2015 NFL Draft: Who Are This Year's Most Intriguing Prospects?
In many ways, the draft has become the NFL's second-biggest event.
While the biggest event, the Super Bowl, only has two weeks of lead-up, the draft has months of time spent obsessing about "tape" (read: YouTube clips and DVR'd games for most of us), combine times, pro days and the like. We'll know intimate details of these young men as teams and media dig and pry into every facet of their lives.
So which prospects will cause more buzz and discussion than the others?
For this list, I've included guys with question marks both on and off the field as well as guys who may necessitate a position switch at the next level. More than just question marks, though, I've also included some "exclamation points" at some positions as guys with eye-popping athleticism and natural skills will provide plenty of buzz as they go through the process.
Feel like I've missed anyone? Leave a list of prospects you're interested about in the comments below.
The Top Passers
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It's probably cheating not to have two separate slides for both Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota and Florida State's Jameis Winston, but I'm not sure we're going to stop talking about these two within a breath of each other until one of them does something to separate himself from the other—positively or negatively.
Winston has more concerns off the field, where he has dealt with legal troubles, serious allegations and a very real concern that he's not the sort of guy a franchise should invest millions of potential dollars in. On the field, he's played in a pro-style offense (more on that in a second), but he's still got some lingering mechanics and consistency issues that could drive some coaches bonkers.
As for Mariota, he's coming from a spread-style offense that hasn't sent a whole lot of prospects successfully to the pros other than Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton. He's got all the tools. But it's foolhardy not to believe there won't have to be some sort of transition, and a team drafting in the top five doesn't exactly have all the time in the world.
It's a debate that is set up almost perfectly for the kind of 24/7 endless debates that we love between February and April (right up until we hate them), and it's difficult to believe right now that anything will overtake this as the top draft story.
Josh Shaw (CB, USC)
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If it feels like you know this name but aren't 100 percent sure who this is, let's jog your memory.
After an injury, Shaw made up a fictitious story about saving his nephew. The story blew up—first positively, then negatively—and resulted in Shaw being suspended for most of the 2014 season and only playing in a handful of the final games of the season.
He had been a top corner prospect and became a punchline.
Since the season ended, though, things have been going Shaw's way at the East-West Shrine Game and then at the Senior Bowl. He's reasserting himself as a top corner in a very packed corner class and could end up as an earlier pick than anyone thought a few months ago.
Still, get used to hearing his story, because he's going to have to answer questions from plenty of teams and media between now and April, as no NFL team will want to undergo the embarrassment USC did last season.
Shaq Thompson (?, Washington)
3 of 10
Shaq Thompson (6'1", 228 lbs) has played linebacker and running back during his time with the Washington Huskies, and just about everyone has him pegged as a linebacker in the NFL, where he could make an almost immediate impact as one of the better outside linebacker prospects in the class.
Because of his size (or lack thereof compared to a traditional linebacker) a move to safety would be possible as well.
Yet, NFL Media's Daniel Jeremiah let loose on Twitter awhile back and reported that some in league circles prefer him as a running back.
When one remembers all the negatives to being a running back not only in the NFL but especially in the NFL draft, being permanently on the defensive side of the ball is probably a better move in both the long and short term. But his versatility could cut like a double-edged sword if teams consider him a jack-of-all-trades but a master of none.
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Danny Shelton (DT, Washington)
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Let's stay in the Pacific Northwest for a prospect who leaves no doubt where he should play.
Shelton is a mammoth of a man (6'2", 343 lbs) who looks like he could eat up blockers in a much more literal sense than is often meant on a football field. He's also ridiculously athletic for a man his size, which is reminiscent of a prospect from a few years back—Kansas City Chiefs nose tackle Dontari Poe.
Like Poe, however, questions are being legitimately lobbed about why such a tremendously physically gifted prospect wasn't even more impactful at the college level, and a week of Senior Bowl practices showcased a guy who may not quite have the conditioning needed for Sunday afternoons.
Regardless of what he does at the combine (it should be tremendous!), careful thought will be given to how his talents will translate onto the NFL field and whether or not he's worth a top-15 pick.
