NFL Draft 2015: 1st-Round Order and Predictions for Top Prospects

The 2015 NFL draft is drawing ever closer, and once the initial rush of March Madness dissipates, it will be full steam ahead to nitpick the top pro football prospects until April 30's first round.

Between pro days and the NFL Scouting Combine, the recent past has offered more to draw on in projecting where the draft's best players might land.

One big change to the first-round order came when the Seattle Seahawks traded for Jimmy Graham from the New Orleans Saints. That cost Seattle the No. 31 overall pick along with Pro Bowl center Max Unger.

With what's happened in free agency also in mind, check out the first-round order, the predicted draft choices for each team and analysis thereafter about the top prospective picks.

No. Pick	Team	Predicted Pick
1	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Jameis Winston, QB, Florida State
2	Tennessee Titans	Leonard Williams, DL, USC
3	Jacksonville Jaguars	Dante Fowler Jr., DE/OLB, Florida
4	Oakland Raiders	Kevin White, WR, West Virginia
5	Washington Redskins	Vic Beasley, DE/OLB, Clemson
6	New York Jets	Randy Gregory, DE/OLB, Nebraska
7	Chicago Bears	Amari Cooper, WR, Alabama
8	Atlanta Falcons	Alvin Dupree, DE/OLB, Kentucky
9	New York Giants	Shane Ray, DE, Missouri
10	St. Louis Rams	Brandon Scherff, OT, Iowa
11	Minnesota Vikings	DeVante Parker, WR, Louisville
12	Cleveland Browns	Marcus Mariota, QB, Oregon
13	New Orleans Saints	Trae Waynes, CB, Michigan State
14	Miami Dolphins	La'el Collins, OT, LSU
15	San Francisco 49ers	Danny Shelton, DT, Washington
16	Houston Texans	Jaelen Strong, WR, Arizona State
17	San Diego Chargers	Devin Funchess, WR/TE, Michigan
18	Kansas City Chiefs	Marcus Peters, CB, Washington
19	Cleveland Browns (via Buffalo)	Eddie Goldman, DT, Florida State
20	Philadelphia Eagles	Jalen Collins, CB, LSU
21	Cincinnati Bengals	Shaq Thompson, OLB, Washington
22	Pittsburgh Steelers	Landon Collins, SS, Alabama
23	Detroit Lions	Carl Davis, DT, Iowa
24	Arizona Cardinals	Melvin Gordon, RB, Wisconsin
25	Carolina Panthers	Andrus Peat, OT, Stanford
26	Baltimore Ravens	Malcom Brown, DT, Texas
27	Dallas Cowboys	Todd Gurley, RB, Georgia
28	Denver Broncos	Arik Armstead, DL, Oregon
29	Indianapolis Colts	Benardrick McKinney, ILB, Mississippi State
30	Green Bay Packers	Jordan Phillips, DT, Oklahoma
31	New Orleans Saints (via Seattle)	Maxx Williams, TE, Minnesota
32	New England Patriots	Dorial Green-Beckham, WR, Oklahoma

Analysis of Top Prospective 2015 NFL Draft Picks

Ever since Jameis Winston spun it at Lucas Oil Stadium at the combine, he's been widely considered the huge favorite to go No. 1 overall to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Based on the importance of the quarterback position, it's worth breaking down the next top signal-caller in Oregon Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota.

ESPN's Phil Savage notes how the premium on quarterbacks is creating quite an interesting shift in consensus opinions about Mariota and even Baylor product Bryce Petty:

If the Tennessee Titans stick with Zach Mettenberger under center and add arguably the best overall prospect in Leonard Williams, Mariota could experience quite a draft-day free fall. Almost all the teams after Tennessee either have a young potential franchise QB or have a reliable veteran.

Blake Bortles and Derek Carr are entering their second seasons in Jacksonville and Oakland, respectively. The Jags need a versatile player on the front seven like Dante Fowler Jr., while the Raiders must provide Carr with a No. 1-caliber receiver such as West Virginia's Kevin White.

Bleacher Report draft guru Matt Miller recently praised Fowler and White for how they backed up their physical ability with strong, explosive game tape:

Washington isn't giving up on Robert Griffin III just yet and needs an explosive pass-rusher to replace the departed Brian Orakpo. The New York Jets will probably have a competition between incumbent Geno Smith and Ryan Fitzpatrick, likely opting to load up their defense instead.

Jay Cutler will be in Chicago for at least another year with a huge contract, Matt Ryan and Eli Manning aren't going anywhere, Nick Foles is the new proverbial man in St. Louis and Teddy Bridgewater is in Minnesota.

Since the Bears traded Brandon Marshall to the Jets, they should add another wide receiver. If they did gain Alabama's Amari Cooper, Bridgewater would likely be allowed to reunite with former Louisville teammate DeVante Parker.

That leaves the Cleveland Browns, owners of the 12th pick, in prime position to take Mariota if they decide to be so bold.

Based on the perpetually terrible state of the organization's QB situation, general manager Ray Farmer may shy away from pursuing Mariota as an option at No. 12. If this scenario presents itself, though, Cleveland will have a hard time passing on the Ducks star.

The Browns' depth chart consists of Josh McCown, 2014 undrafted free agent Connor Shaw and Thaddeus Lewis, with Johnny Manziel still in rehab.

According to ESPN's Skip Bayless—a known Manziel advocate in the past before Johnny Football's off-field issues sabotaged the start of his NFL career—Mariota isn't even worth a Day 1 pick:

But these are the Browns, so nothing should be ruled out. ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that Cleveland would have mulled the possibility of choosing UCLA's Brett Hundley in the top 10 of last year's draft.

NFL.com's Lance Zierlein compares Hundley to Jason Campbell, a journeyman former first-round pick who went 1-7 as a Browns starter in 2013. Hundley is projected as a second-round pick by CBSSports.com.

Since Farmer holds two first-round picks—the other being at No. 19—there's no telling what the Browns might do. If they like Mariota and sense that someone may trade up, no one other than the Saints have comparable ammunition to do so.

This only seems to pander to the notion that Mariota will head to Cleveland.

Depending on whether he could overcome a more simplistic spread college system, grasp an NFL playbook and start in 2015, he'd either be the 23rd or 24th different starting Browns QB since 1999. McCown is the stopgap option and Manziel doesn't make a miraculous comeback.