2018 NFL Draft News & Rumors

Extra Points: May 16 Rule, Patriots, Gray

October 4th, 2017 at 12:03pm CST by Zachary Links

With social activism on the rise across the NFL, the league and the players’ union came together this week to hold a “productive conversation,” the two sides announced in a joint press release. Representing the NFL were commissioner Roger Goodell, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Giants owner John Mara, and Steelers owner Art Rooney. NFLPA chief DeMaurice Smith and president Eric Winston were in attendance, along with Giants linebacker Mark Herzlich, Redskins cornerback Josh Norman, quarterback Kirk Cousins, and Jets linebacker Demario Davis.

Many players have engaged in protests during the national anthem, but Colin Kaepernick‘s unemployment still looms large over the NFL. At this point, it’s hard to see Kaepernick getting an NFL opportunity this year, but teams could be more receptive to signing him next offseason.

Here’s more from around the NFL:

The NFL is working to change the so-called “May 16 rule” which prevents rookies from participating in football activities if their schools are in session, regardless of whether they are still enrolled (link via NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero). No vote is required to pass the change, but the plan is still being finalized. Historically, we have seen this rule affect Pac-12 players. This year, that included Stanford products Solomon Thomas (49ers) and Christian McCaffrey (Panthers). Washington, Northwestern, Oregon, Oregon State and UCLA also had exams after June 1.
Former Patriots running back Jonas Gray was arrested on Wednesday for failure to pay child support, as Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times writes. Less than 24 hours after turning himself in, Gray was released. Gray ran for 201 yards and four touchdowns against Indianapolis in November 2014 and seemed to have a bright future in New England. However, he has not been on the field since games with the Dolphins and Jaguars in 2015 and has not been in the league since final cuts during the preseason of 2016. His last mention on the pages of PFR came in December 2016 when he auditioned for Seattle.

Extra Points: Derwin James, NFLPA, Peterson

September 16th, 2017 at 9:30pm CST by Zachary Links

Lawyer Cyrus Mehri wants to dethrone DeMaurice Smith as the head of the NFL Players’ Association. If elected, he says revamping the league’s discipline policy will be one of the first items on his agenda to be tackled.

“If I’m elected, in the first hundred days, I’m going to sit down with the commissioner and top brass and reform this discipline system, so we’ll have checks and balances for when the 2018 season starts up,” Mehri said at a town hall style meeting this week (via Charean Williams of PFT). “My guiding light is this: What’s best for the game? . . . I’ve taken the word ‘concessions’ out of the dialogue, and all we’re going to be talking about is what’s best for the game. What’s best for the game is to reform that system. What’s also best for the game is to dramatically improve the resources particularly at the club level to deal with and minimize and prevent from happening some of these off-the-field issues. Issues of DUIs. Issues of drug abuse. Issues of domestic violence that have kept players from playing, and they’re also human tragedies. So if we really redouble or triple the effort on that, to me, that’s something labor and management should be on the same page on, which is prevention of problems. That’s the difference between me and the incumbent, because the incumbent’s relationship is so poisonous and so contentious [with the NFL] that they can’t be problem-solving, but problem-solving is focusing on prevention of these issues.”

Here’s more from around the NFL:

Scouts see a future NFL superstar in Florida State safety Derwin James, NFL.com’s Chase Goodbread writes. James is only a sophomore, but talent evaluators are drooling over his freakish athleticism. One scout told Goodbread that James has the body type to play “about seven positions.” “I think if you take all the attributes of all the best ones, combine it into one, you’re getting close to Derwin,” FSU strength and conditioning coach Vic Viloria said. “He’s got strength like [Nigel] Bradham. He’s got the desire to chase the deep ball like [Lamarcus] Joyner, competitiveness like Jameis [Winston]. His ability to hit and be strong for a skill player is like Jalen [Ramsey]. … His acceleration is freakish; it’s that of a Devonta Freeman. … You can keep going down the list.”
NFL players are anxious for the day that their contracts will be fully guaranteed, as Dave Campbell of The Associated Press writes. “When you think about what we do for our organizations, the injuries and the pounding that we take, you would think that there would be more appreciation for your players,” Saints running back Adrian Peterson said. “It’s just so unfortunate when you think about the physicality and the toll that football takes on your body.” Naturally, this will be another major focal point for the NFLPA in its next round of CBA talks with the league. It’s hard to imagine players getting fully guaranteed deals, but it’s possible that they could have some improved injury protection.

