2016 NFL Draft: Top Prospects, Sleepers and Final 1st-Round Mock Picks

Draft weekend is the best time to be an NFL fan. It's the only time of year when all 32 teams converge in one space with hopes of building the foundation for winning a Super Bowl by either drafting for the future or getting the final piece of the championship puzzle. 

The 2016 NFL draft has already seen its share of shake-ups, which started last May, when the New England Patriots lost their first-round pick as part of their Deflategate punishment.

The Philadelphia Eagles made two moves, first a deal with the Miami Dolphins to go from No. 13 to No. 8. They followed that with a blockbuster trade with the Cleveland Browns for the No. 2 pick. Preceding that, the Los Angeles Rams made their big move, paying a fortune to the Tennessee Titans for the top pick. 

Before Thursday's first round commences at 8 p.m. ET, here is a mock draft showing how things will likely play out as well as names to watch throughout the weekend. 

Pick	Team	Selection
1	Los Angeles Rams (acquired from Tennessee Titans)	Jared Goff, QB, California
2	Philadelphia Eagles (acquired from Cleveland Browns)	Carson Wentz, QB, North Dakota State
3	San Diego Chargers	Laremy Tunsil, OT, Mississippi
4	Dallas Cowboys	Ezekiel Elliott, RB, Ohio State
5	Jacksonville Jaguars	Jalen Ramsey, DB, Florida State
6	Baltimore Ravens	Joey Bosa, DE, Ohio State
7	San Francisco 49ers	DeForest Buckner, DE, Oregon
8	Cleveland Browns (acquired from Philadelphia Eagles via Miami Dolphins)	Myles Jack, LB, UCLA
9	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Ronnie Stanley, OT, Notre Dame
10	New York Giants	Leonard Floyd, LB, Georgia
11	Chicago Bears	Jack Conklin, OT, Michigan State
12	New Orleans Saints	Sheldon Rankins, DT, Louisville
13	Miami Dolphins (acquired from Philadelphia Eagles)	Vernon Hargreaves III, CB, Florida
14	Oakland Raiders	Taylor Decker, OT, Ohio State
15	Tennessee Titans (acquired from Los Angeles Rams)	William Jackson, CB, Houston
16	Detroit Lions	Ryan Kelly, C, Alabama
17	Atlanta Falcons	Darron Lee, LB, Ohio State
18	Indianapolis Colts	Shaq Lawson, DE, Clemson
19	Buffalo Bills	Jarran Reed, DT, Alabama
20	New York Jets	Vernon Butler, DT, Louisiana Tech
21	Washington	Laquon Treadwell, WR, Mississippi
22	Houston Texans	Will Fuller, WR, Notre Dame
23	Minnesota Vikings	Josh Doctson, WR, TCU
24	Cincinnati Bengals	Corey Coleman, WR, Baylor
25	Pittsburgh Steelers	Eli Apple, CB, Ohio State
26	Seattle Seahawks	Germain Ifedi, OT, Texas A&M
27	Green Bay Packers	Reggie Ragland, LB, Alabama
28	Kansas City Chiefs	Chris Jones, DT, Mississippi State
29	Arizona Cardinals	Mackensie Alexander, CB, Clemson
30	Carolina Panthers	Michael Thomas, WR, Ohio State
31	Denver Broncos	Karl Joseph, DB, West Virginia

The Best Talent: Myles Jack, LB

Here's a spoiler alert: I don't care what information NFL teams are putting out about Myles Jack's knee; it reeks of questionable gamesmanship in order to get an elite talent to fall. 

NFL.com's Ian Rapoport reported Tuesday that Jack is now considered "vulnerable to a draft-day fall thanks to medical reports on his surgically repaired right knee."

One general manager told Rapoport: "It's not about if [Jack's] healthy now. It's about if he gets through his second contract."

Credit should go to Jack, who, during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show (via NFL.com's Chase Goodbread), said he thinks discussion about his knee could be "a smokescreen" to benefit teams in the first round that want him. 

Questionable league politics aside, it's easy to understand why Jack would warrant so much attention. He's a wildly talented athlete who is listed as a linebacker but has the ability to do almost anything on defense. 

According to Pro Football Focus, Jack had the highest grade in coverage among linebackers in 2014, ranked 21st against the run and had nine quarterback hurries in just 66 pass-rushing attempts that same season. 

Doug Farrar of Sports Illustrated did not hold back in his praise of Jack's all-around ability and versatility as a pro prospect:

"

Jack is the best coverage linebacker in this class, and maybe one of the few best ever to come out of the college ranks. Has legitimate ability to cover running backs on screens, slot receivers up the seam and over the middle, and speed receivers up the boundary. Times his pass breakups impeccably to break up plays—can flirt with interference calls at times, but manages to stay on the right side of things most times

"

This isn't to dismiss Jack's knee injury, because it is worth noting, but it's a torn meniscus. This isn't a player who ripped his ACL to shreds or has severe ligament damage—like Marcus Lattimore did or Notre Dame's Jaylon Smith may have done in the Fiesta Bowl, per USA Today's Tom Pelissero. 

