It’s officially draft season.
The week after the Super Bowl is always one of the most popular weeks on the mock draft calendar, as the 2021 NFL season is complete and the 2022 NFL draft order (excluding compensatory picks, which have not yet been announced) is now officially set.
Just about every media outlet who covers the NFL draft on a year-round basis has released at least one new mock draft over the past week, and we went through 15 of them to get an idea of where NFL draft analysts expect Ohio State’s draft prospects to land with a little more than two months to go until this year’s selection meeting, which will be held from April 28-30 in Las Vegas.
Going into the NFL Scouting Combine, which will take place in the first week of March, there’s a pretty clear consensus on how many first-round draft picks and how many total draft picks Ohio State will have this year. Garrett Wilson is projected as a first-round pick in every mock draft we surveyed, while Chris Olave was projected as a first-rounder in all but two of the 15 mock drafts we looked at. Nicholas Petit-Frere, Jeremy Ruckert, Thayer Munford and Haskell Garrett are all expected to be picked between the second and fourth rounds, while Tyreke Smith is the seventh and final Buckeye to appear in the two seven-round mock drafts we found.
All seven of those Buckeyes should hear their names called during this year’s draft, and they’ll likely be the only seven unless Master Teague, Antwuan Jackson or Demario McCall has a spectacular pro day. Where exactly each of those seven Buckeyes will land remains anybody’s guess, but we take a look below at some of the projected landing spots for each of them, using the following 15 mock drafts:
- Bleacher Report Scouting Department (3 rounds)
- CBS Sports’ Chris Trapasso (1 round)
- CBS Sports’ Josh Edwards (1 round)
- Draft Tek (7 rounds)
- Draft Wire’s Luke Easterling (3 rounds)
- ESPN’s Todd McShay (1 round)
- Fox Sports’ Rob Rang (1 round)
- NFL.com’s Chad Reuter (3 rounds)
- Pro Football Network’s Cam Mellor (7 rounds)
- Tankathon (3 rounds)
- The Draft Network’s Brentley Weissman (2 rounds)
- The Draft Scout’s Matt Miller (1 round)
- USA TODAY’s Nate Davis (1 round)
- U-T San Diego’s Eddie Brown (3 rounds)
- Yahoo Sports’ Eric Edholm (1 round)
WR Garrett Wilson
Trapasso: Round 1, No. 8 overall, Atlanta Falcons
Draft Tek: Round 1, No. 10 overall, New York Jets
Brown: Round 1, No. 13 overall, Cleveland Browns
McShay: Round 1, No. 13 overall, Cleveland Browns
Mellor: Round 1, No. 13 overall, Cleveland Browns
Tankathon: Round 1, No. 13 overall, Cleveland Browns
Edholm: Round 1, No. 18 overall, New Orleans Saints
Rang: Round 1, No. 18 overall, New Orleans Saints
Edwards: Round 1, No. 21 overall, New England Patriots
Miller: Round 1, No. 22 overall, Las Vegas Raiders
Davis: Round 1, No. 23 overall, Arizona Cardinals
Reuter: Round 1, No. 24 overall, Dallas Cowboys
Bleacher Report: Round 1, No. 26 overall, Tennessee Titans
Easterling: Round 1, No. 27 overall, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Weissman: Round 1, No. 28 overall, Green Bay Packers
Everyone agrees Wilson will be a first-round pick, but there’s some disparity on whether he will be an early first-round pick or a late first-round pick. While some mock drafts project Wilson to be the first wide receiver selected, there are other mock drafts that have as many as five other wide receivers chosen ahead of him, as Olave, Alabama’s Jameson Williams, USC’s Drake London, Arkansas’ Treylon Burks and Penn State’s Jahan Dotson are also all widely projected as first-round picks.
The most widely projected landing spot is one that would be popular with many Ohio football fans: The Cleveland Browns, who could certainly use a receiving playmaker like Wilson after parting ways with Odell Beckham Jr.
Only two of the mock drafts we surveyed have Wilson coming off the board before the Browns’ 13th overall pick, but nine other mock drafts have Wilson falling to at least the 18th pick, where the New Orleans Saints could add yet another Buckeye to their roster and pair him up with Michael Thomas. No mock draft we found has Wilson falling farther than the 28th pick, where the Green Bay Packers could be in the market for a new No. 1 wideout if they lose Davante Adams.
WR Chris Olave
Bleacher Report: Round 1, No. 13 overall, Cleveland Browns
Draft Tek: Round 1, No. 15 overall, Philadelphia Eagles
Weissman: Round 1, No. 21 overall, New England Patriots
McShay: Round 1, No. 22 overall, Las Vegas Raiders
Rang: Round 1, No. 22 overall, Las Vegas Raiders
Trapasso: Round 1, No. 23 overall, Arizona Cardinals
Davis: Round 1, No. 27 overall, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Edholm: Round 1, No. 27 overall, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Mellor: Round 1, No. 28 overall, Green Bay Packers
Tankathon: Round 1, No. 28 overall, Green Bay Packers
Brown: Round 1, No. 32 overall, Detroit Lions
Edwards: Round 1, No. 32 overall, Detroit Lions
Miller: Round 1, No. 32 overall, Detroit Lions
Easterling: Round 2, No. 33 overall, Jacksonville Jaguars
Reuter: Round 2, No. 39 overall, Chicago Bears
While Wilson is the more commonly projected choice for the Browns, it’s also possible they could draft the Ohio State wide receiver, as the Bleacher Report scouting department’s mock draft has the Browns passing upon Wilson to draft Olave as the second wide receiver off the board behind London.
