Two days and counting; buzz building … Just two days to go until the picks start coming off the board at the 2020 draft and while this year’s pre-draft period has been unusually quiet, in part because of the unique circumstances of the day, it appears that there may be a lot of teams chatting about possible moves in Thursday’s opening round. Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, for example, is reporting this morning that Washington has been receiving calls from other teams about trading up for the #2 pick, although its unlikely the Redskins are all that interested with the chance to take Ohio State DE Chase Young at that spot. And if they were, the price would be pretty high. It also appears that there could be a lot going down at the bottom half of the top ten. In particular, there are as many as a half dozen teams outside the top ten, including the Jets, Las Vegas, Denver and Philadelphia which would reportedly like to move up and get one of the top WRs such as Oklahoma’s CeeDee Lamb and Alabama’s Jerry Jeudy. There are also at least a couple of teams that are considering moving up into the top ten with an eye on rising Florida CB C.J. Henderson. However, while there are reportedly a lot of teams talking, nobody really expects anything to happen until the draft gets underway. One team that does appear to have some interest in trading out of the top ten is Cleveland with the tenth pick overall as the Browns are looking for a LT and figure they could still get one 5-10 picks farther on down the board. One name that is increasingly associated with the Browns pick is Boise State LT Ezra Cleveland, who if he is chosen by the Browns would be the first player named Cleveland to play for Cleveland! There are also reports that San Francisco would be willing to trade down from both their opening round picks. The 49ers currently hold both the 13th pick, acquired from Indianapolis, and the 31st selection at the bottom of the opening round.
Meanwhile, while both the Lions and Giants, who pick 3rd and 4th respectively, would like to move a couple of spots, it doesn’t appear they are getting much interest from either Miami or the LA Chargers, who sit on picks #5 and #6 respectively and are both reportedly interested in QBs, or teams like Jacksonville or Las Vegas a little farther on down. There has even been a little speculation in some media circles that the Dolphins and Chargers have been quietly colluding about their intentions, but that of course would be against the rules and in violation of the spirit of the draft and no team would ever think of doing such!
