Yes, it’s early in the draft process of the 2021 NFL. Focus has been elsewhere when sports begin to play back amid the coronavirus pandemic, and the football scene for colleagues for 2020 is still cloudy at best. And although I spent much of the summer watching movies and prepping for this class, there is still a ton of work to be done. So what follows is a very early projection of the first 32 picks for the April draft.
This group of 2021 is talented with potential with high impact. I have three highly rated quarterbacks coming off the board, and the top man is probably the best QB prospect I’ve seen in a while. And if, after the 2020 concept, you are not yet tired of knowledgeable wide receivers, you are in luck – this class has a lot too. A few SEC passers, in particular, stand out as promising future NFLers.
The names of day 1 will of course change over the next eight-plus months, but this exercise is usually a good starting point for the class. My premature mockery of the 2020 class contained 10 perspectives that ultimately ended in the first round. There are many unknowns at this point. But even as we wait for more news about the college football season (the Big Ten and Pac-12 have canceled all of their fall seasons and plan to look into spring picks), let’s open the opening of 32 picks of ‘ predict 2021 NFL draft. We start with the lowest rated team of the Football Power Index for the coming season.
Note: Draft projection is via ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI). Subclasses are marked with an asterisk.
Trevor Lawrence, QB, Clemson *
OK, let’s start with a no-brainer. Lawrence is a once in a decade kind of quarterback prospect who currently has our highest Scouts Inc. class on a QB since Andrew Luck in 2012 (99). Jacksonville traded Nick Foles in the offseason, leaving it alone with Gardner Minshew II and Mike Glennon, and Lawrence would step right in for the Jaguars as a direct game-breaking starter. With a big arm, great mobility for his 6-foot-6 frame, excellent poise under pressure and inevitable off-the-charts, it would not be long before he was among the best of the game.
Patrick Surtain II, CB, Alabama *
Washington went out and got Kendall Fuller into free agency, but with Fabian Moreau and Ronald Darby being free agents next spring, this CB group needs a punch. And Surtain – the son of former Pro Bowl cornerback Patrick Surtain – is a real shutdown cornerback. I love his instincts, ball skills and ability to pick up and make an approach, but what stands out is how well he diagnoses routes and funnels receivers to where he wants them to go. He might end up being the best defensive player in the entire 2021 class, and along with 2020 no. 2 general chooses Chase Young, he would help renovate a defense in Washington, which no. 27 were allowed in yards per game in 2019 (although it would be difficult for Washington to leave a man like LSU receiver Ja’Marr Chase on the board with his problems at receiver).
.
