2019 NFL Mock Draft: Jaguars and Dolphins trade up for Bortles and Tannehill replacements

What is it with the Florida teams and their inability to figure out the quarterback position?

The Buccaneers are entering Year 5 with former No. 1 overall pick Jameis Winston and they still have no clue if he’s worth a second contract. The Dolphins and the Jaguars are even worse off at the moment. After firing Adam Gase and hiring Brian Flores, the Dolphins are expected to move on from Ryan Tannehill. In Jacksonville, the Jaguars realized a year too late that Blake Bortles isn’t good enough to get them over the hump. They’re expected to dump him this offseason. That puts both the Dolphins and the Jaguars in the market for a quarterback.

There’s a chance they’ll pursue a quarterback in free agency, like Nick Foles or (god forbid) Joe Flacco. Even if they do that, they should still be looking at quarterbacks in this year’s draft. Franchise quarterbacks don’t hit free agency. The quarterbacks available to sign this offseason are no different. They’re nothing more than bridges. Both the Dolphins and Jaguars need to make sure they’re not bridges to nowhere. 

In my first mock draft of the offseason, I have both the Dolphins and Jaguars getting aggressive to snag a quarterback by engineering trades to move up the board. The Jaguars get lucky that the Buccaneers are apparently content with Winston getting one more year to audition for the long-term job, which gives them the flexibility to trade down the board for some much needed draft capital (have you seen that Buccaneers defense?). Likewise, the Dolphins get lucky that the Bills drafted Josh Allen a year ago and need as many picks as possible to build a solid team around him. 

In all, I have three quarterbacks going in the top 10. But the rest of the mock is dominated by defensive players.

Nick Bosa, DE, Ohio State. The Cardinals have a whole host of issues that need to be addressed, but you can never have enough pass rushers. Bosa lining up opposite of Chandler Jones (11 sacks per season) is too enticing to pass up. In a division with Jared Goff, Russell Wilson, and Jimmy Garoppolo, the Cardinals make sure they’re well equipped to attack the quarterback. 

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Josh Allen, EDGE, Kentucky. The 49ers grab the best remaining pass rusher on the board who is coming off a bonkers 17-sack season. The Garoppolo injury was devastating for the 49ers this past season, but as a result of that injury, they’re now getting the chance to add a future pass-rushing superstar to a roster that a lot of people already thought was playoff caliber. 

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Quinnen Williams, DL, Alabama. The Jets need help up front on offense, but Williams is too good of a prospect to pass up. In his final season at Alabama, Williams racked up eight sacks and 19.5 tackles for a loss. This past season, the Jets finished in the middle of the pack in sacks and allowed the seventh-most rushing yards. Bolstering the defensive line should be a priority. 

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Rashan Gary, DT, Michigan. Yet another pass rusher comes off the board. The Raiders are in desperate need of sacks after trading away Khalil Mack and letting Bruce Irvin walk. This past season, they finished with a league-low 13 sacks. Eleven NFL players matched the Raiders’ sack total last season. Gary hasn’t produced like an elite pass rusher yet, but he has the skillset to succeed at the next level.

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Dwayne Haskins, QB, Ohio St. It’s a year too late, but the Jaguars finally recognized they need to move on from Bortles and upgrade at quarterback. Sensing that the Giants at No. 6 might take Haskins one spot ahead of them at No. 7, the Jaguars engineer a trade with the Buccaneers, who appear to be all in with Jameis Winston and Bruce Arians. The Jaguars use the pick on Haskins, our top-ranked quarterback here at CBS Sports.

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Greedy Williams, CB, LSU. Eli Manning might be back for another season (for some dumb reason). With Haskins off the board, they won’t feel conflicted grabbing the best player available, which could be Williams, who will also fill a clear need for the Giants after they whiffed on Eli Apple a few years back. Williams is CBS Sports’ fifth-ranked prospect overall. 

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Jonah Williams, OT, Alabama. The Buccaneers are absolutely delighted the Giants didn’t pick Williams. With Arians and his deep passing game arriving in Tampa Bay, the Buccaneers need to shore up their protection for Winston. Williams, the best offensive tackle in the draft, is the guy to do that. Left tackle Donovan Smith is set to become a free agent. 

