2017 NFL Draft's Most Unique Talents
Heading into Week 17, 10 of the 12 NFL playoff teams are locked in. Unless you're a fan of the Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, Washington Redskins or an extremely optimistic follower of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, you already know if your team is making it into the postseason.
With that in mind, most fans are already turning their focus on the upcoming offseason, with three teams already in need of new head coaches. Some fans might even root against their team this week, as a win would only push them further down the draft order.
For those junkies who wanna get an early start on April's draft coverage, we'll break down the five most unique players in this coming class. These prospects offer specific traits or a level of talent that cannot be replicated in this draft class, and all of them have unique narratives that are hard to match.
To put it simply, these players won't be in a vague position on draft weekend—teams will be racing to get them off the board. With bowl season nearing an end, some prospects are still slated to play their projected final game as collegiate athletes, so it's not too late to get a leg up on the watercooler Monday morning general managers at work.
Jabrill Peppers, S/LB, Michigan
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In the last four drafts, a total of zero off-the-ball linebackers and safeties were selected in the top 10. That may change this year because of Jabrill Peppers of Michigan.
Coming out of high school, according to Scout.com, Peppers was the top-rated cornerback in the 2013 recruiting class and the third overall prospect in his class, behind just LSU running back Leonard Fournette and Alabama offensive tackle Cameron Robinson. Peppers didn't stay at cornerback for long, though, as his liability in coverage was evident early on in his Wolverine career.
Currently, he plays a hybrid linebacker-safety role, while also running the ball on offense and contributing as a returner on special teams. As a 2016 Heisman Trophy finalist, he's far from anything that we've seen in the college football world since at least Shaq Thompson.
Thompson was drafted in the first round by the Carolina Panthers after playing defensive back, linebacker and running back for the Washington Huskies. The biggest difference between Peppers and Thompson is that Thompson weighed 228 pounds at the combine, while Peppers is currently listed at 205 pounds by NFL Draft Scout.
Even Telvin Smith, who was voted as the 83rd-best player in the NFL according to NFL Media, fell from a top-60 projection to the fifth round because of his 218-pound frame. Peppers isn't developed enough at 21 years old to be going toe-to-toe with NFL pass-catchers on a play-by-play basis, and his size is going to leave huge question marks for evaluators.
At the same time, if he is able to show that he has incredible athleticism on paper at the combine, some team running a Cover 3 scheme—which demands linebackers and hang defenders play sideline-to-sideline—will see Peppers as a player with talents for the new age NFL.
Tim Williams, EDGE, Alabama
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What if I told you that the best pure pass-rusher in college football played fewer than half of his team's defensive snaps for the majority of this season? That's the story of Alabama's Tim Williams, and there's little precedent for it historically.
According to Pro Football Focus, Williams played 51 percent of the Crimson Tide defensive snaps against Ole Miss and Texas A&M this season, while playing for 69 percent of the reps against the LSU Tigers. Other than that, he was used as a rotational player.
He also spent 222 of his 340 snaps as a pass-rusher, with only 99 as a run defender and 19 as a man in coverage, which means he was on the field for late and long downs for the majority of games. Despite that, he recorded a plus-30.0 pass-rushing grade on just 279 snaps. Alabama teammate Jonathan Allen, who some believe could be worth the first overall pick, earned a plus-38.1 grade on 383 reps.
From an efficiency standpoint, no player's grades compare to Williams', despite his limited reps. The only pass-rusher prospect in the conversation with Williams in 2016 is Texas A&M's Myles Garrett, who, like Allen, is also a candidate for the first overall pick.
Williams is somewhere on the Bruce Irvin-Vic Beasley spectrum as a prospect, but all three of those players came from massively different backgrounds. Irvin was an odd-front defensive end and an athletic outcast in his defense, while Beasley was a multi-year All-American as a 4-3 defensive end. Williams is a non-starter for what might be the best defense in this era of college football.
When the draft cycle really kicks off, expect to hear a lot about Williams. But his narrative will be an odd one, revolving around his athleticism, production and efficiency despite his limited playing time in Tuscaloosa.
