Chase Claypool A First-Round Pick In Latest PFF Mock Draft

Former Notre Dame WR Chase Claypool is slated for the first round in the latest PFF Mock Draft

There are a lot of mock drafts floating around, and there will be plenty more between now and the April 23-25 NFL Draft. Most try to predict what they think will happen, but the latest mock draft from Pro Football Focus takes a different route.

In the PFF mock draft done by Eric Eager and George Chahrouri, their focus is more on what should happen and not what they think will happen. When looking at the draft through that lens, the PFF crew looks at former Notre Dame wide receiver Chase Claypool as a first-round pick.

Chahrouri projects Claypool to the New Orleans Saints with the No. 24 overall pick. Here is his explanation:

“No one loves the idea of an “offensive weapon” more than Sean Payton. How would defenses combat facing both Claypool and Taysom Hill at the same time? Heads would likely explode. Claypool is some sort of receiver/tight end hybrid with freaky athleticism and solid production as a receiver in college. The Saints could use a burner to stretch the field, and while Claypool isn't the obvious choice, he might just be the most intriguing.”

This comes on the heels of Claypool having a dominant NFL Scouting Combine performance. Claypool ran a 4.42 and leaped 40.5” in the vertical jump while weighing 238 pounds. That outstanding showing has Claypool skyrocketing up mock drafts. Yesterday I discussed the NFL.com mock draft that had Claypool in round two, and I expect more mock drafts to start looking at Claypool as a round two player.

I don’t think we’ll see as many Claypool - Round 1 projections when you consider how deep the current draft class is at the wide receiver position. But it’s an interesting discussion, and later today I will have an article breaking down whether or not Claypool should be considered a first-round pick.