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It’s 2019 NFL mock draft update time! It’s our second update post Scouting Combine, and the underwear olympics in Indianapolis really shook things up; big time. Massive changes were made in last week’s edition. Now, with the first few days of free agency behind us, we made a couple more changes this week.
Team needs have now been taken into account, as free agency is in our midst. (Also, here is our very first 2020 NFL mock draft over at this link)
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No matter what you think of Notre Dame running back Dexter Williams as a NFL Draft prospect, you have to admit he has a very strong work ethic.
At Notre Dame Pro Day on Wednesday, you could hear it in his loud grunting during the drills, and you could feel it in the way his grunts echoed throughout the Loftus Sports Complex. In front of 48 total NFL personnel, representing all 32 teams Williams put in a monumental effort.
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It remains to be seen whether Notre Dame wide receiver Miles Boykin will be a day two or day three guy in the upcoming NFL Draft, but the second round is a definite possibility for him. It may also be his ceiling, given how deep and talented the wide receiver class is this time around.
Having emphatically answered the number one question NFL teams had about him, his speed and ability to separate, there seems to be a strong, perhaps bordering on certain, sentiment that he’ll go within the first four rounds. Wednesday was Notre Dame Pro Day, and Miles Boykin caught passes from from former Fighting Irish QB and current Quarterbacks Coach Tommy Rees:
When it comes to the NFL Draft stock of Notre Dame cornerback Julian Love, his body of work on the field speaks for itself. The Jim Thorpe award finalist was, many would argue, the best cover corner in college football this past season.
You can see that in just how much the trajectory of the Cotton Bowl semifinal against Clemson changed when he left the game due to injury.
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All 32 NFL teams were represented at Notre Dame Pro Day yesterday with interior defensive lineman Jerry Tillery not able to physically participate in drills as he continued his recovery from surgery to repair the torn labrum he suffered early this season.
Once Notre Dame Pro Day activities were completed, Tillery met with the media where he made it clear that he’s “feeling amazing” two weeks after the procedure, and that his shoulder status is currently “outstanding.” During the week heading into the NFL Scouting Combine it was revealed that Tillery suffered the tear back in September, in a home win over Stanford.
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We have 2020 vision, NFL Draft style, for the first time, right here, right now. It’s our first ever 2020 NFL mock draft, and the order, for now was simply replicated from 2019. Team needs, nor the 2019 NFL mock draft (which you can view over at this link), were taken into account.
As we have a whole draft, and two rounds of free agency to go through, it’s just too early to factor in team needs. Obviously this will be modified and reworked hundreds, if not thousands of times between now and 2020 NFL Draft day. Enjoy!
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Clemson football is the program that comes closest to matching Alabama’s dominance in recent years. At least in the College Football Playoff era. In this the fifth season of the CFP, the 20 berths so far break down like this: Alabama 5, Clemson 4, Oklahoma 3, Ohio State 2, Notre Dame, Oregon, Florida State, Georgia, Washington and Michigan State all have 1.
So of the 20 berths, 60% have gone to just three teams, and Clemson football is one of them. Dabo Swinney’s program beat Alabama for the 2016 national title, but lost to them in the 2015 national championship and 2017 Sugar Bowl semifinal. The odds makers have both teams as double digit favorites to win their semifinal games and play for the national title again; which would make it the third time in five years.
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Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence is the kind of player that could hypothetically force a conversation about applying the NBA “one and done” rule to football. Much has been made in basketball about the extremely talented kids who shouldn’t be forced to go to school, ply their trade and not get paid, when they have the ability go pro and make money doing what they love right now.
No one talks about in football, and yes these players are rare, but the 6-5, Cartersville, Georgia native has a NFL caliber arm right now. Beyond the arm talent, he has the whole package in the eyes of NFL scouts. (Just needs to add a few pounds of muscle)
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Ohio State football has become like a gridiron version of the Kentucky Wildcats, at least in regards to the draft, these days. We’ve seen plenty of Buckeyes “succeed and proceed” lately, leaving school early with eligibility still on the table in order to cash in. American online bookmakers are handicapping the first player selected in the NFL draft race, and one Ohio State player, DL Nick Bosa, has very favorable odds.
Let’s take a look at what 2018 Ohio State football players, underclassmen or other wise, could be drafted in the first round come April.
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In the first college football game I attended as a student, the visiting team scored an 80-yard touchdown pass on the very first play from scrimmage. The visitors, Washington State, would go on to win and play in the Rose Bowl against that year’s eventual national champions, Michigan. The home team, my alma mater of Illinois, wouldn’t even win a single game that year.
More than 20 years later, I’m sitting in a Cadillac Escalade, rolling down Chicago’s Michigan Avenue and the quarterback who threw that 80-yard TD pass, Ryan Leaf, is now granting me an exclusive interview; and the topic of football is ancillary to the purpose of our discourse.
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Ryan Leaf is known by many football fans as perhaps the greatest bust in NFL Draft history. His career began with an endless debate about who should be taken first in the 1998 draft- himself, or the man who did get selected first overall, Peyton Manning. While Leaf only saw 25 games of action over the course of three seasons, Manning went on to win five MVP awards, two Super Bowls and get selected to 14 Pro Bowls.
Given the elite level of Manning’s many prodigious accomplishments, Leaf’s washing out of the league by age 26 seems even more disappointing by comparison. That’s extremely unfair on many levels to Ryan Leaf, but unfortunately that is how this chapter in the book of sports history has been written.
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The #14 Michigan Wolverines are loaded with individual talent, and most of it resides on the defensive side of the ball. The Wolverines boast a trio of NFL first round draft pick prospects, The triad consists of DE Rashan Gary, LB Devin Bush and DE/OLB Chase Winovich. Go here to see where we have all three of these Michigan Wolverines in our latest NFL mock draft.
Gary, one of the highest rated recruits in the Jim Harbaugh era, was first-team All-Big Ten by the coaches last season as a sophomore. He had 66 tackles, 12 tackles for loss and six sacks in 2017. Through the first third of the season, Gary racked up 18 tackles (3.5 for loss), two sacks and three quarterback hurries.
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