Former Super Bowl-winning general manager Charley Casserly can see two quarterbacks going in the first round Thursday night -- but Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel isn't one of them.
Casserly, now an analyst for NFL Network, has UCF quarterback Blake Bortles going at No. 8 to Minnesota and Fresno State quarterback Derek Carr going 26th to Cleveland in his Mock Draft 1.0, published Monday.
Casserly also envisions a trade involving St. Louis -- but not with the Rams' No. 2 pick. Instead, Casserly has the Rams trading their No. 13 pick to Dallas, which would use it to take Pittsburgh defensive tackle Aaron Donald. With what had been the Cowboys' 16th pick, Casserly has the Rams taking another defensive tackle -- Florida State's Tim Jernigan.
Among the other notable takeaways from Casserly's mock draft:
» Houston takes South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney with the first pick even though Casserly says Clowney is "not ideal" for the Texans' 3-4 defense. He also said the Texans could try to trade up for a quarterback at the end of the first round.
» Casserly thinks Arizona, which picks 20th, and New England, which picks 29th, could be in position to trade their picks. He also thinks Atlanta, which picks sixth, might try to trade up to get a pass rusher.
» Casserly has Auburn offensive tackle Greg Robinson going No. 2 to St. Louis. Robinson is one of three offensive tackles in the top six, one of four in the top 12, one of five in the top 19 and one of six in the first round.
» The first wide receiver off Casserly's board is Clemson's Sammy Watkins, at No. 4 to Cleveland. The second is Texas A&M's Mike Evans to Tampa Bay at No. 7. He has six wide receivers total in the first round, with the biggest surprise being Indiana's Cody Latimer to San Francisco at No. 30.
» Casserly has two tight ends in the first round: North Carolina's Eric Ebron at No. 9 to Buffalo and Texas Tech's Jace Amaro at No. 32 to Seattle. Casserly also can see Seattle trading its first-round pick to a team wanting to use the 32nd selection on a quarterback.
» Casserly has five corners going in the first round, with the first one off the board being Oklahoma State's Justin Gilbert at No. 10 to Detroit. Casserly also has Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, San Diego and New Orleans taking cornerbacks. He notes that San Diego's selection at No. 25 likely "will be a popular pick for those teams needing a quarterback to try to get ahead of Cleveland," which picks 26th.
» Four defensive tackles come off in the board in the first round in Casserly's mock: Donald, Jernigan, Notre Dame's Louis Nix III and Minnesota's Ra'Shede Hageman. He also has Notre Dame's Stephon Tuitt, a 3-4 defensive end, going in the first round.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
