Far-Out Draft Predictions For Contrarian Mock Draft Picks

It is officially capital-D Draft Week, and the draft rumors and smokescreens are flying all over the place! Sweat is falling? Hollywood Brown is rising? Daniel Jones at pick 6??? Cats and dogs, living together, MASS HYSTERIA!

Since none of us have any idea what to believe, it’s time to stop believing the rumors, and start laying our long-shot predictions out for the world to see! It’s time for my second edition of 30 Hot Takes. My first go at it (back in 2017) was actually called 30 Takes with Varying Degrees of Hotness, and many of the predictions were just as weak and safe as the title suggested. Because I was scared of being wrong.

No longer! These takes… oh, you’ll need a tall glass of milk to go along with these draft takes. Last time I hit on 10.5 out of 30 takes (hitting .350 isn’t horrible) and if I can get anywhere near that with these predictions, which are objectively spicier, it will be a huge win.

But don’t get me wrong. I’m not just trying to get attention by predicting a bunch of impossible picks I don’t really believe will happen, in the hopes that I happen to get one right. I firmly believe in all of these predictions. Most of them are based on a combination of what I’ve heard all draft season, what I think about team tendencies, and what I feel in my little gut. All the work I’ve done all offseason lead me to my final mock draft (due out in the next day or two) but I can’t get there without first laying out my roadmap here.

These are all tidbits that I’m focusing on when it comes to making my contrarian (as opposed to my chalk) picks in my mock draft contests. You can finish in the middle of any mock draft contest by going all-chalk, but you will never win a big mock draft pool unless you hit on some of your contrarian picks. And if you haven’t made your own mock draft and entered it into a mock draft pool yet, please, come right this way:

The app is all totally free. Join a mock draft pool or make one just for you and your friends. Draft day is so much better when you have a rooting interest in every pick.

Here they are:

30 Hot Draft Takes That Will Destroy Your Mock Draft

1) Detroit will ruin everyone’s mocks with their first round pick… think Greedy Williams or Jonah Williams

2) Speaking of which, both Greedy and Jonah will be drafted in the top-13

3) Christian Wilkins, Dexter Lawrence, and Clelin Ferrell will all be drafted in the top-20

4) T.J. Hockenson will not be drafted in the top-20

5) Noah Fant will not be drafted in the 1st round at all

6) Quinnen Williams will be drafted at pick 3

7) Ed Oliver will be gone before the Jaguars pick

8) D.K. Metcalf and Hakeem Butler will be the first two Wide Receivers to be drafted

9) At least 6 Offensive Linemen will be drafted in the first round

10) At least 6 Wide Receivers will be drafted in the 2nd round

11) Marquise Brown will be one of those 2nd round Wide Receivers

12) No Safety will be drafted in the first round

13) But there will be a run on Safeties in the second round

14) No Running Back will be drafted in the first round either

15) Only 3 Running Backs will be drafted in rounds 1-3

16) A team will trade back up into the 1st round to draft Daniel Jones

17) Josh Rosen will be a Redskin by the end of the draft

18) No team will trade a 2020 first round pick during the draft

19) Rashan Gary will not be drafted in the top-15

20) Montez Sweat will not be drafted in the top-20

21) Brian Burns will not be drafted in the top-30

22) But Chase Winovich will

23) The Raiders will draft two EDGE rushers… in the first round

24) The Seahawks will not draft a Defensive Back in the 1st round

25) But they will add 3 Wide Receivers by the end of the draft

26) All of the AFC South picks: the Jaguars will draft Jawaan Taylor

27) The Texans will trade up for Andre Dillard

28) The Titans will draft Dexter Lawrence

29) The Colts will draft Jerry Tillery

30) The Patriots will draft a first round WR for the first time since Terry Glenn was drafted in 1996, under Bill Parcells