That said, most draft analysts expect Olave to come off the board after Wilson as a late first-round pick. Eleven of the 15 mock drafts in this roundup have Olave being selected in the final 12 picks of the first round, including three mock drafts that have the Detroit Lions drafting Olave with the very last pick of Round 1.
If Olave falls into the second round, he surely won’t have to wait long on Friday. It would be a surprise if Olave is still on the board seven picks into the second round, but if he is there as NFL.com’s Chad Reuter projects, the Chicago Bears shouldn’t hesitate to turn in their card to draft Olave and pair him back up with Justin Fields.
Chris Olave will likely be a first-round pick, but if not, the Chicago Bears could pair him back up with Justin Fields.
OT Nicholas Petit-Frere
Draft Tek: Round 2, No. 33 overall, Jacksonville Jaguars
Mellor: Round 2, No. 39 overall, Chicago Bears
Brown: Round 2, No. 52 overall, Pittsburgh Steelers
Tankathon: Round 2, No. 53 overall, Las Vegas Raiders
Weissman: Round 2, No. 53 overall, Las Vegas Raiders
Easterling: Round 2, No. 63 overall, Cincinnati Bengals
Bleacher Report: Round 3, No. 82 overall, Indianapolis Colts
Reuter: Round 3, No. 86 overall, Las Vegas Raiders
If the Bears miss out on Olave, they could pair Fields back up with another one of his former teammates by drafting Petit-Frere to upgrade an offensive line that often failed to adequately protect him last season. That’s what Pro Football Network’s Cam Mellor has the Bears doing with their second-round pick, while Draft Tek has the Jaguars selecting Petit-Frere with the very first pick of the second round.
None of the mock drafts we found have Petit-Frere as a first-round pick, but Petit-Frere is included in all eight of the mock drafts that went at least two rounds. Six of those eight mock drafts project Petit-Frere to be a second-round pick, while two of them have Petit-Frere sliding to the middle of the third round.
Three of those eight mock drafts have Petit-Frere going to the Las Vegas Raiders, who are in need of an upgrade at right tackle, the position he played for Ohio State in 2020 before moving to left tackle in 2021.
TE Jeremy Ruckert
Bleacher Report: Round 2, No. 61 overall, San Francisco 49ers
Brown: Round 3, No. 88 overall, Dallas Cowboys
Draft Tek: Round 3, No. 88 overall, Dallas Cowboys
Reuter: Round 3, No. 90 overall, Tennessee Titans
Easterling: Round 3, No. 92 overall, Green Bay Packers
Tankathon: Round 3, No. 95 overall, Cincinnati Bengals
Mellor: Round 4, No. 143 overall, Tennessee Titans
Ruckert appears in all seven of the mock drafts we surveyed that include at least three rounds. Five of those seven mock drafts projected that Ruckert would be selected within a seven-pick span in the latter half of the third round, which appears to be the sweet spot for his draft stock right now.
Of the eight mock drafts we surveyed that included at least two rounds, only one has Ruckert going in the second round – Bleacher Report has the San Francisco 49ers adding him to their offense with the fourth-to-last pick of Round 2 – but only one of the seven three-plus-round mock drafts has Ruckert falling out of Round 3.
Two mock drafts have Ruckert going to the Dallas Cowboys, who could lose Dalton Schultz to free agency, with their third-round pick. Another two mock drafts have Ruckert going to the Titans, whose top three tight ends from last season are all free agents.
OL Thayer Munford
Draft Tek: Round 3, No. 71 overall, Chicago Bears
Easterling: Round 3, No. 79 overall, Los Angeles Chargers
Tankathon: Round 3, No. 90 overall, Tennessee Titans
Mellor: Round 4, No. 106 overall, Cleveland Browns
Munford appears in four of the seven mock drafts we surveyed that include at least three rounds, with three of those mock drafts projecting the Ohio State offensive lineman as a third-round pick and another that has Munford coming off the board just two picks into the fourth round.
If the Bears don’t draft Petit-Frere in the second round, Munford could be a third-round option to beef up their offensive line, which is what Draft Tek projects. Other projected landing spots for Munford include the Chargers, where he would join an offensive line anchored by former Ohio State center Corey Linsley, and the Browns, who could target Munford as a middle-round option to provide depth at both guard and tackle.
DT Haskell Garrett
Easterling: Round 3, No. 78 overall, Cleveland Browns
Draft Tek: Round 3, No. 85 overall, New England Patriots
Reuter: Round 3, No. 101 overall, Cleveland Browns
Mellor: Round 4, No. 113 overall, Atlanta Falcons
Like Munford, Garrett is projected as a third-round pick in three mock drafts and a fourth-round pick in one mock draft included in this roundup. If he is selected between those two rounds, it would mark the fourth straight year an Ohio State defensive tackle is selected in the third or fourth round, as Garrett would join Dre’Mont Jones (third round in 2019), DaVon Hamilton (third round in 2020) and Tommy Togiai (fourth round in 2021).
Also like Munford, one projected potential landing spot for Garrett is Cleveland, where he’d be reunited with Togiai in the Browns’ defensive tackle rotation.
DE Tyreke Smith
Draft Tek: Round 5, No. 158 overall, Miami Dolphins
Mellor: Round 6, No. 199 overall, Miami Dolphins
As a projected late-round pick, Smith only appears in seven-round mock drafts right now. Both of the seven-round mock drafts we were able to find have Smith going to the same team – the Miami Dolphins – though one has him going in the fifth round while another has him going in the sixth round with the No. 199 overall pick made famous by Tom Brady (and more recently Jordan Fuller).
Smith would likely project as a backup edge rusher for the Dolphins, who already have one former Buckeye on their defense in Jerome Baker.
