Anthony Richardson has officially declared himself for the draft, and we’ll now be spending the next few months trying to figure out exactly where he might end up. Will he sneak into Round 1? Will he be QB4, or is there a chance he will eventually be QB1, especially since current No. 1 quarterback Bryce Young is around 5-foot-10 and 185 pounds … which is unprecedented for an NFL QB, especially one to be considered for the first overall pick.
(That said, Young is currently our QB1 because he’s been so good, without any of the weapons that Mac Jones and Tua Tagovailoa enjoyed before him, and he carried Alabama’s offense for much of the game. season.)
Over the summer, some NFL teams were high on Richardson and Will Levis, above Young and CJ Stroud, largely because of the rise on the road. Sure, Young and Stroud have had much better seasons, but it’ll be interesting to see exactly how it all pans out. A year ago, we media people identified Kenny Pickett, Malik Willis, Matt Corral, Sam Howell and Desmond Ridder as possible first rounders. In the end, only Pickett heard his name called on Day 1, and the next QB, Ridder, didn’t go until Round 3. Simply put: yes, teams are always desperate for franchise quarterbacks, but last year’s lackluster crop wasn’t attractive enough to force any of them (other than, presumably, Pittsburgh) to come uncovered.
This year will almost certainly be different, primarily because while this year’s crop doesn’t have Joe Burrow or Trevor Lawrence, it does have four intriguing prospects. Which brings us to Will Levis, who remains the joker. the “huge upside but there’s a bunch of reasons why we don’t quite see it right now” franchise passer who has struggled with a toe and shoulder injury, a porous offensive line and young, inexperienced wide receivers.
Interestingly, former Vikings general manager Rick Spielman spoke about Levis on last week’s “With the First Pick” podcast, explaining what many people in the league have been saying about the Kentucky QB for ages. month.
When you’re in the top 10 picks, you’re expected to be able to overcome adversity, even if it crushes you all at once. NFL evaluators will spend weeks and months leading up to the draft trying to figure out what a healthy Levis might look like, with pieces in place around him to help him succeed, at the next level. The problem, of course, is that usually the teams that pick at the top of the draft don’t have those things.
We’re now three weeks into the aforementioned “With the First Pick” podcast, and I just wanted to thank you all for the comments, thumbs up, and kind words overall. Appreciate the comments and remember: we’ll be live every Monday at 2 p.m. ET on the Pick Pix YouTube channel, and you can subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.
As we get closer to the draft, we’ll be moving to multiple shows a week with CBS Sports NFL Draft analysts Josh Edwards, Chris Trapasso and Emory Hunt, along with other members of the CBS Sports family. You can follow me on Twitter at @ryanwilsonCBS for updates and reminders.
There are only 31 selections in this mock draft because the Dolphins were stripped of their first-round pick due to tampering.
One more thing: Please note that what is reflected below is Sunday’s draft Week 15 fixture list, but does not include “Monday Night Football”.