2015 NFL Draft: An Early Cheat Sheet for Casual Fans
The NFL draft has become a 365-day-a-year job for those who cover it, but for many fans, the draft doesn't become reality until January or February. That is, unless your favorite NFL team is struggling. Then you start pinning your hopes on the draft-eligible college players and talking about "next year."
So what about next year? Following what many, myself included, called the deepest draft in decades, how does the 2015 class stack up?
That's the purpose of this article—to educate and excite the fans who don't pay as much attention to that great bridge between college football and the NFL. If you find yourself wanting to know more about the NFL draft but haven't paid much attention to it during the season until now, this is for you.
Draft Order: Who Comes Up with This Stuff?
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What determines the order in which teams pick in the NFL draft? And what the heck are compensatory picks?
Draft Order
For non-playoff teams, the draft order is determined by each team's record from the last season. (For the 2015 draft, each team's 2014 record is used.) This makes up picks 1-20 in each round. The teams that make the playoffs are then set in the draft order based on how far they make it in the tournament. For example, the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks picked last in the draft because they made the Super Bowl, with the winners (Seattle) picking last in each round.
What about tiebreakers? When two teams finish with the same record, the NFL looks at their strength of schedule. So whichever team had the harder schedule would pick first. In the event that the teams have an identical strength of schedule, a coin flip is used to decide who picks first. This actually happened in the 2014 draft with the Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens, and the Cowboys won the coin flip.
Compensatory Picks
The NFL awards 32 compensatory picks each year, and these picks are tacked on to the end of Rounds 3-7 as a sort of payback to teams that lost valuable free agents the year before. The NFL hasn't released the formula it uses to decide which teams get extra picks, but the idea is that teams are awarded picks for free agents lost versus free agents they added.
More and more teams are paying attention to this, and it was widely speculated that the Kansas City Chiefs let many of their free agents walk before the 2014 season to add valuable compensatory picks in the 2015 draft.
I Want to Go to the Draft...Where Is It?
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The NFL draft has been held in New York City every year since 1965, with the 2014 draft taking place in Radio City Music Hall. That will change in 2015.
Due to over-booking of Radio City (or, if you're a cynic, due to TV rights and the cash the NFL can make by moving the draft), the league has said the draft will be in either Los Angeles or Chicago this year. The early favorite places the draft in Los Angeles, since that's where the NFL Network is based.
Fans can attend the draft by buying VIP tickets in advance or standing in line the day of the draft for an entry bracelet. This may change with the draft in a bigger venue, but the Day 1 seats were highly sought after in previous years.
Days 2 and 3 of the draft aren't as heavily attended, though, and in the past, you could gain access to Day 3 without much effort.
Quarterbacks, Quarterbacks, Quarterbacks
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No position is more important than the quarterback, and from an early look at the 2015 draft class, the position could be loaded with top-tier talent.
Four underclassmen make up the top of the rankings: Marcus Mariota (Oregon), Jameis Winston (Florida State), Brett Hundley (UCLA) and Connor Cook (Michigan State). Underclassmen are draft eligible once they are three years removed from their high school graduation (meaning redshirt sophomore or true junior), and each of these players qualifies under that rule.
Mariota would have been my top-ranked quarterback in the 2014 draft based on his athleticism and upside, but so far this season, he has proved he's more polished and ready as a passer thanks to offseason work. Mariota is no longer a project or potential pick at quarterback, but he is an NFL-ready thrower with dual-threat ability to torch an offense.
Winston has everything scouts want in a quarterback's body and athleticism, but he has two things working against him as a redshirt sophomore: His throwing motion is slow and elongated, and his off-field issues will loom large over his on-field talent. He has been accused of rape, was cited for shoplifting and recently was suspended for a game after shouting obscenities in the FSU student union.
Hundley has none of Winston's off-field question marks, but on the field, he's living more on potential than production. The UCLA team around him is not very good, and he's been inconsistent (and injured) in 2014. Teams looking at Hundley will see an ideal quarterback build, a strong arm and good athleticism, but he needs to work on his mechanics to improve his accuracy. In this way, he's similar to Blake Bortles was coming out of Central Florida.
