After looking at the offensive tackle class earlier in the week, we shift back to the defensive side of the ball, to the guys trying to give them trouble off the edge. This may not perceived as a great class by the general public, because it doesn’t have that clear front-runner, as we have seen in recent years, but I think the top name for me should absolutely get more hype and this is actually a really deep class, even if it may include plenty of developmental edge rushers.
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Top 10 offensive tackles in the 2021 NFL Draft:
We are starting our second week of positional breakdowns, where we’ll once again go over an offensive and a defensive group. Last week we talked about running backs and linebackers. This week we’re looking at the offensive tackle class and then later on at edge rushers, which there will also once again be a Youtube video on.
As far as this offensive tackle group goes, the top three I believe stacks up favorably even to what we had last year and this top seven or eight is probably as good as I have seen. I will talk about the individual prospects in detail here, but as a general overview – right now I have numbers one to three as top 15 overall prospects and there is a chance the top eight names will all land in my top 40. However, the talent level drops off dramatically once you get past the first 13-14 names or so. So there could be massive run on the position from the latter half of the first round through the second.
Let’s get into it:
Top 10 linebackers in the 2021 NFL Draft:
Continuing our series of the top ten prospects at each position in the draft – we already broke down the best available running backs earlier this week, so now it’s time look at their defensive counterparts. Once again, I evaluated the talent on the field and how I think these players project to the next level, without consideration of injuries and off-the-field concerns that may be hurt these names when NFL front offices make their decisions come late April.
In this edition, we are looking at the linebacker position, which I categorize as all off-ball second level defenders. So this won’t include edge rushers, like 3-4 outside backers, even though some of them may have been used as that to some degree. This class might not be very deep necessarily, but in terms of this top ten in particular, it might actually be an underrated one.
Here is how I have these names stacked up:
Top 10 running backs in the 2021 NFL Draft:
We have finally reached the point, where I’m ready to put out my final positional rankings and break down the top ten (plus) prospects at each spot. For all these analyses, I purely evaluated what I saw on tape, in terms of requirements for the position, how their skill-set will translate to the next level and then explain what kind of scheme they would fit best, as well as how diverse they are.
We’ll start with the running backs today and then talk about linebackers later on in the week. And that’s how we’ll kind of go position by position, switching between offense and their defensive counterparts (so offensive tackles and edge rushers one week, then wide receivers and cornerbacks, etc.). I studied between 20 and 30 players of every group, depending on deep that class was and if you want to hear my thoughts on any of the players not mentioned, just comment down below or contact me on my social media outlets (links up in the top bar) and I will share my notes with you.
I will also have at least one video per week coming out, where I talk about one of these position groups and will likely do either side of the ball on an alternate basis, like I did last year. So make sure to subscribe to my Youtube channel!
Now let’s get into our first list:
NFL 2021 Free Agency Preview
We’re exactly two weeks away from the official start of the new league year and with that the moment these free agent deals with go through – even if a large partion of them will already come out during the tempering period. So let’s go through the characteristics for this year and break down which players are actually available!
Favorite team-prospect fits for the 2021 NFL Draft:
Now that we have really entered the offseason and with free agency in sight, which should offer us some good content as well, I wanted to focus on some of the most logical connections between certain draft prospects and the teams I could see target them in a certain range. I will not discuss Trevor Lawrence going number one overall to the Jaguars, because that’s obviously been a done deal for a while and a great fit. Instead, I want to dive more into the area of the draft, where it gets more interesting, which you can argue really starts at second overall with the Jets, but I would strongly guess that three of the first four picks will end up being quarterbacks. So from that point on is really where we look at potential landing spots for all of these prospects, working our way down the board and projecting which picks are actually reasonable, in regard to the position of the team’s selection and the player’s expected range of outcome.
Make sure to check back here or on my Youtube channel next week for a detailed preview of free agency, where we will discuss some of the specifics for this year, break down different position groups and maybe look at some of the fits I see for those names about to hit the market.
Analyzing quarterbacks that could be on the move:
There may not be any NFL games until September now, but we have a unique and fascinating offseason ahead of us and it all starts with where all these quarterbacks go. Let’s talk about how likely it is that these guys are on the move and where I think they could go.
Biggest standouts from the 2021 Senior Bowl:
Since I invested so much time into my Super Bowl preview and a video on the ten biggest questions heading into the big game, I only got around to re-watching all the practice footage from Senior Bowl this week and with this being the only really meaningful event in this year’s pre-draft process – since the combine has already been canceled and pro days will be pretty limited as well – I think it was certainly worth studying in more detail and point out the college prospects, that impressed me the most.
This has nothing to do with any ranking or who the best players were overall, but rather who helped themselves the most with their week of practice and the actual game down in Mobile. I’m going to work through this position-by-position and explain what these young men did to make the scouts go back and watch what they might have missed originally on tape, showed in terms of something they weren’t really asked at their respective schools or in the case of smaller school prospects – how they proved that they can perform against more talented competition.
Here’s the guys that really stood out to me:
Super Bowl LV recap:
The 2020 NFL season has come to a close with Super Bowl LV and we are breaking the big game down in detail – a general recap, either offense vs. the opposing defense and a look ahead to the offseason for both teams!
Ten biggest questions heading into Super Bowl LV:
Super Bowl LV is only days away and it’s time to answer the biggest questions heading into the big game!
Bucs early down strategy, Chiefs plan for offensive tackles and much more!
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