2027 NFL Mock Draft: 7 Defensive Backs Go in Round One, 2 QBs in the Top Ten

[We’re halfway through the college football regular season and nearly there for the NFL season — which means it’s time for the first 2027 NFL Mock Draft of the cycle. James Foster uses his extensive scouting notes to construct his initial mock draft as we approach tank time for NFL teams.

Draft order is as if the season ended today and we only used records instead of projected playoff results]

For this mock, I’m assuming the following players return to school: Arch Manning, Dante Moore, CJ Carr, Cam Coleman, David Stone, Justin Scott, Sammy Brown, Tae Johnson, Kingston Lopa.

The Chargers selecting first overall frees us from the generational receiver-vs.-quarterback dart-throw debate. Jeremiah Smith is the best player in the 2027 class and my highest-graded prospect over the last six years. With his elite ball skills and overwhelming blend of size, speed, and explosiveness, slowing him down is a two-man job at minimum. 

Smith is an almost hyperbole-proof prospect whose greatness is widely recognized, although his route running has actually become underrated by the general consensus. While he was a bit too reliant on physicality to create intermediate separation last year, his footwork and salesmanship have significantly improved in 2026, and his break angles are noticeably sharper. He can’t and will never be able to move like the sub-180-lbs receivers who light up the Senior Bowl one-on-ones, but he’s absolutely a capable separator by NFL X-standards.

Miami ends the short-lived Malik Willis era by selecting Drew Mestemaker as its quarterback of the future. Mestemaker is coming off of his worst performance since Week 1, with several head-scratching decisions and misfires, but he still made a handful of outstanding deep throws and created explosive plays with his legs. He’s clearly developed his arm strength from last year, and for such an inexperienced player, he throws with rare anticipation and timing over the middle of the field. 

Through Week 6, Tennessee’s edge rushers have the fourth-lowest pressure rate in the NFL, and while cornerback is a major need, that position should be easier to address on Day Two.

Dylan Stewart is an electric athlete with game-breaking physical tools and the size and tenacity to thrive on early downs. His blend of power and speed creates a multidirectional threat and will ease his transition to the NFL. If he sustains his dominance from Week 6, I expect Stewart to be one of the first non-quarterbacks off the board.

With David Walker’s emergence, the Bucs no longer have a pressing need at EDGE and wouldn’t have enough free snaps to maximize Colin Simmons's value. That leaves Leonard Moore as the only blue-chip player on the board, and although Zyon McCollum still has a year left on his deal, he shouldn’t preclude Tampa Bay from taking one of the safest cornerback prospects in recent memory.

Moore checks every box as a cover corner, with great-to-elite size, speed, fluidity, footwork, and ball skills. He plays most of his snaps on an island in press-man, using his physicality and technical nuance to erase opponents at the line of scrimmage and his rare mirror skills to blanket the stem and route break. Despite flashing significant development as a tackler and run defender in Week 1, he’s regressed back to prior form (average) over the last five games.

The Commanders take Colin Simmons, adding some much-needed pass-rushing juice to their edge rotation. I’ve been critical of Simmons’ run defense and still worry about his inability to set a firm edge, but he was as disruptive as I’ve ever seen him in run support this week, recording a career-high four stops.

Aside from Stewart, Simmons has the best bend and first-step explosiveness in this class. While he struggles to convert speed to power against stronger opponents, he’s flashed a formidable bull rush, and his hump move is an effective counter to punish tackles for oversetting.

Austin Simmons only has nine career starts and may end up returning to school, but he’d be my second quarterback off the board if he’s available. His tape over the last two weeks has been much better than his mediocre production would suggest, and his low completion rate (62.9%) has more to do with drops and aggressive pass-selection than inaccuracy.

He’s a bold anticipatory thrower with elite velocity to fit the ball into tight windows and an impressive feel for targeting the middle of the field. While he’s surgical within structure, his playmaking instincts are unproven, and he’s yet to scramble in four SEC games.

Lane Johnson’s retirement created an immediate need at right tackle, which the Eagles address early by taking Zereoue Williams. After spending most of his career buried on Utah’s depth chart behind future first-rounders Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu, he entered his final year of eligibility with just 71 offensive snaps under his belt.

But Williams has emerged as a potential Day One pick himself and is currently a top-15 prospect on my board. He has an enormous frame, long arms, and refined hand usage, showing proficiency with a wide range of techniques and counters.

Despite his tall stature, he has no issues winning leverage against power moves and setting a firm anchor. Williams hasn’t (and won’t) faced a very challenging slate of pass-rushers in the Big 12, but his 97.5% pass-block win rate ranks fifth among 117 qualifying tackles, per PFF.

The Texans could use an upgrade at guard or center, and Greg Johnson is the perfect option for teams with various needs across the interior offensive line. He played center as a sophomore before moving to left guard in 2025, where he settled in and produced first-round-caliber tape. 2026 was supposed to be his first year with positional continuity, but Ashton Beers’ season-ending Week 3 injury forced him back to center.

Johnson’s tape has been excellent, regardless of position, and he has more proven versatility than any offensive lineman in this class. At 327 lbs with a broad frame and ideal muscle mass, he’s nearly immune to bull rushes — I’ve never seen him suffer a clean loss to power over the last two seasons. Though he was verified at 6064 over the summer, he’s functionally 6’3” because he plays with such outstanding hip/knee bend. He’s a polished hand-fighter with exceptional strike-timing and firm edges to prevent leakage late in the rep.

Though he thrives in Minnesota’s outside-zone scheme, he also has the leverage, drive power, and torque to create displacement in a gap-heavy offense like Houston’s.

The Cardinals could ideally draft their quarterback of the future with this pick, but all available options would be major reaches in the top-ten, and a handful of cornerstone prospects remain on the board at other positions.

Charlie Becker is an elite deep threat whose dominance on the vertical plane and at the catch point is unrivaled by any receiver not named Jeremiah Smith. He torches press with decisive releases, explodes into his stems, and has the track speed to pull away from man coverage within a few steps.

On 103 career targets, he has zero drops and a 65.6% contested catch rate, and his body control makes him unrecoverable on back shoulder fades. Becker’s route tree has very few branches, as his intermediate separation is hindered by a lack of nuance, salesmanship, and physicality at the break point.

However, his Week 7 tape showed significant growth as a route runner, and his stock will ascend even further if he sustains this development moving forward.

Jamien Sherwood has returned to form over the last few weeks, but age regression finally hit Demario Davis and, with his retirement looming, the Jets take Chris Cole as his long-term replacement.

Cole is an elite athlete and suffocating presence in all three phases — he also carries a 4.0 GPA as a Pre-med Biology major, which is unsurprising considering how quickly he processes on the field. He’s a ferocious accelerator with limitless range to track down mobile quarterbacks, keep pace with tight ends down the seam, or make stops in backside pursuit.

While he sometimes struggles to play through contact and still needs to fill out his prototypical but wiry frame, he’s almost impossible to stretch horizontally, and his instincts keep him a step ahead of the block's development. Cole lacks the power profile to play edge full-time, but can burn tackles along the outside track and has already recorded 22 pressures and three sacks this year.