2016 NFL Draft: Updated Prospect Radar Post-Week 17
We've done it. Not only is the regular season over in the NFL, but every game other than the national championship has been played in college football. We are officially just waiting for the playoffs to finish before the entire football world is immersed in draft season.
With the majority of the quality head-to-head bowl matchups occurring this past weekend, we got a great glimpse at some of the best talent slated to go in the 2016 NFL draft. We learned a lot about these prospects in the process of these postseason games.
A player just didn't look like his pre-injury self, while another had a run-in with the law. We'll go over the top five players whose stock elevated or fell over the course of this past week, plus we'll include a top-five mock draft, as the final draft order for the non-playoff teams is now set for April.
Stock Down: Trevone Boykin, QB, TCU
1 of 6
This one is real simple. What do you not want to do leading up to your bowl game? Sneak out after your room check, betraying your head coach's trust, and go to a bar, just to find yourself in a scuffle with the police. TMZ acquired the surveillance video, Trevone Boykin took a mug shot and the quarterback was suspended for the Alamo Bowl against Oregon, a game in which backup Bram Kohlhausen orchestrated a legendary come-from-behind victory that ended in triple overtime.
As a borderline draftable quarterback prospect, Boykin didn't have much room to make a mistake. Many already have been discussing him as a slot receiver candidate, as his arm strength and frame make him a tough dropback projection in the NFL.
Now, it's questionable if anyone will look at him as a passer. There's a good chance that Boykin just sealed his fate. After a great TCU career, he's going to have to fight for a spot on a professional roster after going undrafted. The quarterback position is a leadership position. Decisions like this will hurt him in war rooms.
Remember Marcus Vick, the brother of Michael Vick? He also had a great college career at Virginia Tech, but after stomping on Elvis Dumervil in the Gator Bowl he was kicked off the football team. Vick, an undersized but athletic quarterback, went undrafted as a receiver. After just one season off and on with the Miami Dolphins, his career was over. Hopefully Boykin can do enough to mask this mark on his record.
Current draft projection: Undrafted
Stock Down: Tyler Johnstone, OT, Oregon
2 of 6
Tyler Johnstone has gone through plenty of ups and downs in his college career. As a young offensive tackle, he showed promise and was in the conversation as a potential first-round pick down the line. Unfortunately, after making freshman All-American lists in 2012 and All-Pac-12 lists in 2013, he tore his ACL in the Alamo Bowl against Texas to cap off his sophomore season.
A setback in recovery in 2014 forced Johnstone to sit out the entire year, also pushing Jake Fisher, a 2015 second-round pick, from right tackle to left tackle for a season. The Arizona prospect returned to the Oregon Ducks' premier offensive line spot in 2015, but he just hasn't looked the same.
There are only so many 6'6" and 295-pound humans on Earth who can move with relative quickness, let alone many who can recover from multiple knee injuries. After blowing out your right ACL twice, there's not much you can do.
Against TCU in the 2016 Alamo Bowl, he had yet another San Antonio game to forget. He often was found spinning around, trying to catch the license plate of the defender who sprinted past him. He's an example of why you don't rush big-body athletes with major injuries onto a field.
Current draft projection: Undrafted
Stock Up: Ezekiel Elliott, RB, Ohio State
3 of 6
There's no doubt about it. Ezekiel Elliott is the best running back prospect in the 2016 draft class. He's proven it over and over again, really building off the momentum of when he ran "through the heart of the South" against Alabama and gashed Oregon on counter run plays in last year's playoffs.
Elliott's final college football game was an exclamation point. He cracked over 100 yards in every game other than the Michigan State matchup this season, the one loss Ohio State had for the year, but he never scored four touchdowns like he did in the Fiesta Bowl against Notre Dame, who was in the playoff hunt in November, as were the Buckeyes.
Posting 149 yards, Elliott took to Instagram to post one last game-day shot of himself playing college football, an ab-exposing snap of him that also targeted the NCAA's official handle. He's ready to be a professional.
His patience allows him to do very well in power runs, while his pure athleticism makes him a threat on both inside and outside zone runs. On top of that, he's an all-around back, one who can both block and catch on third downs, which is this generation of running backs' biggest flaw. Elliott isn't Todd Gurley, but expect a lot more out of him during his rookie season than Melvin Gordon, who was replaced on third downs often for Danny Woodhead.
