Mel Kiper NFL Mock Draft 2016: Notable Picks from ESPN Guru's 3-Round Mock

As the 2016 NFL draft draws closer, ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. released his most comprehensive mock yet Tuesday, as he projected every pick over the first three rounds. 

Kiper acted as the general manager for all 32 teams in his latest ESPN.com mock draft and attempted to piece together the opening two days of the 2016 draft in Chicago. While many of the early picks were fairly obvious, there were plenty of shockers that could shake up the draft landscape significantly if they come to fruition.

Here is a complete rundown of Kiper's three-round mock, along with further analysis regarding the teams that came away with the most skilled players.

Pick	Team	Position	Player	School
Pick	Team	Position	Player	School
Pick	Team	Position	Player	School
1	Los Angeles	QB	Jared Goff	California
2	Cleveland	QB	Carson Wentz	North Dakota State
3	San Diego	OT	Laremy Tunsil	Ole Miss
4	Dallas	CB	Jalen Ramsey	Florida State
5	Jacksonville	OLB	Myles Jack	UCLA
6	Baltimore	DE	Joey Bosa	Ohio State
7	San Francisco	OT	Ronnie Stanley	Notre Dame
8	Philadelphia	DE	DeForest Buckner	Oregon
9	Tampa Bay	OT	Jack Conklin	Michigan State
10	NY Giants	WR	Laquon Treadwell	Ole Miss
11	Chicago	DT	Sheldon Rankins	Louisville
12	New Orleans	CB	William Jackson III	Houston
13	Miami	OLB	Darron Lee	Ohio State
14	Oakland	CB	Vernon Hargreaves III	Florida
15	Tennessee	WR	Josh Doctson	TCU
16	Detroit	DE	Shaq Lawson	Clemson
17	Atlanta	ILB	Reggie Ragland	Alabama
18	Indianapolis	OT	Taylor Decker	Ohio State
19	Buffalo	DE	Emmanuel Ogbah	Oklahoma State
20	NY Jets	OT	Germain Ifedi	Texas A&M
21	Washington	C	Ryan Kelly	Alabama
22	Houston	WR	Corey Coleman	Baylor
23	Minnesota	WR	Will Fuller	Notre Dame
24	Cincinnati	DT	A'Shawn Robinson	Alabama
25	Pittsburgh	CB	Eli Apple	Ohio State
26	Seattle	CB	Artie Burns	Miami (FL)
27	Green Bay	OLB	Kamalei Correa	Boise State
28	Kansas City	S	Vonn Bell	Ohio State
29	Arizona	OLB	Leonard Floyd	Georgia
30	Carolina	DE	Kevin Dodd	Clemson
31	Denver	OG	Cody Whitehair	Kansas State
Round 2
32	Cleveland	DT	Jarran Reed	Alabama
33	Tennessee	S	Karl Joseph	West Virginia
34	Dallas	RB	Ezekiel Elliott	Ohio State
35	San Diego	DE	Jihad Ward	Illinois
36	Baltimore	CB	Mackensie Alexander	Clemson
37	San Francisco	QB	Paxton Lynch	Memphis
38	Jacksonville	DT	Kenny Clark	UCLA
39	Tampa Bay	CB	Kendall Fuller	Virginia Tech
40	NY Giants	OLB	Noah Spence	Eastern Kentucky
41	Chicago	OG	Joshua Garnett	Stanford
42	Miami	CB	Xavien Howard	Baylor
43	Tennessee	OT	Jason Spriggs	Indiana
44	Oakland	RB	Derrick Henry	Alabama
45	Tennessee	WR	Sterling Shepard	Oklahoma
46	Detroit	OT	Shon Coleman	Auburn
47	New Orleans	LB	Deion Jones	LSU
48	Indianapolis	LB/S	Su'a Cravens	USC
49	Buffalo	WR	Michael Thomas	Ohio State
50	Atlanta	TE	Hunter Henry	Arkansas
51	NY Jets	QB	Connor Cook	Michigan State
52	Houston	QB	Christian Hackenberg	Penn State
53	Washington	DT	Robert Nkemdiche	Ole Miss
54	Minnesota	S	Jalen Mills	LSU
55	Cincinnati	WR	Tyler Boyd	Pittsburgh
56	Seattle	DT	Vernon Butler	Louisiana Tech
57	Green Bay	TE	Jerell Adams	South Carolina
58	Pittsburgh	OG	Christian Westerman	Arizona State
59	Kansas City	WR	Leonte Carroo	Rutgers
60	New England	DT	Chris Jones	Mississippi State
61	New England	WR	Pharoh Cooper	South Carolina
62	Carolina	WR	Aaron Burbridge	Michigan State
63	Denver	DT	Andrew Billings	Baylor
Round 3
64	Tennessee	OT	Le'Raven Clark	Texas Tech
65	Cleveland	WR	Braxton Miller	Ohio State
66	San Diego	WR	Charone Peake	Clemson
67	Dallas	CB	D.J. White	Georgia Tech
68	San Francisco	LB	Nick Kwiatkowski	West Virginia
69	Jacksonville	C	Max Tuerk	USC
70	Baltimore	OG	Vadal Alexander	LSU
71	NY Giants	RB	Kenneth Dixon	Louisiana Tech
72	Chicago	OLB	Joe Schobert	Wisconsin
73	Miami	WR	Kenny Lawler	California
74	Tampa Bay	DE	Jonathan Bullard	Florida
75	Oakland	S	Keanu Neal	Florida
76	Tennessee	CB	Eric Murray	Minnesota
77	Philadelphia	OT	Jerald Hawkins	LSU
78	New Orleans	DT	Adolphus Washington	Ohio State
79	Philadelphia	RB	Alex Collins	Arkansas
80	Buffalo	OG	Willie Beavers	Western Michigan
81	Atlanta	DE	Carl Nassib	Penn State
82	Indianapolis	DT	Austin Johnson	Penn State
83	NY Jets	TE	Nick Vannett	Ohio State
84	Washington	CB	Cyrus Jones	Alabama
85	Houston	DE	Shilique Calhoun	Michigan State
86	Minnesota	C/G	Nick Martin	Notre Dame
87	Cincinnati	ILB	Joshua Perry	Ohio State
88	Green Bay	CB	Maurice Canady	Virginia
89	Pittsburgh	S	Jeremy Cash	Duke
90	Seattle	OT	Dominique Robertson	West Georgia
91	New England	RB	Devontae Booker	Utah
92	Arizona	C	Graham Glasgow	Michigan
93	Carolina	S	Darian Thompson	Boise State
94	Denver	LB	Scooby Wright	Arizona
95	Detroit	DT	Hassan Ridgeway	Texas
96	New England	CB	Zack Sanchez	Oklahoma
97	Seattle	DE	Charles Tapper	Oklahoma
98	Denver	S	Sean Davis	Maryland

Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns haven't reached the playoffs since 2002, but if Kiper's mock selections for the organization come to fruition, a big step toward ending that drought could be taken.

After mocking California's Jared Goff to the Los Angeles Rams at No. 1, Kiper gave Cleveland the other top signal-caller in Carson Wentz of North Dakota State. Wentz is viewed as a player who has all the tools needed to be a star at the next level, but the fact he played FCS ball creates some concern regarding whether he can make the leap.

As seen in this chart, courtesy of Pro Football Focus, though, he excelled in areas of the field that suggest he has a skill set that should translate well to the NFL:

One person who is especially impressed with Wentz is Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson, according to Les Bowen of the Philadelphia Inquirer:

"

If you haven't spent time with a guy like [Wentz], it's hard to evaluate him, given that North Dakota State is an FCS school and plays against less-than-top competition. When you finally get him and get him in your building, get your hands on him, have a chance to visit with him and just break it down, this kid's pretty impressive.

I'm excited to see where he goes, and then excited to kind of follow his career. You dive into him as a person, his work ethic, his off-the-field attitude ... how he handles his teammates, puts him in kind of an elite status when it comes to quarterbacks.

"

With veterans Robert Griffin III and Josh McCown on the roster, Cleveland is fortunate in the sense that it can allow Wentz to develop, and it doesn't have to play him until he is truly ready.

In terms of a more immediate impact, Kiper gave the Browns Alabama defensive tackle Jarran Reed in the second round and Ohio State wide receiver Braxton Miller in the third.

Reed is a fantastic run-stuffer who could easily land in the latter part of the first round, and he would be a great fit for the Browns along with the mountainous Danny Shelton up front.

Cleveland is also in desperate need of playmakers on offense, and Miller proved to be precisely that at both quarterback and wide receiver with the Buckeyes.

He doesn't have a ton of experience as a wideout, but former Pro Bowl pass-catcher Chad Johnson recently revealed he is set to work with the explosive prospect:

Regardless of who starts at quarterback for the Browns this season, they need additional options in the passing game aside from Gary Barnidge, especially with Travis Benjamin no longer in the fold.

