2017 NFL Mock Draft 1.0: Preseason Edition

Let's be honest, mock drafts are essentially useless to make. They are right probably less than 1% of the time and making one before the NFL regular season even starts will have even worse odds. But who cares? They are fun and everyone loves them! They are by far my favorite material to cover when it comes to the NFL. Quite frankly, they are a ton of fun to make and the conversation that they stir up is fantastic. When I put out mock drafts, they will be ordered like this:

-        Opening paragraph

-        Mock draft

-        Bullet points about certain picks

Simple enough. Now that that’s established, one last thing. I use Vegas odds for the draft order until the actual order is announced. In example, the Cleveland Browns have the worst odds at 200/1 so they own the first overall pick. Vice versa, the New England Patriots have the best odds at 7/1 so they own the 32^nd overall pick. So I don’t hate your team as much as you think. Without further ado, let’s get mocking!

1. Cleveland Browns: Deshaun Watson, QB, Clemson

2. San Francisco 49ers: Brad Kaaya, QB, Miami

3. Tennessee Titans: Myles Garrett, EDGE, Texas A&M

4. Detroit Lions: Leonard Fournette, RB, LSU

5. San Diego Chargers: Cam Robinson, OT, Alabama

6. Tennessee Titans (via Los Angeles): Jalen Tabor, CB, Florida

7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Jamal Adams, S, LSU

8. Buffalo Bills: Johnathan Allen, DT, Alabama

9. Miami Dolphins: Dalvin Cook, RB, Florida State

10. Cleveland Browns (via Philadelphia): Nick Chubb, RB, Georgia

11. Atlanta Falcons: Derek Barnett, EDGE, Tennessee

12. Chicago Bears: Jabrill Peppers, OLB/S, Michigan

13. New Orleans Saints: Carl Lawson, EDGE, Auburn

14. New York Jets: Mike Williams, WR, Clemson

15. Jackson Jaguars: Roederick Johnson, OT, Florida State

16. Washington: Christian McCaffrey, RB, Stanford

17. Houston Texans: Jake Butt, TE, Michigan

18. Baltimore Ravens: Tre’Davious White, CB, LSU

19. Oakland Raiders: Desmond King, CB, Iowa

20. Dallas Cowboys: Malik McDowell, DT, Michigan State

21. Philadelphia Eagles (via Minnesota): JuJu Smith-Schuster, WR, USC

22. New York Giants: Adoree Jackson, CB, USC

23. Indianapolis Colts: Tim Williams, EDGE, Alabama

24. Kansas City Chiefs: Jalen Reeves-Maybin, LB, Tennessee

25. Cincinnati Bengals: Charles Harris, EDGE, Missouri

26. Denver Broncos: Chris Wormley, DT, Michigan

27. Arizona Cardinals: Jarrad Davis, LB, Florida

28. Carolina Panthers: Royce Freeman, RB, Oregon

29. Pittsburgh Steelers: Eddie Jackson, S, Alabama

30. Seattle Seahawks: Pat Elfein, OG, Ohio State

31. Green Bay Packers: Raekwon McMillan, LB, Ohio State

32. New England Patriots: Dan Feeney, G, Indiana

-        Brad Kaaya’s stock may start slipping and to no fault of his own. This year’s quarterback draft looks intriguing; with guys like Chad Kelly and Davis Webb it’s hard to gauge where their stock will be come draft time. A wild card to keep an eye on is Notre Dame’s DeShone Kizer. Kizer is a red-shirt sophomore who has tremendous upside. Should he continue to progress this season, he has a realistic shot at the first round, should he declare.

-        This is the year of the running back. A very top heavy 2017 draft looks to feature a ton of running back talent. I believe in the five running backs I pegged in the first round as well as several others who just missed the cut. Some names to watch out for include: Samaje Perine, Wayne Gallman, Sony Michel, Jalen Hurd, James Conner, Elijah Hood, Corey Clement, and Shock Linwood.

-        Last year, I had a man crush on Florida State’s Jalen Ramsey. Ramsey was my top overall prospect and my pick for Defensive Rookie of the Year (more detail in tomorrow’s article). This year, it’s LSU’s Jamal Adams. Adams is a big safety with ball hawking abilities as well as a fearsome presence in-the-box. Adams is already a top ten prospect for me and could easily sneak into my top five.

-        Mike Williams and Nick Chubb are huge wildcards going into this year coming off of huge season ending injuries. Williams is coming off a fractured neck and Chubb from a massive knee injury. If week one of the college season is any indication of things to come, they look like they were never injured.

-        This year’s wide receiver class looks to have plenty of names who will be second day grabs. With only a couple big names at the top, guys like KD Cannon, Artavis Scott, and the LSU duo of Malachi Dupre and Travin Dural could see a big boost in their draft stock.

