MOCK DRAFT: VERSION 1.0

Comment: The Bears appear satisfied with quarterback Justin Fields, and general manager Ryan Poles is certainly fielding calls about trading the No. 1 overall pick to the highest bidder. Quarterbacks drive the draft-day trade market, and Poles can dangle the opportunity to choose Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud or Will Levis in front of the quarterback-needy Colts, Raiders and Panthers. Poles’ asking price could also become too steep, and the Bears could instead bolster their interior defensive line with perhaps the most dominant defender available.

Comment: This prediction has nothing to do with selling tickets, although it’s not hard to imagine a waitlist for season tickets forming around a revamped Texans team coached by former linebacker DeMeco Ryans and quarterbacked by Bryce Young, the 2021 Heisman Trophy winner. The Texans simply need a quarterback. There will be questions about Young’s proneness to injury with a (listed) 6-foot, 194-pound frame, but after thriving in former Texans coach Bill O’Brien’s offense at Alabama for two seasons, Young has proven he’s the most proficient passer in the draft.

Comment: The Texans surrendered the most rushing yards in franchise history in yet another horrid defensive season in Lovie Smith’s four-man front scheme. While Roy Lopez, a 2021 sixth-round pick, and Kurt Hinish, an undrafted rookie, showed signs of progress at times last season, the Texans could use reinforcements along the defensive interior. Bresee, the former top recruit of the 2020 class, is a 6-foot-5, 305-pound menace who’ll showcase his capability to disrupt opposing backfields during the predraft process.

*— 5. Carolina (via SEA); 6. Detroit (via LAR); 9. Seattle (via CAR); 10. Philadelphia (via NO); 12. Houston (via CLE); 29. New Orleans (via DEN). There are only 31 picks because Miami’s first-round pick was stripped due to tampering sanctions.