Road to the Draft – Part 10
March 23, 2021
By Noonefromtampa
Welcome to the latest edition of The Hog Sty’s mock draft tracker column.
This is the first week into free agency and the first look at how it has impacted first round draft projections for the Washington Football Team. WFT key signings include William Jackson III, Ryan Fitzpatrick, David Mayo and Curtis Samuel, while Brandon Scherff was franchise tagged. That addresses five team needs: cornerback, quarterback, linebacker, wide receiver and guard.
The Mocks
This week the number of mock drafts published went up a small amount from 178 to 183 as the new of level of new mock posts flattened out. The position distribution is now:
| Position | Picked Count | Picked % | Last Week % | % Change |
| QB | 56 | 30.60% | 30.90% | -0.30% |
| OT | 46 | 25.14% | 24.16% | 0.98% |
| WR | 28 | 15.30% | 16.85% | -1.55% |
| LB | 21 | 11.48% | 9.55% | 1.93% |
| IOL | 17 | 9.29% | 8.99% | 0.30% |
| CB | 6 | 3.28% | 3.93% | -0.65% |
| TE | 4 | 2.19% | 2.25% | -0.06% |
| S | 3 | 1.64% | 2.25% | -0.61% |
| Edge | 1 | 0.55% | 0.56% | -0.01% |
| DT | 1 | 0.55% | 0.56% | -0.01% |
| Grand Total | 183 | 100.00% | 100.00% |
At first blush, the biggest impact to mocks is that linebacker rose almost 2% since that need is still the greatest with the loss of multiple linebackers to free agency. Offensive tackle rose almost 1%, while all the other position groups had their share of picks decrease, with wide receiver falling 1.5%.
The players mock picked to WFT at nineteen in descending frequency are:
| Player | Position | School | Picked Count | Picked % |
| Mac Jones | QB | Alabama | 39 | 21.31% |
| Christian Darrisaw | OT | Virginia Tech | 31 | 16.94% |
| Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah | LB | Notre Dame | 14 | 7.65% |
| Trey Lance | QB | North Dakota State | 11 | 6.01% |
| Alijah Vera-Tucker | IOL | USC | 10 | 5.46% |
| Rashod Bateman | WR | Minnesota | 10 | 5.46% |
| Kadarius Toney | WR | Florida | 8 | 4.37% |
| Samuel Cosmi | OT | Texas | 8 | 4.37% |
| Teven Jenkins | IOL | Oklahoma State | 7 | 3.83% |
| Jaycee Horn | CB | South Carolina | 4 | 2.19% |
| Jaylen Waddle | WR | Alabama | 4 | 2.19% |
| Micah Parsons | LB | Penn State | 4 | 2.19% |
| Rondale Moore | WR | Purdue | 3 | 1.64% |
| Kyle Pitts | TE | Florida | 3 | 1.64% |
| Zaven Collins | LB | Tulsa | 2 | 1.09% |
| Devonta Smith | WR | Alabama | 2 | 1.09% |
| Kyle Trask | QB | Florida | 2 | 1.09% |
| Trevon Moehrig-Woodard | S | TCU | 2 | 1.09% |
| Alex Leatherwood | OT | Alabama | 2 | 1.09% |
| Kellon Mond | QB | Texas A&M | 1 | 0.55% |
| Eric Stokes | CB | Georgia | 1 | 0.55% |
| Terrace Marshall Jr | WR | LSU | 1 | 0.55% |
| Liam Eichenberg | OT | Notre Dame | 1 | 0.55% |
| Spencer Brown | OT | Northern Iowa | 1 | 0.55% |
| Dillon Radunz | OT | North Dakota State | 1 | 0.55% |
| Jaylen Mayfield | OT | Michigan | 1 | 0.55% |
| Patrick Surtain II | CB | Alabama | 1 | 0.55% |
| Christian Barmore | DT | Alabama | 1 | 0.55% |
| Zack Wilson | QB | BYU | 1 | 0.55% |
| Justin Fields | QB | Ohio St | 1 | 0.55% |
| Jackson Carman | OT | Clemson | 1 | 0.55% |
| Jaelan Phillips | Edge | Miami | 1 | 0.55% |
| Tua Tagovailoa | QB | Player Trade | 1 | 0.55% |
| Andre Cisco | S | Syracuse | 1 | 0.55% |
| Nick Bolton | LB | Missouri | 1 | 0.55% |
| Jevon Holland | S | Oregon | 1 | 0.55% |
The big movers this week are Christian Darrisaw, who was up 1.2% and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah who was up 0.9%, while Trey Lance was down 0.7%.
Breaking down the percentages picked within the position group for the top five positions:
- Quarterback – Mac Jones (69.6% of QB picks), Trey Lance (19.6%), Kyle Trask (3.6%)
- Offensive tackle – Christian Darrisaw (67.4% of OT picks), Samuel Cosmi (17.4%), Alex Leatherwood (4.4%)
- Wide receiver – Rashod Bateman (35.7% of WR picks), Kadarius Toney (28.6%), Jaylen Waddle (14.3%), Rondale Moore (10.7%), Devonta Smith (7.1%)
- Linebacker – Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (66.7%), Micah Parsons (19%), Zaven Collins (9.5%), Nick Bolton (4.8%)
- Interior Offensive Line – Alijah Vera-Tucker (58.8%), Teven Jenkins (41.2%)
Sixteen mockers have WFT trading up, with the most popular spots being #7-Detroit, and #14-Minnesota. Predominately, Washington picks a quarterback in the trade up scenario.
My preference would be a trade back for additional picks because this is a fairly deep draft. Trading down to later in the first round could possibly yield an additional pick in the second or third round plus a pick in the later rounds. Players such as Zaven Collins or Trevon Moehrig-Woodard should be available towards the end of the first round and additional picks would add even more talent to the roster.
With the current free agency moves, the WFT draft priority for me right now is linebacker, safety and quarterback.
If you have any draft questions, post them in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @noonefromtampa.
Source: nflmockdraftdatabase.com