Following prospects in the early rounds is all well and good. But sometimes it’s the later round players who are the really interesting ones, who come out of nowhere to surprise you. You know, the Tom Brady, Richard Sherman, Antonio Brown, Josh Norman, Geno Atkins…get the idea? Other than that, you know, it’s nice to have underdogs to root for. And there are plenty of interesting stories on the third day. Also, there are some funny names here because it’s the NFL.
Vernon Adams (QB, Oregon)
Vernon Adams is the draft darling among certain NFL writers, though that may just be because I follow SI’s Doug Farrar on twitter and he just won’t shut up about him. Adams is interesting because he’s short – at 5’10” or 5’11” (depending on who you believe), he’s even shorter than (or as short as) Russell Wilson, and while height’s not everything, if you can’t see over your offensive line, it makes staying in the pocket a little harder! Luckily, Adams is an escape-merchant, seat-of-your-pants, just-gets-it-done kind of player. He plays quite like Wilson, right down to being mobile and agile, but he’s not quite as good, all told. Supposedly teams aren’t high on him, so he may or may not get drafted.
(My alternative choice here is Josh Woodrum, a QB out of Liberty.)
Matt Judon (DE, Grand Valley State)
Outside of Carson Wentz, there are a few prospects from the second tier of college football. Matt Judon is a pass-rusher who got a whopping 20 sacks last year. Sure, those were against lesser opposition than some, but he’s been fairly consistent for several years. He looks like a pass rusher, he’s athletic enough to be a pass rusher, but because no-one knows how good he actually is against top talent (even moreso than your average draft pick), he’ll probably not be picked until the later rounds. To this untrained eye, it does seem like defensive front seven is the hardest position for a smaller school prospect to get hyped at.
(Victor Ochi, a DE from Stony Brook, is your alterative pick here.)
Leonte Carroo (WR, Rutgers)
How much are teams bothered about players being linked with domestic violence? Leonte Carroo was arrested and charged with ‘simple assault’, which was at the time alleged to be violence towards a woman. Oh, except that the charges were later dropped because of the victim’s non-cooperation. Now, you can (and should) read everything into what the ramifications of that are (the NFL and college football are rife with football stars not always being taken to task for their sins), but it’s interesting. Carroo’s charges were dropped, but some teams will have taken him off their draft board. How many will play out during the draft, but Carroo could go in the 3rd round if teams are comfortable.
(You could look at Roger Lewis, a WR out of Bowling Green, for a similar if somewhat more severe case of “off the field issues”.)
Keyarris Garrett (WR, Tulsa)
Garrett was the most productive wide receiver in college football last year. He caught a cool 1600 yards worth of passes in 13 games, for 8 touchdowns. He wasn’t always up against the greatest opposition, but that’s still pretty special. Yet his draft stock isn’t huge, and he’s mentioned in around the fifth round range. Why? Well, he only ran four routes (the standard route tree for professionals starts at 8-10 and goes from there) in college, and coaches just aren’t sure he can learn any more. It’s a bit baffling, isn’t it? I know how alien American football is to me, because I’d have thought if I could learn one route, they’d all be as easy, right? Of course, it’s nowhere near that simple, but I’ve a sneaking suspicion Garrett will go to some team and catch a bunch of passes down the outside of the field.
(Your alternative pick here is Michael Thomas of Southern Mississippi (as opposed to the Michael Thomas from Ohio State, btw.))
Roberto Aguayo (K, Florida State)
Normally, kickers and punters don’t get drafted until the back end of the final day – the 6th and 7th rounds. The very best might get picked in the fifth round, but picks earlier than that tend to be met with ridicule. The perception is that both grow on trees, and there isn’t much variation between the very best and the middle of the pack. And yet. Even if the extra point hadn’t been moved back and made less automatic, Aguayo would probably have been the highest-drafted kicker since Mike Nugent was taken in the second round by Cincinnati a few years back. Now, there’s a chance he’s drafted on the second day. He’s that special a talent. He has a powerful leg (so is good for kickoffs, too), is deadly accurate and has kicked more field goals from longer than anyone else in college football these past few years. Someone is going to get the best player at their position in the NFL, on the relatively cheap.
(Aguayo’s a special enough talent that there’s no-one similar this year. No kicker, punter, long snapper, no-one.)
Adam Gotsis (DT, Georgia Tech)
International players are always interesting to look out for, if only for sort of the awareness that the NFL isn’t only of interest to America. Of course, the NFL isn’t the NBA yet, so whenever non-punters/kickers from around the world are getting drafted, it’s immensely notable. Gotsis is this year’s prospect du jour, a high effort, high-ceiling defensive lineman with a background in Australian Rules Football. As you’d expect, he’s seen as a little raw, though that’s not as much of a knock on him as teams worrying how his knee’s holding up following a cruciate ligament tear in October. We know our friends at the Woot & Wye Show down under are all in on Gotsis, and now he’s being hyped as a potential fourth- or fifth-round steal, he’s one to watch now and in the coming years as a top draft sleeper.
(Your second choice Aussie here is Utah P Tom Hackett. But Aussie punters are a little more commonplace, let’s say.)
Moritz Boehringer (WR, Schwabish Hall Unicorns)
Now HERE is the most interesting draft-eligible player in a heck of a long time. Normally, NFL prospects have been through the American college system. Occasionally, they go through the Canadian system. Boehringer, however, has spent one year playing top-flight gridiron in Germany, probably to a worse standard than some US high schools. So what’s he doing here? Well, he was pretty damn special there, and once he came over and did some athletic drills at Florida Atlantic’s pro day, a few teams that had been nudging him and mentioning they might sign him as an undrafted free agent, suddenly saw he was effectively the most athletically freakish receiver in the draft. He’s quick, agile, strong, tall, all the physical traits you look for in a wide receiver! He doesn’t know the game much, but wow the potential if he puts it all together is incredible. Nobody really knows how this is going to go, but it looks like he’ll be a day 3 pick, possibly in rounds 5 or 6. His will be a fascinating career to watch, just…don’t expect him to be playing any time soon.
(There’s no-one else like Boehringer in the draft, but keep an eye out next year for Giants’ receiver Anthony Dablé, who signed in the offseason, being too long out of school to be draft-eligible.)
Top Names
The NFL has had a tradition of fantastically-named players dating back to and before Dick Butkus in the sixties. This year isn’t a vintage year (no Barkevious Mingo, for example), but there are plenty of cool names here.
• Geronimo Allison (WR, Illinois)
• DeAndre Houston-Carson (S, William & Mary…yes, that is a real college, apparently attended by aristocrats)
• Willie Beavers (OT, Western Michigan)
• Silverberry Mouhon (DE, Cincinnati…are you kidding me?! Silverberry Mouhon?!)
• Vincent Valentine (DT, Nebraska…this one’s only for fans of Final Fantasy VII, I admit)
• Wendell Smallwood (RB, West Virginia)
• De’Runnya Wilson (WR, Mississippi State…why oh why isn’t he a running back?)
• Weston Steelhammer (S, Air Force…with a name like that he really ought to be a lineman)
• Cassanova McKinzy (LB, Auburn)
• Ka’imi Fairbarn (K, UCLA…full name John Christian Ka’iminoeauloameka’ikeokekumupa’a Fairbairn)
• Scooby Wright (LB, Arizona)
Despite the late hour, we’re fully intending to (semi-drunkenly) livetweet the first round of the draft tomorrow night, so head on over to our page on Twitter and get ye following.
The Long Snapper 