April 16-22

Since the spring of 2017, we’ve been tracking draft services as they’ve provided mock drafts in the months and weeks leading up to April. Though we’ve sampled the services at different times of the year, each of the last five years, our last look has been on the last week before the draft. This year, of course, is no different.

As we have since we started, with just a couple of exception, we sifted through the most recent mocks from Pro Football Network, Pro Football Focus, CBS Sports, The Draft Scout (Matt Miller), ESPN, The Athletic and Walter Football this week. What we came up with was, as always, interesting, but perhaps more so this year as the draft class doesn’t offer the consensus at the top that we’ve come to expect. 

Here’s the complete board, with all 117 players who’ve gotten a first-round grade from at least one of the seven services since last May. Here are a few things we found interesting.

Who’s No. 1?: According to the NFL Network’s Cameron Wolfe, the Jags are considering four players at the top of the draft. Based on what the seven services we reviewed say, there are actually five worth the pick. They are Michigan DE Aidan Hutchinson (average draft slot 1.3), Georgia DE Travon Walker (3.0), Cincinnati DC Ahmad Gardner (5.14), Alabama OT Evan Neal (5.57) and Oregon DE Kayvon Thibodeaux (5.571, tied with Neal). Hutchinson is tops on five boards, with CBS Sports’ Chris Trapasso (Walker) and The Draft Scout (Neal) seeing him as No. 2 overall. Interestingly, TDS sees Walker falling all the way to No. 8 in its latest mock, published April 5. 

The unanimous picks: All seven services have 23 players in the first round. They are Hutchinson, Walker, Gardner, Neal and Thibodeaux, followed by NC State OT Ikem Ekwonu (6.3), Liberty QB Malik Willis (6.6), Ohio State WO Garrett Wilson (9.4), LSU DC Derek Stingley (10.4), Pitt QB Kenny Pickett (11.0), Notre Dame SS Kyle Hamilton (11.0), Florida State DE Jermaine Johnson (12.7), Mississippi State OT Charles Cross (14.3), Georgia DT Jordan Davis (14.6), Washington DC Trent McDuffie (16.4), Alabama WO Jameson Williams (16.4), Northern Iowa OT Trevor Penning (17.4), USC WO Drake London (18.4), Ohio State WO Chris Olave (20.1), Utah OB Devin Lloyd (20.7), Purdue DT George Karlaftis (22.7), Boston College OG Zion Johnson (24.6) and Arkansas WO Treylon Burks (25.7). 

The quarterbacks: If the experts are right, only one quarterback, Willis, will go in the top ten, the first time that’s happened since 2013, when Florida State’s E.J. Manuel was the first passer off the board at No. 16 (Buffalo). The only QBs to get first-round designation besides Willis and Pickett were Cincinnati’s Desmond Ridder (four boards, with Pro Football Network and The Athletics slotting him at 20) and Ole Miss’ Matt Corral (CBS’ Trapasso has him at 11). 

Wacky for wideouts: It could be a historic receiver draft as all seven services have five as top-32 picks, while several others won Day 1 acclaim. Besides Wilson, Williams, London, Olave and Burks, Penn State’s Jahan Dotson (four boards), North Dakota State’s Christian Watson (three boards) and Georgia’s George Pickens (two boards) got the nod from at least one service. 

The outliers: It’s not that unusual that the services have drawn closer in their analyses of the first round as the draft has gotten nearer. Still, it seems like it’s a much more conservative year for most than in previous years. Only one service, CBS Sports, features three players that no one else lists as a Day 1 pick. Besides Corral at No. 11, CBS’ Trapasso sees Iowa State OH Breece Hall at No. 27 and Penn State SS Jaquan Brisker at 30. Only one other service, Walter Football (which frequently goes its own way), has more than one. Walter sees Ohio State OT Nicholas Petit-Frere as the No. 28 pick and Georgia FS Lewis Cine as the last pick in the first round. Among the other services, Pro Football Network slots UTSA DC Tariq Woolen at 30; PFF has Central Michigan OT Bernhard Raimann at 20; ESPN’s Todd McShay and Mel Kiper Jr. have Penn State DE Arnold Ebiketie at 24; and The Athletic’s Dane Brugler has Connecticut DT TravisJones at 28. The Draft Scout’s 32 players were all featured on at least one other board. 

So what will really happen? Like you, we can’t wait to find out. The good news is, we only have to wait six days to find out. Start the countdown. In the meantime, draw your own conclusions about the mock drafters’ work at ITL. Until then, here’s a look at what else we saw, heard, read and said in the business of college and pro football this week.

Catching Up: Dale Strahm, 79, spent 14 years evaluating NFL talent, first with the Broncos (1999-2006) and then with the Texans (2006-2012). We caught up with him earlier this week.

  • Where are you living and what are you doing now? “Charlotte, N.C., spending time with my wife Diane and sons and their families (Brian, Bradley, and Brett).”

  • Do you miss the job? What do you miss most? “Surely do. I miss strengthening the team through personnel decisions to ultimately help win games. I miss witnessing the development of players as they improve as men in life and in their craft as athletes.”

  • Do you keep in touch with any of your former colleagues? “Mostly former players from my coaching days at Navy, Georgia, Duke, and Temple. (Falcons defensive coordinator) Dean Pees is a dear friend. Unfortunately, our community lost a special person in (longtime NFL scout) Ed Lambert this past year. He was a phenomenal coach and even better person. He's missed every day, but I am thankful we became so close.” 

