Mel Kiper Jr. and Field Yates made their midseason mock of the 2027 draft on Monday’s episode of First Draft, taking turns through the top 10 picks. Kiper had the odd-numbered picks and Yates the even ones. Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith goes first to the Los Angeles Chargers, and quarterbacks Drew Mestemaker of Oklahoma State and CJ Carr of Notre Dame go third and fourth.
They used the draft order as it stood on Monday, before the Bills-Vikings game and Tuesday’s trade deadline. Neither event changed the top 10. Host Mike Greenberg noted that at the same point last season, five of the 10 players the pair mocked went in the actual top 10, and seven went in the top 13.
The 10 picks
| Pick | Team | Record | Picked by | Player | Melo pick at this slot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Los Angeles Chargers | 0-8 | Kiper | Jeremiah Smith, WR, Ohio State | Jeremiah Smith |
| 2 | Tennessee Titans | 1-7 | Yates | Colin Simmons, EDGE, Texas | Colin Simmons |
| 3 | Miami Dolphins | 1-7 | Kiper | Drew Mestemaker, QB, Oklahoma State | Leonard Moore |
| 4 | New York Jets (from Indianapolis) | 2-7 | Yates | CJ Carr, QB, Notre Dame | Drew Mestemaker |
| 5 | Philadelphia Eagles | 2-7 | Kiper | Leonard Moore, CB, Notre Dame | Dylan Stewart |
| 6 | New York Jets | 2-7 | Yates | Xavier Gilliam, DT, Tennessee | Chris Cole |
| 7 | Washington Commanders | 2-5-1 | Kiper | Charlie Becker, WR, Indiana | Charlie Becker |
| 8 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 3-6 | Yates | Chris Cole, LB, Georgia | Devan Thompkins |
| 9 | Arizona Cardinals | 3-6 | Kiper | Ashton Hampton, CB, Clemson | Darian Mensah |
| 10 | Atlanta Falcons | 3-6 | Yates | Jordan Seaton, OT, LSU | Zereoue Williams |
Records are through Week 9, and the record shown for the Jets’ first pick is the Colts’. The last column is Justin Melo’s pick for the same slot in his Week 9 mock, which we matched to the full order in our 2027 draft order tracker. The two mocks agree on three of the 10 picks, and six players are in both top 10s. Melo had Seaton 11th, Gilliam 13th, Carr 16th and Hampton 21st.
Smith first, and the case for trading down
Kiper called the first pick easy. “Best player, key position of need,” he said, adding that Smith is “clearly” the No. 1 player on the board “by a pretty good margin.” He noted that Miami receiver Malachi Toney, injured before the Notre Dame game, is not eligible for this draft, or there would be a debate at the top.
Yates did not argue with the player, but said a team that is not taking a quarterback at No. 1 should first find out what the pick is worth. “If you could turn pick number one into pick four and pick six, maybe additional draft capital as well, it’s certainly a worthwhile conversation to have,” he said, pointing to the Jets. Kiper disagreed: he would not risk losing Smith by dropping to the fourth spot.
At No. 2, Yates switched from his own earlier mock, where Tennessee took Notre Dame cornerback Leonard Moore. The reason was the Jeffery Simmons trade to Chicago. With Simmons gone, Yates said the Titans have no proven pass rusher left in their front seven, so he took Texas edge rusher Colin Simmons, “a tremendous mover, a tough guy to block,” and compared him to Abdul Carter.
Back-to-back quarterbacks
Kiper sent Mestemaker to Miami at No. 3. “He is young. He’s talented. He still has work to do,” he said, and called the race for QB1 between Mestemaker and Carr a battle that is still going on. Kiper also raised the idea of a team moving up one spot, as Chicago did for Mitchell Trubisky in 2017. Yates added that Mestemaker now leads the FBS in passing touchdowns and has thrown for more than 300 yards and multiple touchdowns in eight straight games.
Yates then gave the Jets Carr with the Colts’ pick, two days after Notre Dame beat No. 1 Miami 31-24. He described the two quarterbacks as opposites: Mestemaker as a big-armed athlete who makes plays on the fly, Carr as “a processor” who wins before and after the snap without a special arm. Kiper compared Carr to Brock Purdy, and Yates said Joe Burrow is a name scouts use for his highest-end outcome. Both QBs were in the top two of the scouts’ midseason QB1 poll, with Mestemaker getting 17 of 25 votes.
Two corners, a defensive tackle and a Hoosier
With Simmons gone, Kiper took Moore at No. 5 for Philadelphia and said his grade on Moore is his highest for a cornerback since Patrick Peterson, who went fifth overall in 2011. Moore is second on Kiper’s board. Yates said Moore would be top five on his own list, and seventh at worst.
The Jets’ second pick, at No. 6, went to Tennessee defensive tackle Xavier Gilliam, a Penn State transfer whom Yates called “absolutely gas up the middle.” Yates argued that defensive tackle is now one of the three most valuable positions after quarterback, citing the two first-round picks Chicago paid for Jeffery Simmons. Gilliam debuted at No. 6 on Kiper’s updated big board last month.
Kiper took Indiana receiver Charlie Becker at No. 7 for Washington and said Becker has not dropped a pass in his Indiana career. Yates said Becker is close to the point where his grade will not change between now and April.
Yates took Georgia linebacker Chris Cole at No. 8 for Tampa Bay, saying Cole adds pass rush off the edge and has some of Arvell Reese in his game. That cost Kiper his pick at No. 9: “Had Cole been there, it’d have been my pick,” he said, before taking Clemson cornerback Ashton Hampton for Arizona as the best player available. At No. 10, Yates gave Atlanta LSU tackle Jordan Seaton, saying he has the best mix of frame, upside and production in a tackle class that lost Texas’ Trevor Goosby to a torn patellar tendon.
Who missed the top 10
Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss was the biggest name left out. Yates put him somewhere between 10th and 20th overall, in a second quarterback tier with Oregon’s Dante Moore, Texas’ Arch Manning and Miami’s Darian Mensah. Kiper said Chambliss’ height, just under six feet, and the fact he would be a 25-year-old rookie could make him slip. He also said Manning probably needs another year. Missouri’s Austin Simmons has agreed to return to school. The pair’s full position-by-position view is in our First Draft position rankings story.
Yates opened the episode by saying the class “has not been as good as advertised so far,” and that there will not be six quarterbacks in the top 12 as there were in 2024. Kiper blamed injuries, listing Dante Moore, Goosby and running backs Kewan Lacy and LJ Martin.
Week 10 can still move the order at the top. The Titans host the Jaguars, the Dolphins visit the Colts, the Jets host the Bills and the Chargers play at Baltimore on Monday night. Our draft order tracker will have the new order after the week.
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