Inside the Draft: Will the Bears, Patriots or Washington trade up?

Last week’s 49ers/Dolphins/Eagles trades should set off a flurry of activity as the Bears, Patriots and Washington scramble to draft a quarterback.

In this week’s edition of Inside the Draft:

• Meet Mike Strachan, a 6-foot-5 wide receiver sleeper whose NFL journey took him from the Bahamas to Michael Irvin’s doorstep.
• Get to know a deep linebacker draft class, and help Inside the Draft make linebackers cool again.

But first, it’s time to trade the deed to the farm for some quarterbacks.

The 49ers get a trade! The Dolphins get a trade! The Eagles get a trade! Everyone gets a trade! And more trades are coming!

In case you somehow missed it, what amounts to a three-way pre-draft NFL blockbuster went down last Friday. The details:

• The San Francisco 49ers moved up to the third-overall pick in April’s draft. That will allow them to select a quarterback (probably Ohio State’s Justin Fields, maybe Alabama’s Mac Jones, possibly North Dakota State’s Trey Lance), then spend the summer pretending to still have some attachment to Jimmy Garoppolo while crossing their fingers that some other team’s starter gets hurt.
• The Miami Dolphins bounced from third to (briefly) 12th and then settled down with the sixth-overall pick this year while adding a third rounder and a 2023 first rounder. The extra picks will allow them to build around Tua Tagovailoa, something the entire organization is 100 percent committed to and comfortable with, pinkie swear, no takesy-backsies.
• The Philadelphia Eagles dropped to 12th-overall and added an extra first-round pick in 2022 so they can spend the 2021 season moping around in their sadness sweater and watching the bills pile up on their coffee table while it softly rains outside their window.

With Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence expected to go to the Jacksonville Jaguars with the first-overall pick and BYU’s Zach Wilson likely to go to the New York Jets with the second-overall pick, it’s almost certain three quarterbacks will be selected with the top three picks. That should create a mad scramble for the two remaining consensus first-rounders.

In other words, last Friday’s trades will likely set off a flurry of future trades. Let’s examine a few scenarios:

Atlanta Falcons

The Falcons could select the Fields-Jones-Lance leftover with the fourth-overall pick, finally establishing a Matt Ryan succession plan. They could also stay put and draft Oregon tackle Penei Sewell or a wide receiver (because, you know, Ryan needs more weapons to turn those 44-27 losses into 44-34 losses).

Quarterback-needy teams are going to offer the Falcons some impressive bundles for the fourth-overall pick, and the team that has needed an entire defense for four years would be wise to listen. After all, planning to replace Ryan with the fourth-best quarterback in a draft class doesn’t sound like such a great idea when you say it out loud.

Cincinnati Bengals

Thanks to Joe Burrow, the Bengals are now the one team in the top five that doesn’t need a quarterback of the present or future. That will make them enticing trade partners for a team that isn’t picky about which of the top five quarterbacks it selects (that’s the Chicago Bears’ music!). And nothing screams “Bengals rebuilding plan” like a trade of convenience with a partner willing to settle for a consolation prize.

Carolina Panthers

The Panthers are one of the teams the 49ers knew they had to leapfrog to guarantee themselves a quarterback. The Panthers now must try to engineer a trade with the Falcons or Bengals so that the Bears, Patriots or Washington don’t further box them out.

The Panthers alternative to trading up would be another year of Teddy Bridgewater, which actually sounds pretty swell in a league where Andy Dalton, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jalen Hurts, Drew Lock, Daniel Jones, Zombie Cam Newton and the Taysom-Jameis Scrambles and Interceptions Experience are currently starting quarterbacks. But Matt Rhule sounds eager to transfer from his fallback school to his dream school.

Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys are actually in a great position to stay put, let the quarterback feeding frenzy take place above them, then select one of the best available defenders (cornerbacks Patrick Surtain Jr. or Jaycee Horn, linebacker Micah Parsons) with the 10th-overall pick. But Internet Law requires the Cowboys to be included in all lists like this in an effort to rile up their huge international fanbase.

