The NFL Draft has gone from a fun little night for the most ardent of NFL fans to one of the biggest dates on the calendar. In the past few years, the draft has become a full fledged event with a new host city (this year it’s in Pittsburgh) and thousands of fans joining for the festivities.
They don’t come just to see who their team is drafting next or another opportunity to boo Roger Goodell. They don’t even come to see legends announce picks or the pomp and circumstance. People want to be in the building for the drama. Whether it’s a huge trade or a surprise pick, the NFL Draft is a unique experience to see the drama first-hand.
There is no drama like a player falling down boards. We have plenty of examples over the years. Aaron Rodgers and Brady Quinn are two huge examples of QBs who could have gone first overall falling down to the 20s. Their careers ended very differently. We’ve had some bad headlines cause players to drop right before the draft, and we’ve even saw some personality questions force Shedeur Sanders go from number-one pick to a Day 3 pick.
Who will be the ones to fall this year? We used Cody Williams’ Mock Draft as a guide for our picks.
1. Sonny Styles, Ohio State Buckeyes
Projected pick: 5th overall
Possible slide range: 10-12th overall
In the grand scheme of things, going 10th instead of fifth might not seem like a big deal, but let’s put this into perspective for you. The fifth-overall pick will be paid $45 million over their initial four-year contract. The 10th pick gets just under $30 million. Falling this far would cost someone $15 million in their prime years. That’s truly psychotic money left on the table. And this is what we’re predicting for Ohio State product Sonny Styles.Â
Styles was a marvel at the NFL Combine, putting up insane numbers that almost never come out for traditional linebackers. He measured at 6-foot-5 and 244 lbs. He recorded a 4.46-second 40-yard dash, a 43.5-inch vertical jump (highest for his size since 2003), and an 11-foot-2 broad jump.
He’s someone who played so well and dominated at every level. We just think that teams are going to try and find their best fit, and Styles doesn’t fit, or at least he’s not the biggest need. Here, the Giants are expected to go after him, but many believe they will go after a replacement for WanDale Robinson. The Browns could go after Styles, and that’s where we could go wrong. However, there’s a big trade possibility there. Caleb Downs is another superstar prospect, and he could go before Styles, pushing him down further.Â
2. Rueben Bain Jr., Miami Hurricanes
Projected pick: 6th overall
Possible slide range: 15-20th overall
Of course, this has nothing to do with talent. Rueben Bain might be the best player in the draft. He’s a game breaker on the edge in the build of Lawrence Taylor. He has the most upside in the class. However, he also has the worst headlines coming into the draft this season.Â
We’ve seen this happen over and over, and a recent example of the worst-case scenario is playing out. The James Pearce situation in Atlanta is going to be top of mind. The Falcons basically spent two first-round picks on him despite his issues in college, and now his career might be over.Â
Bain has been in the headlines lately for a car crash that ended a person’s life, but he wasn’t charged with a crime. He was only cited for careless driving, and that was eventually dropped (although that all happened before the woman lost her life). Teams say they knew about the crash and that it’s been part of their evaluation process, but the risk remains. With the draft coming this week, we see this storyline following Bain everywhere, and more details coming out. That doesn’t even consider the conversation around arm length and how that would translate to the NFL.
3. Jermod McCoy, Tennessee Volunteers
Projected pick: 11th overall
Possible slide range: 18-25th overall
We understand betting on talent, and Jermod McCoy did run at Tennessee’s Pro Day, but are teams willing to risk a top-12 pick on a guy who missed all of 2025 with a torn up knee? People are bringing up Ja’Marr Chase as an example of this working out, but they’re talking about a player who sat out because of the COVID-19 virus after winning the National Championship with LSU. McCoy had a decent statistical season but watched his team lose in the first round by more than three touchdowns.Â
The injury is the real issue here, obviously. McCoy hasn’t played football since the Buckeyes sent Tennessee home humbled in 2024. He won’t play football for real for 19 months. That’s a long time without football. He still wasn’t ready to go at the Combine.Â
Something about this has to have teams questioning McCoy. He tore his ACL in January of 2025. That’s often a nine-month injury for the top athletes in the world. McCoy started training in August, but he never made an appearance in his last season in college. There are too many questions here. Is this a degenerative issue with his knee that will constantly come up? It’s just not worth a pick this high right now.Â
4. Jordyn Tyson, Arizona State Sun Devils
Projected pick: 14th overall
Possible slide range: 23-28th overall
It’s been really hard to peg where the wide receivers deserve to go in this draft. We think this is because there aren’t great wide receivers in this class. Sure, plenty of talented players could break out and turn into something special, but there is no Ja’Marr Chase or Malik Nabers-level prospect in this class.
