NFL Draft: Barkley, Nelson, and the other notable non-QBs

The spectacle that is the NFL Draft starts Thursday night in primetime and runs through the weekend. With some familiar faces atop the draft board – the Cleveland Browns pick first and fourth, the New York Jets pick third – and a couple teams carrying extra draft quota as leverage, there figures to be intrigue throughout the night.

Watch the NFL Draft live Thursday at 7pm et/4pm pt on TSN2 and streaming on TSN GO.

As mock drafters can attest, it’s fruitless to forecast exactly how the first round will play out, but there are a number of things to keep an eye on once NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announces the Browns are on the clock.

All about the quarterbacks

The Browns, selecting first overall, are endlessly searching for a franchise player at the position, and the Jets traded up from sixth to third presumably to nab one as well. If the New York Giants, selecting second overall, decide to select Eli Manning’s eventual successor, the three teams atop the draft board could all select quarterbacks.

Who those three QBs will be is susceptible to surprises, but the general consensus among mock drafters and league insiders is some combination of Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen, and Josh Allen.

Darnold is generally viewed as the safest of the high-end quarterbacks in this year’s draft.

Rosen is generally viewed to have the highest ceiling among the Top 3 quarterbacks, but comes with some possible concerns as well. He gained a reputation during the pre-draft prospect as being arrogant and someone who may prioritize other interests over football. Whether the latter is a problem is up to individual teams to determine.

And Allen is the most physically talented of the trio. He has a cannon for an arm and ideal size for the position, but there are concerns over his accuracy moving forward after he completed just 56 per cent of his passes at Wyoming in the mediocre Mountain West Conference.

The wildcard in all this is Baker Mayfield. The 23-year-old native of Austin, Texas, has drawn a lot of comparisons to Johnny Manziel, fairly or not, over both his attitude after some unsavoury incidents during his time at Oklahoma, and whether his game converts well to the pros.

But where Manziel was selected 22nd overall in 2014 in what was then considered a bit of a reach by the Browns, it would be a surprise if Mayfield falls out of the Top 10. There are even rumours the Browns are seriously considering the 2017 Heisman Trophy winner first overall.

A potential hint on how the quarterbacks could shake out, per ESPN's Adam Schefter on Wednesday, Darnold is planning on wearing a brown tie Thursday night.

One more quarterback worth mentioning is Lamar Jackson. The 2016 Heisman Trophy winner was a duel-threat playmaker for three seasons at Louisville but there is debate whether his future in the NFL is at QB or wide receiver. A team that believes in his talent behind centre could take a chance on him in the mid-to-late first round.

Running back resurgence

With the success of Todd Gurley (10th overall, 2015), Ezekiel Elliott (fourth overall, 2016), and Leonard Fournette (fourth overall, 2017) recently, it’s safe again to select a running back high in the first round. And the next one to go will be Saquon Barkley.

Barkley has drawn favourable comparisons to the three aforementioned NFLers and has a very real chance of being the first non-quarterback to be selected. He falls in the Top 5 in most mock drafts.

There is a definite drop-off in talent at the position after Barkley, but there could still be a couple more that end up as first-rounders. Derrius Guice, Ronald Jones, Sony Michel and Nick Chubb are all projected as late-first or early-second round picks.

Best of the rest

This isn’t the year for top-end pass catchers, with the first not likely to come off the board until the mid-first round.

Calvin Ridley is projected as the top wide receiver, and his window for selection could open around 14th or 15th overall, where two receiver-needy teams, the Green Bay Packers and Arizona Cardinals, are scheduled to pick.

D.J. Moore, who projects to be a strong slot receiver, should also be selected in the first round. Courtland Sutton has a chance to be a first-rounder as well while Antonio Callaway’s chances of hearing his name called Thursday night likely went up in smoke when it was reported he tested positive for marijuana at the NFL Combine.

And while reports suggest it’s a deep tight end class, only two – Hayden Hurst and Dallas Goedert – project as potential first-rounders.

Top guard

Notre Dame offensive guard Quenton Nelson also deserves mention among the top offensive talents in this year’s draft.

Nelson is that rare talent that warrants selection in the Top 10 despite playing at a typically devalued position; he figures to be the first interior lineman chosen in the Top 10 since Jonathan Cooper went seventh overall in 2013 (Brandon Scherff, fifth overall in 2015, began his career battling for a tackle position).

His teammate at Notre Dame, tackle Mike McGlinchey, should be the second lineman off the board later in the first round.

Getting defensive

There is top-end talent in this year’s draft class on all three levels of defence with pass rusher Bradley Chubb likely the first defender off the board. Chubb is virtually a lock to go in the top five with some evaluators reportedly grading him higher than last year’s first overall pick Myles Garrett.

Linebackers aren’t typically hot commodities early in the first round but there are two this year that should hear their names called in a timely fashion, Roquan Smith and Tremaine Edwards. One of both could be the first traditional linebacker(s) taken in the top 10 since Luke Kuechly went ninth overall in 2012.

And like all years, secondary players will be sprinkled throughout the first round. There is a clear group of high-end talent consisting of safeties Derwin James and Minkah Fitzpatrick, and cornerback Denzel Ward, who could all fit into the Top 10.

Trade alerts

More futile than predicting draft picks is predicting draft trades, but there are a few teams to monitor in that regard.

The Buffalo Bills have two first round picks after acquiring the Kansas City Chiefs’ in a draft day trade last year. They’ve already moved up once this off-season (from 21st to 12th) in their rumoured pursuit of a quarterback and could leverage that pick plus the remaining 22nd overall to climb higher still and nab their desired QB.

The New England Patriots are always active on draft day and this year have two first-rounders to play with. While Bill Belichick has made a career of moving down the board, accumulating more picks, there’s reason to believe this year they could be moving up: finding Tom Brady’s eventual replacement. Brady’s time will at some point come to an end, sooner than later if the rumoured rift with Belichick is to be believed, and the team no longer has Jimmy Garoppolo as a safety net. The Patriots could be that team that falls in love with Jackson mid-first round.

The Browns could also make a move, armed with more draft capital than anyone else. Assuming they secure their top choice first overall, they could be more open to moving back from the fourth overall pick. They also have two early picks in the second round should they desire moving back into the first for a third selection.