Cook is the least-talked-about player in this ranking, but he's surprising folks with his arm, decision-making and ability in the pocket. The Michigan State offense doesn't ask him to put up huge numbers, but when he does drop back to throw, he looks the part of an NFL starter. Just a junior, he is the least likely of this group to enter the 2015 draft and could instead come back to East Lansing as the top-ranked senior quarterback for 2016.
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The Year of the Pass Rush
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The 2013 NFL draft was the Year of the Offensive Lineman, and the 2014 class was the Best Class Ever. The 2015 class looks like the Year of the Pass-Rusher.
Of my top 25 players, nine of them are pass-rushers. That includes defensive ends, defensive tackles and outside linebackers. If you're looking for a group that could dominate the 2015 draft like offensive linemen took over the 2013 class, this is it.
An early look at this class features a scheme-versatile stud up front (USC's Leonard Williams), a 3-technique pass-rusher with Geno Atkins-like skills (Ohio State's Michael Bennett) and a slew of stand-up pass-rushers made for the 3-4 defense.
Players like Shaq Thompson (Washington), Vic Beasley (Clemson), Shilique Calhoun (Michigan State) and Randy Gregory (Nebraska) could all be top-10 picks. The rest of the first round will be filled out with similar athletes in Dante Fowler (Florida), Mario Edwards (Florida State) and a player shooting up boards, Georgia's Leonard Floyd.
If your favorite NFL team needs help in the pass rush, you're in luck this year.
SEC and Pac-12 Dominance Continues
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In my current top 25, an overwhelming 14 players come from the SEC or Pac-12. Add in Florida State, and it's an amazing 18 total players out of 25.
It's no secret that the SEC has become a football powerhouse and a direct pipeline to the NFL, but the Pac-12 boasts two of the nation's top quarterback prospects (Marcus Mariota at Oregon and Brett Hundley at UCLA). The SEC has been great at putting running backs, offensive linemen and defenders into the NFL, and now we're seeing top-tier quarterbacks and receivers come from the Pac-12.
With programs like Oregon, Stanford, Washington, USC and UCLA all well-represented in the rankings—as well as mainstays like Alabama, Auburn, Georgia and LSU from the SEC—you can see a boatload of draft-eligible talent any time these conferences put a team on the field.
The Return of the Running Back
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The 2013 draft saw no running backs taken in the first round for the first time since 1963. It didn't take long to see that happen again, though. The 2014 draft marked the latest the first running back came off the board in the modern era when the Tennessee Titans selected Bishop Sankey with pick No. 54.
The streak will end in 2015, though, if general managers are drafting based on talent.
Georgia's Todd Gurley is a rare prospect with legitimate top-10 talent. He's joined by fellow first-round talents Mike Davis (South Carolina) and Melvin Gordon (Wisconsin) and potential first-rounders T.J. Yeldon (Alabama), Duke Johnson (Miami) and Ameer Abdullah (Nebraska). And with teams like the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers making it trendy to be a run-first team again, you can bet that the rest of the league will copycat their strategy and look to add a first-class running back to their own roster.
NFL Draft History: Averages
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How many players are selected at each position in a given year? This has changed over the last decade as teams focus more on drafting receivers and defensive backs and less on running backs and fullbacks. We've also seen more emphasis on athletic offensive linemen and pass-rushers in the first round during this time.
What did the 2014 draft look like? Here's a look at the first player drafted at each position and how many players total were drafted at each spot.
| Position | First Pick | # Drafted |
| QB | No. 3, Blake Bortles | 14 |
| RB | No. 54, Bishop Sankey | 20 |
| FB | No. 211, Jay Prosch | 2 |
| WR | No. 4, Sammy Watkins | 33 |
| TE | No. 10, Eric Ebron | 10 |
| OT | No. 2, Greg Robinson | 24 |
| OG | No. 33, Xavier Su'a-Filo | 12 |
| C | No. 43, Weston Richburg | 9 |
| DE | No. 1, Jadeveon Clowney | 24 |
| DT | No. 13, Aaron Donald | 19 |
| LB | No. 5, Khalil Mack | 33 |
| CB | No. 8, Justin Gilbert | 40 |
| S | No. 18, Calvin Pryor | 14 |
NFL Draft Prototypes
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What does the ideal NFL player look like at each position? That may vary depending on which team you ask, but the great people at OurLads.com have compiled an average size for each position from the 2008 through 2012 drafts. It's very, very impressive detail work.
