2020 NFL Mock Draft

NFL Mock Draft: Updated April 23rd, 2020

For the 2020 NFL Mock Draft, updates will be made weekly throughout the NFL season.

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2020 NFL Draft Prospect Rankings:

QB , RB , WR , TE , OT , OG , C , DT , DE , OLB , ILB , CB , S

Official NFL Draft Updates

Joe Burrow, QB, LSU

View Top Quarterbacks

Free agency did nothing to change the Burrow to Bengals connection. He seems good with the move, and the Bengals have even been surprisingly aggressive in free agency.

Chase Young, DE, Ohio State

View Top Defensive Ends

There is a slight chance that the Redskins will target a QB here, but most signs at the point to taking the best overall prospect in the draft. Haskins could get a year to prove he can be the franchise QB.

3. Miami Dolphins (projected trade with Detroit)

Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Alabama

View Top Quarterbacks

Miami has to get their QB of the future in this draft. Many mock drafts and draft talk discuss that the Dolphins are set on Tua, but still have them sitting at the 5th spot. That is just not going to happen. Here, they trade up with Detroit, give up their second first rounder and then we leave it at that, assuming that part of the deal would include a pick next year.

Mekhi Becton, OT, Louisville

View Top Offensive Tackles

The Giants could very well trade out of this spot, but it is a little less likely after free agency. They will listen to offers, as they don’t have the same needs as the Lions so they can pivot around safely from here to the sixth pick. Regardless, this team needs offensive line

5. Detroit Lions (projected trade with Miami)

Jeffrey Okudah, CB, Ohio State

View Top Cornerbacks

Darius Slay taking Jeffrey Okudah under his wing after being traded tells you everything you need to know about how petty and vindictive he has been in the locker room the last few years. The Lions and Okudah are a perfect fit, but they are going to have to find out how much damage Slay has done in poisoning his opinion of the team and coaches. Have to give the benefit of the doubt to Okudah and believe he can see through Slay’s “reaching out”.

Justin Herbert, QB, Oregon

View Top Quarterbacks

After staying put in terms of the QB shuffle in free agency, the Chargers will surely go after a QB early in the draft. A big question is if they like Herbert or Love better. The one not taken by the Chargers could take a huge fall. For now, the Chargers seem like they can wait and get one of those two QB’s in this slot.

Isaiah Simmons, S/OLB, Clemson

View Top Safeties / View Top Outside Linebackers

The first steps for the new look Panthers took place as the signed Teddy Bridgewater and traded for a LT. The Panthers are constrained by some dead money issues, but can start to put some pieces together, and will have lots of salary cap space next year.

Andrew Thomas, OT, Georgia

View Top Offensive Tackles

After trading for Hopkins, the Cardinals had a number of high impact free agency signings, but did not address offensive tackle. The O-line will probably need to be addressed a few times in this draft.

View Top Cornerbacks

The Jaguars need to rebuild their secondary, and they might as well start with an elite, shutdown corner. Henderson is a polished prospect that can start from day one.

Tristan Wirfs, OT/OG, Iowa

View Top Offensive Tackles

After signing the Right Tackle of the future in Conklin, the Browns have to get one of the big name left tackle prospects here. This is an easy selection, and they should have the pickings of a left tackle they can put in place for years.









Jerry Jeudy, WR, Alabama

View Top Wide Receivers

The Breshad Perriman is a nice pick up, but the Jets need WR’s in bunches. The Jets attacked the offensive line in free agency, but it still could be a consideration here. The question is, who will be left here in terms of the top left tackle prospects? If their primary targets are gone, they shouldn’t reach and address another need. In this mock, they have a major decision to make. They need offensive weapons as well, and grab their top choice at WR here, waiting on the left tackle later. Look for a sneaky left tackle pick in the second round!

CeeDee Lamb, WR, Oklahoma

View Top Wide Receivers

The Raiders can finally start to build their WR core here with one of the uber elite WR prospects available in the draft. This will probably come down to Lamb or Jeudy, both being game changers. Look for them to possibly add another WR later in the draft.

Derrick Brown, DT, Auburn

View Top Defensive Tackles

The 49ers traded away an excellent DT, but get a pick back and find an equally talented one, but that is cheaper and younger. They had to make an adjustment to the resources allocated on the D-line, as it was going to be an issue in the next few years.

Jedrick Wills, OT, Alabama

View Top Offensive Tackles

Tampa Bay is going all in with Tom Brady, so they better keep him healthy. They should strongly consider corner here as well as their pass defense was one of the worst in the league.

Austin Jackson, OT, USC

View Top Offensive Tackles

After getting a reliable and versatile interior lineman in free agency, the Broncos double down and are ecstatic to still have a top tier LT on the board.

