After finally getting a chance to watch the NFL Combine stuff (thank God for my DVR and the NFL Network) and catch up on some more players I decided to do another Mock Draft, then I realized the free agency nonsense was about to start so I decided to wait until the stupidity stopped. It’s a good thing too because we had a swap of first round picks (Philadelphia and Miami) and a number of signings that will change team needs in the first round. The Texans addressed QB and RB with the signings of Brock Osweiler and Lamar Miller meaning big changes in their draft priorities. The Giants spent money like a drunken sailor and a lot of it went towards their defensive line (although none of it addressed their o-line or linebacker issues). Also the Jaguars and Raiders addressed big issues themselves. As the dust settles I’ll have a better idea of where teams are looking in the draft and right now I have to figure out who the Broncos love at QB.
There are always players that I like that go far lower than they should and of course guys I wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole that go way too high so I decided to make a list of them instead. As they say it only takes one team to love a prospect for him to get drafted higher than he should. Let’s start with the prospects I really like because that’s just a nicer thing to do.
Prospects I like
Laremy Tunsil OT Ole Miss
Barring the Titans trading out of the top spot so someone else can draft a QB it certainly looks like Tunsil will go #1 overall. Now, is Tunsil an Orlando Pace sort of #1 overall LT pick? No, but he’s way better than Eric Fisher who went #1 overall to the Chiefs a few years ago. Tunsil is a beast and he checks all the athletic boxes you need to check and he is the safest offensive prospect in this draft. He’s a far better player than guys like Fisher or Greg Robinson were when they came out and he has All-Pro potential. If he hadn’t missed 7 games this last season due to breaking NCAA rules (trust me the NFL teams don’t give a damn about that) we probably wouldn’t be questioning him going 1st in this draft.
Jalen Ramsey DB Florida St.
I list Ramsey as a defensive back because at this point he could either end up a Pro Bowl cornerback or a future Hall of Fame safety. Yep, that’s how much I like him. The only problem with Ramsey is figuring out which position his new team will want him to dominate once they draft him. He has the potential to be one of the top CBs in the NFL but I truly think he could be a transcendent safety prospect. His size, speed and agility are incredible and he might be the only guy on the planet that could defend Rob Gronkowski 1-on-1 and actually win. Ramsey is a combination of Charles Woodson, Ed Reed and Ronnie Lott all rolled into one. Defensive backs don’t go #1 overall in the NFL Draft but if he did I couldn’t argue with the pick. My favorite player in this entire draft.
Ezekiel Elliott RB Ohio St.
Elliott is everything you want in a tailback in today’s NFL. He’s a three-down player because he can run inside, run outside, catch passes out of the backfield, pick up the blitz in pass protection and if need be he can run down the field and throw a block. And he will do any and all of these things without question and better than any “specialist” back possibly could. A lot was made of his comments after Ohio St. lost to Michigan St. and Elliott complained about not getting the ball enough, I have no problem with those comments because he was 100% right. Cardale Jones got a lot of credit for stepping in last year and leading the Buckeyes to a National Championship in his three starts but Elliott was the reason the pulled off that title not Jones.
Laquon Treadwell WR Ole Miss
Treadwell didn’t run the 40 at the combine because he wants to wait until his pro day and he probably won’t break 4.55 and might even come in around 4.6-4.65 range. I don’t care. His game is not predicated on speed and as long as he’s faster than 4.9 that’s fine by me. We live in an NFL world where DBs aren’t allowed to get overly physical with WRs and Treadwell will eat them alive with his physicality. He may not go in the top 5 like I have him in my first mock draft (it will be changing in my next one) but that is more a product of team needs than Treadwell’s ability.
Darron Lee OLB Ohio St.
I know I’m going back and forth between Ole Miss and Ohio St., it’s not on purpose. Last season’s Buckeye defense featured guys like Joey Bosa, Eli Apple, Adolphus Washington, Von Bell and Joshua Perry and yet Lee is the guy that stands out to me as a prospect. He is the new breed of LB in the NFL. He can hit and he can cover and he has speed to burn. Lee is everywhere and while his best position is as an OLB in a 4-3 defense he is versatile. I’ll have to wait until I know what team drafts him but he has the potential to lead the league in tackles.
Jason Spriggs OT Indiana
Tunsil and Ronnie Stanley of Notre Dame are getting most of offensive line coverage and Jack Conklin (Michigan St.) and Taylor Decker (Ohio St.) are both very good first round prospects but I like Spriggs. A lightly-recruited TE out of high school went to college and started to bulk up and they immediately moved him to OT. It sounds like he went to Iowa but he actually went to Indiana, Kevin Wilson must have picked up on Kirk Ferentz’s style of building linemen. Spriggs is a 6’7 athletic freak that looked fantastic at the combine with his athletic freakiness and long frame teams love. He’s only been playing offensive line for 4 years so he’s still learning and if I were going to take a shot on a potential LT prospect towards the end of the first round I’m going with Spriggs.
William Jackson III CB Houston
Jackson flew a bit under-the-radar for a very good Houston team partly because he was fighting through a foot injury this season. He has good size and very nice skills but teams were questioning if he could hang with the best athletes. He went to the combine and his 4.37 second 40 erased a lot of questions. Jackson is a talent and while he won’t push Ramsey and Vernon Hargreaves for the top CB spot don’t be surprised if he gives Mackensie Alexander and Eli Apple competition for the next CB off the board.
Tyler Boyd WR Pittsburgh
While all of the WR prospects are behind Laquon Treadwell most people would list Josh Doctson, Corey Coleman and maybe a few other players ahead of Boyd but I’m not one of them. Doctson and Coleman are faster than Boyd but he’s an incredible talent. He won’t blow anyone away athletically but he has an innate feel for the position. Boyd can come in and step in immediately and contribute to a team without a long adjustment period.
