NFL mock draft: Conference championship edition

A full first round NFL mock draft predicting the first round of the 2016 draft, following the NFL’s conference championship games.

The 2016 NFL Draft is still more than a couple of months away, but that doesn’t stop the fun of imagining the best collegiate player finding their way to one’s favorite team. Here we look at where those players coming into the league may wind up.

This year’s draft is still a major mystery, unlike 2015 where it was pretty easy to project that quarterbacks Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota were going Nos. 1 and 2. The biggest question then was whether any team would attempt a move up to select one of the potential franchise players.

There were rumors flying everywhere that the Philadelphia Eagles would find a way to reunite Mariota with his old college coach, Chip Kelly, who was running the Eagles at the time. No deal was made, however, and Winston went first to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, followed by Mariota to the Tennessee Titans.

This year will be harder to predict as there is no consensus first overall selection. In fact, scouts are all over the map on which quarterback is the best prospect – debating between Jared Goff of Cal, Paxton Lynch of Memphis and Carson Wentz of North Dakota State.

Further clouding the outcome, the Titans pick first and have holes everywhere except for quarterback. So let’s look at where the chips may fall when all is said and done on the first night of the 2016 NFL Draft. We will cover picks 1-31, as the New England Patriots were stripped of their first round selection as a result of the “DeflateGate” investigation following the 2014-15 season.

To note: While trades always happen, they are nearly impossible to predict. As a result, this mock will solely look at which player would be the best choice for each team assuming they stay put.

Next: No. 1