  • Do you go to any live games (HS/collge/pro)? “Once in a while, I travel back to Athens for games to watch the Georgia Bulldogs. Locally, I go see the Carolina Panthers and Charlotte 49ers play.”

  • Are there any players you love to watch and/or feel close to due to your work in the game? “Proud to still watch players I helped draft, including guys like (Cardinals DE) J.J. Watt, (Seahawks OT) Duane Brown and (Broncos SS) Kareem Jackson. Other players I enjoying following include (Browns OH) Nick Chubb, (Broncos QB) Russell Wilson, (Panthers OH) Christian McCaffrey and (Bears LB) Roquan Smith.”

Review the latest from other former NFL scouts and executives by accessing our Catching Up archive here. Want to hear from a former scout, or know someone who may be interested in being interviewed? Let us know.

Saying goodbye: On Saturday, we shared the news that former NFL coach and scout Bob Harrison had passed away. Though we never got to spotlight him in our Catching Up feature, he was our kind of guy, a man who played, coached and scouted football on the college and NFL level; paid his dues; served with honor; and respected the game. In fact, that’s exactly what several of his former colleagues said when we asked them for their memories of him. We ran them down today on our blog at Succeed in Football. Our deepest sympathies go out to his wife, Faye, and his family. 

New agent Zoom: On Monday at 8 p.m. ET, we’ll have our final Zoom session for first-year agents. We’ll host former WFT pro scout Brian Zeches and former Falcons area scout Rodrik David, and they’ll discuss the ins and outs of the undrafted free agent process. What should you expect? How should you prepare for it? What happens if no one calls? What if you get two good offers but don’t know which to choose? When do calls start? When do they end? We’ll cover all of that and more with our two experts. We hope you’ll join us. If you’re a first-year agen and an ITL client, we’ll send the Zoom link Monday afternoon. If you’re not, but you’re an ITL client and want to sit in, let us know by responding to this email. If you’re interested, but not an ITL client, we want you to join us! Start here. 

Scouting Changes Grid: There was a time when most scouting moves were made post-draft, but lately, the scouting buzz doesn’t wait until May. For example:


Catch all the moves to date since the end of the 2021 season on our big board.

Here comes the XFL: With the draft raging and not one, but two, leagues playing on weekends this spring, it’s easy to forget that the XFL 3.0 is just around the corner, with play kicking off next spring. Monday, we at ITL hosted four XFL executives (Russ Brandon, Marc Ross, Doug Whaley and Russ Giglio) and a former Miami Hurricane to discuss the game plan for the league’s return. They made several points about talent acquisition, playing style, schedule, contract integrity with respect to other leagues, and more in Monday’s Zoom, which was open to all licensed NFL contract advisors and a select number of agent hopefuls who are taking the exam this summer. The XFL’s comms team will be releasing more information about its rules and policies soon, but in the meantime, we had a few takeaways from the conversation in Tuesday’s Rep Rumblings. Bottom line: many of the XFL’s rules and regs are developing, but talent registration and acquisition will begin this summer, and great opportunities for players are ahead. 

Agents by Total Clients: The numbers are way down during these pre-draft times in the waning days of free agency, but still, we rolled out our list of top agents by total clients on Wednesday. Numbers are cut in half for some, 30-40 percent off for others, but the order remains about the same. The top five: Drew Rosenhaus of Rosenhaus Sports; Jimmy Sexton of CAA; Joel Segal of WME Sports; David Mulugheta of Athletes First; and Tory Dandy of CAA. We’ll see the totals tick up some next month after the draft, and continue to gain ground this summer. 

2023+ Profile Reports: Today, we completed our third full week of Profile Reports as we roll through FBS football, examining one team each day. This week, we published reports on Ball State, Baylor, Boise State, Boston College and Bowling Green. We’ll have five more schools next week as we break down every school by the end of September. Review every report we’ve done, going back to 2010, here.

Next week: The 2022 NFL Draft is here, and we’ll have a busy week preparing for it. We hope to have Agent Changesdone for the March-to-April period this week, and we’re targeting Monday, but it might be Tuesday. Also this week, it’s our tradition to roll out NFL Coaches by Alma Mater (here’s last year’s) and NFL Scouts by Alma mater (here’s last year’s) reports. We find it’s just one more tool for agents to have in their toolbox come draft day. Come Thursday, we’ll be into the picks, and we’ll be tracking them, selection by selection, as we always do. You’ll want to make sure you have the Signings Grid, the Combine Grid, Combine performances listed by RAS and listed by 40 times, and maybe even the email frames handy as you wade through everything and make sense of it all. As for our weekly blog, Succeed in Football, we’ll ask three former executives to look at one team’s draft situation and discuss how each would use the team’s picks to craft a draft strategy, and will give insight on which players they’d each target. We’re pretty excited about it; look for it starting Monday. We’ll also have five more schools (BYU, Buffalo, California, Central Florida and Central Michigan) in our 2023+ Profile Reports. By Friday, we’ll be reviewing all 32 picks, looking at what the experts got right and what they got wrong, grading the agencies and trainers, and giving you clues on what to expect on Days 2 and 3. It’s going to be a bundle of content as we prepare to celebrate Christmas in April. We’re excited. You’re excited. If you’re not already part of the family, why not consider giving yourself a “yuletide” gift?