With the NFL draft around the corner, ESPN’s Mel Kiper enters back into all our lives almost daily. The second version of his mock draft was just released with the same top pick.
By now everyone has seen the face and hair of Mel Kiper Jr. on ESPN airwaves. His appearances make draft season official for fans of the NFL. On Wednesday, Kiper released his second mock draft of the season. His top 10 can be seen in the tweet from ESPN NFL’s twitter account below.
Baker Mayfield is in and Josh Rosen is out in Mel Kiper's latest top 10. pic.twitter.com/YSHWyqNKSJ
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) February 21, 2018
Kiper has the Cleveland Browns selecting Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen with the first-overall pick. That was the same selection he had when the first edition of his mock draft was released. Kiper is a massive Allen fan, even going so far as to compare him to Matthew Stafford in the breakdown of each pick on ESPN.com.
Allen is no where near the prospect that Stafford was. While Stafford was at Georgia he was playing against elite SEC defenses and putting up strong numbers. Meanwhile Allen played at Wyoming and came no where near close to the production levels. What teams and especially Kiper see in Allen is a strong arm quarterback, who can throw the ball 50 yards from his knees.
Here is a breakdown of Stafford and Allen’s last year in college, courtesy of CBS’s Chris Towers on Twitter.
Stafford final college season: 61.4%, 9.0 Y/A, 6.5 TD%, 2.6 INT%
— Chris Towers …Is A Real Boy (@CTowersCBS) February 21, 2018
Allen in 2017: 56.3%, 6.7 Y/A, 4.3 TD%, 2.2 INT% https://t.co/zX3nsQeVdI
While Kiper has been doing this for a long time, it is hard to find logic in this selection. Personally I think the Browns should take UCLA’s Josh Rosen with the first overall pick. We do both have the team grabbing Alabama’s Minkah Fitzpatrick with the fourth pick.
Next: Cleveland Browns 7 round mock draft
The combine will help break up the log jam at quarterback. Currently there are four vying for the top pick, Allen, Rosen, Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold. Seeing them together in Indianapolis should produce some more clarity for Cleveland at the top of the draft.