Extra Points: Bortles, Kap, Rosen, Browns

August 17th, 2017 at 9:08pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

Blake Bortles has struggled so much this summer that the Jaguars may have to consider benching the quarterback in order to avoid a catastrophic injury that would guarantee his fifth-year option for 2018, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk opines (Twitter link). Such an injury for Bortles this season would leave the Jags on the hook for upward of $19MM a year from now, which even a healthy version of the 2014 third overall pick hasn’t been worth during his three seasons in the NFL. Keeping Bortles away from the field to prevent any chance of the option triggering wouldn’t be a first in the league – the Redskins did it with Robert Griffin III in 2015.

Meanwhile, in light of Bortles’ second straight lackluster performance of the preseason on Thursday, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports tweets that the Jaguars should bring free agent signal-caller Colin Kaepernick in to take the starting job. While Kaepernick’s social activism makes him a tough sell for many teams’ decision makers and fans, he at least possesses a superior on-field resume to both Bortles and backup Chad Henne.

Wisconsin LB Jack Cichy Suffers ACL Tear

August 10th, 2017 at 11:37am CST by Zachary Links

Wisconsin linebacker Jack Cichy will miss the entire 2017 season with a torn ACL, the program announced in a press release. Cichy is considered to be one of the most talented college linebackers in the country and, before the injury, he was viewed as a likely first round pick in the 2018 draft.

“You hate it for Jack,” coach Paul Chryst said. “You only get so many chances to play this game and you never want to see a guy miss any of those opportunities. He’s one of the leaders of our team and I know he’ll be a big part of what we do moving forward this season.”

Cichy already did a redshirt year, so he’ll need a special medical waiver if he wants to return to campus for the 2018 season. If he doesn’t go that route or he doesn’t get approval from the NCAA, he’ll have to try his luck in the 2018 NFL Draft while surrounded by question marks and a lack of recent game film.

The 6’2″, 223-pound athlete came to the Badgers as an undersized scrapper. Although he began his college career as a walk-on, he turned out to be a star for the Badgers and served as a team captain.

Last year, he had 60 tackles and seven tackles for a loss before a torn pectoral muscle cost him the second half of the season.

Draft Rumors: Allen, Clemson, Landry

July 22nd, 2017 at 4:20pm CST by Sam Robinson

The 2018 draft being nine months away won’t deter some NFL teams’ fanbases from advanced research. One of those franchises figures to be the Jets, who unloaded numerous veterans this offseason and are without a long-term answer at quarterback. Christian Hackenberg figures to receive a shot this season, at some point, despite Josh McCown‘s $6MM-plus-incentives agreement. But the Jets may be in a position to select a quarterback from a much-hyped contingent.

One of those prospective passers is not a lock to come out, with recent Sam Darnold rumors centering on the high-end USC prospect possibly staying in school for at least one more year. This would remind Jets fans of Peyton Manning‘s decision to do the same in 1997, Rich Cimini of ESPN.com notes. The Jets ended up trading the pick — one that became Orlando Pace — after Manning returned to Tennessee. Other passers with similar pedigrees join Darnold entering the 2017 college football season, and Cimini recently spoke to an AFC scout who views Wyoming’s Josh Allen as having better long-term potential than Darnold, who will be beginning his redshirt-sophomore season with the Trojans.

Allen joins UCLA’s Josh Rosen as the quarterbacks who right now are viewed as possible top-five picks come April. The 6-foot-5 Wyoming signal-caller will be a junior this season. Cimini also doubts Darnold would be able to pass up on a $30MM fully guaranteed contract if he’s in position to be chosen near the top of next year’s draft.

