Let’s Do An NFL Mock Draft Using Only NBA Players

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Here’s an incredibly silly thought: What would happen if NFL teams could only draft NBA players? Thursday marks the first night of the NFL Draft, and earlier in the week, this tweet got sent out by Trey Kerby of The Starters.

This got us wondering, because the thought of LeBron playing football pops up every once in a while and it’s always a silly experiment. It also helps that LeBron is a huge football fan and also people are always looking for ways to get into strange debates about how athletes would do in other sports.

So we went over to the NFL’s website and looked down the list of team needs. We then listed out every team as they pop up in the draft and assigned one of their top-3 needs with each pick. Then, we assigned an NBA player to each pick. Feel free to tell us how we are wrong and how NFL teams would draft a different NBA player in this hypothetical scenario in the comments.

1. Cleveland Browns – LeBron James, Quarterback

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This makes all the sense in the world. The Browns need someone to run the show. LeBron is one of the best passers in the world, a tremendous leader, is smart as hell, and is incredible at throwing dudes open. He is also from Northeast Ohio and loves the NFL. He’s a Browns fan as long as they aren’t playing the Cowboys. This is the biggest lock in the world. I am not convinced that the actual Browns doing this would be a bad idea.

2. San Francisco 49ers – Kawhi Leonard, Outside Linebacker

Leonard as a menacing defensive force who is strong, fast, agile, and can bulldoze through people just as easily as he can blow by them is horrifying. With his athletic ability, wingspan, and huge hands, he can also bat down passes easily. Kawhi Leonard is basically J.J. Watt is what I am trying to convey.

3. Chicago Bears – DeMarcus Cousins, Offensive Lineman

Boogie would be a wonderful offensive lineman. He’d just manhandle people, possesses wonderful footwork, and his mean streak that so many people chastise in the NBA would be adored in a lineman.

4. Jacksonville Jaguars – Rudy Gobert, Offensive Lineman

While Cousins seems like the can’t-miss prospect, Gobert seems like the guy who you know can block and has a high ceiling but needs to be molded a bit. Jacksonville probably has a way to go before it’s good, so give them Gobert.

5. Tennessee Titans – Tony Allen, Cornerback

FIRST. TEAM. ALL. DEFENSE.

6. New York Jets – James Harden, Quarterback

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If you want to play quarterback in New York, beyond the whole “being good at passing” thing (which Harden is), you have to be willing to embrace the spotlight. People seem to love playing with Harden and he has that it factor. The Beard would be all over the tri-state area within a month.

7. Los Angeles Chargers – Anthony Davis, Offensive Guard

Someone has to make sure Philip Rivers isn’t among the top-10 in sacks for the fourth consecutive year. That someone is Anthony Davis, who has basically everything you want in a lineman but just needs to put on some weight.

8. Carolina Panthers – DeAndre Jordan, Offensive Tackle

Along those same lines, Cam Newton takes a ton of hits, and even though he plays through them, it sometimes leads to him being super duper injured. Let’s get him a blocker up front so that he doesn’t get hit as much when he drops back to pass.

9. Cincinnati Bengals – Jimmy Butler, Edge Rusher

We know he fancies himself as more of a wide receiver, but with his length, size, athleticism, and explosiveness, Butler would be a terror off the edge. And sure, the Bengals can include some silly offensive plays that involve lining him up next to A.J. Green, I suppose.

10. Buffalo Bills – Russell Westbrook, Wide Receiver

LET’S GET EXPLOSIVE. We always hear about how hard it is to throw in Buffalo in wintery conditions. Give the Bills the guy who can just jump super high and overpower/out-athlete dudes no matter the conditions. The NFL comparison is Odell Beckham, Jr. only without the hair, and bigger, and stronger.

11. New Orleans Saints – Patrick Beverley, Defensive Back

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Let’s get some tenacity and ruthless trash talk in the Saints’ defensive backfield. Beverley would absolutely be one of those cornerbacks who gets way too much joy manning up some receiver and making their life hell. Plus if he were to ever shut down one of the really good receivers in the NFC South like Julio Jones or Mike Evans, his postgame presser would be fantastic.

12. Cleveland Browns – Kevin Love, Quarterback

Cleveland’s QB depth chart is so bad that we’ll do two quarterbacks. Kevin Love is good at throwing passes that are long as hell. This also gives Cleveland some flexibility with LeBron, who wanted to play wide receiver for a while. Maybe LeBron can be the wildcat quarterback/receiver and Love can be the regular old boring quarterback. Who knows. This is all a hypothetical.

13. Arizona Cardinals – Eric Bledsoe, Defensive Back

Bledsoe seems kind of like Patrick Patterson – yes, he’d be a good cornerback whose physicality and athleticism make him a little better, but he’d be a dynamite returner. With his speed, ability to change directions, and physicality, Bledsoe could be dynamite on punts and kickoffs.

14. Philadelphia Eagles – Kyle Lowry, Cornerback

Lowry is from Philadelphia and went to school at Villanova. He needs to play on a professional team based out of Philadelphia. That team is the Philadelphia Eagles. Plus when he was going through the NBA Draft process, DraftExpress wrote “A staunch defensive point guard who is limited by his size, but makes up for that with pure grit and determination.” Sure!