Devontae Booker RB Utah
Booker has been hiding in plain sight out in Utah where the west coast bias was working against him because his games were on late at night. He’s an extremely talented player who does a lot of things well. He got injured with about 3 games left in the season and didn’t work out at the combine because he wasn’t fully healthy. He isn’t Ezekiel Elliott but I would take him before guys like Derrick Henry and Alex Collins because I think he’s a better all-around player. Booker could be a surprise starter in the NFL next season.
Jordan Howard RB Indiana
Yep, two Hoosiers on my list. Howard was only on the Hoosiers for a year after transferring from UAB but he made the most of it. Howard is one of those guys that makes it possible for teams to bypass a RB early in the draft because he’s very good and he’ll be available in round 3 or 4. I love his game because he has speed and power and great balance.
Cody Whitehair OL Kansas St.
Whitehair started at three different positions while playing at Kansas St. He was a guard, a right tackle and then a left tackle and while he could probably handle playing outside at OT and not embarrass himself he should be a dominating guard on day one. His size and technique make him an immediate starter and someone is going to vastly improve their offensive line when they draft him.
Kendall Fuller CB Virginia Tech
Fuller’s year got off to a rough start and then got worse when he tore up his knee. He’s not fully back yet so he can’t work out and that is going to knock him down a round or two but once he’s healthy he’s a starting CB in the league and a damn good one.
Players I don’t like
Derrick Henry RB Alabama
Yes I’m going to be that guy hating on Henry. I know he won the Heisman (Christian McCaffery was robbed) and he had a great year. Then he went to the combine and weighed in at 247 lbs. and blew the doors off all the workouts and every fell in love all over again. Sorry I’m not buying it. He’s big, he’s fast, he’s productive and all I see is Brandon Jacobs 2.0. That’s not a bad thing unless someone is dumb enough to take him in the first 50 picks. He’s too tall and runs too upright for the NFL he’s going to get killed. He doesn’t have the all-around skillset of Elliott and I like Booker better too.
Paxton Lynch QB Memphis
The shine has started to come off of Lynch a little bit and now he’s being talked about at the end of the first round not the middle or towards the front half, that’s good it means there is some sanity coming back into play. Lynch looks great getting off the bus and he has great athleticism but I see issues with his throwing motion because it’s a bit slow and not consistent. If a team with an aging starter wants to grab Lynch in the second round (San Diego? Pittsburgh? New Orleans?) I wouldn’t object because he’s got talent but he needs time.
Josh Doctson WR TCU
Doctson has speed (he ran 4.5 at the combine), he’s tall (6’2) and he was highly productive (TCU’s offense was videogame worthy). The spread offense made things easier for Doctson because it makes his reads simple and he rarely faced press coverage. He doesn’t have great bulk or strength so the physicality of the NFL is going to slow him down. He’s a good WR but he isn’t a first rounder to me.
Corey Coleman WR Baylor
Coleman faces some of the same challenges as Doctson in the fact that Baylor’s offense was much the same as TCU’s so he didn’t run a lot of different routes making his game pretty simple. He isn’t tall like Doctson, he’s 5’11, and Doctson catches better because Coleman has smallish hands and is too much of a body catcher. His biggest asset is his ridiculous speed. It will serve him well running deep but he doesn’t go over the middle and teams like their outside WR to be bigger than him. Coleman has a place in the NFL but he shouldn’t have a place in round 1.
Robert Nkemdiche DT Ole Miss
Finally a guy from Ole Miss I don’t like. Nkemdiche is a beast on the field yet sometimes he disappears. He has some serious off-the-field concerns too. While at the hotel the week of Ole Miss’s bowl game Nkemdiche got drunk, fell out a window and was cited for having marijuana in his possession. He went to the combine and told teams and the media that the drugs were not his but they were in his room so he took the fall for them. That may very well be true but he was still drunk and fell out a window and then he proceeded to tell teams that his teammate and potential #1 overall pick Laremy Tunsil was there at the time. He may think this makes him look better but teams don’t like it when you publically throw your teammate under the bus. Someone is going to take him in the first round but there are better DT prospects that don’t have his issues.
Mackensie Alexander CB Clemson
Alexander does not lack for confidence and that is a very good trait for a CB. Unfortunately he’s a bit on the small side, he’s a bit young and he never had an interception in three years at Clemson. Yep you read that right. I get that he was very good and teams avoided him but that stat makes me wonder how he was never in a position to pick off a pass. Jalen Ramsey and Vernon Hargreaves are clearly ahead of Alexander but I like William Jackson and Eli Apple better and I would pass on Alexander early and grab Kendall Fuller a round later.
Noah Spence DE/OLB Eastern Kentucky
This is another one of those character risk guys. Spence was 5 star recruit that originally went to Ohio St. but was eventually kicked off the team by Urban Meyer for failing multiple drug tests and you have to ask yourself, “How many drug tests do you have to fail to get Urban Meyer to kick you off his team?” Spence went to Eastern Kentucky and apparently cleaned up his act and is on the first round radar. He was starting to climb draft boards after a good Senior Bowl week and everyone expected him to go to the combine and be a beast. He wasn’t. He wasn’t bad and he showed scouts that he could probably play DE or OLB in a 3-4 but he just wasn’t the athlete teams thought he would be. He wasn’t nearly as fast or explosive as expected so he’s back down to the back third of the first round. I would question if he has changed his life completely and with the recent problem of last year’s prospect with a drug issue Randy Gregory it would give me great pause to draft him early.
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