Notre Dame's DeShone Kizer Still High On NFL Draft Radar
Taking a look at where Notre Dame's top NFL draft-eligible players rank through seven games.
Pro Football Focus (Updated Oct. 24)
In PFF’s Top 32 prospects for the 2017 draft, senior left tackle Mike McGlinchey is rated as the No. 22 player. Since making the transition from right to left tackle, the 6-foot-8, 310-pound McGlinchey has remained “one of the nation’s top run blockers,” PFF writes, and has been as productive as any Power 5 offensive tackle the past two seasons.
PFF also ranks junior left guard Quenton Nelson as the No. 32 prospect in the draft, a player that is one of the country’s “best all-around packages” at his position. Nelson has two seasons of eligibility remaining, while McGlinchey has one and has stated that he intends on returning for a fifth season.
Though many mock drafts and projections rank Notre Dame junior quarterback DeShone Kizer as a top-five pick, PFF does not list the right-hander from Toledo, Ohio, in its Top 32 prospects. Kizer is in the “watch list” category, trailing quarterback DeShaun Watson of Clemson (No. 14).
ESPN’s Todd McShay (Updated Oct. 5)
On McShay’s Big Board, the ESPN analyst ranks three Notre Dame players among his top draft eligible prospects. Kizer comes in at No. 23, receiving a grade of 88.
McGlinchey is also an 88, ranked at No. 24. Nelson is an 87 and ranked 25th overall. McGlinchey and Nelson — who form one of the best offensive line tandems in the country — at the No. 2 and 3 offensive linemen on McShay’s board, trailing only Alabama left tackle Cam Robinson.
ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. (Updated Sept. 29)
Kiper has only one Notre Dame player on his Big Board, slotting McGlinchey at No. 21 overall.
In his position-by-position rankings, Kizer is rated as the No. 3 underclassman quarterback, trailing Watson and Miami’s Brad Kaaya.
Nelson is rated as the No. 1 underclassman guard.
Irish senior Isaac Rochell is rated as the No. 4 senior defensive end by Kiper, trailing only Alabama’s Jonathan Allen.
In their first-round mock drafts, CBS Sports’ Dane Brugler and Rob Rang both have the Cleveland Browns — currently with the worst record in the NFL at 0-7 — selecting Kizer with the top pick.
Rang writes that Kizer “remains quite raw but he possesses the most exciting blend of size, arm talent, mobility and poise among this year's draft-eligible quarterbacks.” Rang also projects McGlinchey — a native of Philadelphia — will be drafted by his hometown Eagles with the No. 32 overall pick.
Brugler writes that Kizer “could be a name high on (the Browns’) list with his intelligence, poise and physical tools at the most important position.”
Sports Illustrated (Updated Sept. 27)
SI’s Chris Burke has Kizer going No. 2 overall to the San Francisco 49ers.
Burke writes: “(Kizer) has the size, athleticism and arm to be an NFL star. The lingering mystery is whether he can put it all together on a consistent basis.”
Through seven games, Kizer is completing 58.1 percent of his 203 passes. That’s down from a year ago, when he connected on 62.9 percent of his 334 passes.
Walter Football (Updated Oct. 27)
In its three-round NFL mock draft, Walter Football projects Kizer as the top overall pick, going to the Browns. The site writes that “some team sources have said that they favor (Kizer) over Deshaun Watson and Brad Kaaya.”
The mock draft also has Nelson going No. 39 overall to the San Diego Chargers and fifth-year senior defensive tackle Jarron Jones going No. 55 to the Houston Texans.
Walter Football draft analyst Charlie Campbell also does a first-round mock (updated Oct. 21), and he also has Kizer going No. 1 to the Brown. He’s also bullish on McGlinchey, projecting him No. 10 overall to the Jacksonville Jaguars. He slots Nelson at No. 28 overall to the Seattle Seahawks as well.
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