The NFL Draft is just two days away and while it will be a lot different this year – the whole thing will be conducted virtually rather than in Las Vegas as it was scheduled to be before the COVID-19 pandemic hit – there is still a lot to get excited about.
Watch the first round of the NFL Draft live on TSN Thursday starting with preshow coverage at 7pm et/4pm pt.
With the pre-draft process concluded and teams' draft boards set, TSN.ca takes a look at seven questions ahead of the NFL Draft.
Will a team trade up to select Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa?
Quarterbacks are always at a premium in the NFL Draft and if the top-ranked Joe Burrow goes first overall to the Cincinnati Bengals as expected, Tagovailoa will be next in line at the position when Washington is on the clock at second overall.
The Miami Dolphins and Los Angeles Chargers, who select fifth and sixth overall respectively, are both in need of long-term solutions at the quarterback position and it’s hard to see Tagovailoa falling past both of them. So any team looking at Tua will likely have to jump to fourth overall at the latest to get him.
Washington, the Detroit Lions, and New York Giants select second, third, and fourth and should keep their phone lines open before submitting their picks.
Where will Utah State QB Jordan Love be selected?
There seems to be a fairly solid consensus on where the top three quarterbacks in the draft will be selected: Burrow is likely to go first overall to the Bengals, Tagovailoa somewhere in the Top 5, and Justin Herbert somewhere in the Top 10.
And then there’s Jordan Love, whose name has been all over the first round during mock draft season. Love could go as high as the top 10 or he could have to wait until the latter stages of the first round to hear his name called.
If Burrow, Tagovailoa, and Herbert land where expected, a couple teams with a potential need at quarterback worth keeping an eye on are the Jacksonville Jaguars, who hold the ninth and 20th pick, and the New England Patriots, who hold the 23rd pick. Which brings us to our next question...
Will the New England Patriots draft a quarterback in the first round?
For the first time in 20 years the Patriots don’t have an All-Pro behind centre for next season. Tom Brady’s presence hasn’t stopped head coach Bill Belichick from drafting a QB in the past, most notably taking Jimmy Garoppolo in the second round in 2014, but with Brady now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the need appears to have increased.
The answer to this question likely comes down to how Belichick really feels about Jarett Stidham, the Pats’ fourth round selection from a year ago he is reportedly high on.
Belichick also has a reputation for draft day trades and loves trading down to accumulate more picks. Sitting at 23rd overall heading into the draft, the Pats are at best on the outer limits of landing one of the sure-fire first round QBs, and any trade down would certainly push them to the second tier at the position where they’d be looking at names like Washington’s Jacob Eason and Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts.
How many wide receivers will be taken in the first round?
It has been said by more than one NFL general manager that this year’s class of wide receivers could be historically good. And not just in the first round, but through the first three rounds the draft is loaded with potential star receivers.
The record for most receivers taken in the first round is seven, which occurred in 2004, and there seems to be the talent available this year to challenge that number. That year, however, three receivers were taken in the top 10: Larry Fitzgerald, Roy Williams, and Reggie Williams. With the expected run on quarterbacks and offensive linemen early in the draft this year, it’s unlikely three receivers, and maybe not even one, will go that early. Things should get started, at the latest, between picks 11-13, where three receiver-needy teams in the New York Jets, Las Vegas Raiders, and San Francisco 49ers are scheduled to make selections.
Top prospects Jerry Jeudy, CeeDee Lamb, and Henry Ruggs III all appear to be locks to go in the first round, with Justin Jefferson likely to hear his name called Thursday as well. Then what follows is a group of five to seven receivers who could go in the first round or could fall to the second, names that include Tee Higgins, Brandon Aiyuk, and Denzel Mims. It will be up to that group to prove to teams this year deserves to make draft day history.
Will there be a running back selected in the first round?
First round running backs aren’t quite the scourge they used to be, with high picks like Todd Gurley (10th overall, 2015), Ezekiel Elliott (4th overall, 2016), and Saquon Barkley (2nd overall, 2018) doing their part to restore their position’s reputation on the first day of the draft.
But we’re coming off a year when only one running back was taken in the first round in Josh Jacobs, taken 24th overall by the Oakland Raiders. But he, too, justified his first round slot with a strong rookie season last year.
While there’s definitely no Gurley, Elliott, or Barkley in this year’s draft, there could be a Jacobs or two. Georgia’s D’Andre Swift, Ohio State’s JK Dobbins, and Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor all have late first round grades and with first round running backs now more acceptable, at least one of the three should find a home Thursday night.
How will the virtual draft affect things?
There have been some ‘doomsday’ predictions since it was announced the entire NFL Draft would be conducted virtually, things like the wifi going down and teams missing picks. But this isn’t your buddies’ fantasy football draft and with multimillion-dollar decisions on the line, bank on organizations being prepared and having more than a few failsafes in place from a technology standpoint. From a scouting standpoint on the other hand...
The NFL conducted a practice draft Monday and while there was reportedly a few early glitches, the whole process was smoother as it went along.
It will be interesting to look at this draft a couple years down the road and compare it to others, ones when scouts had full access to prospects and teams had an uninterrupted pre-draft process, to see if the picks turned out more or less successful.
Will there be any surprises in the first round?
Yes, there always are. Here’s a few that have been bouncing around the pre-draft rumour mill:
Could Washington select QB Tua Tagovailoa?
All this talk about a team trading up for Tagovailoa but maybe Washington makes it all moot by grabbing him second overall. The idea seems a bit farfetched considering Washington selected a QB in the first round in 2019 in Dwayne Haskins. But the team has a new coaching staff, Haskins struggled in his rookie year, and this very scenario happened in last year’s draft when the Arizona Cardinals selected Kyler Murray first overall one year after taking Josh Rosen 10th overall.
Could Henry Ruggs go off the board before Jerry Jeudy and CeeDee Lamb?
It’s a three horse race to be the first wide receiver selected this year and while Jeudy and Lamb seem to have the pre-draft edge, Ruggs offers teams something different than the two: a potential Tyreek Hill-like playmaker that can be utilized all over the field.
Will CJ Henderson rise up draft boards?
The consensus second best cornerback in the draft behind Jeffrey Okudah, Henderson has landed in the late teens or 20s in most mock drafts and big boards until recently. CBs are like QBs – teams sometimes reach for them.
Was Jalen Hurts’ Combine performance good enough to convince a team to take him in the first round?
Hurts was a Heisman finalist at Oklahoma last year but it wasn’t until the Combine, when he impressed both on the field and in interviews, that he started shooting up draft boards. Likely now at least a second round pick after starting the pre-draft process as a third-rounder, Hurts could find himself in the top five at his position, which might be enough to sneak into the first round.
Will a Canadian be selected in the first round?
There are two highly-ranked Canadian prospects this year in wide receiver Chase Claypool and defensive tackle Neville Gallimore. Claypool is in tough to land in the first round because of the loaded receiver class but Gallimore, in a thinner defensive line class, has an outside chance.
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2020-04-21 13:20:33Z
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