-        Similar to the running back class, the tight end class looks just as deep. While I only have Jake Butt in the first round currently, guys like O.J. Howard, Jordan Leggett, Evan Engram, and Bucky Hodges could all be top 50 picks with Howard challenging for a first round selection.

-        The EDGE class has a ton of names to look for this season. With NFL team making a premium on guys who can get to the quarterback, I could easily see close to ten guys go round one. Name to watch outside of the five above include: Lewis Neal, Devonte Fields (a guy I had a really hard time leaving out of round one), and Ryan Anderson.

Quick Hits: Preseason Week 3

Yay, football! Even if it's preseason, we will take whatever we can get. It's been a long six-month wait. The first week of preseason gave us plenty to talk about. This series will be put out every week covering everything that happened over the weekend and Thursday football. Look for it on Wednesdays from here on out. We will cover anywhere from five to 15 quick points from the week, with my analysis and opinion on each topic. Oh, and heads up, these will all be very opinionated. So I am sorry in advance if I am a "hater" of your team. I am here to give my opinion and that's exactly what I am going to do. Let's get started.

- Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas put on a show against the New England Patriots. For his first game in the NFL, Thomas had a stat line of 4/64/0 (receptions/yards/touchdowns) with a couple acrobatic catches. A second round pick in the 2016 draft, I viewed him as the top receiver available. Thomas will be a steal for the Saints this season and I expect him to become a major part of the offense sooner rather than later.

- Quarterbacks Carson Wentz, Paxton Lynch, and Dak Prescott had solid to great starts to their NFL careers. Wentz went 12-24 (three big drops from his wide outs) for 89 yards and an interception. While that may look underwhelming, Wentz played very well for the Eagles all things considered. Lynch, when he wasn't getting sacked, went 6-7 for 74 yards and looked more than capable of running the Broncos' offense well. Prescott had the best day of the bunch, going 10-12 for 139 yards and two touchdown passes. Given the Cowboys situation with backup quarterbacks, Prescott provided a much needed sigh of relief for Dallas fans.

- On the opposite side of the spectrum, Jared Goff has a rough first outing for the Rams. The former call product went 4-9 for 38 yards. Underwhelming? Yes. But it’s the first preseason game that he didn't even start. The offense also features a lot of rookies and young guys. Give him time to gel.

- Break up the Titans running backs! After acquiring DeMarco Murray from the Eagles and drafting Derrick Henry in round two of this year’s draft, the Titans made it obvious they wanted a power run game to run the offense (no pun intended). Well if preseason is any sign of what's to come, it sure looks good. Murray went 6/93/1 including a 71-yard touchdown run. Henry went 10/74/1.

- The Ravens running back stable looks pretty solid, too. Javorius "Buck" Allen, Terrance West, and Kenneth Dixon all displayed their skill sets very well. Allen only went six carries for six yards, but had an impressive 19-yard touchdown reception. West went 9/25/2 with good vision and red-zone play. Dixon carried the ball nine time for 44 yards with some great reads and explosive runs between the tackles.

- The Jaguars duo of Blake Bortles to Allen Robinson looks to be in midseason form. Robinson grabbed three passes for a whopping 80 yards. This young duo is starting to earn its way towards one of the best in the NFL.

- The Texans offense got off to a slow start, and even that statement doesn't do it justice. Brock Osweiler, who signed his 4-year $72 million contract over the summer, went 4/7 for 27 yards. Osweiler was under pressure and was unable to make anything happen deep. His longest completion went for 12 yards. Osweiler is an average quarterback and this offense has a ton of new pieces. They will all need time to mesh before we can see what they are truly capable of.

- One big thing that happened off the field this week was the trade of former Titans wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham to the Eagles. A former 2nd round pick, DGB is only in his second season and showed plenty of promise as a rookie. Reports came out shortly after the trade, claiming is work ethic as well as showing up to camp out of shape prompted the Titans to move on quickly. The Eagles meanwhile, have a weakness at the receiver position. Adding DGB to a receiving corps Jordan Matthews and Zach Ertz will hopefully open things up a little more, especially in the red-zone.

- With key names such as Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edleman, and Danny Amendola sitting out for the first preseason gamefor the Patriots, Jimmy Garoppolo looked solid. After looking uncomfortable to start the game, Garoppolo finished nicely to put up an 11/18 for 168 yards stat line.

-And finally, we have our favorite kicker, Roberto Aguayo... Aguayo, who NEVER MISSED a PAT in his entire college career, missed his first ever attempt in the NFL. Now, we really shouldn't be freaking out too much... But when you consider the Buccaneers not only took him in the second round of this year’s draft, but actually traded up for him, I think we have some reason to freak out a little.

