One of the best days of the year for NFL fans is finally here, NFL Draft night. The first round of a three-day event is a few hours away, and there haven’t been any major leaks or news… yet.
There’s been speculation surrounding what the Jacksonville Jaguars will do with the No. 1 pick. Predraft discourse largely focused on whether they’d draft an offensive tackle to protect last year’s No. 1 pick, Trevor Lawrence, but this week they reached a contract extension with left tackle Cam Robinson. That doesn’t mean they can’t shore up other line needs, but they’d be paying a hefty amount.
Oregon’s Kayvon Thibodeaux was the surefire No. 1 pick before an injury ended his Ducks career. The edge rusher may not even be the top at his position if Michigan’s Aidan Hutchinson is selected ahead of him.
Some have speculated the Detroit Lions pick the Wolverine, but the latest report is that teams believe Detroit is leaning toward Thibodeaux, who recently said he wants to play for Lions coach Dan Campbell.
QB conundrum
This year’s event could break a string of four straight, with the No. 1 overall pick being a quarterback. The past drafts saw the franchise-altering position have the following selected as the top pick: Cleveland selecting Baker Mayfield in 2018; Arizona picking Kyler Murray in 2019; Cincinnati taking Joe Burrow in 2020; and the Jags taking Lawrence last year.
Worse yet, the quarterback situation of teams with top-five picks is pretty steady. If a quarterback doesn’t go in the top five, it will be the first time since the 2013 NFL Draft that happened.
Though news broke Thursday that the New York Giants will not pick up the fifth-year option on Daniel Jones’ rookie contract. Perhaps that leads to an extension, or one of Liberty’s Malik Willis, Pitt’s Kenny Pickett, Ole Miss’ Matt Corral, or Cincinnati’s Desmond Ridder to be selected fifth overall to the Giants.
It’s also possible the Giants look to trade the fifth overall pick because the Carolina Panthers sit sixth overall. This week, the Panthers’ general manager reportedly told veteran Sam Darnold they might select a quarterback in the draft. Though a report Thursday said the Panthers’ owner voiced support for head coach Matt Rhule and Darnold.
While the smoke settles early in the first round, the biggest play for a quarterback may be a team acquiring Mayfield from the Browns. As part of the offseason quarterback shuffling, the Browns acquired Deshaun Watson, and Mayfield may be the best option over drafting in a weak QB class.
Minting mask
It seems there is some sort of viral incident with each NFL draft, perhaps none more memorable in recent years than Laremy Tunsil’s Twitter account posting a video of him smoking marijuana out of a gas mask before the 2016 draft. To this day, Tunsil sticks by his claim that his account was hacked.
He’s making light of it, though, by minting a non-fungible token (NFT) of the video. He slipped to 13th overall and is doing fine, recently agreeing to a three-year extension valued at $50 million guaranteed with the Houston Texans.
He also said, in a tweet, he’ll donate a portion of the proceeds to The Last Prisoner Project, which supports people incarcerated for marijuana offenses.
Scholarship fund started
Peyton Manning is partnering with Georgia Tech to honor alumnus Demaryius Thomas, Manning’s teammate with the Denver Broncos and a former Yellow Jacket. Thomas died Dec. 9 at age 33.
The Demaryius Thomas scholarship endowment will go toward incoming freshmen from Laurens County, Georgia. Thomas was born and raised there, and the scholarship will go to individuals who have significant financial need and academic achievement.
It will be a partial or full scholarship that will go through the duration of the students’ time at Georgia Tech.
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