2021 NFL Draft: Chicago Bears trade up for QB in two-round mock draft
2021 NFL Draft: Two-round mock draft with Sam Darnold on the move.
The NFL regular season is quickly coming to an end. It has been far from perfect, but we are just a few weeks from the postseason. What follows the postseason? Why the 2021 NFL Draft, of course!
As a resident of northeast Ohio, I hope that the 2021 NFL Draft will be able to happen live in Cleveland as planned in late April. But whether or not it will be a live event, the 2021 NFL Draft will happen, and it will be here before you know it.
With the college football season winding down as well, draft evaluators now have the majority of the tape that they will need to put together their scouting reports for the 2021 NFL Draft prospects.
Using the film that I have been able to gather to this point, I have put together my first 2021 NFL mock draft of the season. This two-round mock features three first-round trades, impacted by the very first selection.
Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. Quarterback. player. Clemson. Trevor Lawrence . 1. 30
“Tank for Trevor” has been the mantra of many teams leading up to the 2021 NFL Draft. Any quarterback-needy team has surely been eyeing Clemson phenom, Trevor Lawrence, since his debut as a freshman a few years back.
While I don’t think this decision should be as clear as most, it seems inevitable that Lawrence will be the first player selected in the 2021 NFL Draft.
First off, Lawrence fits the bill as your prototypical NFL quarterback. He has desirable height and size for the classic big-body gunslinger. But where Lawrence really changes the game is with his athleticism.
Trevor Lawrence is really one of the best running quarterbacks in college football. Even at his size, Lawrence uses his long strides to gallop quickly down the field and utilizes his large frame to fight for extra yards when need be. He is an outstanding decision-maker in the read-option, often baiting defenders to crash to the back, allowing him to walk in for a score near the goal line.
With his arm, Lawrence is as talented as any as well. He has the ability to make any throw on the field. He has the arm strength and the touch to hit receivers in stride down the field and the zip to place the ball exactly where it needs to be over the middle of the field or on the boundary.
The offense that Lawrence ran at Clemson, along with the plethora of NFL talent that he had around him made it a little tough for me to fully evaluate Lawrence. With the quick-hitting, RPO/play action-heavy offense that Lawrence operated, there wasn’t a wide variety of throws to see.
He was either reading the defender and quickly hitting a receiver just beyond the line of scrimmage or hitting a wide-open receiver deep down the field. Having players like Travis Etienne, Tee Higgins, Justyn Ross, and Amari Rogers at his disposal and an offensive line full of NFLers as well, life was never too difficult for Lawrence.
Could he replicate his success with a depleted New York Jets roster? I don’t think it’s quite clear as day. Even at Clemson, Lawrence struggled with overthrows at times. It will be very intriguing to me to see how much success he can find with a severely less-talented roster. The Jets will almost certainly give it a shot atop the 2021 NFL Draft and will move on from their current starting quarterback.