The 2020 NFL regular season is complete. There is only one more college football game to be played: the College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday between Alabama and the state of Ohio. Eighteen of the 32 NFL teams know where they will select in the 2021 NFL draft and have turned their attention to that. So it certainly seems like a good time to predict how the first round will go in April.
It is still very early. This month’s Senior Bowl offers scouts the chance to see players who didn’t have a lot of tape in a shortened season this year, and the NFL scouting combo will be teams’ first look in more than a year at numerous highly regarded drafts. prospects who have picked out the 2020 season amid the coronavirus pandemic. Reviewers, myself included, still have a lot of tape to watch and a lot of interviews. Leaderboards will change, as will the back half of the draft order used here – which was determined by ESPN’s Football Power Index projections.
But that much is certain at this point, just under four months to go: the class is full of talent. I currently have 22 players with a rating of more than 90 – which I use to identify real prospects in the first round – including a handful of quarterbacks. So how will it all happen? Let’s predict the first 32 picks of the 2021 NFL draft, starting with a one-win Jaguars team. And don’t forget to watch our mock draft special, live on ESPN + at 5:00 PM ET.
Note: The draft order is set for pick numbers 1-18. For Choice Nos. 19-32, we used projections from ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI). Underclassmen are indicated with an asterisk.
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Trevor Lawrence, QB, Clemson *
Were you expecting someone else? I haven’t seen a quarterback prospect like Lawrence in nearly a decade, and the Jaguars are definitely in the market for it. Gardner Minshew II, Mike Glennon and Jake Luton combined for the NFL’s second worst Total QBR in 2020 (43.7). Jacksonville is getting a new general manager and coach after losing 15 games, and the six-foot Lawrence – who has a massive arm, good mobility in his pocket and all the intangibles you could wish for – team new direction a starting quarterback who should soon be among the best in the NFL. Lawrence stated on Wednesday for the draft.
