2016 NFL Mock Draft: 1st-Round Predictions for Fastest-Rising Prospects

The later it gets in the college football season, the more speculation begins to swirl around the game's best prospects that will be eligible for the NFL draft. 

Six weeks into the NFL season, a number of teams are already priming themselves for the top spots of the upcoming selection process in April. 

Here is my third first-round mock draft. The draft order was organized by predicting where each NFL team will finish at the end of the season, and each player was chosen based on the team's positional needs.

Pick	Team	Player	Position	School
1	Detroit Lions	Laremy Tunsil	OT	Ole Miss
2	Jacksonville Jaguars	Ronnie Staley	OT	Notre Dame
3	Baltimore Ravens	Joey Bosa	DE	Ohio State
4	Kansas City Chiefs	Connor Cook	QB	Michigan State
5	Tennessee Titans	Vernon Hargreaves	CB	Florida
6	San Francisco 49ers	Jalen Ramsey	S	Florida State
7	New Orleans Saints	Laquon Treadwell	WR	Ole Miss
8	Chicago Bears	Jared Goff	QB	California
9	Houston Texans	Christian Hackenberg	QB	Penn State
10	Cleveland Browns	Robert Nkemdiche	DT	Ole Miss
11	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	A'Shawn Robinson	DT	Ohio State
12	Washington Redskins	Tre'Davious White	CB	LSU
13	Miami Dolphins	Jaylon Smith	LB	Notre Dame
14	Oakland Raiders	Myles Jack	LB	UCLA
15	Seattle Seahawks	Taylor Decker	OT	Ohio State
16	St. Louis Rams	Jack Conklin	OT	Michigan State
17	New York Giants	Kendall Fuller	CB	Virginia Tech
18	Indianapolis Colts	Vadal Alexander	OT	LSU
19	San Diego Chargers	Leonard Floyd	DE/OLB	Georgia
20	Philadelphia Eagles	Scooby Wright	LB	Arizona
21	Dallas Cowboys	Tyler Boyd	WR	Pittsburgh
22	Buffalo Bills	Reggie Ragland	LB	Alabama
23	Minnesota Vikings	Michael Thomas	WR	Ohio State
24	Pittsburgh Steelers	Cameron Sutton	CB	Tennessee
25	Atlanta Falcons	Shilique Calhoun	DE	Michigan State
26	New York Jets	Darron Lee	LB	Ohio State
27	Carolina Panthers	Ezekiel Elliott	RB	Ohio State
28	Denver Broncos	Max Tuerk	C	USC
29	Arizona Cardinals	Emmanuel Ogbah	DE	Oklahoma State
30	Cincinnati Bengals	DeForest Buckner	DE/OLB	Oregon
31	Green Bay Packers	Adolphus Washington	DT	Ohio State

Christian Hackenberg

QB, Penn State

There is a 100 percent chance you will be scratching your head on this. I was too as I attempted to deduce how this could happen.

But it would have to be a perfect storm to see Christian Hackenberg in the NFL draft, let alone the first round. If Hackenberg does decide to forgo his senior year at Penn State, he could go within the top half of the first round depending on where one team ends up. 

Which, if you ask a lot of college football people, seems downright loony. However, Hackenberg's numbers portray a bit of a different story. He's completed over half of his passes this year, which doesn't seem like much, but it's somewhat impressive given the wide receivers and routes he is working with.

Add eight touchdowns to just two interceptions, and Hackenberg does a pretty good job of keeping the ball in his offense's hands when he drops back to pass. 

His biggest problem is his inability to stay on his feet, as he's already been sacked 24 times in seven games. In no way is that entirely his fault, but quarterbacks that want to see success on the next level need the presence of mind to get rid of the ball quickly. 

StateCollege.com's Ben Jones explains:

"

Christian Hackenberg is a martyr for the cause. The program finds itself in an ambiguous position somewhere between legitimate offensive issues and the fallout of a sanction era. Everyone deciding on the fly if any given drive is the result of mismanaged assets or simply the fact the assets aren't good enough yet for consistent play. Until Penn State has a benchmark season after the sanctions, it will forever be battle to find the line between bad play and bad circumstance.

"

I'm not saying Hackenberg is deserving of a first-round pick, especially not a top-10 selection, but if the Houston Texans miss out on a quarterback, they might get desperate. 

Their current situation just isn't working out with the constant flip-flopping of Brian Hoyer and Ryan Mallett, and there are two bona fide first-rounders in Michigan State's Connor Cook and Cal's Jared Goff. If the Texans string together a couple of wins this season, they could miss out on both. 

If that's the case, Hackenberg, a former player under current Texans head coach Bill O'Brien at Penn State, could be Houston's best option. Hackenberg put up career numbers as a freshman under O'Brien, and the two could coexist well together again. 

Add in some big-time offensive targets like DeAndre Hopkins and Arian Foster out of the backfield, and Hackenberg might not be as bad as many think. 

Laquon Treadwell

WR, Ole Miss

Now to a prospect that is a bit more deserving of a top-10 selection. Ole Miss wide receiver Laquon Treadwell has been lighting it up this season for the Rebels.

In just seven games this season, the junior has already surpassed his 2014 totals in receptions and yards (49 catches for 654 yards). Bleacher Report's Barrett Sallee finds it hard to believe that Treadwell is seeing the ball this much:

An explosive wide receiver who can beat a lot of coverages thrown at him, Treadwell has developed into one of the top pass-catchers in the nation. Draft Scout 24/7 thinks he can be the first wide receiver taken in the draft:

And that's still with the likes of Ohio State's Michael Thomas and Pittsburgh's Tyler Boyd in the mix. They were originally ranked ahead of Treadwell by WalterFootball.com heading into the 2015 season.

He's a top-10 talent, which could change to top five depending on which teams appear in the top of the draft. And even if there is a team that doesn't necessarily need a wide receiver, his athleticism and raw talent might prove too attractive for teams to pass up. 

Stats courtesy of ESPN.com.