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Todd McShay releases his 2016 NFL Mock Draft

By Luke Dahlgren

Oct 11, 2014; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Christian Hackenberg (14) throws a pass during the fourth quarter against the Michigan Wolverines at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 11, 2014; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Christian Hackenberg (14) throws a pass during the fourth quarter against the Michigan Wolverines at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports /
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The ESPN draft expert revealed his mock draft for the nest year, which also includes projections for the draft order.

The soil over the 2015 NFL Draft is still fresh, yet ESPN’s Todd McShay has already moved on to the next one. The draft expert released his “way to early” 2016 NFL Mock Draft on Thursday morning, and it includes the projections for teams’ draft orders and records.

Here’s how the top five picks play out:

  1. Washington Redskins (5-11) – Christian Hackenberg, QB, Penn State
  2. Cleveland Browns (5-11) – Connor Cook, QB, Michigan State
  3. Oakland Raiders (5-11) – Joey Bosa, DE, Ohio State
  4. Tennessee Titans (6-10) – Laremy Tunsil, OT, Ole Miss
  5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-10) – Emmanuel Ogbah, DE, Oklahoma State

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Some other big names come off the board for McShay’s first round. Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones is selected seventh overall by the New York Jets, while his running back teammate Ezekiel Elliot is picked up by the Houston Texans, this time at fifteen.

Meanwhile, Alabama running back Derrick Henry falls all the way to 29th, where he is picked up by the Miami Dolphins. Meanwhile, two-phase athlete Myles Jack gets picked up by the Atlanta Falcons at

The best part of these projections is seeing how someone like McShay projects the draft order. He takes the coward’s route and allows Football Outsiders to do the projecting for him. You can’t hide behind complex algorithms forever, Todd.

That’s how you get the Miami Dolphins picking 29th (and apparently losing the AFC Championship). The same could be said about the Falcons, who are supposed to flip their record from 6-10 to go 10-6

Some other teams are slighted by Football Outsiders, like AFC North rivals Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, who are both supposed to finish 8-8, and the Arizona Cardinals who fall all the way down to the ninth pick after having the best record in the league for most of last season.

It is far more fun (and often times more accurate) to simply use your brain to try to predict the outcomes of each team’s season. But McShay is too afraid of being blamed for insulting another team, so instead he has projections where the best team is 12-4 and the worst is 5-11.

Three other interesting notes:

  • There is a sizable amount of Big Ten players early in this mock (pardon me, B1G 10). The top three picks are all from the Big Ten, and 7 of the first 15 picks are also from the conference.
  • Of the Big Ten picks, there are five Ohio State Buckeyes taken in the projected first round (Bosa, Cardale Jones, OT Taylor Decker at 11 to the Panthers, Elliot and LB Darren Lee at 30 to the Cowboys)
  • Everyone drafted was either a part of a major conference or on Notre Dame. There was nobody from the AAC, or from any of the mid major conferences projected as a first round pick.

You can see the rest of the mock draft here.

(H/T: ESPN)

Next: 15 biggest busts in NFL Draft history

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