What day two mock drafts tell us about second and third round of the 2021 NFL Draft

The NFL is through one day of the 2021 NFL Draft and while there were a few surprises, a lot of it went as expected. The five quarterbacks went in the top 15, including the first three picks, Kyle Pitts is a Falcon, the Steelers drafted Najee Harris, and the Raiders drafted someone they would have been able to get on day three.

Day one is the flashy part of the draft, but day two is when teams start to really put together championship contenders. Without a fifth year option, teams have to decide a bit quicker if their day two picks are worth longer-term consideration.

We talk about mock draft season ending once the draft begins, but there is one last gasp effort from the mock draft industrial complex. We get day two mock drafts looking at the second and third rounds. We will also get some day three mocks to close it out. There’s plenty of day two mock drafts out there, but for now, here’s a few to consider.

ESPN
Sports Illustrated
Sporting News
Bleeding Green Nation
Cleveland.com

There’s little consistency by specific pick, but we’ll probably see the likes of WR Elijah Moore, LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, RB Javonte Williams, DL Christian Barmore, and CB Asante Samuel all among the earlier picks on Friday.

We had five quarterbacks go on day one, but it’s unclear exactly how many will go on day two. Some of those mocks have none going the entire day, while others are focused primarily on the third round for the next big three of Davis Mills, Kellen Mond, and Kyle Trask. The earliest any of them have any of this next group of QBs going is Sporting News, with Trask going No. 51 overall to Washington. And even they don’t have any other day two quarterbacks in their two-round mock draft.

Javonte Williams is the consensus next running back off the board, but we all know how difficult it can be projecting who will do what at that position. What used to be a high value target in the draft has become an afterthought for a lot of teams. And now that we see teams going more often with a committee approach, it’s unpredictable who will grab a back when.

Elijah Moore is generally viewed as the next wide receiver off the board, although Bleeding Green Nation was the exception with Rondale Moore going ahead of him. Packers fans were hoping Green Bay would grab Elijah late in the first round to appease a disgruntled Aaron Rodgers, but that didn’t happen. Several teams in the first ten picks of the second round could justify grabbing a wide receiver at this point.