan Smith | Edge | Georgia |
| 30 | Philadelphia | John Michael Schmitz | C | Minnesota |
| 31 | Kansas City | Anton Harrison | OT | Oklahoma |
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