The 2017 NFL Draft is over four months away, which means there is plenty of time for draft stocks to soar and collapse in the NFL Draft media. We will have bowl games, all star games, the Combine, private workouts, interviews, and plenty more that could earn or cost players millions of dollars.
One player who might be riding the crazier end of that roller coaster seems to be Clemson quarterback DeShaun Watson. I bring this up in light of recent mock drafts. Pro Football Focus released their second 2017 NFL mock draft of the year, and they have the San Francisco 49ers selecting Watson with the second pick of the draft. Here’s what they had to say about the pick:
While Cleveland can afford to wait on a quarterback, the 49ers will make the move for Watson despite some of the question marks to his game. He made a few too many bad decisions with the ball this season and his accuracy was inconsistent, but Watson continued to bounce back from his mistakes and his work down the stretch has been outstanding, grading as the nation’s top quarterback from Week 9 through the end of the year for the second straight season. Watson has the tools to make the necessary throws, whether zipping one up the seam or throwing downfield with touch while his mobility is an added bonus, particularly if Chip Kelly is finally looking to add more of a quarterback running component to his offense.
This follows Matt Miller’s latest mock draft at Bleacher Report, which has the 49ers landing Watson with their second round pick. People will have varying opinions on the veracity of different draft prognosticators. But opinions most definitely conflict with regard to Watson. ESPN’s Mel Kiper and Todd McShay discussed Watson last week prior to the Heisman Trophy ceremony, and they both think he is a day two pick. Kiper said second or third round, and McShay followed up by saying, “Agree. Day 2.”
The quarterback class as a whole raises plenty of questions. Notre Dame’s DeShone Kizer declared for the draft on Monday, and Mitch Trubisky is expected to follow suit at some point. These three quarterbacks are the ones competing for first round consideration. We could see all three go in the first round, or we very well could see only one or two of them going in the first. It’s going to be a busy four months leading up to the draft.