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Clelin Ferrell, DE, Clemson. The Lions need help in the pass-rushing department. A year ago, they gave Ezekiel Ansah the franchise tag, but he fell short of expectations with four sacks in seven games. He’s now a free agent. Ferrell is either a replacement for Ansah or a complement to him. At Clemson, Ferrell exploded for 21 sacks over the past two seasons.  

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Kyler Murray, QB, Oklahoma. The Dolphins are expected to move on from Tannehill as they embark upon a rebuild with a new coach. Their first task? Find a franchise quarterback. Assuming Murray sticks with football instead of baseball (the Mariners fan writing this mock would prefer for Murray to not join the A’s), he’s probably going to be a first-round pick even if he falls under the six-foot threshold that most first-round quarterbacks are forced to clear. All it takes is one team to fall in love with him. The Dolphins, worried that the Broncos or Bengals could take Murray ahead of them, trade up with the Bills to No. 9. The Bills are more than happy to slide down to No. 13 and secure some extra picks they can use to strengthen the team around Josh Allen. Even if the Dolphins draft Murray, they can still sign a bridge quarterback in free agency to ease Murray into the NFL.

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Drew Lock, QB, Missouri. Three quarterbacks end up going in the top 10. To this point, John Elway has been unable to draft a franchise quarterback. His Case Keenum signing also hasn’t worked out. He tries to fix the issue one more time with Lock — Jay Cutler 2.0.

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Devin White, ILB, LSU. The Bengals’ defense was a travesty in 2019, finishing the year ranked dead last in yards allowed and 30th in points allowed. The Bengals’ defense specifically needs help at linebacker. And White is the best linebacker in the draft. I suspect this will be a popular outcome in many mocks, but let’s see if White can make it to No. 11. He could be off the board before the Bengals are on the clock.

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Deionte Thompson, FS, Alabama. After trading away former first-round pick Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, free safety is a need for the Packers. Thompson is the best free safety in this draft class. The Packers snag him here, hoping he becomes their version of Eddie Jackson, a former Alabama safety who emerged as one of the Bears‘ best players this past season. 

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D.K. Metcalf, WR, Ole Miss. The Bills need help up front and on the outside. Here, they make a move for a receiver after letting Josh Allen spend his rookie season throwing passes to WR1 Zay Jones. Our Chris Trapasso has compared Metcalf to Josh Gordon. That’ll do.

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Ed Oliver, DT, Houston. Defense, defense, defense. The Falcons‘ objective this offseason is simple: Fix a defense that ranked 28th in yards allowed, 25th in points allowed, and 31st in DVOA. Oliver is CBS Sports’ fourth-ranked prospect overall. Getting him at 14 would be a steal. Oliver and Grady Jarrett would make up a formidable interior defensive line — assuming the Falcons find a way to keep Jarrett. If they don’t, Oliver will be his replacement. 

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Montez Sweat, EDGE, Mississippi State. Yes, the Redskins need a quarterback. But there really isn’t a quarterback worth grabbing at this spot. And Sweat could be a very good player in another area of need. Sweat racked up 22.5 sacks over the past two seasons. Ryan Kerrigan is 30 years old, only has two more years remaining on his deal, and will get paid nearly $13 million per season from this point on. Kerrigan is coming off a 13-sack season, but would anyone be surprised if the Redskins try to get younger and cheaper at the position in the near future? Sweat is too good of a player for the Redskins to pass on. You can never have enough pass rushers. 

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Greg Little, OT, Ole Miss. Little will help bolster an offensive line that has Matt Kalil on one side and Daryl Williams on the other. NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein compared Little to Duane Brown. He should start Week 1 with Williams hitting free agency.

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Jeffery Simmons, DT, Mississippi St. During the Browns‘ rebuilding years, a period that finally ended this past season, they used a first-round pick on defensive tackle Danny Shelton. That pick never worked out the way they intended it to and they eventually shipped him to New England, where he just won a Super Bowl with the Patriots. The Browns have a need on the interior of their defensive line. Simmons had 18 tackles for a loss last season. It’s worth noting that Simmons was caught on tape hitting a woman a couple years ago.

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Cody Ford, OT, Oklahoma. Kirk Cousins needs to improve and perform up to the level his contract demands. The Vikings can make his job easier by investing in the offensive line. Ford can play on the interior or exterior of the line. That flexibility should allow him to start immediately. 