Here’s more coming out of the prospective 2018 draft pool.

Clemson has generated a legion of first-round talent in recent years. Vic Beasley, DeAndre Hopkins, Sammy Watkins and Deshaun Watson are among several Tigers to go early in recent drafts. The next prodigy coming out of the South Carolina program could be defensive lineman Christian Wilkins. Several scouts told DraftAnalyst.com’s Tony Pauline the interior defender is a top-three NFL prospect. The 6-foot-4 junior was a first-team All-American during the Tigers’ national championship season, and Pauline writes Clemson had him playing out of position at defensive end. After being shifted inside to tackle, Wilkins could be a top-15 pick in 2018, Pauline notes.
Pauline, though, views Wilkins’ line mate, edge defender Clelin Ferrell, as the better bet to be a top-10 pick. The 20-year-old defender will be a redshirt sophomore this season; he racked up 12.5 tackles for loss and six sacks in 2016. The 6-foot-5 talent’s athleticism and growth potential lead Pauline to rate him as the slightly superior Tigers draft prospect. CBSSports.com’s Jared Dubin rates Wilkins as a top-eight pick but doesn’t have Ferrell going in Round 1.
Pauline adds many scouts’ lists of the top senior prospects in the country start with Boston College pass rusher Harold Landry. Landry registered a Boston College-record 16.5 sacks last season despite standing roughly 6-2. This blend of stature and production prompts Pauline to compare Landry to Dwight Freeney, who did quite well for himself coming out of Syracuse as a smaller pass rusher. Pauline, who expected Landry to declare for this past draft, writes Landry could play in either a 4-3 or 3-4 scheme.

USC QB Sam Darnold On Draft Decision

July 12th, 2017 at 10:10am CST by Zachary Links

Recently, a report indicated that USC quarterback Sam Darnold – the early frontrunner to go No. 1 overall in 2018 – might wait until 2019 to enter the draft. Darnold took to the airwaves this week to deny that any decision was made, but in the process he inadvertently confirmed that he could be holding off on going pro.

“I’m really just taking it one year at a time honestly,” Darnold said on ESPN’s SportsCenter. “That’s my mindset. I don’t know where he got his information from. I’m really just taking it one year at a time.”

As a redshirt sophomore, Darnold has three years of eligibility remaining, but it has been assumed for some time that he would go pro as soon as he would be allowed. At this point, Darnold is unwilling to commit to that plan and that might be a safeguard against a disappointing season. He could also be laying the framework for getting out of being drafted by a certain team holding the No. 1 overall pick without making it too obvious.

It should be noted that Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen could challenge Darnold for the top spot in the 2018 draft, so it’s not a given that the league’s worst team will select the USC product. Also, there is precedent for quarterbacks steering themselves to the team they want to play for (see: Manning, Eli), so Darnold doesn’t necessarily have to stay in school in order to avoid certain franchises.

Sam Darnold May Wait Until 2019 Draft

July 5th, 2017 at 1:43pm CST by Zachary Links

USC quarterback Sam Darnold has long been pegged as the top prospect in the 2018 draft. Now, there’s word that he could instead wait until the 2019 draft. Several sources close to Darnold tell Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.com they wouldn’t be surprised if the QB played two more seasons at USC.

Of course, Darnold has tons of time to make his decision, so it’s too early for this year’s rebuilding teams (like the Jets) to panic about what Darnold will or won’t do. Naturally, his performance in 2017 will be a factor in whether he jumps after his redshirt sophomore season or spends another season with the Trojans.

If Darnold performs at the level that he’s expected to, then he’ll solidify himself as the No. 1 pick in the 2018 class. If that’s the case, then frankly it would be hard to see him gambling with his future by spending another year in school.

Darnold impressed scouts last season as he threw for 3,086 yards and 31 touchdowns against nine interceptions. Darnold also completed 67.2% of his throws.