Carnell Tate is considered the best, even though he wasn’t even the best player on his college team. That puts the Sun Devils’ product in a place to go next. Well, possibly. Makai Lemon and Denzel Boston are in the conversation. Everyone is going around in circles, and this goes one of two ways.
Either a team thinks they have the right scouting and takes someone too early, or they can’t make a decision and go after a position they are more sure of. It would be unfortunate for Tyson if he falls since he will be in the green room in Pittsburgh. We actually believe in the talent of Tyson, and he might even be the best player in this class at wide receiver, but we see teams talking themselves out of him because of their confidence in other positions. This is nothing against Tyson, as he’s a fine first-round prospect, but in most draft classes, he would go around this time anyway.
5. Omar Cooper Jr., Indiana Hoosiers
Projected Pick: 27th overall
Possible slide range: 50-60th overall
Omar Cooper has a great skill set and won a national title in his final year in college. Champions always seem to get the benefit of the doubt at skill positions, and Cooper has a ton of talent that could take him places. Of course, Cooper has the same issues that Tyson faces, with it being a strange year for a wide receiver class. Unlike Tyson, Cooper is in the next tier down in terms of talent.
Cooper also has a pretty pedestrian stat line. He didn’t break 900 yards this past season. He did score 13 receiving touchdowns, but we assume many scouts attribute that to Fernando Mendoza’s insane season. Cooper was hardly lifting his quarterback up. Rather, he was getting open to a guy who was finding him where he was getting to.Â
While he is projected by many to go in the first round of the draft, we’re just not seeing it. In fact, some surprising names could go ahead of him. We feel like teams are going to be more comfortable taking the risk near the end of the second round. Maybe a team sees Cooper as the perfect fit to their offense, but we don’t see it that way. Cooper has a chance to be good in the mold of a possession receiver, but those also can be had in the third and fourth rounds in years past.Â
6. Christen Miller, Georgia Bulldogs
Projected Pick: 28th overall
Possible slide range: 50-70th overall
Christen Miller is a player we’ve seen rising draft boards as the process moved from the College Football Playoff to offseason. For some reason, he went from a pretty consensus Day 2 talent to a player most believe will go in the first round. It’s not entirely his fault how perception works, but it is his problem. He will look at these mock drafts and expect a phone call on the first day of the draft. We don’t think that phone call is coming.Â
Miller is a great plug in the middle of the defensive line, and he does incredibly well against the run, but that’s not what drives first-round picks. Teams don’t want to spend their premium assets on run stuffers. Meanwhile, Miller is not good against the pass, showcasing a paltry pass rush percentage.Â
It’s possible that Georgia relied too much on Miller, but it didn’t help that he skipped some of the workouts at the Combine. While not the end, Miller really needed to showcase why he deserved to be taken so high. He didn’t prove anything at all. Yet, many have him rising up draft boards. We don’t get it, and we don’t think scouts and general managers will get it, either. He’s worthy of a second-round pick, but a first-rounder? Too rich for our blood.Â
7. Ty Simpson, Alabama Crimson Tide
Projected Pick: 31st overall
Possible slide range: 35-60th overall
Ty Simpson has been all over the map when it comes to mock drafts. Fansided’s mock actually has him lower than most, and it involves an intriguing situation. Cody has the New England Patriots trading their first-round pick to their rivals, the New York Jets, for two picks in 2027 and the Jets’ 33rd pick.Â
This gives the Jets their QB of the future in Ty Simpson out of Alabama. It proves our point. To find the right fit for Simpson, one must find a team willing to trade out of their pick in the end of the first round. Miami has Denver’s pick, but it makes more sense for them to go ahead with Malik Willis and see if they fall closer to first overall next season or the one after to get a true game changer.Â
