2019 NFL Draft: First Team Offense

Right Tackle: Dalton Risner, Kansas St.

When it comes to this list, there will not be a single player mentioned that isn’t already a made man in terms of being a world-class talent, up to this point in their career, on the football field.

That being said, what will separate Jimmy from Joe after the draft will be what type of individual they are from the neck up. It may sound cliche, but it’s clear these teams spend tremendous amounts of resources, from visits to background checks, searching for the intangibles that consistently produce greatness. Discovering everything there is to know about a prospect because they need to know the individual is fully committed to the game of football.

Dalton Risner has put more than enough on tape to warrant a top-40 pick. I mean hell, he was the Big-12 offensive lineman of the year last season. Not Cody Ford, not Yodny Cajuste, not even that monster Creed Humphrey (store this name away for next draft season). He started 51 of 52 games in his four-year career at both center and tacke.

As for the intangibles portion of it goes, how does three-time captain sound? In the four years he was eligible to play, he was called upon to be a leader of his fellow men three times. He’s only the fifth person to do so in the 107-year history of the K-State football program.

Everyone’s got a hill to die on during these drafts. Every year. I feel comfortable knowing that mine’s Dalton Risner, the kid from Wiggins, Colorado. A town of maybe a thousand people, that most would consider one of those “fly over towns.”

Because it’s great to be the most talented guy in the bunch, but it’s really special to be the hardest worker in the bunch too. There just isn’t another way in Wiggins.