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Byron Murphy, CB, Washington. My friend and colleague, CBS Sports’ NFL Draft Expert Ryan Wilson, tells me that he likes Murphy better than Greedy Williams, who I have going in the top 10. The Titans already used a high pick on Adoree’ Jackson and gave tons of money to Malcolm Butler, but in a changing league, defenses now need three good cornerbacks to slow down modern offenses that love to operate out of 11 personnel.  And it’s not like Butler has been a home-run signing so far.

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Deandre Baker, CB, Georgia. Another draft, another team snagging a cornerback directly ahead of the cornerback-needy Steelers. In 2016, the Bengals took William Jackson one spot ahead of the Steelers, which forced the Steelers to settle for Artie Burns. Burns spent this past season getting benched, so the Steelers are once again in the market for a cornerback. Baker fills a need here. 

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Christian Wilkins, DT, Clemson. Recognizing that they need to go all in during the remaining years of Philip Rivers‘ career, the Chargers move up to take Wilkins, a player who turns the Chargers’ defensive front (with Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram) into a terror.

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Marquise Brown, WR, Oklahoma. It’s time to give Lamar Jackson some weapons after he spent his rookie season (when he wasn’t running) throwing to Michael Crabtree. Brown has been compared to both Brandin Cooks and Tyreek Hill. Brown paired with Jackson could be a ton of fun.

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Jawaan Taylor, OT, Florida. The Texans gave up an NFL-high 62 sacks. They can’t afford to let Deshaun Watson, who has an injury history, keep getting hit like that. They grab the best available offensive lineman in Taylor. 

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Brian Burns, DE, Florida St. With the second of their three first-round picks, the Raiders double down on fixing the pass rush by taking Burns, who registered 10 sacks this past season. I repeat: The Raiders had 13 sacks all season long. They need all the pass rushers they can get their hands on.

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Andre Dillard, OT, Washington St. Jason Peters is 37. He’s been getting beat up in recent seasons. The Eagles might want to invest in their future left tackle, which could be Dillard, who is an effective pass blocker. Given Carson Wentz’s injury history, the Eagles should make the offensive line a priority. 

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Kelvin Harmon, WR, NC State. Andrew Luck is fully back and the offensive line has been shored up. It’s time for the Colts to give Luck more reliable targets outside of T.Y. Hilton. They can’t count on Eric Ebron to catch touchdowns at the rate he caught them this past season. They also can’t afford to trot out a Dontrelle Inman type of receiver as their WR2. Harmon is coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons and he’s a big receiver who would complement Hilton well. 

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Josh Jacobs, RB, Alabama. It’s still unclear if Marshawn Lynch will retire, but even if he does, the Raiders could use a long-term solution at running back. Jacobs is the best running back in the draft. He checked in at No. 6 overall on Daniel Jeremiah’s first big board for NFL.com. With Derek Carr, who loves to check the ball down, still around, Jacobs could be a useful player immediately even if Lynch returns.

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Nasir Adderley, FS, Delaware. The Seahawks don’t have many draft picks, so they’re more than happy to slide back and acquire additional picks from the Chargers. They’re also more than happy to find their Earl Thomas replacement in Adderley, a player that Jeremiah ranked 27th on his big board. 

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Trayvon Mullen, CB, Georgia. The Chiefs are desperate to fix their defense after it cost them a chance at a championship. There’s plenty of areas to fix, including cornerback. Steven Nelson and Orlando Scandrick are both slated to become free agents, leaving Kendall Fuller as the lone starter from this past season. They go with Mullen, who should start immediately given just how dire the situation is in Kansas City.

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Jachai Polite, EDGE, Florida. The Packers’ pass rush could look a whole lot different next season with Clay Matthews and Muhammad Wilkerson scheduled to hit free agency. Polite is coming off an 11-sack season. The Packers capitalize on a draft loaded with pass rushers by getting a starter at the back end of the first round.

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Devin Bush, OLB, Michigan. The Rams should try to improve their linebacker group a year after relying on Mark Barron and Cory Littleton. You could make an argument that the Rams are better suited taking a defensive lineman given the uncertain future of Ndamukong Suh, but Bush is too good of a player for the Rams to pass on him. Jeremiah has him ranked 17th on his first big board.

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T.J. Hockenson, TE, Iowa. We should know soon if Gronk plans to retire. Even if he doesn’t, the Patriots need to begin preparing for his departure. Hockenson caught 49 passes for 760 yards and six scores this past season while serving as a capable blocker. Our Chris Trapasso provided a good breakdown of his skillset here.