NFL Mock Drafts (2016)

[jlb1705]

How can any of these guys go in the first round when, to our knowledge, none of them have robbed a dorm room or beaten the shit out of a woman?

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Gurley makes Fisher look like a genius if he comes close to his previous form, if he doesn't, than its not a loss.

Wasting a top-10 pick on someone who fails to meet his full potential is indeed a loss...

 

[ImFrigginFly]

It's obviously entirely too early to even have this discussion, but we're doing it anyways.

As much as I'm an OSU homer to the core, reality just has to set in at some point. Most of these kids not named Bosa or Decker either lack game experience or are simply too young to be considered by true NFL scouts at this point, IMO.

Assuming our team carries a similar balance through the 2015 season as compared to 2014, and everyone remains relatively healthy, this is how I see it:

J Bosa - late 1st/early to mid 2nd round. Not sure I see a 34 DE. HE's agile, but think his strength is popping out of his stance.

T Decker - I truly don't know where he stands amongst his peers at LT, but I think NFL scouts see his ability to play both RT & LT at the next level. I see a 1st round grade there, wouldn't shock me if he fell to the 2nd.

C. Jones - 4th/5th Rd. - even if he plays this entire season, his experience is still light considering. I think we'll see in 2015 how consistent and accurate he can really be. I don't see him being able to run like he does in college against NFL LB'ers. Ask him to stand tall in the pocket and throw on a dime 40 times a game, not sure where he stands.

D. Lee - Won't be drafted after the 2015 season. I think he'll be viewed as "small-ish" by NFL standards at 6-1, 220#. Not sure he can put much weight on and maintain his quickness? He might be staring at a SS spot in the pro's.

E Elliot - not sure if he'll be ready for pro ball after 2015 either, but when his time comes, I do see a late 1st/early 2nd round guy there. See El Guapo.

Just my IMO at this point

Go Bucks

Holy shit, Herbstreit, don't try SO hard to be objective. Bosa outside of the top 15? You're trying too hard. Lee won't even be drafted?! Absurd. Elliott should easily be "ready" for the pros after this year.

 

[Mike80]

Holy [Mark May], Herbstreit, don't try SO hard to be objective. Bosa outside of the top 15? You're trying too hard. Lee won't even be drafted?! Absurd. Elliott should easily be "ready" for the pros after this year.

If EZE throws up another 1500+ yard season, he needs to go. The self life of a RB is a finite quantity.

And yes, if he throws up back to back 1800+ yard/20TD seasons and a couple national titles, he's going in the 1st round.

 

[TampaBuckeyes]

CBS's version has 5 Buckeyes in the first round:

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/...l-mock-draft-ohio-state-dominates-first-round
Bosa still at #1
Decker at #18
Cardale at #24
Elliot at #27
Darron Lee at #30

They all feel like reaches, except Elliot, who should be late first early second if he keeps up at this pace for another 1800 plus yard season. Got to remember there are a lot of teams and only 32 first round picks. The purpose of mock drafts is to get readers, not predict the draft. I would expect Bosa as a top 5, because if he went this year he would have been top 5. Decker and Elliot should be first rounders. After that I see a bunch of second and third round talent on the team, which is great. Bell is great, but hasn't had enough of those wow moments. Lee has had a ton of those moments, but as it has been said he is smallish for a LB. He'd have to put on another 15 lbs and keep his speed and burst to be a borderline first/second. I think he would go 3rd-4th. Cardale with a great season has a chance to go 1st overall. He also has a chance to go in the 5th round. Really the only non question mark is Bosa.

 

[Zurp]

These mock drafts a year ahead of time are silly. You don't know what the draft order is going to be. #1 team may need a defensive end. In that case, Bosa at #1 makes sense. But if they have 2 pro bowl defensive ends in their 3rd year in the NFL, I'd imagine they'd go for a quarterback, offensive tackle, punter, or a new hot cheerleader.

That said, this off-season is already taking too long, and I bet Bosa gets drafted #3.

 

[pnuts34]

If EZE throws up another 1500+ yard season, he needs to go. The self life of a RB is a finite quantity.

And yes, if he throws up back to back 1800+ yard/20TD seasons and a couple national titles, he's going in the 1st round.

I doubt he sees 1500yds, as there are a good number of games that will be blowouts and other guys will get carries. And IMO he won't come close to 1800yds, and NCs mean nothing in the pros as neither does winning the Heisman. Stats go only so far in projecting for the NFL, guys are drafted on what they could become, and little things that make a successful NFL RB (picking up blitzes, catching out of the backfield, making people miss, making use of limited carries).

 

[pnuts34]

This season can't start soon enough...

 

[Mike80]

I doubt he sees 1500yds, as there are a good number of games that will be blowouts and other guys will get carries. And IMO he won't come close to 1800yds, and NCs mean nothing in the pros as neither does winning the Heisman. Stats go only so far in projecting for the NFL, guys are drafted on what they could become, and little things that make a successful NFL RB (picking up blitzes, catching out of the backfield, making people miss, making use of limited carries).

With any luck he'll be playing in 15 games this next season. 1500 yards won't be hard to obtain in my IMO.

BTW EZE is a SUPERIOR blocker. I swear you're just arguing to argue.

 

[pnuts34]

With any luck he'll be playing in 15 games this next season. 1500 yards won't be hard to obtain in my IMO.

BTW EZE is a SUPERIOR blocker. I swear you're just arguing to argue.

Not at all, I just think you don't realize how difficult it could be to get drafted in the 1st round, and that I should be a homer and go with your thoughts. But I'll end this, he'll go in the lottery and be the greatest RB of all time. There you go. I have no problem being wrong and hope I am.