Jaylon Johnson, CB, Utah

View Top Cornerbacks

The Falcons had to make a painful move to release a talented CB due to some contract issues, but are in a perfect position in the first round to grab one of the top prospects.

View Top Cornerbacks

The Cowboys need to get cheaper at deeper instead of just having a grouping of a select group of very expensive players. They need help at DE and corner, particularly getting younger and cheaper.

Josh Jones, OT, Houston

View Top Offensive Tackles

The Dolphins will most likely do what they have to do to get Tua in this draft, but still have a few needs after a very active free agency buying spree. At the top of the list is O-line.

Noah Igbinoghene, CB, Auburn

View Top Cornerbacks

Eli Apple was a nice signing, but wasn’t Darius Slay. Fortunately, they have lots of draft capital and this is a great spot to get probably the third or fourth best CB in this draft.

Javon Kinlaw, DT, South Carolina

View Top Defensive Tackles

The first round could set up really well for the Jaguars in terms of slots matched with needs. They have lost a lot of defensive talent the last two years, but are putting together the pieces to do a quick rebuild. Look for a lot of the “inside out” approach to team building.

Early 2020 NFL Mock Draft

The current mock drafts from DraftBlaster and DraftGeek are our Early 2020 NFL Mock Drafts. The first one is published even before the last draft and starts with just one round. A second and third round are added soon afterword, and some prospect rankings begin to emerge. The Early 2020 NFL Mock Draft is in place until about the middle of the NFL season.

Latest 2020 NFL Mock Draft

The Latest 2020 NFL Mock Draft contains all relevant changes as per retirements, injuries, prospect rankings (now that the college football season as started, and any other external influences on our mock drafts.

2020 NFL Mock Draft 7 Rounds

Our 2020 NFL Mock Draft 7 Rounds will appear after the current NFL season. This allows us to evaluate team needs, team standings, prospect rankings, and all of the other variables needed to have the preliminary data to publish a 2020 NFL Mock Draft 7 Rounds.

2020 NFL Mock Draft Concepts

When: April 23rd to April 25th, 2020

Where: Las Vegas, Nevada

The annual NFL Draft is a prolific topic on sports channels, social media, and the web. Information that is distributed ranges in quality, and coverage builds to a crescendo, culminating in the ratings-giant, three-day draft extravaganza. As with any popular topic these days, much of what you hear or read is nonsense, or at least, “near nonsense.”

Question: What is the major dichotomy of types of mock drafts?

Answer: In a perfect world, all mock drafts would have to state clearly whether the selections are what the writer thinks the teams WILL do, or what the teams SHOULD do. Unfortunately, there is a lot of hedging of bets, and most mock drafts contain a mix of both. By literal interpretation, a mock draft should always be a representation of what the writer thinks each team will do instead of their opinion on what the team should do in the draft. However, mock drafts that are purely based on what a writer thinks a team should do are refreshing and can tell you a lot about the writer’s football acumen.

Question: What is the difference between a mock draft and a “big board”?

Answer: This should be very clear in the description before either. A mock draft is a prediction of the actual draft results. A big board is a rating system of players’ quality. This throws out all other variables such as team needs, supply and demand, etc. Big boards are a more difficult analysis, as assigning a raw number of quality to players regardless of position is a tricky proposition.

Question: I see a lot of NFL mock drafts out there, what are some initial qualities that I should look for to judge if a writer is doing a good job or not?

Answer: Analyzing all of the NFL teams and making informed, thoughtful assessments of how they should draft is an exhaustive process. The first assumption you might want throw out is counter-intuitive, but important: don’t necessarily judge a mock draft by how accurate they have been. NFL drafts involve human beings as the “product,” and it is a process of guessing, albeit highly educated guessing. Look for writers that explain themselves logically and thoroughly.

It is easier to do a little elimination of many mock drafts right from the start. You want to avoid mock drafts that:

Assign players to teams in their mock most often because the current player on that team is… and insert pejorative comment. This will clear out a large amount of mock drafts. An example is “The X Team should draft Y Player because their current play A is just terrible.” Football is a much more complex game than that, and you don’t want to invest in a mock draft that reads like a local talk sports radio show. Are in love with descriptions in “absolutes.” There is a time and a place for absolutes, such as “Jerry Rice is the greatest wide receiver of all-time.” This is sports talk, so it doesn’t need be 100% a definitive truth, but just near it. However, more often than not you will see so-called analyses that are drenched in words like “the worst,” “the best,” “the most powerful,” “the greatest athlete,”, etc. It is lazy, and loses power when over-used. Frame up arguments that give the writer a position of complete infallibility. Professional sports writers and analysts fall into this trap often. In a mock draft it goes like this: “If the Titans don’t draft X, they are just stupid, but they probably will draft X.” The writer is giving himself an “out.” They are putting forth an opinion, and if option A happens where the team does what they say, they are smart, and if the team goes with option B then they are stupid, and the writer still looks smart. Unfortunately, this thought process is the world we live in now.

