Ok, I know that I said Mock Draft 22 was my “final” for the year, but I hated the way the board fell and I didn’t like locking myself in with no trades – especially when I had so many tempting offers.
Just for fun, I had to go back and run another one while taking all those great trades.
The board fell a little more favorably and with the picks I had stockpiled (one 2nd, two 3rds, and five 4ths), I was able to power up pretty much every position group on the team.
Now, I didn’t do a full analysis, but I’m pretty sure I’ve done a write up on every one of these guys if you check out the PFTW 2020 Mock Draft Archive, but the idea here is to illustrate a point: even though there are more players to choose from near the top of the draft, you’re putting your eggs in a much small basket – when you trade down like those, you get a huge influx of talent.
If you think the success rate of draft picks is around 50%, you just doubled your good players from this crop.
Here are the results:
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Analysis
Aiyuk and Gibson are the fun picks to bolster the offense and Moss would help there, too, while Swain adds depth and helps on special teams. Between Driscoll, Jackson, Runyan, and Shackleford, I almost drafted an entire offensive line, given them depth and a strong possibility for a couple new starters to break out as rookies.
On defense, Davis and Jones could be day one starters flanking Kenny Clark and immediately upgrading the run defense. Davis-Gaither and Weaver would also help with run support and are insurance in case Kirksey can’t stay healthy. Jackson and Harper can battle for the starting nickel position this year and the other could possibly replace Kevin King next season.
In all, it’s 14 guys with a realistic shot of making the team and contributing. It would appear to be at a minimum 5 upgraded starters, maybe as many as 7 or 8.
I love trading down. It’s a winning draft strategy.
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