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Roquan Smith

Draft Rumors: Mayfield, Jets, Vea, TEs, Bears

April 3rd, 2018 at 3:38pm CST by Sam Robinson

A number of NFL insiders anticipate, in the event Sam Darnold is off the board, the Jets will use their No. 3 overall pick on Baker Mayfield, Tony Pauline of DraftAnalyst.com reports. The Jets have already conducted a private workout with the 2017 Heisman Trophy recipient and are scheduled to meet with him next week. And plenty of Mayfield-to-New York buzz has emerged already. They’re among the seven teams that will do so, but Gang Green could have the inside track on Mayfield if the Browns turn to Darnold or Josh Allen. And several league execs and scouts expect the Giants to take Darnold if Allen goes to Cleveland. Pauline adds that if Rosen is on the board and the Jets draft Mayfield, they would be making a “colossal mistake.”

Here’s the latest from a busy Monday in the draft world. A lot of flights are being scheduled for top prospects.

  • Arguably the top linebacker in this draft, Roquan Smith has visits scheduled with the Colts and Bears, Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tweets. Hill adds the Cowboys are not tabbed to meet with the Georgia linebacker. The Colts and Bears hold picks 6 and 8, respectively, and Smith has been mocked to teams either in that range or shortly after.
  • The tight end contingent has begun making key trips recently. Hayden Hurst is visiting the Jaguars on Tuesday, and the Saints have already put the South Carolina pass-catcher through a workout, Nick Underhill of The Advocate tweets. Meanwhile, the Vikings will host South Dakota State’s Dallas Goedert on a visit beginning Tuesday night, per Darren Wolfson of KSTP.com (on Twitter).
  • Iowa cornerback Josh Jackson will visit the Bears and Dolphins, with the Chicago trip coming first, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. An expected first-round pick, Jackson will meet with the Bears today.
  • Three more teams intend to visit with Washington defensive tackle Vita Vea. Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (on Twitter) the Packers and Buccaneers will host the mammoth lineman. The Cowboys are already scheduled to meet with Vea, and Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal notes Vea will visit the Browns as well. The four-year Huskies cog rates as the top interior defender in the draft, per Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.com.
  • The Browns are also meeting with Michigan defensive lineman Maurice Hurst. In line to be a second-generation NFLer, Hurst said during a Sirius XM Radio appearance (via Ulrich) he will meet with the Browns. Hurst was discovered to have a heart condition at the Combine but has since been cleared. The Michigan talent could be an option for the Browns in the second round, with the team holding picks 33 and 35.
  • San Diego State running back Rashaad Penny is meeting with the Broncos today, Mike Klis of 9News reports (on Twitter). Denver has yet to make a decision on C.J. Anderson, who has a nonguaranteed $4.4MM salary this season. Devontae Booker and De’Angelo Henderson represent depth behind Anderson, although Booker frequently saw action upon returning from injury last season.

Peter King On Browns, McCarron, Tannehill

March 5th, 2018 at 11:01am CST by Zachary Links

Here’s the latest from Peter King of The MMQB:

  • The Browns have four picks in the top 35 of this year’s draft, but coach Hue Jackson is still pushing for the team to acquire A.J. McCarron, King hears. If the team does go for McCarron in March, the plan would be for the team to also draft a rookie quarterback to be groomed behind him. The Browns, of course, nearly landed McCarron before last year’s trade deadline before a paperwork snag tanked the deal. One has to wonder if McCarron would be skeptical about the Browns’ level of commitment to him in such a scenario, particularly after seeing how Mike Glennon‘s arrangement worked out with the Bears. Then again, McCarron might be faced with a similar scenario with any team that shows interest him.
  • It has been said that the Dolphins are committed to Ryan Tannehill at quarterback, but King is not convinced after speaking with executives at the combine. Miami is look at QBs at No. 11 overall and several people who spoke with King believe they’ll select a signal caller there. Tannehill has missed the last 19 Dolphins games with back-to-back ACL tears.
  • After speaking with several GMs, scouts, and coaches, this is King’s rough consensus for the top ten player’s in the draft: Penn State running back Saquon Barkley, USC quarterback Sam Darnold, North Carolina State edge rusher Bradley Chubb, Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen, Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield, UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen, Notre Dame guard Quenton Nelson, Alabama defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick, Ohio State cornerback Denzel Ward, and Georgia linebacker Roquan Smith.

Draft Notes: McGlinchey, Edmunds, R. Smith

February 16th, 2018 at 8:59pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The 2018 offensive tackle class is setting up to underwhelm, as Tony Pauline of DraftAnalyst.net observes in his latest look at this year’s prospects. So far, most NFL clubs only rate one tackle — Notre Dame’s Mike McGlinchey — as worthy of a first-round pick, and given that he may be the only available tackle capable of starting on day one, his stock figures to rise even more as draft day approaches. Meanwhile, Orlando Brown (Oklahoma) is viewed as a right tackle, while Connor Williams (Texas) is only on some teams’ guard boards. Further down the list, Western Michigan’s Chukwuma Okorafor, Pittsburgh’s Brian O’Neill, and UCLA’s Kolton Miller are considered Day 2 selections, while Martinas Rankin (Mississippi State) isn’t believed to be a left tackle at the pro level, per Pauline.