| Pos | Height | Weight | Arm | Hand | Bench | 40 | Vert |
| QB | 6036 | 226 | 31 3/4" | 9 5/8" | N/A | 4.88 | 32" |
| RB | 5106 | 218 | 31" | 9 1/2" | 19 | 4.49 | 36" |
| FB | 6001 | 256 | 33 1/2" | 9 5/8" | 21 | 4.91 | 29.5" |
| WR | 6006 | 202 | 31 7/8" | 9 3/8" | 18 | 4.52 | 32.9" |
| TE | 6041 | 257 | 32 7/8" | 9 7/8" | 24 | 4.77 | 30.8" |
| OC | 6032 | 302 | 32 1/2" | 10" | 25 | 5.25 | 25.2" |
| OG | 6041 | 316 | 33 3/8" | 10" | 25 | 5.22 | 26.9" |
| OT | 6056 | 322 | 34 3/8" | 9 7/8" | 25 | 5.22 | 27" |
| DE | 6043 | 276 | 33" | 9 7/8" | 26 | 4.84 | 31.6" |
| DT | 6032 | 306 | 33 1/8" | 10 | 28 | 4.96 | 30.6" |
| NT | 6015 | 320 | 33" | 10 | 30 | 5.27 | 26.6" |
| ILB | 6012 | 240 | 32 1/2" | 9 1/2" | 23 | 4.78 | 34.8" |
| OLB | 6021 | 246 | 32 7/8" | 9 5/8" | 24 | 4.71 | 33.3" |
| S | 5117 | 207 | 31 7/8" | 9 3/8" | 17 | 4.52 | 35.4" |
| CB | 5111 | 193 | 31 5/8" | 9 3/8" | 14 | 4.49 | 36.5" |
What Do NFL Scouts Look for in Draft Prospects?
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What each team looks for in a player can be tough to describe, as every club has different rules and wants from positions based on their offensive and defensive schemes. But as a scout, you're looking for the same basic traits and abilities in each player.
A summer project of mine last year was to write a look at what scouts want from each position, and you can find those breakdowns below. Think of this as an introduction to evaluating each position and not a super deep dive into the intricacies of the job.
Week 3 Top 32 Players Overall
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With many weeks of games, Senior Bowl practices, NFL Scouting Combine workouts and pro days ahead of us, setting a top 25 right now is more like unveiling a watch list. This list will have players drop due to injury and poor play, while others rise. There's also a good chance the No. 1 overall pick isn't on this list—that happened in 2013 when Eric Fisher went from relative unknown in the preseason to the top overall pick.
With top underclassmen included, here's a look at my current top 25.
| Rank | Player | School |
| 1 | QB Marcus Mariota | Oregon |
| 2 | DE Leonard Williams | USC |
| 3 | OT Cedric Ogbuehi | Texas A&M |
| 4 | DE Randy Gregory | Nebraska |
| 5 | QB Jameis Winston | Florida State |
| 6 | QB Brett Hundley | UCLA |
| 7 | OT Brandon Scherff | Iowa |
| 8 | OLB Vic Beasley | Clemson |
| 9 | DT Michael Bennett | Ohio State |
| 10 | CB Ifo Ekpre-Olomu | Oregon |
| 11 | OLB Shaq Thompson | Washington |
| 12 | DE Dante Fowler, Jr. | Florida |
| 13 | DE Shilique Calhoun | Michigan State |
| 14 | WR Amari Cooper | Alabama |
| 15 | CB Marcus Peters | Washington |
| 16 | RB Todd Gurley | Georgia |
| 17 | SS Landon Collins | Alabama |
| 18 | CB Ronald Darby | Florida State |
| 19 | OT La'el Collins | LSU |
| 20 | WR Sammie Coates | Auburn |
| 21 | RB Melvin Gordon | Wisconsin |
| 22 | WR DeVante Parker | Louisville |
| 23 | DE Mario Edwards, Jr. | Florida State |
| 24 | CB P.J. Williams | Florida State |
| 25 | OLB Leonard Floyd | Georgia |
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