The NFL draft will take place from April 23 to April 25 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The first round will start at 8 p.m. on Thursday, with the Las Vegas Raiders taking hold of the first overall pick.
After coming off a 3-14 season, the Las Vegas Raiders will most likely be finding their new captain and quarterback in Indiana Quarterback Fernando Mendoza. Mendoza, last season’s Heisman trophy winner and College Football National Champion, has skyrocketed up the draft board as of late. He is widely viewed as the most “pro-ready” quarterback in the draft and is hoping to turn things around for the Raiders with their incoming first-year head coach, Klint Kubiak.
This draft should be exciting, as it is one of the most stacked draft classes in a while.
Other top picks feature Arvell Reese, Caleb Downs, and Sonny Styles. These three names are projected to be top ten picks throughout the first round of the draft, and were all key parts to the Ohio State Buckeyes’ defense last season. Along with those three big names from Columbus, they also hold the number one wide receiver prospect, who can very well go in the top five draft picks as well. Carnell Tate is coming off a dominant season where he caught nine touchdowns as a junior.
This draft class is very defense-heavy, but there are numerous big names on the offense that can be future superstars as well.
Here are my predictions for the first ten draft picks this year.
- Las Vegas Raiders | Fernando Mendoza, QB (Indiana)
- New York Jets | Arvell Reese, LB/Edge (Ohio State)
- Arizona Cardinals | Caleb Downs, S (Ohio State)
- Tennessee Titans | David Bailey, Edge (Texas Tech)
- New York Giants | Carnell Tate, WR (Ohio State)
- Cleveland Browns | Sonny Styles, LB (Ohio State)
- Washington Commanders | Jeremiyah Love, RB (Notre Dame)
- New Orleans Saints | Jordyn Tyson, WR (Arizona State)
- Kansas City Chiefs | Rueben Bain Jr., Edge (Miami)
- New York Giants | Francis Mauigoa, OL (Miami)