Here’s more on the 2018 draft, all courtesy of Pauline:

  • With NFL teams searching for athletic linebackers, Tremaine Edmunds (Virginia Teach) and Leighton Vander Esch (Boise State) are likely to come off the board earlier than many expect, according to Pauline. In fact, Edmunds is rising up draft boards so quickly that he may become a top-12 selection. However, the scouting combine will prove to be an important test for Edmunds, per Pauline, who says the former Hokie lacks “quick change-of-direction skills.” Vander Esch, meanwhile, is being compared to former Bears linebacker and 2018 Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher, and most clubs believe he can be a three-down defender.
  • While Edmund and Vander Esch are drawing rave reviews, fellow linebacker Roquan Smith is trending in the other direction, reports Pauline. Given that the pass game now dominates the pro ranks, Smith’s problems playing man coverage against opposing running backs and tight ends could prove troublesome. However, Pauline says Smith can be effective when used in zone coverage, which should make the Georgia product viable for a good number of NFL teams.
  • Wake Forest edge rusher Duke Ejiofor underwent surgery for a torn labrum in late January, but Pauline doesn’t believe the operation will affect Ejiofor’s draft stock. Projected as a Day 2 pick, Ejiofor is expected to run a 4.75 40-yard dash despite sitting at nearly 270 pounds. Scouts are impressed by Ejiofor’s “explosiveness, power, and athleticism,” and given that his labrum injury occurred in October, teams can account for any drop in performance after that time.

Draft Rumors: Allen, Rosen, Smith, OL

February 1st, 2018 at 9:32pm CST by Sam Robinson

With Super Bowl LII three days away, the next wave of NFL players will begin to take center stage in news cycles as the Combine approaches. And no position, per usual, will be analyzed like quarterback. This year, though, there are several first-round passers expected, with a few vying for the No. 1 overall pick. Here’s the latest on the draft:

  • A source whose team has a top-five draft choice told Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller he expects Josh Allen to be drafted in the top two. This would gel with what ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. expects, having placed the Wyoming talent as Cleveland-bound. Miller has Allen as the third quarterback on his big board, behind Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen.
  • On Rosen, evaluators may be more interested in how he conducts himself during the pre-draft process. Having proven to possess an elite skill set as a prospect, the outspoken UCLA product has skeptics in the evaluation community. Multiple executives and scouts say Rosen’s style will turn off teams during interviews. “Scouts might like Rosen, but coaches won’t because he’s stubborn and cocky and he thinks he’s smarter than them,” a scout told Miller. This is far from the first time Rosen’s perceived attitude problem has landed on the NFL radar.
  • Roquan Smith may have stood out for Georgia during the Bulldogs’ best season in over a decade, but where he lands on draft boards will be up for debate. One NFC scout expressed concerns about Smith’s size. “You’re going to have to convince me he can get off blockers because he didn’t against Notre Dame or Oklahoma.” Another scout told Miller he views the early-entry linebacker as having “Ryan Shazier– or Shaq Thompson-like athleticism.” After a 137-tackle, 6.5-sack season with an SEC team, Smith figures to be an early-first-round selection.
  • Texas-San Antonio defensive end Marcus Davenport could fall into the high-ceiling/low-floor category among some evaluators. DraftAnalyst.com’s Tony Pauline notes some teams were not impressed with the smaller-school talent at the Senior Bowl.
  • Conversely, Nevada offensive lineman Austin Corbett used Senior Bowl practices to shoot up to a Day 2 selection, with Pauline writing that Corbett “dominated everybody” while lining up at center, guard or right tackle.

Georgia LB Roquan Smith To Enter Draft

January 15th, 2018 at 11:29am CST by Sam Robinson

One of college football’s top players this season, Roquan Smith will try his hand in the NFL. The Georgia linebacker announced Monday he will forgo his senior season and enter the 2018 draft.

Projected as a first-round pick, Smith increased his value with standout performances in the Bulldogs’ two College Football Playoff games. The Butkus Award recipient finished with 24 tackles (3.5 for loss) and a sack in Georgia’s games against Oklahoma and Alabama.

Smith broke out in his third season, registering 137 stops (14 behind the line of scrimmage) and 6.5 sacks as a junior overall.

The All-American also earned SEC defensive player of the year acclaim. Matt Miller of Bleacher Report slots Smith as the No. 9 pick in his latest mock draft, representing the first linebacker off the board.