It’s the official NFL draft season. Let’s start with my preliminary projections for the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft, starting with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 1st place.
This will be one of the most interesting projects since we started covering them more than 40 years ago. The COVID-19 pandemic brought extraordinary changes to the preliminary design process. There is no NFL combination. Professional days will be limited to teams. This week’s Senior Bowl is the only event in which coaches, scouts and front-office directors will be able to meet the potential – through Plexiglas.
A year ago, the whole discussion was about the winner of the Heisman Trophy, Joe Burrow, and his rise to the top. There has been little drama surrounding the election of the Cincinnati Bengals in 1st place this year? Well, let’s say the project starts with the New York Jets at number 2. There will be a lot of drama in the next three months until round 1 starts on April 29th.
Let’s go to the polls. The draft order for elections 1-30 is set and we use the ESPN Football Power Index to choose elections no. 31 and 32. I will be in shows throughout the day, culminating with Special SportsCenter: Nock Mock Draft 1.0 by Mel Kiper at 17:00 ET on ESPN2 and the ESPN app.
