NFL Draft 2021 – Page 3 – Syndication Server

This former Gators kicker is optimistic about his NFL draft stock

Evan McPherson left the Gators after three years with the team to be a pro, and he’s determined to make the best of his next opportunity.

Florida’s dynamic performance last season was fueled in large part by players who are now departing for the professional ranks. One under-appreciated member of the team who is also parlaying a strong season into an NFL bid is kicker Evan McPherson, who is leaving Gainesville after only his junior season.

Although he was often overlooked thanks to his role on special teams, McPherson was something of a secret weapon for the three seasons he played for the Gators. His career 85% success rate on field goal attempts was his flashiest statistic – it led the SEC by the time he took his final kick in the Orange and Blue.

Although some can boast a high rate of successful kicks, his aim is true on distance attempts as well as shorter ones. He explained his mentality when presented with 50-plus yard kicks to Justin Melo of The Draft Network in a recently featured interview.

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“You can’t go out there and overthink it,” said McPherson. “There’s true value in a kicker that can make the deep kicks. That’s where you separate yourself from the pack. We’re out there to make every single kick. The long ones are the fun ones.”

The thrill of the kick was something of a theme throughout McPhereson’s comments to TDN. Like any of the best players in the game, he doesn’t shrink from the spotlight. He thrives in it.

“As a field goal kicker, we sometimes decide the outcome of a game,” continued McPherson. “That’s very exciting to me. We can win it or lose it. I get a thrill out of that. I enjoy being the deciding factor. I love the pressure that comes with it.”

Yo, this isn’t natural @McPherson_Evan pic.twitter.com/hRN6Dd6x1M

— Alek (@abennett50_) January 27, 2020

The fact of the matter is that kickers rarely hold enough value to a team to make spend draft capital on one worth their while. However, if there’s a kicker deserving of a place among the players selected in the 2021 NFL draft, it’s hard to argue against the former Gator as the pick.

There’s no two ways about it, McPherson is deservingly confident in his place in this draft. He said it best, opining:

“A team should draft me because I’m the top kicker in this draft. I’m going to help a team at the next level.”

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Will Atlanta target Kyle Pitts with the NFL draft’s 4th pick?

If Atlanta decides to pass on a quarterback, making Kyle Pitts the highest-drafted tight end in modern NFL history would be a smart move.

Only one tight end has ever been drafted with the first overall pick, and that was Billy Cannon all the way back in 1960. Since the modern era began in 1970, only one tight end has been taken in the top five: Riley Odoms, who went fifth overall in 1972.

With mock drafts frequently showing former Gators tight end Kyle Pitts being taken by Atlanta with the fourth overall pick, he has the chance to be the highest player drafted at the position in the modern history of the league. And for good reason, as well. He was practically impossible to match up against in college given his size and speed, and with the tight end becoming an increasingly valuable position, NFL general managers are salivating at the thought of landing Pitts.

If the Falcons are going to make history by selecting Pitts, though, it means that they will have to pass on a quarterback at No. 4, which is certainly an option for a team with an aging veteran on a big contract. Sports Illustrated Albert Breer discussed the possibility of the Falcons drafting Pitts and what it would take to make it happen in his latest Monday Morning Quarterback column.

Lots of teams think the Falcons are going to sit where they are and take Florida tight end Kyle Pitts, and really for two reasons. One, the asking price for a team to get up to No. 4 is high, as you’d expect it would be after what the Dolphins got for the third pick. Two, it’s been pointed out by a few people how the Matt Ryan contract restructure makes it more difficult for the Falcons to move on from him not just this year, but next year too—and how if they were looking to set up a quarterback transition, they’d be more likely to take their cap medicine now. So yes, Atlanta’s looked very hard at all the quarterbacks, and the Falcons are among a small group of teams to have multiple people at both pro days for both Fields and Lance. If I had to guess, this may well come down to which quarterback falls to them and how that quarterback compares to Pitts.

If the 49ers, who traded up with Miami for the third overall pick, decide to draft a quarterback like Mac Jones, it’s hard to imagine the Falcons would pass on Justin Fields with the fourth pick. With that being said, Pitts is arguably the top player in this class outside of Trevor Lawrence, and he’d provide an immediate boost to whoever takes him.

If the Falcons decide to pass on the fourth quarterback available, landing Pitts would give it one of the league’s top receiving corps.

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Will Atlanta target Kyle Pitts with the NFL draft’s 4th pick?

If Atlanta decides to pass on a quarterback, making Kyle Pitts the highest-drafted tight end in modern NFL history would be a smart move.

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Lots of teams think the Falcons are going to sit where they are and take Florida tight end Kyle Pitts, and really for two reasons. One, the asking price for a team to get up to No. 4 is high, as you’d expect it would be after what the Dolphins got for the third pick. Two, it’s been pointed out by a few people how the Matt Ryan contract restructure makes it more difficult for the Falcons to move on from him not just this year, but next year too—and how if they were looking to set up a quarterback transition, they’d be more likely to take their cap medicine now. So yes, Atlanta’s looked very hard at all the quarterbacks, and the Falcons are among a small group of teams to have multiple people at both pro days for both Fields and Lance. If I had to guess, this may well come down to which quarterback falls to them and how that quarterback compares to Pitts.

