2016 NFL Draft: An Early Look Ahead to Next Year
It's never too early to start thinking about the future, and the NFL draft is no exception. After a weekend of exciting additions to all 32 teams in the league, it's time to focus on the class of 2016.
While the league just plucked out a lot of college football's talent for the professional level, there are plenty more prospects waiting for their chance to shine. There are even players experts projected as first-round picks who decided to play for another year or in some cases two for their university.
We'll break down some of the major narratives and prospects you'll need to know for next draft cycle. You can get an early start on this class by watching these players on Saturdays instead of rushing for information in April and May.
Can Cardale Jones Build off Dominant 3-Game Stretch?
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There was a point after the season when some questioned if quarterback Cardale Jones would declare for the draft despite the fact he had only started three games in his college career. Jones flashed the ability of a Cam Newton or Ben Roethlisberger type of prospect against Wisconsin, Alabama and Oregon.
The one piece of data that the naysayers bring up early and often is that we don't have the sample size to tell if Jones really is that level of a player for a full-season stretch. Oregon's defense was notably a conservative Cover 2-based scheme, which only had three defensive linemen pressuring Jones for the majority of the national championship game.
With that being said, he did manage to beat Nick Saban's Crimson Tide with great anticipation on his throws. I'm not sure we need to see Jones face Hawaii, Northern Illinois and Western Michigan to truly evaluate him as a passer, but some obviously feel otherwise.
Before the season even starts, he needs to win the top quarterback gig in Ohio State. He'll be battling Braxton Miller, who was Ohio State's starter until a late-summer injury ended his would-be senior year, and J.T. Barrett, who started all of the squad's regular-season games and won the Big Ten's Freshman of the Year award.
Returning Senior Talent
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There are some interesting prospects who didn't declare for the NFL draft in 2015. Eighty-four underclassmen declared themselves eligible to be professionals early, but some of the biggest names in college football decided to play for one final year.
Some of the best examples of this are the pass-rushers, who must have thought the 2015 class was too strong. Shawn Oakman of Baylor, DeForest Buckner of Oregon and Jordan Jenkins of Georgia are some of the names at the top of that particular list.
Another player who shockingly decided to return to school was Connor Cook of Michigan State. Cook, a highly thought of quarterback, could have at least been the third-best quarterback in this last draft.
After Jameis Winston went first overall to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Marcus Mariota went second overall to the Tennessee Titans, the next passer didn't come off the board until the 75th pick, being Garrett Grayson of Colorado State to the New Orleans Saints.
Being the big man on campus is something that's hard to turn down, but so is cold, hard cash. If Cook were in the 2015 class, it's hard to imagine he wouldn't have at least been a second-round selection to a team like Houston or the New York Jets. He's going to be 23 by the time he's drafted in 2016, a little on the older side for a prospect. For his sake, hopefully he's made the right decision.
Quality Offensive Linemen
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This coming draft class should be stacked with offensive linemen, so if your team needs help with protecting your passer but didn't take a Day 1 or Day 2 big body, you might be in luck for a 2016 selection.
The two top players who are early locks in this class are Spencer Drango of Baylor and Taylor Decker of Ohio State. Both are going to be senior offensive linemen, but Drango is better suited on the right side at the next level, while Decker is more of a left tackle prospect.
After that, there are two interesting senior center prospects. The first is Mike Matthews, brother of Jake Matthews, from Texas A&M. While playing for the Aggies, Matthews seemed to be the only SEC center who was able to stop Preston Smith, whom the Washington Redskins drafted in the second round in this class, when he kicked inside. He should be looked at as a Day 1 starter coming out of College Station.
Isaac Seumalo is the second snapper on the high-end radar. He might have been the best center in college football in 2013, but he missed the 2014 season with a foot injury. Seumalo now has a new coaching staff, and he needs to recover fully. Will he be able to do it? There are question marks surrounding his situation, but that should play out on tape in 2015.
It should also be noted that there are elite level underclassmen who may declare for the 2016 class.
Both Ronnie Stanley of Notre Dame and Jack Conklin of Michigan State were discussed as potentially the top offensive tackles in the 2014 class even though they were just redshirt sophomores at the time. Laremy Tunsil of Mississippi, a soon-to-be true junior, also is eligible for the class. Tunsil was a blue-chip recruit coming out of high school and has lived up to the hype so far.
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Talented Edge-Rushers
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If you were to ask Oregon fans which of their defensive ends were better in 2014 between Arik Armstead, the San Francisco 49ers' first-round selection of this last class, and DeForest Buckner, nine out of 10 of them would reply "Buckner." He has the ability to rush the passer from the interior like a much better version of the Philadelphia Eagles' Vinny Curry.
He's not the only good edge-rusher in the class, though. Along with him, there are also two other base defensive ends considered to be 2016 first-rounders in Shawn Oakman of Baylor and Shilique Calhoun of Michigan State.
Oakman is a Penn State transfer who was a blue-chip recruit coming out of high school and plays like Jason Pierre-Paul. Calhoun is more of a run defender than a pass-rusher, but he will have plenty of eyes on him for his senior season.
