ESPN NFL Draft expert Mel Kiper published his final mock draft of the season on Thursday morning, hours before the 2019 draft kicks off in Nashville, and there are several new faces that made the cut in the first-round projection.
Draft boards across the nation have been rapidly changing over the past few months following the NFL combine, pro days and team visits, so to get an idea of each prospect’s stock over time, we compared Kiper’s first mock, released in January before Super Bowl LIII, to his final revision.
Kyler Murray did not get the nod at No. 1 from Kiper initially, but rose from a projected pick of 13th (to Miami) to first overall. A total of eight players that appeared in Kiper’s first mock draft have fallen out of the first round completely, and most of Kiper’s projected top 10 have fallen considerably in recent months. Here are the biggest changes:
Biggest moves up the board:
DT Christian Wilkins (up 15 spots)
QB Kyler Murray (up 12 spots)
TE TJ Hockenson (up 12 spots)
QB Daniel Jones (up 12 spots)
LB Devin Bush (up 9 spots)
Biggest falls down the board:
DE Clelin Ferrell (down 20 spots)
CB Greedy Williams (down 19 spots)
DE Rashan Gary (down 10 spots)
DT Jeffery Simmons (down 9 spots)
Rose from outside the first round:
QB Drew Lock (to 15th)
OT Andre Dillard (to 16th)
OG Chris Lindstrom (to 18th)
C Erik McCoy (to 22nd)
RB Josh Jacobs (to 24th)
S Darnell Savage Jr. (to 27th)
CB Justin Layne (to 29th)
TE Noah Fant (to 30th)
OL Garrett Bradbury (to 31st)
Fell out of the first round:
CB Deandre Baker (from 10th)
DE Jachai Polite (from 15th)
OT Greg Little (from 18th)
DE Oshane Ximenes (from 21st)
WR AJ Brown (from 22nd)
TE Irv Smith Jr (from 27th)
DT Dre’Mont Jones (from 30th)
S Deionte Thompson (from 31st)
WR Parris Campbell (from 32nd)
