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NFL Draft analyst has defender, not a QB, going No. 1 overall in debut mock
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NFL Draft mock boards are trickling out, but the debut mock draft by NFL.com draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah has a curveball at the top. He doesn’t have a quarterback going No. 1.
Instead, Jeremiah has former Penn State star defensive end Abdul Carter going to the Tennessee Titans with the first pick in the draft. The shocker isn’t so much Carter going No. 1 as much as it is quarterbacks Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders not going No. 1.
As of Jan. 23, ESPN Bet had Ward, who put up a monster season at Miami in 2024, priced at -105 to be the first overall pick to the Titans later this spring. Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter was listed at +150 to go No. 1, with former Colorado teammate Sanders at +350. Carter was priced at +900 to be taken with the first pick.
Here’s what Jeremiah wrote about Carter:
My ears perked up when Titans president of football operations Chad Brinker said the team wouldn’t pass on a generational talent with the first pick. To me, Carter is the best player in the draft and he plays a premium position. I could see Tennessee looking to add competition for QB Will Levis in the free-agent market or later on in the draft.
Carter did have a monster season in State College to finish off his collegiate career in style, helping the Nittany Lions get to the College Football Playoff semifinals. The 6-foot-3, 259-pounder from Philadelphia had 68 total tackles, 43 of them solo, to go with 12 sacks and 2 forced fumbles. Carter also showed his resilience during Penn State’s Playoff run, playing through a left arm injury in the semifinal loss to Notre Dame.
Jeremiah wrote that a quarterback “is in play” for the Cleveland Browns with the second overall pick, but he projected the organization to draft Hunter instead.
The first quarterback off the board in Jeremiah’s mock draft is Ward, who he has projected to go third to the New York Giants. He projects Sanders will come off the board with the sixth pick.
Penn State hasn’t had a top-5 draft pick in 7 years, since Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley went No. 2 overall to the New York Giants in 2018.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
