NFL Mock Draft 2017: 1st-Round Projections and Prospects to Watch

The 2017 NFL draft is now less than a month away. While we've been quite familiar with many of the top prospects since the collegiate season, we've learned a lot more about some of them over the past couple months.

Whether at the NFL Scouting Combine or during pro-day workouts, several players have managed to boost their draft stocks since the end of the 2016 season. Some of them have even managed to go from under the radar directly into the spotlight.

Here, we'll be looking at some of the prospects whose stock has been or is on the rise. We're not talking about guys who have been considered high first-round picks throughout the entire process—like Myles Garrett, Jamal Adams or Jonathan Allen. Instead, we'll focus on players you might not be as familiar with but should follow leading up to the April 27 draft.

We'll also at a look at our latest mock draft. We'll run down the current draft order and make our projections based on factors like player potential, prospect stock, team needs and team fits.

2017 NFL Mock Draft

Pick	NFL Team	Proj. Selection
1	Cleveland Browns	Myles Garrett, DE, Texas A&M
2	San Francisco 49ers	Jamal Adams, S, LSU
3	Chicago Bears	Solomon Thomas, DE, Stanford
4	Jacksonville Jaguars	Leonard Fournette, RB, LSU
5	Tennessee Titans (from LAR)	Corey Davis, WR, Western Michigan
6	New York Jets	Malik Hooker, S, Ohio State
7	Los Angeles Chargers	Jonathan Allen, DL, Alabama
8	Carolina Panthers	Marshon Lattimore, CB, Ohio State
9	Cincinnati Bengals	Reuben Foster, LB, Alabama
10	Buffalo Bills	Mike Williams, WR, Clemson
11	New Orleans Saints	Derek Barnett, DE, Tennessee
12	Cleveland Browns (from PHI)	Mitchell Trubisky, QB, North Carolina
13	Arizona Cardinals	Deshaun Watson, QB, Clemson
14	Philadelphia Eagles (from MIN)	Tre'Davious White, CB, LSU
15	Indianapolis Colts	Haason Reddick, LB, Temple
16	Baltimore Ravens	O.J. Howard, TE, Alabama
17	Washington Redskins	Malik McDowell, DT, Michigan State
18	Tennessee Titans	Charles Harris, DE, Missouri
19	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Christian McCaffrey, RB, Stanford
20	Denver Broncos	Forrest Lamp, OL, Western Kentucky
21	Detroit Lions	Takkarist McKinley, LB, UCLA
22	Miami Dolphins	Gareon Conley, CB, Ohio State
23	New York Giants	David Njoku, TE, Miami
24	Oakland Raiders	Jabrill Peppers, LB, Michigan
25	Houston Texans	Patrick Mahomes, QB, Texas Tech
26	Seattle Seahawks	Garett Bolles, OT, Utah
27	Kansas City Chiefs	John Ross, WR, Washington
28	Dallas Cowboys	Taco Charlton, DE, Michigan
29	Green Bay Packers	Dalvin Cook, RB, Florida State
30	Pittsburgh Steelers	Jordan Willis, DE, Kansas State
31	Atlanta Falcons	Dan Feeney, OG, Indiana
32	New Orleans Saints (from NE)	Kevin King, CB, Washington

Prospects to Watch

Patrick Mahomes, QB, Texas Tech

NFL fans may now be familiar with former Texas Tech signal-caller Patrick Mahomes, but this may not have been the case a few months ago. Early in the draft process, the perceived top quarterbacks were North Carolina's Mitchell Trubisky, Notre Dame's DeShone Kizer and Clemson's Deshaun Watson.

Mahomes, though, has emerged as an extremely popular quarterback prospect.

"He's different. He's a gunslinger, he's got an innate feel for the game," NFL Media's Mike Mayock said of Mahomes in February, per Chase Goodbread of NFL.com. "The more I look at him, the more I push him higher and closer to that first-round conversation."

Strong performances at the combine and at Texas Tech's pro day have only raised Mahomes' stock.

"His stock is as high as ever," Emily Kaplan of TheMMQB.com recently wrote. "Since the combine, Mahomes has scheduled 18 team visits or private workouts, meaning more than half of the NFL is doing its due diligence."

It's not difficult to see why teams are at least intrigued by the former Red Raider. He has adequate size (6'2", 225 lbs), a rocket arm and decent athleticism. At the combine, he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.8 seconds and ran the short shuttle in 4.08 seconds.

This combination of short-area quickness and arm strength makes Mahomes a pretty interesting prospect. The fact that he passed for 5,052 yards and 41 touchdowns last season will also grab some attention.

Mahomes is now almost looking like a surefire first-round pick—especially with Tony Romo off the board for quarterback-needy teams. It will be worth following Mahomes in order to see just how high he can go in the draft.

Jordan Willis, DE, Kansas State

Another prospect creeping into the first-round conversation is former Kansas State defensive end Jordan Willis. While Willis hasn't garnered the attention of guys like Garrett, Alabama's Jonathan Allen or UCLA's Takkarist McKinley, he does project as an impactful pro pass-rusher.

Willis has the production to make teams consider him early in the draft. He racked up 21 sacks over the past two seasons and was rated first overall among college edge defenders by Pro Football Focus for the 2016 season.

Willis has only increased his stock since the end of the season. He ran an impressive 4.53-second 40 at the combine to go with a 39-inch vertical and 24 reps on the bench press.

"I thought Jordan Willis of Kansas State opened up a lot of eyes today with speed and quickness," NFL Network's Charles Davis said, per Terez A. Paylor of the Kansas City Star. "We saw him play very hard with great effort at Kansas State; I think he's a little more athletic than people thought."

At the very least, Willis is looking like an early Day 2 prospect. However, he could easily end up in the bottom of Round 1, depending on the popularity of pass-rushers at the top of the round. In a draft with less defensive depth, he would almost certainly be selected on the opening night of the draft.

At 6'4" and 255 pounds, Willis could be an outside linebacker in a 3-4 alignment or a speed-rushing end in a 4-3. This means he could be a fit for virtually any of the league's 32 teams.

Kevin King, CB, Washington

Former Washington cornerback Kevin King has emerged as a trendy first-round prospect in recent weeks because of his combination of size (6'3", 200 lbs) and quickness (he ran a 4.43-second 40 at the combine).

"Kevin King's height, length and ball skills show up on tape, but he was even better at the combine," one NFL executive told NFL Media's Daniel Jeremiah. "He owned that event. It's hard to find corners with that combination of length and movement ability."

"Kevin King is going to go in the first round," another executive said. "He killed it at the combine, and his pro day was unbelievably impressive."

I've been going back and forth on whether or not King would be a smart pick for the New Orleans Saints in Round 1 because I believe his size would be a benefit against some of the bigger receivers in the NFC South.

However, there are certainly reasons to question the hype surrounding King, as Bleacher Report's Doug Farrar recently pointed out:

We simply haven't seen a lot of 6'3" cornerbacks succeed in the NFL, and it's fair to wonder if King has too much length to be a star at the position. It should be fun following King over these last few weeks because his draft stock seems to have such a wide range.

Some teams and draft analyst likely view him as too much of a risk for the first round. Others could see him as a first-round lock. ESPN's Todd McShay, for example, recently mocked King to the Oakland Raiders at 24th overall.