Predictions for the Top Eight Picks Tonight

There are seemingly endless mock drafts and draft thoughts floating around the internet right now, but with the first round just a few hours away, it's time to make a specific pick for what happens. So here goes:

1. Cleveland Browns: QB Sam Darnold (USC)
----- I don't buy all the hubbub about Baker Mayfield.

2. New York Giants: QB Josh Allen (Wyoming)
----- They can't pick this high and not take a quarterback...right? With Eli getting another year or two, they can wait for Allen to develop to see if that helps him reach his ceiling.

3. New York Jets: QB Josh Rosen (UCLA)
----- Of all the teams to be afraid of a big personality, I think the Jets embrace Rosen just fine.

4. Cleveland Browns: RB Saquon Barkley (Penn State)
----- This pick has a great chance to be traded, but in the end, I think that the Browns make the play for the elite back to help carry the load while Darnold develops.

5. Denver Broncos: QB Baker Mayfield (Oklahoma)
----- Elway wouldn't immediately seem to be a natural fit for Mayfield, but I suspect that Mayfield's big personality will be a plus for Elway, not a deterrent.

6. Indianapolis Colts: DE Bradley Chubb (NC State)
----- I'm sure that the Colts would prefer to trade this pick, but if Chubb or Barkley makes it to #6, they'll hold the pick and do a jig.

7. TRADE: San Francisco 49ers: G Quenton Nelson (Notre Dame)
----- The 2015 draft, where the first traded pick was #15, was an anomaly. Accordingly, I expect the trade action to pick up with a vengeance at this juncture. The 49ers give Indianapolis the fourth rounder they got in the Vance McDonald trade to jump the Bears and nab Nelson. Tampa Bay has huge needs in the secondary and at offensive tackle, so they can move down a few spots and still get a great player at a position of maximum need.

8. Chicago Bears: DB Minkah Fitzpatrick (Alabama)
----- I really, really, really want Pace to trade down. But I don't think he'll do it here (wait for round two on that front). Instead, he adds a dynamic piece to his secondary in the mold of Jalen Ramsey, a plus athlete who played all over the defensive backfield in college. Will I love this pick? Meh. After pouring huge assets into the cornerback position in free agency, with two average-or-better starting safeties in house, and with a gaggle of bottom-of-the-roster recent draftees to fill up the defensive back depth chart, this wouldn't be my pick. But in a passing league, it's tough to hate this kind of move.

Major takeaway: I don't think you'll see any trades among the top six picks because the teams drafting at the top all need quarterbacks and the teams drafting immediately behind them will have too hard of a time passing up on the draft's best talents sitting on the board. The real action starts with Tampa Bay, from where the draft could come completely unhinged. I hope so: that'd be fun!