The 2024 NFL draft is one week away.
Marvin Harrison Jr. is expected to make Ohio State history by becoming the first Buckeye wide receiver ever selected in the top five picks of an NFL draft. Just about every pre-draft projection has Harrison as either the No. 4 or No. 5 overall pick in this year’s draft, putting him in position to surpass Terry Glenn (seventh pick in 1996) as the highest-drafted Ohio State wide receiver ever.
Behind Harrison, this year’s draft could be quieter than most recent drafts for the Buckeyes. Harrison is the only Buckeye projected to be a first-round pick, and only three other players from last year’s Ohio State roster – Mike Hall, Cade Stover and Tommy Eichenberg – are unanimously projected to be selected. Josh Proctor is seen as likely to be drafted, though, while some draft analysts also project Steele Chambers, Matt Jones and/or Miyan Williams to be late-round draft choices. Xavier Johnson should at least land a free-agent opportunity, though the seven-round mock drafts we’ve found do not include him among the 257 projected picks.
With just seven days remaining until the 2024 NFL draft kicks off, we rounded up 21 recent mock drafts from around the Web for a look at where draft analysts see each of Ohio State’s draft prospects coming off the board. The mock drafts included in this roundup:
- AP’s Rob Maaddi (1 round)
- Bleacher Report Scouting Department (3 rounds)
- CBS Sports’ Chris Trapasso (7 rounds)
- Draft Countdown’s Shane Hallam (7 rounds)
- Draft Tek (7 rounds)
- Draft Wire (2 rounds)
- ESPN’s Matt Miller (7 rounds)
- ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. and Field Yates (3 rounds)
- NFL.com’s Chad Reuter (5 rounds)
- NFL.com’s Peter Schrager (1 round)
- Pro Football Focus’ Sam Monson (2 rounds)
- Pro Football Network (7 rounds)
- Sporting News’ Vinnie Iyer (7 rounds)
- Tankathon (3 rounds)
- The 33rd Team’s Marcus Mosher (7 rounds)
- The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman (1 round)
- The Athletic’s Dane Brugler (7 rounds)
- The Athletic’s Nick Baumgardner (3 rounds)
- The Draft Network’s Damian Parson (4 rounds)
- Walter Football’s Charlie Campbell (6 rounds)
- Walter Football’s Walter Cherepinsky (5 rounds)
WR Marvin Harrison Jr.
No. 4, Arizona Cardinals: 13 (B/R, Campbell, Draft Tek, Draft Wire, Hallam, Iyer, Monson, Mosher, Parson, PFN, Tankathon, Trapasso, Yates)
No. 4, Buffalo Bills: Maaddi
No. 5, Arizona Cardinals: Brugler
No. 5, Los Angeles Chargers: 5 (Cherepinsky, Feldman, Miller, Reuter, Schrager)
No. 5, Atlanta Falcons: Baumgardner
Everyone agrees Harrison will be either the fourth or fifth overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft. While some earlier mock drafts had Harrison going even higher, the consensus expectation as the draft approaches is that the Chicago Bears, Washington Commanders and New England Patriots will all draft quarterbacks with the top three picks.
Most mock drafts still have the Cardinals drafting Harrison as the first non-quarterback off the board. Some mock drafts, however, have the Cardinals trading down with a team looking to jump up the board to select Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy, which could drop Harrison into the lap of the Los Angeles Chargers, where Jim Harbaugh would be his coach.
Rob Maaddi of the Associated Press boldly projected that the Buffalo Bills will make a blockbuster trade to jump all the way up from the 28th pick to the fourth pick, giving up six additional draft picks for the opportunity to select Harrison and give Josh Allen a new No. 1 receiver to replace Stefon Diggs. Dane Brugler of The Athletic has the Cardinals making the same maneuver they did last year before picking Paris Johnson Jr. by trading down and then trading back up again to land a star prospect from Ohio State. Nick Baumgardner of The Athletic has the Falcons trading up with the Chargers to pair Harrison with new quarterback Kirk Cousins.