Question: What prep work should I do on my favorite team to be prepared for the 2020 NFL draft?

Answer: This is where it should always start, not by first looking at shiny new players and how they would help. The NFL draft is simply an exercise in allocating finite resources. By understanding how your team uses and needs resources, you can be well prepared to enjoy the draft process. Consider:

If you have a returning GM and front office, you should try to learn their patterns. Do they more often lean toward either defense or offense in the draft and the other in free agency? Does your front office adhere to a best player available, best player that fits a need, or more pure need type philosophy? If you have a new front office, it is not difficult to study the philosophy of where they learned. For key positions, understand the player type based on that system. West Coast Offense wide receivers have different desired skill sets than Air Coryell type wide receivers. First know the type of system that is going to be used for each part of the offense and defense, and know the desired type of players for those schemes. Remember what you just saw the year before. It is not a cheap cliché that the NFL is a copycat league. This is not as reckless as it sounds, as it is more accurately a reactive league. For instance, if a few teams realized that slot corners can’t cover the new breed of “move” tight ends, and have been carving up defenses, you will most probably see an increase in the value of athletic, pass-catching tight ends in the draft. Look around the division for major personnel changes. Front offices put a lot of weight into the actions of those teams they will play twice a year. If a team in a division has a fast rising QB and WR combo that was hard to handle the year before and only getting better, the cornerback position will become more of a premium. Take a look at upcoming contracts. The draft is a great way to trim payroll. When there are declining players with big salaries, teams will look to find a young player with a manageable cap hit to replace them. A position group that contains players with high salaries on a team will be a position group that increases in value for that team in the draft.

Question: Where should I get my 2020 NFL draft information?

Answer: Start locally. Covering the entire league is a daunting task, so if you start by studying what the folks that cover your team day in and day out say, you are logically getting more focused opinion. That is not a given, as local sports coverage varies greatly from town to town and reporter to reporter. You should be able to identify the thoughtful, intelligent reporters from the goofballs.

DraftBlaster Provides Broad, Non-Biased Draft Scouting Reports

Next, for overall draft coverage triangulate. That is what DraftBlaster is all about, providing multiple, and diverse sources of analysis on each player. If you identify a player you are interested in, read a few player profiles from different sites and look for patterns. Next, for national analysis on your team, look for analysts that played, coached, or are familiar with your teams systems. For instance, if your team employs the West Coast Offense, you would give a little more weight to what someone like Steve Young says, as he played in that offense during his Hall of Fame career.

Question: Now that I am prepped about my team, and have a good understanding of team needs, what other factors should I look for in players available for the draft?

Answer: Your expectations for the draft will come crashing down if you don’t prepare yourself by knowing the supply and demand dynamic of each position. For instance, your team might be desperate for a RB. Your local sports radio shows and columnists are saying how your team must draft a RB in the first round, as it is their biggest need. The first round comes and goes, and your team picks up a defensive end. The sky falls, and the local sports press panders to the lowest common denominator thinking, and the calls flood in to the afternoon shock radio station.

R-E-L-A-X

As Aaron Rodgers says… R-E-L-A-X. Just because your team NEEDS a player at a certain position, don’t necessarily assign that to where they should take them in the draft. Look at the entire RB class as a whole. Are there a few superstars that were gone when your team picked? Is there a large grouping of the next level of RB’s after the elite ones? Is there a history of mid to late round RB’s thriving in the draft? More often than not, teams that seem to always hit their top need in the first round are simply reaching.

The draft process is a moving target, and what you think you need at that moment can change very quickly with free agency, injuries, surprise low rounders or undrafted free agents. What you need to do is look for patterns. What do the best teams seem to do in the draft? If you said pick the best player available most of the time, with some, but not total relation to need… you are correct.

The 2020 NFL Draft Trading Chart

The NFL Draft Trading Chart is a very rough estimation of value per draft slot. It was developed by Jimmy Johnson in the early 1990’s. It is only meant as a rudimentary guide to trade pick value.

When is the 2020 NFL Draft? April 23rd to 25th, unofficially. Where is the 2020 NFL Draft to be held? The 2020 NFL Draft will be held in Paradise, Nevada. Who are some of the top prospects for the 2020 NFL Draft? Tua Tagovailoa, Jerry Jeudy, Chase Young, Andrew Thomas, Justin Herbert, and Jake Fromm.

More info on the 2020 NFL Draft