New England Patriots

The Patriots spent a canal-clogging container ship full of money to build what now appears to be the third-best roster in the AFC East. They spackled enough holes on the depth chart to trade up for a quarterback to challenge/supplant Newton if they choose to. If they do so, the move will be hailed as an act of genius by a team that’s in this mess precisely because they do not draft well and talked themselves into Jarrett Stidham as their quarterback of the future.

Washington Football Team

It’s hard to picture a scenario where Washington climbs from the 19th-overall pick into top-five quarterback territory, so a trade now seems unlikely. But don’t despair, Team With No Name fans: Ryan Fitzpatrick’s twinkly-eyed postgame press conference will make his three-turnover Sunday afternoons go down like the finest cabernet sauvignon from the oaken wine cellar of Dan Snyder’s yacht.

Chicago Bears

At first, the Bears seem less likely to trade up from the 20th selection than Washington is from the 19th. The Bears, after all, are cap-strapped and need all of their future draft picks to patch the leaks springing up all over their roster.

But never underestimate the power of a flailing Ryan Pace to do something incomprehensibly stupid. Reeling from the Andy Dalton backlash, with upper management tapping its foot impatiently and Matt Nagy begging Pace not to do him dirty with Dalton, the Bears general manager could go Ultra Trubisky again and trade two future first-rounders, plus change, for the chance to move up into quarterback range.

Unfortunately, this tale ends with Pace trading with the Dolphins for the sixth-overall pick, discovering to his (and only his) surprise that the top five quarterbacks would be gone, swearing that Mississippi State’s Kellen Mond was the guy they targeted all all along, and the entire Bears social network team immediately quitting.

Meet Mike Strachan, WR, University of Charleston

Mike Strachan was one second away from the 2020 Olympics when the pandemic struck.

The 6-foot-5 University of Charleston wide receiver was in the process of transitioning from indoor to outdoor track last winter and hoping to represent his native Bahamas on the 4-by-400 meter Olympic relay team.

“The time I was hoping to get to was one second away, and I knew I was going to get to it,” Strachan told Inside the Draft.

“COVID stopped all that.”

With his Olympic dream dashed, Strachan went back to preparing for his senior season at Charleston. Unfortunately, COVID stopped all of that as well. The Mountain East Conference first pushed its schedule to late autumn, then (like many non-FBS conferences) moved football to the spring. Strachan chose to declare for the NFL draft instead. He had the surreal experience last week of participating in his Pro Day, then sticking around campus to watch his former teammates compete in a game.

“It will be tough watching them and knowing I couldn’t play with them,” Strachan said, speaking earlier in March. “I miss my team a lot. I wish I could have played one more season with them in the fall. But it just didn’t happen that way.”

Strachan went on to crush his pro day: a 4.46 forty at 228 pounds and 6-foot-5, with other eye-popping measurables.

Strachan’s road to the NFL has been atypical in many ways. He is the son of former Bethune-Cookman receiver Jerome Strachan, but there is no high school football in his native Freeport, Grand Bahamas. That made it unlikely that Strachan would attract any college recruiters.

Strachan played his senior season at a Virginia high school so he could get on the recruiting radar. Unfortunately, high school in the Bahamas did not quite prepare him for some of the things colleges in the United States expect.

“They called me in and said, ‘You have to take this test to get to college.’ And I was like, ‘which test is that?’ They said it was the SAT and the ACT. I never heard of them. I was like, ‘Wow. What am I gonna do?’”

Strachan got through the testing process and ended up dominating for the Golden Eagles. He caught 78 passes for 1,319 yards and 19 touchdowns in 2019. At times, he looked like Calvin Johnson, one of the NFL players he models his game upon.

“Yeah. I get that a lot,” Strachan said of the Megatron comparison. “I’m basically the same size, so I watched and studied how he ran his routes and I based what I do off of that.”

Michael Irvin was another, more personal influence on Strachan’s game. “Michael Irvin and my dad were friends,” Strachan said, “so I actually got the opportunity to go to his house in Dallas and learn under him. He would talk about the insides and outs of wide receiver: how to read defenses, what to do against this coverage, what to do against this zone, stuff like that.”