Miller may need more development in terms of route running, but he's extremely dangerous with the ball in his hands and would give Cleveland a home run threat.

Dallas Cowboys

While the 2015 season was a nightmarish one for the Dallas Cowboys due largely to quarterback Tony Romo being on the shelf for most of the campaign, a return to the playoffs in 2016 isn't out of the question, depending upon how well the draft goes.

Dallas has multiple needs on the defensive side of the ball, but Kiper sees the franchise addressing its issues in the secondary by taking Florida State cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who is arguably the best all-around prospect in the entire draft.

In fact, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported there are teams high up in the draft that value Ramsey more highly than any other player:

It isn't yet known if the Cowboys are among those teams, but with Morris Claiborne failing to establish himself as a quality corner and Dallas coming off a season that saw it rank 30th in the league with just eight interceptions, a player of Ramsey's ilk is undoubtedly needed.

An even bigger coup, however, may be Kiper's second-round selection of Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott to the Cowboys.

While Kiper labeled Elliott falling to No. 34 as "unrealistic," he doesn't believe using a first-round pick on a rusher would represent great value.

Dallas may very well end up with Elliott, but it could be forced to strike as early as No. 4 in order to do so, per NFL Network's Albert Breer:

The Cowboys were at their best two seasons ago when DeMarco Murray was a true workhorse who wore down opposing defenses. While Darren McFadden was solid last season, he didn't bring that same presence.

Elliott could potentially be Murray-esque, as evidenced by this impressive stat courtesy of Pro Football Focus:

It seems likely a team will leap at the chance to select Elliott in the first round, but landing him in the second would certainly be Dallas' dream scenario.

Add in some additional cornerback depth with the third-round selection of Georgia Tech's D.J. White and Kiper put the Cowboys in position to make some major improvements in 2016.

New York Giants

The New York Giants are set to begin a new era with Ben McAdoo replacing Tom Coughlin as head coach and a strong 2016 draft could go a long way toward making them contenders in the wide-open NFC East once again.

While the G-Men will have no shortage of options with the No. 10 overall pick, Kiper sees them addressing the offensive side of the ball with Ole Miss wide receiver Laquon Treadwell. New York already boasts one of the league's best pass-catchers in Odell Beckham Jr., but Treadwell would provide a potentially perfect complement for quarterback Eli Manning to utilize.

Veteran Victor Cruz's status remains uncertain, and with Rueben Randle leaving for the Philadelphia Eagles, receiver is certainly a position of need.

Treadwell put up big numbers last season with 82 catches for 1,153 yards and 11 touchdowns, but he believes there are even bigger things ahead after being hampered by an injury in 2015, according to ESPN.com's Matt Bowen: "I wasn't 100 percent the whole year. I basically played in the SEC on one leg. And to see the things I did on just natural ability and competing at a high level ... that's unbelievable to me."

While Treadwell would give an offensive guru like McAdoo even more options on an already-talented offense, Kiper's second-round pick of Eastern Kentucky linebacker Noah Spence to the Giants is equally exciting.

New York made big improvements on the defensive side of the ball this offseason by signing Olivier Vernon, Damon Harrison and Janoris Jenkins, but Spence could be a true X-factor due to his ability to get to the quarterback.

Spence could team with Vernon and Jason Pierre-Paul to give New York once of the most fearsome defensive fronts in the NFL, but it remains unclear how much teams value Spence.

He certainly appears to be a first-round talent, but character concerns could remain, stemming from him getting dismissed from Ohio State in 2014 due to positive drug tests.

Despite that, Spence insists he is fully committed to the game of football:

The Eastern Kentucky standout also believes he has turned the corner and changed for the better as a person, per Tom Pelissero of USA Today:

"

I just have to stay how I am now. I won't get in any [trouble]. This whole process has been a blessing for me. I didn't think I would ever be back, getting talked about in the first round. I just want to be an inspiration to people, anybody who is going through something, and just show them that it ain't the end – as long as you keep God first and change yourself. Don't think that you’re going to stay the same person and have different stuff happen to you.

"

Kiper's third-round selection of Louisiana Tech running back Kenneth Dixon to the Giants could slip under the radar after a pair of big names in the first two rounds, but he scored 72 rushing touchdowns during his four-year career with the Bulldogs.

Dixon could potentially push for playing time right away, and that would truly bring together what could be a franchise-changing draft class for New York.

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