There are also hybrid linebacker types like Jordan Jenkins of Georgia, who probably will play a strong-side linebacker role in a 4-3 defense at the professional level like Khalil Mack does for the Oakland Raiders. One of his teammates, underclassman Leonard Floyd, is also in that scope with him.
On top of Floyd, there are other underclassmen who figure to go very high in the coming class, such as Joey Bosa, who compares to a J.J. Watt type and led Ohio State to a national championship, and Emmanuel Ogbah, who controlled Jameis Winston for a stretch during Oklahoma State's season opener in 2014.
Devonte Fields, a junior college transfer from TCU, will play for Louisville this year and is a wild card. He's talented enough to be in the league, but will the NFL get over his dismissal from TCU's football program?
The Special Kicker: Roberto Aguayo
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There's a generational talent in college football right now, and not enough people are paying enough attention to him. His name is Roberto Aguayo; he's played on a national championship team and one which was one game from going to a second. It's hard to believe that he's flying under the radar until you realize that he's a special teams player.
As a place-kicker, Aguayo has earned back-to-back All-American honors. In 2013, he even won the Lou Groza Award as the nation's top kicker as just a redshirt freshman. He's going to be a junior in 2015, but there's an outside shot that he declares early even though he's a specialist.
How much better is he going to get at the college level when he's already hit seasons of 21-of-22 (95.5 percent) and 27-of-30 (90 percent) regarding field goals in the last two years and hasn't missed a PAT (point after touchdown) in 149 attempts?
I wouldn't be surprised if he was a Day 2 selection as a kicker, bringing back memories of when the Oakland Raiders drafted Sebastian Janikowski 17th overall out of Florida State in 2000.
Joey Bosa
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If you catch a glimpse of Ohio State playing defense next year, keep an eye on the jersey with a No. 97 on it. Joey Bosa is one of the best athletes I've ever seen at the edge-rusher position, and he may put up an insane workout at the combine whenever he does declare, pushing him up with prospects like Mario Williams and Jadeveon Clowney, who were both first overall selections.
He's only going to be a true junior, but he's been producing since he was a true freshman in Columbus. There's a case to be made that he was the best player on the best team in college football last season. I also think he was the best pass-rusher in the sport outside of Randy Gregory and Vic Beasley, who were both drafted in the 2015 class as undersized prospects.
At 6'6" and 278 pounds, Bosa isn't undersized. In fact, on paper, he's a J.J. Watt clone. After winning the Big Ten's Defensive Lineman and Defensive Player of the Year awards as a true sophomore, there's not more for him to accomplish. With 21 sacks and 33.5 tackles for losses already under his belt, he's ready for the NFL.
Small-School Gems
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For the most part, early-round picks come from Power Five conference schools. As we getting into the middle rounds, though, small schools come into play. While conferences like the Sun Belt and Conference USA are considered FBS, they look more like their FCS counterparts than their Power Five competition.
For that reason, I consider them small schools instead of the mid-major term they get labeled as. Some schools are better at producing NFL prospects even at that level, though. Boise State is a great example of a school which turns raw recruits into professional players.
The tandem at Boise State that is currently intriguing is Kamalei Correa, a junior pass-rusher, and Darian Thompson, a senior defensive back. Correa might be a better edge defender than DeMarcus Lawrence, who was drafted out of Boise State as the 34th overall pick in 2013. Thompson is no slouch either, with the ability to flex to either cornerback or safety at the next level.
In conference, there is another underclassman Correa might battle to be the first non-Power Five player drafted. His name is Rashard Higgins. He played for Colorado State and put up massive production, but with his quarterback, Garrett Grayson, now in the NFL, there's no solid prediction for what he might be.
A sleeper prospect to keep an eye on is Michael Eubank of Samford. Transferring from Arizona State, Eubank was once a dual-threat passer at a big school, but after losing the starting job to Taylor Kelly, he moved on for playing time. Eubank is 6'6" and 247 pounds with a cannon and wheels. It wouldn't totally surprise me if he had a massive rise during his senior season.
The 'Franchise Quarterbacks'
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With only two early quarterbacks off the board, it's hard to make the case that any team other than the Buccaneers and Titans found their quarterback of the future. When looking toward 2016, though, there are some names that could ease the minds of some general managers.
The one senior who can make a run for a first-round pick is Connor Cook of Michigan. Cook for some reason returned to school for one final season with the Spartans and compares to Blake Bortles, who went third overall in 2014, as a prospect.
After Cook, the position gets a little more interesting with a tier of underclassmen. There are two juniors with little experience who may push themselves into the first round. The first is Cardale Jones of Ohio State who had an amazing three-game stretch to end his 2014 campaign with a national title. The second is Jeremy Johnson of Auburn, who is 6'5" and 230 pounds in the mold of Cam Newton.
Johnson has never been the team's top quarterback, so he's still unproven. Both are mobile types who might usher in a new age at the next level but are big question marks currently
There are also three traditional passers in Christian Hackenberg of Penn State, Jared Goff of California and Gunner Kiel of Cincinnati in the junior class.
Hackenberg had a rough sophomore season after a very good freshman year. Goff improved tremendously as a sophomore but still lacks the arm strength to throw to the boundary. Kiel has been an interesting player, committing to both LSU and Notre Dame before landing at Cincinnati after being a blue-chip quarterback in high school.
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