How talented, deep is draft … In the run-up to this week’s draft, there have been a number of stories of analysts commenting that this year’s draft isn’t necessarily all that deep or talented. We have seen a number of quotes from scouts etc. that there are only about 20 or so players in this year’s draft with actual first-round grades. As such we have been asked by several readers what are thoughts were on the subject. Simply answer is we really haven’t thought much about it; fact is there’ll be 255 or so players taken this year, some of whom will end up being stars at the next level, while others will be busts. And there is no question that this year’s draft overall talent level was diluted somewhat by the number of players who took advantage of the NCAA’s ‘free’ year of eligibility because of COVID. That is especially the case at QB which saw a slew of solid prospects at the position somewhat unexpectedly return to school including (in no particular order) Michael Penix of Washington; Spencer Rattler of South Carolina; Bo Nix at Oregon; Devin Leary, now at Kentucky; Sam Hartman, now at Notre Dame; DJ Uiagalelei, now at Oregon State; JT Daniels, now at Rice; Phil Jurkovec, now at Pitt; and Brennan Armstrong, now at NC State. And we could go on for awhile!
All that said, when putting the final touches on our Big Board the past few days, we were kind of struck by the talent still available at certain key junctures. In the context of the ‘there are only 20 or so first round prospects’ type comments, for example, we were actually struck just by how many pretty good players we were still trying to fit onto the board after we had settled on the top 20. Indeed, players who didn’t make our top 20 include QB Hendon Hooker; WRs Jordan Addison, Quentin Johnston, Jalin Hyatt and Josh Downs; TEs Michael Mayer and Darnell Washington; OG O’Cyrus Torrence’ DEs Myles Murphy; Will McDonald and Keion White; DTs Brian Bresee and Calijah Kancey; LBs Trent Simpson and Drew Sanders; CBs Deonte Banks; Emmanuel Forbes and Kelee Ringo; and S Brian Branch. Not a bad group to have to choose from for teams picking in the bottom third of the opening round. Of course, some of those players could actually be chosen earlier, but would just push someone else closer to the bottom of first round.
We had a similar sense, when working on the second 100 prospects. Again, these are guys who if the draft plays out the way we have players ranked (and it never does!) will be prospects who could very well be still on the board heading into the third day. They include QBs Aidan O’Connell, Stetson Bennett and Max Duggan; RBs Tyjae Spears, Chase Brown, Kendre Miller, Sean Tucker and Izzy Abanikanda; WRS AT Perry, Rashee Rice, Trey Palmer and Rakim Jarrett; TEs Zach Kuntz and Will Mallory; OTs Carter Warren and Ryan Hayes; OGs Andrew Vorhees and Braedon Daniels; Cs Luke Wypler and Olu Oluwatimi; DEs Byron Young, Dylan Horton, and Mike Morris; DTs Byron Young abd PJ Mustiper; LBs DeMarvion Overshown, Nick Herbig, Jeremy Banks and Henry To’oTo’o; CBs Riley Moss, Tyrique Stevenson, Cory Trice and Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson; and safeties JL Skinner and Chris Smith. Again not bad for a 4th round pool, although, of course, some of those players will go higher, but again that would just push others down.
At the same time, we won’t kid ourselves that at least based on the early returns, the 2024 looks like it really could be something special. Its not just because of QBs Caleb Williams and Drake Maye, who almost assuredly would be the top 2 QBs this year had they been eligible to turn pro this winter. Ohio State WR Marvin Harrison, for example, would have also have been the #1 player at that position and a legit top 5 candidate had he been draft eligible this year. Same for Georgia TE Brock Bowers, while Penn State OT Olu Fashanu likely would have been the top offensive lineman selected this year if he hadn’t surprisingly opted to return to school. Just 370 days or so to wait for that one!!
