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First off, full confession…I love the NFL draft. I really don’t watch a ton of college football, but make it up watching clips of players all spring, thinking of how they could or would fit in on certain NFL rosters, wondering how they will handle going from needing to beg for money just to buy toiletries to being millionaires overnight, to wondering how some of those freaky combine numbers add up to making a legitimate NFL starter. While I think mock drafts have morphed into the ridiculous (seriously…a 7 round mock draft for the NFL?) there are players that I find fascinating as to how they will project on the pro level. Here are 5 players that I have my eye on in this coming NFL draft:
1) DL Travon Walker:
A 6’ 5” guy that weighs 272 and can run a 4.51 40 is almost impossible to envision. If someone went into a lab and wanted to create the perfect 4-3 DE, you couldn’t do a better job than Walker yet…he never dominated in college, and Evan Neal pretty much stopped him in the National Championship game. For all of Walker’s strengths, his first step isn’t one of them, and all the speed in the world doesn’t matter if you have a 300 pound OT latching onto you. Personally, I think all the talk of taking Walker over Hutchinson is crazy, as Hutchinson actually has a resume to go with his combine, but somebody is going to pick Walker early and are tasked with turning all that potential into an All-Pro player.
2) CB Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner:
The Cincinnati Bearcat has never allowed a TD in his college career (since 2019) and of 115 red zone snaps since he was a freshman, he has allowed only 1 catch. It makes my head ache when I hear people debate whether Sauce or Derek Stingley Jr. should be the top CB taken off the board; yeah, Stingley has fluid hips, but how in the heck can he be better than no TD’s allowed and has missed half of his games the last 2 years to boot. I’ve seen projections for Gardner going anywhere from 2 to 10, but Sauce may be one of the better shutdown corners to come out in some time.
3) S Kyle Hamilton:
Safety is not considered a premier position in the NFL, but Kyle Hamilton stands out as possibly the best safety to come into the league in years. Early on in the process, there were rumblings that Hamilton might go as high as #2, but his 4.59 40-time has put a dent in his draft stock. OK…but the dude is 6’ 4” and weighs 220, and has all the length you could ever wish for, and is made for covering the Travis Kelce’s of the world, along with owning the box. He may not have the speed or fluidity to be your single high safety, but he is a man amongst boys when it comes to every other SS already in the league.
4) WR Jameson Williams:
The general consensus of this WR class is that it is comparable in depth to last year, but with Z-type #2 receivers rather than the top X-type #1 receivers last year. If Williams had not torn his ACL against Georgia in the title game in January, Williams would most likely be the consensus #1 WR in this year’s draft, and is still somewhere between 2 and 5 on most boards. In just a single season at the WR factory known as Alabama, Williams averaged nearly 20 YPC and scored 15 TD’s in 15 starts. People have compared Williams to Will Fuller, but honestly, Fuller wishes he had Williams’ hands. For those teams that have their possession receiver but want someone who can take the top off a defense, or has the potential to take a bubble screen 80 yards every time he touches it, Williams should be worth the later start to his rookie year.
5) C Tyler Linderbaum:
Perhaps the best player in this draft at the least sexy position, Linderbaum graded higher than any other center in the PFF era, which includes last year’s stud in Creed Humphrey. While not a huge man, he is the highest rated player on NextGen Stats and opens up the playbook with his ability to move along the line and use his high school wrestling experience to lock up guys at the point of attack. Technically sound, he is made to be a perennial Pro-Bowler for the next decade plus, but won’t be on everyone’s board due to need.
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