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ESPN NFL draft skilled Mel Kiper Jr. launched his second 2024 NFL mock draft on Wednesday, and very like his first mock final month, it’s headlined by USC quarterback Caleb Williams going No. 1 general to the Chicago Bears.
Kiper didn’t make any adjustments to his high 4, as he nonetheless has LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels going No. 2 general to the Washington Commanders, North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye going third to the New England Patriots and Ohio State large receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. touchdown with the Arizona Cardinals with the No. 4 general choose.
The highest 10 choices in Kiper’s 2024 mock draft 2.0 are as follows:
- Chicago Bears: Caleb Williams, QB, USC
- Washington Commanders: Jayden Daniels, QB, LSU
- New England Patriots: Drake Maye, QB, North Carolina
- Arizona Cardinals: Marvin Harrison Jr., WR, Ohio State
- Los Angeles Chargers: JC Latham, OT, Alabama
- New York Giants: Rome Odunze, WR, Washington
- Tennessee Titans: Joe Alt, OT, Notre Dame
- Atlanta Falcons: Dallas Turner, EDGE, Alabama
- Chicago Bears: Malik Nabers, WR, LSU
- New York Jets: Brock Bowers, TE, Georgia
Alabama offensive deal with JC Latham, who was not a top-10 choose in Kiper’s first mock, has shot up his board, as Kiper expects Latham to be the highest offensive lineman taken within the draft by the Los Angeles Chargers at No. 5 general.
Along with quarterbacks going with the highest three choices, Kiper has Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy going twelfth general to the Denver Broncos as effectively.
The 2024 NFL draft is as loaded as any draft in latest reminiscence in terms of top-end quarterback expertise, and it occurs to coincide with quarterback-needy groups choosing close to the highest of the primary spherical.
It may be argued that the Bears can be clever to commerce out of the No. 1 spot, accumulate extra draft picks and transfer ahead with incumbent quarterback Justin Fields identical to they did final season, however there was a whole lot of smoke relating to Chicago transferring on from Fields and selecting a brand new franchise man.
Whereas Fields has proven flashes of brilliance and proven himself to be an thrilling, dual-threat signal-caller, he has but to unquestionably set up himself as a quarterback who can win constantly and take his staff to the playoffs.
That might immediate the Bears to maneuver on from him and choose the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner in Williams, who accomplished 67.5 p.c of his passes for 8,170 yards, 72 touchdowns and simply 10 interceptions, whereas additionally dashing for 21 scores in two seasons because the starter at USC.
After Chicago, each Washington and New England undoubtedly have a gap below heart, and it could be pretty stunning if both of them move up the chance to take a quarterback.
Listed at 6’4″ and 240 kilos, Maye is extra of a prototypical NFL quarterback than Daniels, who’s a slighter 210 kilos on his 6’4″ body.
Nevertheless, Daniels is coming off a historic season at LSU that noticed him full 72.2 p.c of his passing makes an attempt for 3,812 yards, 40 touchdowns and 4 picks, together with dashing for 1,134 yards and 10 touchdowns en path to successful the Heisman Trophy.
Maye is a twin menace in his personal proper, dashing for 449 yards and 9 touchdowns final season, plus he accomplished 63.3 p.c of his passes for 3,608 yards, 24 touchdowns and 9 interceptions.
It represented a drop-off from the earlier season when he threw for 4,321 yards, 38 touchdowns and 7 picks, and whereas that would doubtlessly end in Daniels going forward of Maye, it stands to purpose that the Commanders and Patriots can be proud of both prospect given how poor their quarterback play has been lately.
Latham, who’s Kiper’s greatest riser, was a first-team All-SEC choice in 2023. Most draft consultants have ranked him behind Notre Dame’s Joe Alt and Penn State’s Olumuyiwa Fashanu at minimal on the offensive deal with place, however Kiper went out on a limb and sees him surpassing each extremely touted prospects.
Different motion of be aware in Kiper’s second mock contains Washington large receiver Rome Odunze and LSU wideout Malik Nabers switching spots. In his first mock, Kiper had Nabers going sixth general to the New York Giants and Odunze going ninth to the Bears, however he has since flip-flopped them.
Kiper additionally has supremely gifted Georgia tight finish Brock Bowers tumbling a bit. Final month, Kiper projected Bowers to go fifth general to the Chargers, however now he expects the New York Jets to land one other weapon for quarterback Aaron Rodgers by taking Bowers tenth general.
