Mocking the Mocks: Mike Mayock has the Chicago Bears taking Roquan Smith

Mike Mayock has become my favorite NFL Draft analyst since the NFL Network started sharing the television rights for the draft with ESPN. He’s also the only draft guru that doesn’t bother with a post-season mock, a pre-combine mock, a post-combine mock, a pre-free agency mock, a post-free agency mock, and about seven or eight other mock drafts during “mock draft season.”

Mayock does one, and he does it the night before the real deal.

Here’s his 2018 version...

1. Cleveland Browns – Sam Darnold, QB (USC)

2. New York Giants – Saquon Barkley, RB (Penn State)

3. New York Jets – Baker Mayfield, QB (Oklahoma)

4. Cleveland Browns – Bradley Chubb, DE (N.C. State)

5. Denver Broncos – Quenton Nelson, G (Notre Dame)

6. Buffalo Bills (trade with Indianapolis Colts) – Josh Allen, QB (Wyoming)

7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Derwin James, S (Florida State)

And with the eighth pick of his mock draft, he selected Roquan Smith, inside linebacker from Georgia.

The closer we get to the draft, the more I’ve seen Smith mocked to the Bears.

There were reports that the Bears were very impressed with him during their visit, plus Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun Times, who has been really, really dialed in with the Bears’ inside scoops lately, has Smith going to Chicago at eight in his latest mock.

I would not be surprised at all if Smith was the pick.

Here’s the rest of Mayock’s first round.

9. San Francisco 49ers – Denzel Ward, CB (Ohio State)

10. Oakland Raiders – Mike McGlinchey, OT (Notre Dame)

11. Miami Dolphins – Tremaine Edmunds, LB (Virginia Tech)

12. Indianapolis Colts (trade with Buffalo Bills) – Minkah Fitzpatrick, S (Alabama)

13. Washington Redskins – Vita Vea, DT (Washington)

14. Green Bay Packers – Jaire Alexander, CB (Louisville)

15. Arizona Cardinals – Josh Rosen, QB (UCLA)

16. Baltimore Ravens – Lamar Jackson, QB (Louisville)

17. Los Angeles Chargers – Da’Ron Payne, DT (Alabama)

18. Seattle Seahawks – Marcus Davenport, DE (UTSA)

19. Dallas Cowboys – Courtland Sutton, WR (SMU)

20. Detroit Lions – Harold Landry, DE (Boston College)

21. Cincinnati Bengals – Frank Ragnow, C (Arkansas)

22. Indianapolis Colts (trade with Buffalo Bills) – Isaiah Wynn, OT (Georgia)

23. New England Patriots – Kolton Miller, OT (UCLA)

24. Carolina Panthers – Calvin Ridley, WR (Alabama)

25. Tennessee Titans – Rashaan Evans, LB (Alabama)

26. Atlanta Falcons – Taven Bryan, DT (Florida)

27. New Orleans Saints – DJ Moore, WR (Maryland)

28. Pittsburgh Steelers – Sony Michel, RB (Georgia)

29. Jacksonville Jaguars – Hayden Hurst, TE (South Carolina)

30. Minnesota Vikings – Will Hernandez, G (UTEP)

31. New England Patriots – James Daniels, C (Iowa)

32. Philadelphia Eagles – Derrius Guice, RB (LSU)

What are your thoughts if the actual draft fell this way? Would you guys be fine with Roquan Smith?

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For you guys that dig podcasts, I wanted to share all of my draft related T Formation Conversation’s that I’ve done the last four months.

WCG’s lead draft analyst EJ Snyder, who is a frequent guest, was on my last episode and we discussed some wide receivers that the Bears could target.

The NFL Draft Bible’s Chris Shanafelt, who has really carved out a nice niche for himself scouting the small school players, joined me to talk about some of the overlooked prospects that could fit the Bears’ scheme.

EJ and myself discussed some defensive players Ryan Pace could target in this show.

And we hit on a bunch of offensive players in this episode.

I really tapped into EJ’s college knowledge this mock draft season, and in this episode our focus was pass rushers.

Our very own Jacob Infante was down in Indianapolis covering the NFL Combine, so it was only natural I got him to talk about his favorite fits for the Bears that he saw down in Indy.

Our guy Andrew Link was really focused on the Senior Bowl, so we discussed some possible Bears’ targets that were down in Mobile.

And way back in December, EJ jumped on the show to talk about the players playing in the bowl games that could interest the Bears. We went through just about every game and talked up prospects in each one.

Thanks to all of you guys that have listened to my show, and make sure you subscribe to T Formation Conversation on iTunes, because for a limited time, all new subscribers get it for free!