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A Daily SportsLine Betting Podcast
NFL Draft is coming up!
The first problem with mock drafts is that they assume biases by whoever is doing them. 
The second problem with mock drafts is that they don’t always take into account how players fit into specific schemes of each team. 
And the third problem with mock drafts is that they almost always ignore teams’ upcoming roster and salary cap issues that can be eased, if not outright addressed, via their selections. 
This mock will attempt to not have any of those problems. This mock draft was deeply researched, especially at the top, in an attempt to come up with a realistic version of what will happen in Round 1 of the 2024 NFL Draft. 
And now, pause. Remind yourself to laugh at that sentence after Thursday night, because it’s sure to be wrong wrong wrong. 
I can’t pretend to know how every team thinks about every player, but I tried my best to put myself in the shoes of every single decision-maker. I think I have a decent idea of which players fit into each team’s schemes, be it blocking or pass coverage or defensive fronts. The one thing I did hustle on was finding the players who were in a contract year and/or can be moved on from by each team with a first-round pick. And, of course, I had the famous NFL Trade Chart (as opposed to the Fantasy Football Trade Chart) to help me understand the values of each mock trade I made, and I made several. 
As per annual custom, I’ll drop the Fantasy Football analysis with each offensive skill-position player as if what I mocked is what will happen. Some of these players will be coveted by Fantasy drafters, others won’t. And that is going to be the case no matter what goes down in Round 1. 
Enjoy. 
For more draft coverage, you can hear in-depth analysis twice a week on “With the First Pick” — our year-round NFL Draft podcast with NFL Draft analyst Ryan Wilson and former Vikings general manager Rick Spielman. You can find “With the First Pick” wherever you get your podcasts: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc.
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