2017 NFL Draft: Who Free Falls Out Of The First Round?

This year its definitely happening, and not just to a quarterback. Which players free fall out of round one of the 2017 NFL Draft? Offense beware.

We already hinted at this in our NFL Draft trade preview earlier this week, but when top players get passed over, things get interesting. If players begin to slide on draft day, for whatever reason, teams begin to discuss moving up. Either that, or it starts a landslide, a la Aaron Rodgers back in the day.

Nothing is more uncomfortable than seeing a player squirm in the green room who thought he would be selected two hours ago. But we know its going to happen yet again. Which players free fall out of round one of the 2017 NFL Draft?

Two brothers from New York, Dan Salem and Todd Salem, discuss the 2017 NFL Draft in today’s NFL Sports Debate.

Todd Salem:

Players who fall down draft boards are sometimes easy to predict and other times come out of nowhere. The drug test failers (Reuben Foster and Jabrill Peppers) and alleged criminals (Gareon Conley) are likely to fall, perhaps out of the first round entirely. The quarterbacks can easily fall if one team doesn’t fall in love with them. And that seems the most likely this season, where no one seems to feel great about any specific guy enough to go out on a limb for him. But what about everyone else? Who is going to drop?

A couple of players I have my eyes on are Dalvin Cook and John Ross.

These are two offensive skill players who lots of scouts and analysts love, and yet…Cook may fall because of a number of issues that are going against him. He didn’t test well at all at the Combine, has previous off-field issues that teams hold against him, and doesn’t have as clear a skill set as his positional peers either. Teams may think Cook is as good as some of the other backs, but no one is going to fall in love with him and make a point of selecting him.

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For Ross, just call this a hunch. There are too many defensive weapons and linemen around the back half of the first round where I could see Ross just trickling down and out of day one entirely. After the top two receivers, Ross is a clear tier below, which means teams will feel like it is settling to grab him. The same goes for the tight ends after O.J. Howard. Just the feeling of not getting the best guy could leave some teams looking elsewhere, rather than “settling.”

There is no way to know if this will actually happen, but the digression of tiers at some of the defensive positions seems much more gradual than at the offensive skill spots. For example, the slope of the defensive back position is a nice, calm staircase, where these spots fall off a cliff after the top tier. Obviously, it is hard to pinpoint the literal guy who will be embarrassed in the green room on Thursday, but this is where my head is at.

Dan Salem:

Several players are going to free fall in the 2017 NFL Draft, but it won’t just be our quarterbacks. I think at least one of the top signal callers takes a deep dive down the board. But you are spot on with calling out Dalvin Cook, John Ross, and the tight ends not named O.J. Howard.

ESPN has three tight ends listed in its top 25 available players, which seems ridiculous considering there is no way that three go in Round 1. Will it be considered newsworthy when David Njoku and Evan Engram get passed over on day one? Under normal circumstances I’d say no, but considering how high they are being ranked, it would be noteworthy for both to fall.

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I have a hard time believing that the entire Ohio State defensive backfield goes in Round 1, but that’s how they are being ranked at the moment. I also feel like the “I missed the top guy” syndrome will run rampant on day one of the 2017 NFL Draft. Multiple positions have one stand out name and then the pack. No one wants to overreach and bring about that level of scrutiny. No one wants to leave Aaron Rodgers in the Green Room ever again as well.