17. Cincinnati Bengals: Mike Green, EDGE, Marshall
The Bengals have a new defensive coordinator and are surprisingly running it back with a lot of the same players on that side of the ball. It sounds like Trey Hendrickson is going to be traded at some point between now and the 2025 NFL Draft, and in combination with the retirement of Sam Hubbard, the Bengals’ EDGE situation is murky at best. Even with Joseph Ossai returning, and even with the presence of Myles Murphy (and the hope that he can take the next step), pass rush will be an area of focus early in this draft.
18. Seattle Seahawks: Tetairoa McMillan, WR, Arizona
Goodbye to both Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf. Goodbye to Geno Smith, for that matter. Hello to Sam Darnold. This is a wild offseason already for the Seattle Seahawks, and it is probably only about to get crazier. Seattle is resetting on the offensive side of the ball and they still have desperate needs on the offensive line. But with DK Metcalf gone and so many picks now in their NFL Draft war chest, they can’t pass on arguably the WR1 of this class in Tetairoa McMillan.
19. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Jahdae Barron, CB, Texas
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers seem to be the masters of keeping the band together these days. The Bucs have kept a wide variety of notable pending free agents off the market in recent years, the latest of which is star receiver Chris Godwin, who turned down bigger money to re-sign with the team that drafted him. The Bucs added Haason Reddick early in free agency to shore up the pass rush, so getting some more ball-hawks for the secondary makes sense. Jahdae Barron is versatile, tough, and instinctive.
20. Denver Broncos: Matthew Golden, WR, Texas
It’s going to be fascinating to see what the Broncos do on the offensive side of the ball in NFL Free Agency, if anything. The Broncos brought in Evan Engram for a visit but as of the time of this post being written, they weren’t able to strike a deal. They miss out on the top two tight ends in this mock draft scenario which leaves the door wide open. And why not Matthew Golden? The Broncos have Courtland Sutton and a number of other young receivers, and Golden provides slot ability as well as elite speed and strong hands.