Every year the draft is influenced the most by where and when the quarterbacks will be selected. With the New York Jets trading up to the third spot, a lot of that mystery is gone. A common opinion is that the top three picks will go to the QB position and I tend to agree. If the New York Giants don’t want to select one, then they’ll likely be enticed to move down in the draft.
At this point I really shouldn’t be surprised that Josh Allen is a possibility to go first overall. It seems there is always at least one prospect that hasn’t played very well at quarterback, but happens to look like one. Allen may very well turn out to be a great quarterback, but you can count me as skeptical on that one. All that arm strength is useless if you can’t hit your receiver with it.
Marcus Davenport checks off a lot of boxes. At 6’7” scouts will first notice his size, and then quickly the strength that accompanies it. Davenport simply throws weaker offensive linemen out of the way. His burst off the line of scrimmage can vary, but when he’s allowed to rush freely he shows that its there. My concern with Davenport is that he doesn’t flash a variety of moves, and certainly struggles to get low and dip under tackles. He’s an edge rusher that relies primarily on strength. Still, his film plus increases in sacks and tackles-for-loss each year should get him drafted in the top half of the first round.
One thing that really sticks out to me is that the more I dig into this edge rusher class, the more I realize that it really lacks depth.
A lot of mock drafts have Tennessee selecting a tight end in the first round - and that has brought a lot of criticism. Now, I don’t particularly see the Titans taking a tight end in the first round, but I definitely think its on the radar. There are a lot of factors that go into it. First, this Titans roster is a lot stronger than recent years. There isn’t one roster spot that is far and away a massive red flag (unlike, say, when the Titans needed a tackle then took Jack Conklin). That leads to my second point: the draft may cause the Titans to miss out on some of their targeted positions. This roster certainly has weak spots and so those are the popular mock draft choices. But what happens if those aren’t available? Let’s say the edge rushers (Harold Landry) and linebackers (Rashaan Evans, Leighton Vander Esch) come off the board before the Titans selection. At that point, I think tight end becomes an option, particularly if Matt LaFleur wants to run a lot of 2TE sets (which is unclear at this time).
Everywhere I look, everyone seems to love Maurice Hurst. Whether its film breakdowns or analytics, Hurst scores well across the board. Assuming he is cleared medically, I’d expect Hurst to be a force in the middle right away.
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