Simpson might be special, but it’s hardly considered a guarantee. Weirdly, there are only a select few teams looking for a QB going into the draft. The Raiders are the most obvious, and they are taking Fernando Mendoza. The Cowboys, Vikings, Jets, and Cardinals could take a QB. Many thought the Jets would take a QB second overall until Dante Moore returned to school. We could see a short fall for Simpson into the early second round, but we’d be surprised if he goes in the first.Â
8. Zion Young, Missouri Tigers
Projected Pick: 33rd overall
Possible slide range: 40-60th overall
Our FanSided team is down on Zion Young, as many have him going in the first round. We agree that he will fall to the second round. We just think his fall will last longer than the first pick. His measurables are insane, standing almost 6-foot-6 tall. One of his issues may arise from the number of hits his body has already taken at the University of Missouri. He played almost 1,800 snaps in his college career, spanning all the way back to his days with Michigan State.Â
His statistics in his final season were just short of great. His pressures (57) and tackles for loss (25) show examples of someone who gets into the backfield with ease, but his 6.5 sacks show a player who’s a short step off. That goes a long way in the NFL. He didn’t take part in the timed drills at the Combine, so there’s an opportunity lost.Â
Young could be really good. He’s worth a risk, but it’s a risk nonetheless. There are a ton of really good pass rushers in this class, which also hurts Young’s stock. If a team prefers Mason Thomas or Cashius Howell, then Young could fall even further down the draft. We’re talking about very slight differences in players.Â
9. Germie Bernard, Alabama Crimson Tide
Projected Pick: 74th overall
Possible slide range: 150-170th overall
As we get to the end of this list, we look at an option at a big-name school that has skills that would seriously scare us at the next level. His entire season comes down to a catch he made against the Oklahoma Sooners. It was an incredible catch, but the rest of his season underwhelmed.Â
A few months ago, we spotlighted the drop from Germie Bernard. The Alabama Crimson Tide receiver came into the season with a ton of expectations, as a player who was going to earn his way into the first round. That didn’t happen. After eight catches for 146 yards in Week 1 against Florida State, Bernard finished the season with fewer than 900 yards total.Â
Bernard failed to break 100 yards for the rest of the season in any one game. His breakout performances came few and far between. He really hurt his stock, and that’s why he’s falling down draft boards. Why would he stop at the third round? There are plenty of skeptics of what Bernard showed this past season and how it translates to the NFL.Â
10. Garrett Nussmeier, LSU Tigers
Projected Pick: 76th overall
Possible slide range: 150-200th overall
Garrett Nussmeier was a player who had an outside chance to earn his way into a top-five pick. Many scouts really liked his compete level and his skill set. However, two things are not working in his favor: his age and his record. Let’s start with his age. Nussmeier turned 24 years old this offseason. While he isn’t exactly Brandon Weeden, 24 is pretty old for a player coming into his first season, where he will have a good amount of development ahead of him.Â
Last season, Nussmeier suffered an abdominal injury before the season, and it impacted his entire season. That’s why he finished with just 12 touchdowns and six interceptions. He was seriously hampered by this injury, but the scouts won’t care. They don’t need excuses from a quarterback. They need results.
Nussmeier might be one of those secret stars. He has the talent. The injury history and the lost final season won’t help. He doesn’t have a chance to make up for those issues. Hopefully, he did really well in the interviews, but we see Nussmeier falling behind players like Carson Beck, Drew Allar, and even North Dakota State’s Cole Payton.
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