NFL Draft 2019: Thoughts heading into the first round

The NFL Draft is less than 80 hours away. Feel the excitement.

For months, we’ve all been talking about what might happen, what will happen, what should happen and what won’t happen. Soon enough, we’ll finally be able to tap out the mock drafts with the draft grades, allowing everyone to scream about something different.

As we are only three days away from the Arizona Cardinals being put on the clock, let’s look at a few thoughts I have centering on the first round.

• We’re going to see four quarterbacks come off the board on Thursday. Barring something shocking, Kyler Murray, Daniel Jones, Drew Lock and Dwayne Haskins — not necessarily in that order. Murray should be going with the No.  1 overall pick, even if it isn’t with the Cardinals.
• The Miami Dolphins won’t be one of the teams taking a quarterback. Miami is trying to rebuild by being awful in 2019. Drafting a quarterback now isn’t going to help that cause. It’s almost a lock that general manager Chris Grier would rather wait it out, try to get the first pick in the 2020 draft, and then take either Tua or Justin Herbert.
• At least two of Oakland’s three picks in the first round are going to be on defense. The Raiders arguably have the league’s worst defensive personnel and the draft class is loaded on that side of the ball. Head coach Jon Gruden and general manager Mike Mayock know they need to come away with significant improvements on all three levels of the unit.
• The Cincinnati Bengals have a chance to change who they are. They’ve been trotting out Andy Dalton for almost every game since the 2011 season. Dalton has proven to be a decent quarterback, but certainly nothing more than that. He’s this generation’s Neil Lomax. Who is Lomax? Exactly. If new head coach Zac Taylor likes one of the quarterbacks and he’s there at No. 11 for the Bengals, it should happen.
• If the New York Jets can move down, they should. New York is currently slated to pick third in the first round, but if they can drop a few slots and pick up a second-round choice, that’s a no-brainer. New York desperately needs an infusion of talent at multiple spots, and picking up a Day 2 pick (the Jets traded their own second-round pick to the Indianapolis Colts) would be a wise move.