While the possibility of trades creates some uncertainty as to which team will draft Harrison, he remains a virtual lock to be a top-five pick and will very likely be the first non-quarterback selected next week.
DT Mike Hall
Round 2, No. 42, Houston Texans: Campbell
Round 2, No. 43, Atlanta Falcons: Brugler
Round 2, No. 52, Los Angeles Rams: Reuter
Round 2, No. 54, Cleveland Browns: Draft Wire
Round 2, No. 55, Miami Dolphins: B/R
Round 2, No. 56, Dallas Cowboys: Trapasso
Round 2, No. 60, Buffalo Bills: Cherepinsky
Round 2, No. 64, Kansas City Chiefs: 2 (Baumgardner, Parson)
Round 3, No. 71, Arizona Cardinals: Mosher
Round 3, No. 74, Atlanta Falcons: 2 (Iyer, Miller)
Round 3, No. 75, Chicago Bears: Tankathon
Round 3, No. 79, Atlanta Falcons: Draft Tek
Round 3, No. 83, Los Angeles Rams: Hallam
Round 4, No. 104. Arizona Cardinals: PFN
Of the 18 mock drafts in this roundup that include at least two rounds, exactly half of them project Hall will be a second-round pick. While Hall didn’t have the production he needed at Ohio State last season to become a first-round pick, he put himself in position to potentially go early on Day 2 with a strong pre-draft process as he earned practice player of the week honors at the Senior Bowl and ran a 4.75-second 40-yard dash at Ohio State’s pro day.
The most popular projected landing spot for Hall is Atlanta, where he’d bring a similar skill set to longtime Falcons standout Grady Jarrett as an explosive 3-technique defensive tackle. Other projected destinations that appear in multiple mock drafts include the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, where he’d pair up with the league’s top defensive tackle, Chris Jones; the Los Angeles Rams, where he could help fill the massive shoes left behind by Aaron Donald; and the Cardinals, who lack star power on their defensive line.
According to KPRC’s Aaron Wilson, Hall has had a busy travel schedule leading up to the draft, visiting the Chiefs, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Minnesota Vikings and San Francisco 49ers.
TE Cade Stover
Round 2, No. 59, Houston Texans: B/R
Round 3, No. 76, Denver Broncos: Baumgardner
Round 3, No. 78, Washington Commanders: Tankathon
Round 3, No. 82, Indianapolis Colts: Draft Tek
Round 3, No. 84, Pittsburgh Steelers: Yates
Round 3, No. 86, Houston Texans: Reuter
Round 4, No. 107, New York Giants: Mosher
Round 4, No. 110, Los Angeles Chargers: 2 (Hallam, Trapasso)
Round 4, No. 112, Las Vegas Raiders: PFN
Round 4, No. 117, Indianapolis Colts: Iyer
Round 4, No. 121, Denver Broncos: Brugler
Round 4, No. 123, Houston Texans: Parson
Round 4, No. 127, Houston Texans: Miller
While a second-round selection isn’t out of the question for Stover, the consensus among pre-draft mocks is that he will be either a third- or fourth-round draft pick.
One popular projected landing spot for Stover is Houston, a selection that would surely be welcomed by his friend and former Ohio State teammate C.J. Stroud, giving him another weapon to throw over the middle of the field. Other projections that show up in multiple mock drafts have Stover heading to the Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers or Indianapolis Colts, with all three of those teams seeking more receiving production from the tight end position.
Another team to watch for Stover even though it isn’t included in any of these mock draft projections is the Cincinnati Bengals, who he told reporters at Ohio State’s pro day he would visit with during the pre-draft process.
LB Tommy Eichenberg
Round 3, No. 67, Washington Commanders: Baumgardner
Round 3, No. 71, Arizona Cardinals: Campbell
Round 3, No. 86, Houston Texans: Mosher
Round 3, No. 91, Green Bay Packers: B/R
Round 4, No. 108, Minnesota Vikings: Iyer
Round 4, No. 112, Las Vegas Raiders: Hallam
Round 4, No. 118, Seattle Seahawks: Draft Tek
Round 4, No. 121, Denver Broncos: Cherepinsky
Round 5, No. 138, Arizona Cardinals: Brugler
Round 5, No. 139, Washington Commanders: Trapasso
Round 5, No. 145, Arizona Cardinals: Eichenberg
Round 5, No. 152, Washington Commanders: Miller
Round 5, No. 174, Dallas Cowboys: PFN
Eichenberg’s projections range from the third to the fifth round with no clear consensus on which round he is most likely to be drafted in.
