The regular season of the NFL 2020 is over. There’s only one college football game left to play: Monday’s College Football National Playoff Championship between Alabama and the state of Ohio. Eighteen of the 32 NFL teams know where to select in the 2021 NFL draft and have focused their attention on it. So it looks like a good time to predict how the first round will be played in April.
It is still very early. This month’s Senior Bowl will provide scouts with a chance to see players who didn’t have much tape this year in a short season, and the NFL Scouting Team will be the teams ’first appearance in more than a year. to numerous candidates in the draft who have opted for many. out of the 2020 season amid the coronavirus pandemic. The evaluators, myself included, still have many tapes to watch and many interviews to conduct. Rankings will change, as will the later half of the draft order used here, which was determined by ESPN’s Soccer Power Index projections.
But that’s for sure right now, in just under four months: the class is loaded with talent. I currently have 22 players with over 90 degrees (which I use to identify the real possible ones from the first round), including a handful of quarterbacks. So how will it all go? We predict the top 32 picks in the 2021 NFL draft, starting with a Jaguars team with a single win. And don’t forget to check out our special mock draft, live on ESPN + at 5 pm ET.
Note: The draft order is set for selection no. 1-18. For selection no. 19-32, we used ESPN power index (FPI) projections. Subclassists are marked with an asterisk.
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Trevor Lawrence, QB, Clemson *
Were you waiting for someone else? It’s been almost a decade since I’ve seen any Lawrence-like quarterback prospects, and the Jaguars are certainly on the market. Gardner Minshew II, Mike Glennon and Jake Luton teamed up for the second-worst NFL total in the NFL in 2020 (43.7). Jacksonville will have a new general manager and a new coach after losing 15 games, and the 6-foot, 6-foot Lawrence, who has a huge arm, good mobility in his pocket and all the intangibles you could ask for, would give the new direction of the team, a starting quarterback who should soon be among the best in the NFL. Lawrence testified Wednesday about the project.