From the Irvin connection to a father who played college football, Strachan may not be as raw a prospect as his Bahamas-to-FCS story makes him sound. Every draft class has one or two big receivers from small programs who get drafted based on their potential. But not many of those prospects got pointers from a Pro Football Hall of Famer as a preteen or nearly participated in the Olympics.

Not many prospects of the past are as hungry as Strachan is after having an entire year of competition ripped away from him, either.

“Let me tell you something: I am way more excited to play football again than anybody else right now,” he said.

“Having that season taken away from me has drawn me even closer to the game. And I didn’t think that would be even be possible.”

Top 10 REAL Linebackers in the 2021 Draft Class

The 2021 NFL draft class is loaded with exciting linebackers. Unfortunately, NFL linebackers don’t generate as much excitement as they used to.

Inside the Draft is old enough to remember when the NFL belonged to the likes of Jack Lambert, then Mike Singletary, then Ray Lewis. And sure, there are still some Bobby Wagner and Lavonte David-types who make a huge impact. But the old-fashioned, blood-’n’-guts, run-stuffing, gap-blitzing, quarterback-baiting multi-purpose linebacker now gets second or third billing behind edge rushers (beefed-up linebackers who line up on the edge of the defensive front) and “positionless defenders” (trimmed-down linebackers who slide all over the formation),

The linebackers who cracked this Inside the Draft top 10 aren’t part of any flashy subclass. But they can do a little of everything. That means they can definitely help NFL defenses prepare for a Patrick Mahomes aerial assault one week, a Lamar Jackson option experience the next and Derrick Henry’s 1970s Flashback the third.

And maybe, with offenses attacking in so many different ways nowadays, the old-fashioned linebacker is due for a comeback.

10. Jabril Cox, LSU

Cox was a high school quarterback who excelled at linebacker at North Dakota State before earning his degree and transferring to LSU in 2020. He’s a long-armed, well-built athlete who looks like a lean edge rusher but plays more like a conventional in-space linebacker. He has tremendous burst when he gets within range of the ball carrier and made his share of splash plays for both the Bison and Tigers.

Despite three interceptions last season, Cox isn’t a natural in coverage, nor is he a thumper in the run game. That makes him a little like the modern “positionless defender,” which is a good thing. He also runs the risk of becoming a defender without a position (a bad thing) if the team that drafts him doesn’t find the right role for him. He could be special player if given a chance to attack downhill and patience to develop as an all-around player.

9. Cameron McGrone, Michigan

McGrone is a well-built, rugged, old-fashioned middle linebacker. He knifes into the backfield quickly, is an asset when blitzing (off the edge or up the A-gap) and takes on blockers well between the tackles. He doesn’t appear to have the range and coverage chops to do much more than work the middle zones, but he hustles.

McGrone only played 16 games at Michigan and played through a hand injury last season, so he’s a bit of a projection who could improve significantly in coverage when he has more experience and isn’t playing with a cast.

8. Derrick Barnes, Purdue

Barnes was a three-year starter for the Boilermakers who recorded 7.5 sacks in 2019 but was held sackless last year, when he was used more like a traditional linebacker (and also only played 6 games, because, you know, pandemic and whatnot).

Barnes is a well-built thumper between the tackles with the size and athleticism to be a serviceable situational edge rusher. He’s a physical and reliable tackler who can take on blockers in the gap and do other dirty work.

Barnes would have been in demand as a Sam linebacker 25 years ago. Now, lack of range and limited coverage value could make him more of a role player. Still, he’s an aggressive, intense defender who can help a team that’s worried about stopping Derrick Henry-types.

7. Baron Browning, Ohio State

Browning is a well-built athlete who flies all over the field. The Buckeyes often used him as a 240 pound slot corner as well as a pass rusher in 2020, and he recorded five sacks as a rotation player in 2019.

Browning lacks the range in coverage to be a Tyrann Mathieu, however. He’s more of a classic Will linebacker who can cover running backs and handle underneath zones while making plays in pursuit and contributing to a blitz package.

6. Chazz Surratt, North Carolina

Surratt, a two-year starter for the Tar Heels with 6.5 sacks in 2019 and 6.0 last season, is effortlessly fast, allowing him to run with receivers in coverage and close the distance to the ballcarrier in a hurry when pursuing plays laterally.