15. Indianapolis Colts – Andre Drummond, Offensive Line

Because the Colts will never, ever, under any circumstance give Andrew Luck any kind of support up front, they take an offensive lineman with a low floor and a high ceiling who needs at least two or three years to be molded into a potential star.

16. Baltimore Ravens – Giannis Antetokounmpo, Outside Linebacker

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Sure, he’d be good at getting into backfields, and no one in their right mind would throw to a dude if he’s within 15 yards of them. But can you also imagine Giannis on field goals, clogging up the middle and swatting kicks down? Or if he’s used on goal line situations on offense for fade routes? Can we actually just have Giannis try out every sport? I want to see him play outside linebacker, center field, outside hitter in volleyball, everything.

17. Washington Redskins – Draymond Green, Inside Linebacker

Organize the defense? Yup. Enjoy hitting and pestering people? Yup. Would relish the opportunity to lead an NFL defense? Yup. Would talk a lot, both to fire up his team and annoy the opponents? Yup. Draymond Green is a middle linebacker.

18. Tennessee Titans – John Wall, Cornerback

The best part is that if the Titans pick him and Tony Allen, the two would probably be different types of cornerbacks, so they can cover different types of receivers. Allen would be the guy who mans receivers up, while Wall would just fly around and make plays.

19. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Kevin Durant, Safety

Durant’s length and ability to glide to places effortlessly as a playmaker would make him a stellar safety. His fall is largely because other teams need dudes at more pressing positions, but for a team like the Bucs that can use help in their defensive backfield, this would be a great fit.

20. Denver Broncos – Nikola Jokic, Offensive Tackle

Like Gobert, this would involve taking a raw and skinny dude, beefing him up, and hoping things like his otherworldly footwork translate to the position. I assume that Jokic is good at everything he does, so he’d be fine.

21. Detroit Lions – Avery Bradley, Pass Rusher

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Bradley’s the raw and athletic pass rusher who needs to be molded a bit. He’s not a no-brainer or anything, but he’d be an interesting project for the Lions.

22. Miami Dolphins – Chris Paul, Linebacker

Sure, Paul isn’t the biggest dude. But he has a ton of heart, can organize/lead a team, and is scary good at reading what a team does and disrupting it. He’d kinda be like Zach Thomas now that I think about it.

23. New York Giants – Kristaps Porzingis, Left Tackle

At this point, I am fairly sure that if you say “Kristaps Porzingis” to any New York sports fan, they get super excited. So let’s give the Giants – who need a big dude up front who can block for Eli Manning – the most popular basketball player in New York.

24. Oakland Raiders – Zach Randolph, Defensive Tackle

GET A BIG DUDE AND LET ‘EM PLUG UP THE MIDDLE GO Z-BO GO.

25. Houston Texans – Ricky Rubio, Quarterback

Houston is going to take a quarterback sometime during the first two days of the draft, in all likelihood. Let’s give them the most naturally gifted passer with the best court/field vision in the NBA not named LeBron. Plus he’s a dreamboat and would clean up on endorsements in Houston.

26. Seattle Seahawks – Steven Adams, Offensive Tackle

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Like the Panthers, the Seahawks desperately need a lineman so their quarterback – who gets lit up a ton – doesn’t get hit nearly as much. So let’s give them Adams, who grew up playing rugby and would probably love to light some front seven players up.

27. Kansas City Chiefs – Paul Millsap, Inside Linebacker

Millsap is a good but underrated defender. “Good but underrated” describes basically every standout defender for the Chiefs over the last … really long time. Plus if another team drafts Markieff Morris sometime later in the draft as a wide receiver, Millsap would surely love to light him up on a crossing route.

28. Dallas Cowboys – Steph Curry, Defensive Back

The Cowboys seem like they’d make a somewhat risky pick in Curry, no? His best assets in the NBA (shooting and ball handling) aren’t really useful in the NFL, but he’s also crazy good at appearing out of nowhere and getting into a passing lane. He’s get roasted once or twice a game, but he’d also have three or four insane pass breakups a game that wow you.

29. Green Bay Packers – Robert Covington, Cornerback

Did you know Covington was fourth in the NBA in steals per game this year? He’s really, really good on defense, and with his length and ability to pick passes out of the air, some team would love him. That team is the Green Bay Packers.

30. Pittsburgh Steelers – Paul George, Inside Linebacker

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It’s the Steelers, so they can probably draft a tire and turn it into a serviceable linebacker. Paul George is a better athlete than a tire. Ergo, he’d be pretty good.

31. Atlanta Falcons – Andrew Bogut, Offensive Guard

I base this on nothing other than Bogut is big and stout and kinda looks like every guard in NFL history when he grows his hair and facial hair out.

32. New Orleans Saints – Andre Roberson, Cornerback

As long as he can just man dudes up and doesn’t have to do the NFL’s version of shoot free throws, he’d be a pretty good fit. Pair him up with Beverley and you’d have one hell of a cornerback duo.

Also, they do not have a first-round pick because of Ballghazi, but the New England Patriots would absolutely take Matthew Dellavedova and turn him into the most terrifying slot receiver in the NFL. But that was a given.

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