Two weeks until the draft … It’s coming!! The draft is just two weeks away today! Hang in there guys! And while it is still pretty quiet around the league for two weeks out, there are a couple or three developments on which we are trying to dig a little deeper. It was noted earlier in the week, for example, that Leonard Fournette was briefly floated as being in the mix for Cleveland with the #1 pick overall. Then a day or so later came rumblings that the 49ers were also considering Fournette for the second pick. Now, it’s very possible that both the Browns and 49ers were simply floating Fournette’s name in the hopes of ginning up some trade interest in their respective picks, but it may also suggest that Fournette is indeed carrying a top 5 grade. We have also heard from multiple sources that teams around the NFL really like Alabama LB Reuben Foster and that more than one considers him to be one of the 2-3 players available period. Foster has been something of a polarizing prospect of late. He hasn’t been able to work out at all at either the combine or pro day because of a shoulder injury, plus of course he was sent home rather ingloriously from the combine when he got into a spat with some medical personnel. But when teams go back to the tapes they see a guy who just flies around field, finds the ball and is the biggest hitter in the entire draft class very much in the mold of former Ravens’ LB Ray Lewis. On the other hand, the NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah, who is pretty well connected, had an article yesterday in which he talked to a number of NFL personnel people about potential sliders at the upcoming draft and Foster was the only player named multiple times. Who ya gonna trust! At the same time, there has been multiple reports that Gareon Conley, the ‘other’ Ohio State CB is climbing boards around the league. Marshon Lattimore has been considered to be a virtual top 10 lock for weeks now, but there was a steep drop to the next level of corners well into the 20s; however, it appears that Conley may have moved up into the mid-teen range which would be good for teams with mid-first round picks looking for help on the corner.