Forrest Lamp, OL, Western Kentucky
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If you're not familiar with the Western Kentucky football program, you need to catch up quickly. After joining the FBS ranks in just 2010, the school has springboarded each of its most recent head coaches to prestigious new positions: head coach Willie Taggart at Oregon, head coach Bobby Petrino at Louisville and head coach Jeff Brohm at Purdue.
After going 7-1 in Conference USA, including wins in the conference title game and the Boca Raton Bowl in 2016, Western Kentucky is one of the stronger mid-major programs in the country. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the flashy Kellen Moore-type of skill player to grab the attention of the national media, but the school's best draft prospect just might be a top-45 selection.
Forrest Lamp, who played for each of the previously mentioned head coaches, is one of the more dominant forces in the conference. Even against the likes of Alabama's Jonathan Allen, Tim Williams and Ryan Anderson—unarguably the best three-man rotation of pass-rushers in college football—Lamp held his own over and over.
The only issue is that Lamp doesn't have the 6'4" height to play bookend at the NFL level. According to NFL Draft Scout, Lamp is "6032" by combine measurements, or 6'3 1/4".
Per Mock Draftable, a 6'3" player is in the zeroth percentile in height for tackles historically. Players of that size don't even get a look in the NFL, so he'll almost certainly have to play guard.
You're talking about a top-20 talent who has to move to a less premium position, but Lamp has the chance to be the best plug-and-play guard since Zack Martin, a first-round offensive lineman who also switched from being a college tackle to an NFL guard. In three years, Martin has made three Pro Bowls.
O.J. Howard, TE, Alabama
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When you think of the Southeastern Conference, you think of the final stronghold in college football. It's the final place where you can throw out two tights ends on the offensive side of the ball and play a 3-4 base defense at a high level.
Some go as far as to call it the best league in college football year in and year out. There is no top dog in the sport bigger than Alabama, which has won four of the last five SEC championship games.
At Alabama, tight ends block, even if they're freak athletes. O.J. Howard, who was Scout.com's top tight end recruit in the class of 2013, has just 107 receptions for 1,576 yards and six touchdowns in four years with the Tide. But he has the chance to be much better in the pros than he's been in college.
Facing Clemson in last year's CFP National Championship, Howard went off with 208 yards and two touchdowns, by far the best game of his career. He's proved that he can do more than any tight end prospect since Tyler Eifert in 2013. He just doesn't get the opportunities when Lane Kiffin, Alabama's offensive coordinator, wants to pound the ball or use a spread, motioning passing attack.
According to NFL Draft Scout, Howard is going to weigh in at 251 pounds, stand closer to 6'6" than 6'5" and run a 4.57-second 40-yard dash. He checks off the boxes in the frame department, and 4.57 speed ranks in the 93rd percentile of tight ends, according to Mock Draftable's database.
To put that into perspective, former Ohio State wide receiver Michael Thomas, who was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the second round in 2016, leads rookies in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns for the current NFL season. Howard could very well be the next Rob Gronkowski, but Nick Saban's offense utilized him more as a blocker than as a dual-threat tight end in college.
Jeremy McNichols, RB, Boise State
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When you think of a pass-catching running back in this draft class, the first player that comes to mind is Stanford's Christian McCaffrey, because of how strong his 2015 season was. However, McCaffrey only had 317 receiving yards and three touchdowns this year, while Boise State's Jeremy McNichols had 450 receiving yards and four touchdowns in 2016.
If you really want to find a specialty third-down back, there's no better prospect than McNichols, who has been hidden in the Mountain West. In his college career, he has over 3,000 rushing yards, over 1,000 receiving yards and 55 offensive touchdowns.
Third-down backs have proved their value in the NFL over the years. The Cincinnati Bengals' Giovani Bernard was the first rusher selected in his draft class to fill that role, the New England Patriots offense completely changes when receiving back Dion Lewis is available and the versatile Darren Sproles emerged as the top back in the Philadelphia Eagles' backfield this season.
McNichols can develop into a three-down player, but he can immediately make an impact as a pass-catching specialist for the majority of NFL teams. In the pros, the more you can do, the more you will see the field, and McNichols does enough to at least split touches in any committee, league-wide.
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