Surratt is a little too lean to be more than a situational blitzer at the NFL level, but otherwise he could develop into an ideal three-down linebacker: quick enough to handle Alvin Kamara in coverage, just rugged enough to bring down Dalvin Cook.

5. Nick Bolton, Missouri

Bolton racked up 198 combined tackles for the Tigers in 2019 and 2020. He’s a laser-guided missile when shooting gaps and making plays in the backfield and delivers a pop when he gets a square hit on the ballcarrier. He also diagnoses plays well, handles simple coverage assignments effectively and hustles all over the field.

Those attributes outweigh a few correctable flaws, including a habit of running around blockers instead of through them and flicking the dive stick instead of tackling in the open field.

Bolton could thrive in a Todd Bowles-like scheme that let’s him blitz up the gut several times per game.

4. Dylan Moses, Alabama

Moses was on his way to becoming a top-15 pick before suffering an ACL injury in 2019. He played very well in 2020, but his draft status may be a victim of expectations: he looks more like another instinctive C.J. Mosely-type off the Crimson Tide assembly line than the multidimensional  wonder he was expected to blossom into.

Moses gets wired to blocks at times, but that’s the only real flaw in his game. His speed and quickness are still apparent, he’s an expert diagnostician, takes excellent angles to the ball, understands pass patterns in coverage and is a sure tackler.

Moses is the type of linebacker teams wait until day two to draft because middle linebackers are now devalued. He’s a potential Pro Bowler many teams will regret waiting too long for.

3. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Notre Dame

There’s a play vs Clemson where Owusu-Koramoah blitzes from a slot corner position and pretty-much intercepts a pitch sweep that the running back bobbled in the backfield, then races for a TD. He also strips a receiver after the catch later in the same game.

Plays like those illustrate Owusu-Koramoah’s NFL potential more than some bland scouting report. Owusu-Koramoah lists at 6-foot-1, 215 pounds but has a CGI-sculpted frame that looks bigger. He plays with a careening style and can rip away from blockers with his long arms.

Owusu-Koramoah played a lot of slot corner for the Fightin’ Irish but doesn’t quite have the quickness for such a role in the NFL. Inside the Draft gets Haason Reddick vibes from Owusu-Koramoah: ditch the “positionless” stuff, let him beef up closer to 230 pounds, stick him on the edge and let him hunt quarterbacks.

2. Zaven Collins, Tulsa

Collins won just about every award a college linebacker can win in 2020: the Bronko Nagurski Trophy (best defensive player in the nation), the Chuck Bednarik Award (same honor, different voters) and the Lombardi Award (the Heisman, but with character and leadership factored in).

The film shows why: Collins has superior range, makes sideline-to-sideline plays, and flows very naturally in pursuit. He’s also capable of handling Tampa-2-style coverage assignments up the middle of the field, times his jump well to bat down passes, and has a sudden burst when playing close to the line of scrimmage that will make him a useful situational blitzer.

There are some quibbles in Collins’ game, including a habit for getting steamrolled when blockers get their mitts on him and the occasional coverage lapse. But he could have a Devin White-like impact in the NFL.

1.Micah Parsons, Penn State

Parsons is a “Linebacker U.” linebacker in the mold of Jack Ham, Matt Millen, Shane Conlan or Sean Lee. He has almost instantaneous recognition and reaction skills, allowing him to shoot interior gaps and bringing down ball carriers moments after the handoff. He’s quick-footed in underneath zone coverage and can turn and run with a tight end up the seam. He’s also  a high-impact blitzer with a spin move and the agility to beat offensive tackles around the corner.

Parsons was allegedly involved in a 2018 hazing incident which bears mentioning. Reports of what went down are a little too wild to be brushed off as “boys being boys” but not wild enough to be pearl-clutched into a serious character concern unless a) you are spreading a rumor purposely to get Parsons’ stock to fall; or b) you have never left the house much.

Inside the Draft thanks heaven every day that there is no record of what went on in the freshman dorms circa 1988. The incident sounds like just a prank that spun out of control, but teams will be doing extra homework.

Parsons opted out of 2020, but his ’19 film tells you everything you need to know about him on the field. Inside the Draft believes he has Bobby Wagner-level upside.