2019 NFL Mock Draft: Jaguars trade up for Dwayne Haskins, Raiders take Daniel Jones as future franchise QB

When I tweeted that two weeks ago, I didn’t really mean it as a slight. I’m a giant Star Wars and Game of Thrones nerd, and a fan of pretty much anything tangentially related to science fiction and fantasy. If I looked down on fanfics, I’d be looking down on a significant portion of the communities that I like to engage with online. I don’t write or read fanfics, but I can certainly understand their appeal.

Similarly, I understand the appeal of mock drafts. I think they hold value — not necessarily as predictions, but as thought exercises. 

If [insert team] decides to trade for [insert player], how will that shape the rest of the draft? How will the other 31 teams respond? How will that change their strategies? 

At this very moment, this offseason appears to be especially conducive to such thought exercises. Le’Veon Bell is going to hit the market as an unrestricted free agent. Rob Gronkowski could retire. Kliff Kingsbury and the Cardinals could want Kyler Murray instead of Josh Rosen. The Steelers are willing to trade Antonio Brown. 

It can be both fun and valuable to consider the ramifications across the league of, say, the Jaguars making a move for Brown. For the purposes of this mock, let’s say the Jaguars find a way to trade for Brown before the draft that doesn’t involve surrendering their top-10 pick. If that’s the case, the Jaguars will be forced to find an upgrade at quarterback either in free agency or the draft. You don’t trade for a 30-year-old superstar receiver unless you’re in win-now mode and you don’t win now unless you have a quarterback better than Blake Bortles. 

The Jaguars could sign a quarterback in free agency, but the best of the bunch is expected to be Nick Foles. They can aim higher than that in the draft considering they own the No. 7 pick. Then again, No. 7 might be too low to get the top quarterback in the draft, which, as of right now, is probably Dwayne Haskins. The last time the first quarterback was drafted after the No. 6 pick? 2013, when EJ Manuel was the first quarterback taken at No. 16. 

With that in mind, in my second mock of draft season, I have the Jaguars moving up to No. 4 to take Haskins. The Jaguars — regardless if they make the Brown trade or not — need a quarterback. So do the Raiders, but unlike the Jaguars, the Raiders aren’t in win-now mode. That’s why the Raiders can afford to move down a few spots, acquire even more draft ammunition, and then take a quarterback later in the first round. 

Let’s get to the rest of the fanfic mock.