 

[BengalsAndBucks]

My thoughts:

• Bosa - he'll definitely be top-5 without a doubt, the only question is fit. I'm not sure that he really projects to a 3-4 DE like Watt does, it's not an awful fit but I think he's much more a 4-3 end. So the first 4-3 team who doesn't need a top QB will take him, only question is where, but definitely in play for #1 overall barring major injury.
• Jones - who knows, measurables to be a 1st rounder but he's all projection at this point, a full season starting will shore this up significantly but whether that's forward (he has top-of-draft physical potential) or backwards is still TBD... remember this dude couldn't beat out JT/Brax (not bad QBs but still), so immediately projecting him to top-5 seems hasty but again the tools are there and the flashes are there.
• Lee - Shaq Thompson, who is basically Lee's exact NFL comp (S/LB tweener who can cover and hit), just went 1st round so let's not pretend it's out of the question for Lee, although his ceiling is probably 20 and his floor is probably not much lower than 45, where Eric Kendricks went this year. He'll fall down some teams boards due to his size but most will see the athleticism and versatility to cover/play the run/rush the passer.
• Decker - I think he projects as a late 1st/early 2nd, the distinction will likely be whether or not a team thinks he can play LT in the pros or if he's a RT/G, although players with that projection are getting taken earlier and earlier so that alone may not move him out of the 1st.
• Elliot - Definitely think that he'll be a 1st rounder given that 2 guys were just taken and he's got an impressive combo of long speed and power. Question will be his 3-down projection, he hasn't really caught passes or pass protected much in our system and that seems unlikely to change but the pendulum seems to swinging a little bit back to 1st round RBs in play, he won't go 10 like Gurley most likely but I think will be a 1st rounder.

All in all, I could see as few as 2 and as many as 5 first rounders for us next year, which would just be insane.

 

[Dryden]

How can any of these guys go in the first round when, to our knowledge, none of them have robbed a dorm room or beaten the [Mark May] out of a woman?

Bosa and Lee beat the shit out of a Hackenberg, does that count?

 

[kujirakira]

I think the Decker slotting surprised me most. I've seen three or four "way too early mock drafts" already and the two constants are that Bosa is the overall #1 pick, and Cardale is a Top 10 pick and picked by the Cleveland Browns in all of them. This was the only mock-32 with Decker listed. I've also seen Bell listed as a first rounder in one and Lee in another. If you take all of these early mocks together there are at least six players on this team with potential first round talent, though Bosa leads the way and it appears unanimous.

Cleveland selecting a Buckeye... in the 1st round even? I'll believe it when I see it.


I'm already resigned to losing Eze and Bosa.... but the idea of also losing Lee and Vonn leaves a bad feeling in my stomach.

First time it happened in 3yrs, and the last time it happened, the kid was/is a bust. Could EzE be drafted in the top 10? Sure. But I wouldn't bet on it. RBs drafted in the top 10 in the past 10yrs is a rarity, and outside of Adrien Peterson none of them is close to being considered franchise RBs. And you have to go back to Tomlinson to find another RB drafted in the top 10 to find another franchise RB drafted that high. NFL is going more towards RB by committee and paying RBs less to use more of them, and still pay them less. Anyone can look at their favorite team outside of a select few(Seattle, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Minnesota) and see that there is a trend in RBs by committee and not one RB who runs 20-25 times a game. It's my opinion based on watching the NFL, and seeing how frugal GMs are now towards RBs, since it seems they are a dime a dozen.
We can gladly take the RB draft discussion to another thread...

I'd add that Zone has a lot to do with this.
Shanahan, one of the big proponents of Zone in modern football, was rather famous for being able to seemingly make any RB off the street highly successful.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1700461-how-does-mike-shanahan-always-churn-out-rb-success

 

[BuckeyeFan 52]

Holy [Mark May], Herbstreit, don't try SO hard to be objective. Bosa outside of the top 15? You're trying too hard. Lee won't even be drafted?! Absurd. Elliott should easily be "ready" for the pros after this year.

That's a low blow dog - shame on you.

I think you mis-understood what I was saying about Lee. I wasn't saying he would NEVER be drafted, I said he would not be drafted after the 2015 season. He's young, needs more experience, and with his overall size, will most likely require all 4 years of college eligibility to gain a spot in the League. Just my $.02 on that.

If you can predict that Bosa will be a guaranteed top 15 pick, then I don't know what you're doing hanging around these boards. You're far more intelligent than the rest of us. Did you also predict Bennet being drafted in the 6th round this year?

I agree EZE could possibly be ready after this season, but not many underclassmen RB's get drafted in the top 32. Regardless of what happened in this year's draft, recent history says the RB value is not in the top 20-30 picks anymore.

 

[jlb1705]

That's a low blow dog - shame on you.

I think you mis-understood what I was saying about Lee. I wasn't saying he would NEVER be drafted, I said he would not be drafted after the 2015 season. He's young, needs more experience, and with his overall size, will most likely require all 4 years of college eligibility to gain a spot in the League. Just my $.02 on that.

Darron Lee is listed as 6'2" and 235 lbs. - the pretty much the same size Ryan Shazier was when he was drafted with the 15th pick.

If you can predict that Bosa will be a guaranteed top 15 pick, then I don't know what you're doing hanging around these boards. You're far more intelligent than the rest of us. Did you also predict Bennet being drafted in the 6th round this year?

You're throwing out plenty of bold predictions and hot takes of your own, chief.

I agree EZE could possibly be ready after this season, but not many underclassmen RB's get drafted in the top 32. Regardless of what happened in this year's draft, recent history says the RB value is not in the top 20-30 picks anymore.

Recent history says that two RBs were taken in the first fifteen picks this year as underclassmen.