Jack is a rare talent who would be in the mix for the No. 1 overall pick if the knee injury hadn't happened and if Tennessee had stayed in that spot. The Rams and Eagles can have their quarterbacks, but there's no reason for any team starting with the San Diego Chargers at No. 3 to pass on Jack. 

Second-Day Standout: Robert Nkemdiche, DT

No player in this year's draft is harder to gauge in terms of where will he go than Robert Nkemdiche. It's hard to deny the talent he brings on the field, but the questions about him away from the gridiron continue to knock him down. 

Eric Edholm of Yahoo Sports' Shutdown Corner labeled Nkemdiche "a gifted mystery" in his scouting write-up: 

"

Incredibly gifted big man who has one of the most NFL-ready frames in the entire draft. Nkemdiche has played multiple techniques along the line, moves with ease, can win with power and showed an explosive first step that could even give NFL offensive linemen trouble right away. The former five-star recruit leaves a bit of a mixed legacy at Ole Miss, with his play starting to reach an elite level last season prior to a late-season concussion and his bizarre arrest in an Atlanta hotel.

"

The last part is where NFL teams get skittish about Nkemdiche. Mississippi head coach Hugh Freeze suspended the defensive tackle for the Sugar Bowl after he was arrested and charged with marijuana possession. 

Detroit Lions general manager Bob Quinn, whose team lost Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley to free agency last year and has a need at defensive tackle, told Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press that the Lions have labeled Nkemdiche a "red-flag" player:

"

If they have a red flag -- and that’s not what we use on our draft card, that’s just a generic term that we spoke about, I think it was at the combine. That’s just things that we have to consider the value of the player compared to the risk involved in taking him. So it’s not like these guys are off the board. You just got to manage the risk and the reward of taking a guy like that.

"

Because of these questions, Nkemdiche doesn't make it into the first round of this mock draft. It wouldn't be a surprise if he did on Thursday, though. ESPN.com's Todd McShay had the Seattle Seahawks taking the Ole Miss star in his fifth mock draft. 

A team like Seattle, with a loaded roster and strong infrastructure in the front office, can afford to gamble on Nkemdiche's talent. But the Seahawks also haven't made a first-round pick since 2012, so even when they take a risk on talent or character, it's coming on Day 2. 

If Nkemdiche can learn a lesson from other players who entered the NFL with character concerns—the most notable recent example being the Arizona Cardinals' Tyrann Mathieu—he will be one of the biggest steals in this class. 

Day-Three Sleeper: Devin Lucien, WR

Jeff Chiu/Associated Press

The true test of a great NFL franchise is finding diamonds in the rough during the draft. Teams can find talent in any round, but it takes a special front office to identify what makes a certain player special and maximize his potential in games.

Arizona State wide receiver Devin Lucien has most of the raw ingredients to be a starting wide receiver in the NFL. 

Per Kaelen Jones of SB Nation's House of Sparky, during Arizona State's pro day in March, Lucien had an unofficial 40 time of 4.42 seconds, a 34 ½-inch vertical and 10 ⅛-inch hands. 

By comparison, per NFL.com, Mississippi star and projected first-round pick Laquon Treadwell has 9 ½-inch hands and a 33-inch vertical. He ran an unofficial 4.65-second 40-yard dash at Mississippi's pro day. 

Virtually every mock draft you will see, including mine, has Treadwell comfortably in the first round. Lucien, on the other hand, isn't going to sniff the first round and probably won't hear his name called until Day 3. 

ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. has Lucien ranked as the No. 41 wide receiver in this class. Pro Football Focus thinks highly of the Sun Devils standout, citing his excellent hands and run-after-the-catch skills:

"

Lucien may have the best hands in the draft. He dropped just five passes over the past two seasons, despite QB play that made most receptions a challenge. Even “accurate” passes were all over the place from a ball-location standpoint, forcing Lucien to make impressive catches on relatively routine receptions.

[...]

He has good run-after-the-catch ability, gained 365 of his yards after the catch this season, breaking nine tackles with the ball in his hands. Lucien will bounce off would-be tacklers at times in a way somebody of his size (6-foot, 195 pounds), probably shouldn’t be able to.

"

Lucien is not highly regarded in the draft because he's a smaller player (6'0", 195 lbs), as PFF noted, and his separation skills are erratic. He does have to add bulk if he wants to get off the line against press coverage at the next level. 

But when I look at wide receivers, the two things I want to know above all else are if they can catch the ball in any scenario and if they can get away from defenders after making the catch.

Lucien is a playmaking gem stuck in an undersized frame, but it will work to the benefit of a team that can wait on him to be available in the fifth or sixth round before adding him to its receiving corps.