Not that Tony Pauline is the end-all-be-all, but if they want Vander Carpenter, they may have to trade up for him.
Team boards are rounding into final shape, especially at the top. So how do some teams view the top 15 prospects?
In conversations last week, the day before Josh Allen had his pro-day workout, a team picking in the top 15 -- who shall remained unnamed -- shared the order of top 15 players on its board. It went like this:
1 - Sam Darnold/QB/USC
2 - Josh Allen/QB/Wyoming
3 - Josh Rosen/QB/UCLA
4 - Bradley Chubb/DL/North Carolina State
5 - Saquon Barkley/RB/Penn State
6 - Quenton Nelson/G/Notre Dame
7 - Minkah Fitzpatrick/DB/Alabama
8 - Denzel Ward/CB/Ohio State
9 - Tremaine Edmunds/LB/Virginia Tech
10 - Roquan Smith/LB/Georgia
11 - Baker Mayfield/QB/Oklahoma
12 - Derwin James/S/Florida State
13 - Vita Vea/DL/Washington
14 - Leighton Vander Esch/LB/Boise State
15 - Calvin Ridley/WR/Alabama
First thoughts: I was surprised all three signal callers ranked at the top of the board, as Chubb and Barkley are graded significantly higher on our big board. It should be noted that I was informed that the top spot was fluid, and much depended on the team’s final grade of Josh Allen.
I was also surprised Da'Ron Payne of Alabama did not rank among the top 15. Payne is presently ranked third on our board, and he’s someone I will stubbornly keep there as I craft my grades based on what I expect 2-3 years down the road versus what’s going to happen on draft day.
This team has Roquan Smith as a top-10 prospect, while there are others who believe he could fall into the middle part of Round 1 for a variety of reasons.
I was gratified to see Leighton Vander Esch ranked at No. 14. We presently list Vander Esch at No. 12 on our board, and I posted during the combine that he could be selected as early as the Green Bay Packers -- and got a lot of grief over it -- who ironically own the 14th pick of Round 1.