Two-round 2020 NFL mock draft: Where will the top players land?

The Carolina Panthers made shock waves in the football world after they got Matt Rhule to leave Baylor to become their new head coach. There weres expectation that Rhule could leave Baylor for the NFL, but the belief was it would be for the New York Giants. However, the reality is that the Panthers new Owner Dave Tepper got the biggest fish to bite signing Rhule to a big SEVEN-year deal worth $62 million.

Rhule is a believer in the way Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells used to build his teams, through the trenches. Sitting in their laps at 7 overall is one of the best players in the nation Derrick Brown.

This may be too high for most interior defensive lineman, but Brown isn’t just any defensive lineman. He’s very powerful at the point of attack and has the talent to line up anywhere on the line. He possesses some impressive speed and quickness that could cause problems for opposing guards in the NFL.

The Panthers do need to make a decision on Cam Newton, with them likely parting ways. This could lead to some though in a quarterback here, but they could wait until later in the draft to address this. Kyle Allen also had some high and low moments and could compete with whoever they select in the second round.

The Cardinals made some bold decisions last year when they hired Kliff Kingsbury to be their head coach. They then selected former Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray with the first overall pick, just one year after taking Josh Rosen. Rosen was later traded to Miami for a second-round pick. Tough luck for Rosen, huh?

Murray showed some signs of becoming a legit franchise quarterback. He has a creative and innovative mind in Kingsbury calling the plays as well as a future hall of fame wide receiver, Larry Fitzgerald, coming back for his 17th season. Arizona needs to make protecting their franchise quarterback their priority. For this reason they select the gigantic offensive tackle from Louisville Mekhi Becton.

At 6-foot-7 and 368 pounds, Becton is a massive human being. His strength is well advertised as he bullies edge rushers to no end, but his athleticism at the position hasn’t been getting much attention.

The combination of power and quick feet could push Becton to the very top of my rankings. With some more coaching and technique work, Becton will no doubt be a day one starter for the Arizona Cardinals.

The Jacksonville Jaguars organization is somewhat of a mess right now. They fired Tom Coughlin as their Vice President of football operations and seemed hesitant on what to do with head coach Doug Marrone. They ultimately decided to keep him but not before multiple reports said they were set to fire him.

They also have some work to do on the football field. It wasn’t too long ago that the Jaguars fought for the AFC conference against the Patriots, but that seems like a completely different team. That’s probably because it is a different team. Jalen Ramsey was traded to the Rams for a first-round pick after some weird and confusing drama in Jacksonville.

They signed Nick Foles to a whopping deal worth a ton of money. Calais Campbell isn’t getting any younger and they lack talent at the skills positions. It’s also worth mentioning that Foles wasn’t even healthy most of the 2019 season and when he was on the field he got outplayed by Gardner Minshew, who was selected in the sixth round last year.

Thankfully Isaiah Simmons is available here for them. Simmons is such a great talent there’s nobody in football to compare him to. Jacksonville is lucky enough to select a top-three talent here at No. 9 overall. Simmons displays size and speed that is unheard at the linebacker position.

There were plays that left viewers shocked in awe. Quarterbacks were left frustrated and speechless when they thought they had an easy completion until Simmons came basically out of nowhere to deflect the pass or at times taking it away for an interception. It’ll be a ton of work to build this Jacksonville team back up, but this is a really nice start.

Everything that could’ve gone wrong went wrong for the Cleveland Browns in 2019. Their franchise quarterback and former number one pick Baker Mayfield regressed. The pairing of Odell Beckham jr and best friend Jarvis Landry did not go as well as expected. But the biggest problem was the hiring of Freddie Kitchens a head coach.

Thankfully for Browns’ fans, Kitchens was shipped out of town and the Browns were forced to look for another coaching staff to fire in a few years. All jokes aside the Browns have the talent on paper to compete for their division and beyond, they just have to put it all together.

Cleveland hired Vikings offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski as head coach, so let’s see if they got this one right. In the 2020 NFL Draft the Browns need to get Mayfield some protection. The way the board has fallen so far in this 2020 NFL mock draft leaves Iowa’s Tristan Wirfs as the best available offensive lineman. Wirfs is a mauler in the run game and isn’t too bad as pass protector either.

When given a clean pocket Mayfield has shown the ability to make plays. Wirfs will be a big addition to the offensive line not only for Mayfield, but for Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt as well. Every successful offense starts in with a stable offensive line.