Arik Armstead (DE, Oregon)
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Speaking of big men...
Arik Armstead was listed at Oregon as a svelte 6'8", 290 pounds. For all the times NFL commentators so terribly call guys at 6'4" (or less) "power forward" types, this is a prospect with legit NBA forward or center size who just so happens to line up and try to smash quarterbacks on a football field.
That sound you hear is the collective defensive coaching mind of the NFL drooling.
Armstead, like Shelton on the last slide, probably should've been much more dominant at the college level, and coaches will nitpick and grill him on why he wasn't. Yet, secretly, they'll also all be looking in the mirror, telling themselves that they're the one to get J.J. Watt-level production out of him.
Cameron Erving (C, Florida State)
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At this time last year, Erving was considered one of the better left tackles of the class. That's not always a great thing, as there's naturally some shuffling and it's far better to be a late riser than the dropper. And Erving was clearly set up to fail as he struggled to live up to expectations in his final year at Florida State.
Then, he finished the year at center.
He was awesome.
No longer a top tackle, there's an argument he might be the top center in a weak crop this season.
Over the next few months, wait and see how Erving slides up and down draft boards in the media as those who are well-connected continue to get more and more information from NFL circles at where exactly teams wish to play him and how much they value his talents there.
The Michigan Receivers
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Devin Funchess has been one of the top wide receivers of this class for a long time, even though people are more and more interested in converting him to tight end because of his height (6'5") and playing style. How he runs at the combine and how amicable he might be to that switch will go a long way toward putting him in the middle of the top tier of receivers or at the very top of tight end prospects.
Then, there's the other Devin, as in former quarterback and erstwhile receiver prospect Devin Gardner.
Gardner had a rough but improving week down in Mobile, and while he's clearly got the athletic chops for the position, he's leaps behind his competition in the class. People will see how he progresses through the process to see if he has a future at the next level.
Ereck Flowers (OT, Miami)
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Flowers hits all the checkmarks of an elite left tackle prospect and is on this list as a guy who could easily test about as well as anyone at the NFL combine and follow through on that with a solid draft slot in the first round.
The negatives on him are slight—struggles with pure speed-rushers, injury concerns, too aggressive at times—but all of those are fixable issues and can all be regarded as things he physically should be more than capable of fixing pretty quickly.
Dante Fowler Jr. (DE/OLB, Florida)
9 of 10
Versatile or tweener?
At 6'3", 261 pounds, Fowler has the size for a 3-4 outside linebacker in the NFL, but teams would likely prefer him closer to 280 than 270 with his skill set.
He's really best suited as a one-dimensional pass-rusher, which is fine at the top of the draft (see: Barkevious Mingo, Jarvis Jones). But there's usually only a couple of spots for guys like that, and there's plenty like Missouri's Shane Ray and Clemson's Vic Beasley who could take his spot.
I expect to see Fowler's stock take wide swings this draft season as the media simply guesses where he will end up based on various conflicting info from teams where he may or may not fit. Anything positive he puts on the board in terms of buzz, though, will be met with near-unanimous approval, as he's a very tantalizing prospect.
Todd Gurley (RB, Georgia)
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It wasn't that long ago Gurley was considered the next in a line of elite college backs that included Adrian Peterson, Darren McFadden and Trent Richardson. However, like the last two guys on that list, things have not exactly been working out for Gurley, and he didn't even wait until the NFL for the drop-off.
Gurley shredded his ACL this past season and then watched as backs like Wisconsin's Melvin Gordon and Nebraska's Ameer Abdullah shredded college defenses.
Most of us reading this aren't doctors. And I assume all of us won't have a chance to peek at Gurley's knee in a close-up fashion, but plenty of doctors at the combine will. And then teams will want him to test in some capacity before they feel comfortable drafting him.
All that said, there's still a shot he's the first back drafted, and that's a tremendous testament to just how good he was. The question is: Can he be that good again?
Michael Schottey is an NFL National Lead Writer for Bleacher Report and an award-winning member of the Pro Football Writers of America. Find more of his stuff on his archive page and follow him on Twitter.
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