Two popular projected landing spots for Eichenberg between those rounds are the Cardinals and the Washington Commanders. Both teams need depth at inside linebacker and have starters on expiring contracts entering the 2024 season, which would set Eichenberg up to be a rotational player as a rookie and potentially compete for a starting job in his second year in the league.
Eichenberg told reporters at Ohio State’s pro day that he had visits scheduled with the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams, so they could also be among the candidates to draft Eichenberg in the middle rounds.
S Josh Proctor
Round 5, No. 149, Cincinnati Bengals: Campbell
Round 5, No. 152, Washington Commanders: Hallam
Round 6, No. 199, New Orleans Saints: Brugler
Round 6, No. 205, Detroit Lions: Draft Tek
Round 6, No. 210, Philadelphia Eagles: PFN
Round 7, No. 222, Washington Commanders: Mosher
Round 7, No. 223, Las Vegas Raiders: Miller
Round 7, No. 229, Las Vegas Raiders: Trapasso
Proctor is included in all but one of the seven-round mock drafts in this roundup, so it would come as a surprise if he goes undrafted after his strong sixth-year senior season. He’ll likely have to wait until the later rounds to hear his name called, though, as he is not projected to be selected before the fifth round in recent mock drafts.
The most popular projected landing spots for Proctor in this roundup are the Commanders and Las Vegas Raiders, teams that have bigger needs to fill than safety in the early rounds but could look to add depth at the position in the later rounds, where Proctor could prove to be a steal if he plays at the level he did for Ohio State this past season.
LB Steele Chambers
Round 5, No. 148, Las Vegas Raiders: Mosher
Round 6, No. 220, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Miller
Round 7, No. 228, Baltimore Ravens: Draft Tek
We’ve now entered the territory of Buckeyes who sit firmly on the bubble of being drafted or not drafted. Chambers has elevated his draft stock with his pre-draft showings at the East-West Shrine Bowl, NFL Scouting Combine and Ohio State’s pro day – he wasn’t included in any mock drafts in our February roundup – but he still only appears in three of the eight seven-round mocks in this roundup.
Chambers is projected to go earlier in the fifth round in one mock draft than Proctor is in any of the mock drafts in this roundup, but a sixth- or seventh-round selection is probably more likely. Like Eichenberg, Chambers told reporters at pro day that he also had a pre-draft meeting with the Vikings, signaling their interest in potentially drafting a linebacker from Ohio State.
G Matt Jones
Round 5, No. 160, Buffalo Bills: Miller
Round 6, No. 183, New York Giants: Campbell
Jones appears in only two of the nine mock drafts in this roundup that include at least six rounds, yet both of those mocks have Jones going before the seventh round – an indicator of how small the margin can be between being selected in the later rounds of the draft and going undrafted.
Both of these mock draft projections would bring Jones close to home, as he grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Jones said at Ohio State’s pro day that he had meetings with the Giants along with the Falcons, Lions and Seattle Seahawks.
Jones’ experience playing both guard and center could improve his chances of making a roster as a versatile backup, but it’s unclear whether that opportunity will come as a late-round draft pick or as an undrafted free agent.
RB Miyan Williams
Round 6, No. 201, Detroit Lions: Draft Tek
Williams has been unable to work out during the pre-draft process after undergoing knee surgery in January, limiting his opportunities to improve his draft stock after an injury-shortened final season at Ohio State. As a result, Williams shows up in only one mock draft in this roundup.
That projection has Williams going up north to the Detroit Lions, who already have a strong one-two punch at running back in Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery – who Williams said he knows as they both grew up in Cincinnati – but could look to add depth behind them in the later rounds of the draft.