Current draft projection: Top-15 pick
.png?w=256)
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Stock Up: Dak Prescott, QB, Mississippi State
4 of 6
For a culture so used to inflating quarterbacks' potential, it's insane to me that more draft talk hasn't surrounded Dak Prescott of Mississippi State. He's a "hummer hybrid" dual-threat passer who plays larger than his 6'2" frame. In all honesty, from a raw tools perspective, he's not far from Tim Tebow.
Now, though he played under Dan Mullen, who helped develop Tebow at Florida, Prescott's approach to quarterbacking is very different. First off, he doesn't have that elongated passing motion that made Tebow look like a windup javelin-throwing toy. Second, unlike at Florida, the Bulldogs aren't littered with talent for Prescott to spoil himself with.
Often, he forces passes to De'Runnya Wilson, who very well might be a first-round pick when it's all said and done, as he's clearly the top target on the offense. Forcing into those small windows has helped his touch, though, and he obviously doesn't have confidence issues.
In the Belk Bowl against North Carolina State and fellow senior quarterback prospect Jacoby Brissett, he threw for four touchdowns and capped off what might have been the best individual career in the school's history with a 51-28 win. With nearly 12,000 total yards and 114 total touchdowns, there's a case to be made.
Let me put it this way, he's a better short-term and long-term prospect than a player like former Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg on paper. Hackenberg sent waves through the draft community this week after declaring for the draft as a true junior, two years removed from his productive freshman season. If Logan Thomas can get drafted in the fourth round of a fairly loaded quarterback class, Prescott should go Day 2 in 2016.
Current draft projection: Third-round pick
Stock Down: Paxton Lynch, QB, Memphis
5 of 6
While other quarterbacks, like Jared Goff and Dak Prescott, flashed their talent during the long stretch of the bowl season, Paxton Lynch of Memphis hurt himself a bit. If you don't already know, Lynch is a junior prospect with Brock Osweiler's size, but with the mobility and accuracy of a player of an elevated tier. He's very similar to Ryan Tannehill, who was the third quarterback taken in the 2012 draft class after Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin, two players thought to have been generational talents at the time.
Lynch, standing at 6'7" and 245 pounds, really caught on when his Memphis Tigers upset the Ole Miss Rebels, a team that beat Nick Saban's mighty Alabama Crimson Tide earlier in the season. In that game, he made a half-dozen throws that maybe half of the starters in the NFL could make, and he finished with a passer rating of 149.3. In the regular season, his lowest passer rating was 112.1 against Temple.
Against Auburn in the Birmingham Bowl, he had a season low of 62.4. The only other times he's dipped under the 90-point mark in his career was his freshman season against South Florida, when he threw only 13 passes, and as a sophomore against Ole Miss, when he completed just over 40 percent of his throws and had an average of fewer than three yards gained per pass attempt.
His 16-of-37 for 108 yards and one interception was a nightmare send-off for a potential first-round pick. The pass rush of this particular SEC team just wouldn't allow him to do much more than complete some screen passes all day.
Current draft projection: Mid-first-round pick
Bonus: Top-5 Mock Draft
6 of 6
1. Tennessee Titans: Laremy Tunsil, OT, Ole Miss
The top pick of the draft is the top player in the draft. It's time for the Titans to protect Marcus Mariota, the franchise.
2. Cleveland Browns: Paxton Lynch, QB, Memphis
I think it's fair to say that the Johnny Manziel episode in Cleveland is over. Without a franchise passer likely to hit free agency, the Browns are going to have to develop one.
3. San Diego Chargers: Robert Nkemdiche, DL, Ole Miss
This isn't an easy pick, but Robert Nkemdiche is the best raw talent in college football behind his teammate, Laremy Tunsil. Despite his off-field concerns, he still has the potential to land in the top three picks.
4. Dallas Cowboys: Joey Bosa, Edge, Ohio State
The top pass-rusher in college football joins a team that likely will need to replace Greg Hardy. Joey Bosa, despite the bowl game ejection, is easily a top-five lock at this point.
5. Jacksonville Jaguars: Jalen Ramsey, CB, Florida State
The Jacksonville Jaguars don't have building blocks on the defensive side of the ball. Hopefully, with Dante Fowler and Jalen Ramsey, who can either play safety or cornerback opposite Davon House, they can turn that around in what looks to be "the year" for Gus Bradley and Co.
.png?w=480)
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