Richard Bradshaw is available to follow on Twitter @RichieBradz36. Thank you for the read.

Quick Hits: Preseason Week 2

We are half way finished with the preseason. Isn't that an exciting thought? In the meantime, lets continue breaking down the main points of week 2 of the preseason. This previous week gave us a little more insight to certain teams, particularly how good the depth of certain teams will be.

-Lions wide receiver Marvin Jones had a solid week, posting a 4/65/0 stat line. Sure, it doesn't look that great on paper and I didn't think much of it at first, but this is great news for Lions fans wondering how next season will look without Calvin Johnson. If Jones can continue to make excellent sideline catches and be a consistently safe target, Jones and Golden Tate could help alleviate the loss of Megatron.

- RGIII is back! ...maybe. After a rather atrocious week 1 of the preseason (4/8 67 0/2), Griffin took us back to 2012 with a 6/8 96 2/0 stat line. He also grabbed 36 yards on the ground on three carries. The Browns would love to see more of this RGIII and less of week 1 RGIII. In Hue Jackson's offense, RGIII has seemingly no excuses.

- Speaking of RGIII, I noticed the other day on NFL Network a conversation was being had about RGIII's celebrations after his touchdown passes. Bottom line, you are definitely allowed to celebrate in the NFL, to a certain extent. I have no problem with Griffin celebrating his touchdowns. I do have a problem with his interesting off the field history. Griffin has been known to be a locker room cancer and considering how long it's been since he has had success, I would personally like to see a more humble version of himself. At the end of the day, Griffin has no interest in what I think. One thing I want to make clear: this is not a race thing. So can we please not make this a race thing?

- Landry Jones couldn't have looked much worse if he tried. He threw not one, not two, not three, but four interceptions against the Eagles. With Ben Roethlisberger's inconsistent health, the last thing the Steelers needed to worry about was uncertainty for their backup quarterback.

- The Tajae Sharpe hype-train is real, so jump on while you still can. Following the trade of Dorail Green-Beckham to the Eagles, Sharpe looked to become one of the top three receivers on the Titans depth chart. Sharpe has garnered high praise all off season and has caught all eight of his targets for 103 yards.

- Vernon Hargreaves is alive and well, in case you were wondering. The Buccaneers first round pick recorded two interceptions this week against the Jaguars. This is a very nice sign, as the Bucs will lean heavily on Hargreaves to help against the pass after ranking just 16th in the NFL last season.

- Karlos Williams was surprisingly cut this week after reports surfaced that he showed up to camp overweight. This is another hard lesson for players to learn. It isn't hard to keep your body in shape when you are a professional athlete. There's no excuse. So decide if you want to play football or eat that extra dessert and skip your work out. As unfortunate as it is to see talent get wasted, I really hope Williams gets it together after a major wake up call.

- Washington running back Matt Jones will be sidelined for the rest of the preseason at a minimum after suffering a second degree AC sprainsecond degree AC Sprain in his left shoulder. This isn't welcome news in Washington, considering how week the team is at running back. This will add some pressure to Kirk Cousins to pick up the passing game from where it left off last season, should Jones be injured longer than two weeks.

- Antonio Cromartie was claimed off of waivers yesterday, thanks to the Indianapolis Colts. Cromartie spent last season with the Jets before being cut this offseason. Cromartie will be relied on as a veteran presence in the secondary while Pro Bowler Vontae Davis remains out with a medial ankle sprain.

- And unfortunately, we end this article on a very sour note. Giants kicker Josh Brown has been suspended one game for accusations of domestic violence against his wife. According to ESPN.com, Brown's wife claims she was attacked over 20 times by the kicker. This is absolutely disgusting. Nothing is good about the situation. Not Josh Brown. Not the report about how many times his wife was attacked. Not even the NFL poor at best suspension. One game for beating up your wife more than 20 times? And here we "thought" the NFL learned the lesson from the Ray Rice saga. Don't even get me started on the Greg Hardy situation. No. Instead, the NFL appears to have taken steps backwards. Not just one step. The NFL fell down six flights of stairs on this one. Domestic violence is unacceptable in any circumstance, much less in the sports world. But for this to be on public display, with everything we know about the situation, and the NFL believes one game is sufficient? I am sorry. That is terrible. No, it's worse than terrible. I am at a loss of words.

Sorry, to end on such a sour note, everyone. But look at the bright side, preseason week three is upon us! The "dress rehearsal week" of the preseason will give us an excellent look of what's to come this season. Enjoy it everyone, and I'll see you all next Wednesday.

Richard Bradshaw is available to follow on twitter @RichieBradz36. Thank you for the read.