If a picture is worth a thousand words ... here's a pick that's worth a whole season of bar arguments, second guessing and endless hours of talk show chatter.

The Athletic, published its insanely too early 2023 NFL mock draft. They used a combination of Vegas projected win totals, evaluations of top prospects, analysis of team needs, and plain old guesswork.

First of all, publishing a mock draft before most colleges have played a single down of football is one step below watching the Bachelorette Below Deck on Love Island, who's gonna wind up in bed with the No. 1 pick?

But look at who's drafting No. 2 and who they're taking in the Athletic's crystal ball draft: Houston Texans select C.J. Stroud, quarterback, Ohio State.

Think what that means. For starters, the Athletic is saying that the Texans will have the second-worst record in the NFL for the upcoming season. Even more telling, they have the Texans taking a quarterback, which implies that current Texans quarterback, second-year Davis Mills will have a disappointing sophomore year forcing the Texans to draft another signal caller. Which means back to the drawing board for the franchise.

Which means more disappointment, more chaos and turmoil, more fan apathy, more complaining, more calls for Cal McNair to sell the team, more half-empty stands at NRG Stadium and more pleas for Jack Easterby to pack his bags and get out of Houston. The only thing missing is a big tarp covering the upper deck.

How's that for one imaginary pick? If the Athletic wanted to stir it up in Houston, they sure did.

Eight quarterbacks were taken in the first three rounds of the 2021 NFL draft - a record. They were:

1. Trevor Lawrence - Jaguars.

2. Zach Wilson - Jets.

3. Trey Lance - '49ers.

11. Justin Fields - Bears.

15. Mac Jones - Patriots

64. Kyle Trask - Buccaneers.

66. Kellen Mond - Vikings.

67. Davis Mills - Texans.

You can make an argument that Mills out-performed the other seven quarterbacks last year. I'm not talking about potential, just who did the best in 2021. Mills threw 16 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, with an 88.8 passer rating for a dreadful team. As Larry David would say, pretty pretty pretty good.

Yes, Jones had numbers (22 TDs, 13 interceptions) but he’s really, at least so far, a system quarterback who dinks the ball. Lawrence (12 TDs, 17 interceptions) and Wilson (9 TDs, 11 interceptions) played poorly with awful teams and in Lawrence's case, an imbecilic head coach. Fields (7 TDs, 10 interceptions) showed flashes but little consistency. Mond, Lance, and Trask didn’t need to shower after games.

Meanwhile Davis had one of the top efficiency ratings on deep balls, played admirably and did the best with the least. He is the unchallenged QB1 for the Texans heading into this year. And yet the Athletic has the Texans tossing him aside next year.

While the Athletic has the Texans picking a quarterback, they have the Jets taking a pass rusher, Bears (cornerback), Jaguars (wide receiver), Patriots (defensive tackle), Vikings (linebacker), and Buccaneers (pass rusher). Notable that the Vikings are steering clear of a quarterback even though they've already released Mond.

Ironically, reports say the Texans really wanted Mond in the 2021 draft but the Vikings beat them to the punch by one position.

They say that sometimes the best phones calls are the ones you don't make. Same for draft picks.