If the Falcons decide to pass on the fourth quarterback available, landing Pitts would give it one of the league’s top receiving corps.

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2021 NFL mock draft: What the if Cowboys trade up to take Kyle Pitts?

One recent rumor that’s gained traction is that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is “infatuated” with uber-talented Florida tight end Kyle Pitts.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published by USA TODAY Sports and has been republished in its entirety below.

The late, great Tom Petty summed it up pretty well 40 years ago this month when we first heard him sing, “The waiting is the hardest part.” Kind of encapsulates where we are in the NFL’s pre-draft season with the main event still 10 days away.

But before that happens, Trey Lance will throw again for scouts, some medical evaluations will continue to await resolution – all as the 32 teams finalize their boards – and the annual, late-stage smokescreens will begin to billow.

One recent rumor that’s gained traction stems from an ESPN report claiming that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is “infatuated” with uber-talented Florida tight end Kyle Pitts. Is that true? Is it counterintelligence? Is it legit even if Jones doesn’t plan a bold move up from No. 10? Hard to know.

But this much is sure: The longtime Dallas head honcho is always intimately involved with his organization’s football operations and desperately wants to win another Lombardi Trophy more than a quarter-century after the franchise won its fifth following the 1995 season. Given that, let’s give it some credence – for now – and bake it into this latest first-round projection of the 2021 draft:

2021 NFL mock draft: What the if Cowboys trade up to take Kyle Pitts?

One recent rumor that’s gained traction is that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is “infatuated” with uber-talented Florida tight end Kyle Pitts.

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Editor’s note: This article was originally published by USA TODAY Sports and has been republished in its entirety below.

This CBS Sports NFL mock draft has Kyle Pitts and Kadarius Toney in top 20

This CBS Sports mock draft shows Kyle Pitts and Kadarius Toney off the board before the 20th pick despite an early run on quarterbacks.

Florida hasn’t had an offensive skill position player drafted in the first round since Tim Tebow in 2010. That streak is almost certain to end with tight end Kyle Pitts, who is nearly universally regarded as a top-10 pick (with a floor in the top 15), but can the Gators get a second player picked in the first 32?

Receiver Kadarius Toney‘s draft stock has been a bit more fluid. Though most mock drafts show him as a first-round pick, likely to go in the 20s, some have him much lower, even falling out of the second round in some instances.

However, this mock from CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones is higher on the pair of former Gators than some are, and he has them both off the board before the 20th pick.

A commonly projected spot for Pitts has been the fourth overall pick, which belongs to the Atlanta Falcons. If Atlanta decides to stay put, it will likely take him. However, this mock shows the Falcons trading the pick to New England, who targets quarterback Trey Lance from North Dakota State there instead.

That opened the door for Pitts to fall to Miami at sixth overall, another commonly projected landing spot.

Chris Grier and Brian Flores worked the draft impeccably to go from No. 3 to 6 and still get a top-flight talent. Pitts is the most versatile tight end prospect we’ve seen in more than a decade.

The Dolphins have been a model for how to conduct a rebuild, and selecting a player like Pitts would be another huge addition. There are questions around quarterback Tua Tagovailoa after a rookie year that left a lot to be desired. But adding Pitts to the mix should help him tremendously.

NEXT: This team aggressively seeks Kadarius Toney

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Pitts remains in top 10 while Toney falls, Trask nowhere to be found in this two-round mock draft

Pitts remains in the top 10 but Trask and Toney are lower than in some other projections in Chris Trapasso’s new two-round mock for CBS.

The only Florida prospect in the upcoming draft without much fluidity to their projection is tight end Kyle Pitts. While other players have been predicted in several different spots in the draft, Pitts has been fairly consistently mocked in the top 10 (or, at worst, top 15). This new two-round mock draft from CBS Sports’ Chris Trapasso is no different.

He has Pitts being selected at No. 7 by the Atlanta Falcons, who he projected would trade down from No. 4 and still take the player many analysts predicted them to. There was talk of the Falcons taking a quarterback, but if they choose to stick with Matt Ryan, then it would make sense to land one of the best offensive weapons in this class.

After their trade back, the Falcons jump at an opportunity to pick Kyle Pitts, and strike a deal with rebuilding Detroit. In this trade, the Lions receive No. 68 (Round 3) and a 2022 fourth-round pick from Atlanta along with the Falcons’ No. 9 overall pick.

NEXT: Kadarius Toney down, Kyle Trask out

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See how high this NFL Network mock draft has Kyle Pitts and Kadarius Toney

Charley Casserly’s latest mock draft has both former Gators Kyle Pitts and Kadarius Toney going near the top of their projected range.

With the NFL draft now less than two weeks away, new projections continue to drop on a daily basis. Though these mock drafts can vary significantly, there’s one player there seems to be near unanimity about in this class: tight end Kyle Pitts.

This latest mock draft from NFL Network’s Charley Casserly is no different. In what was his second mock draft of the season, he has Pitts rising significantly. In his first mock draft back in February, he had Pitts falling all the way to the Patriots at No. 15. Now, he doesn’t even have him getting close to that spot.

Instead, he has him becoming the highest selected tight end since 1960 by Atlanta with the fourth overall pick.

The trade offers aren’t good enough for Atlanta to pass on arguably the best player in this draft class.

With the Falcons, Pitts would be another big-time weapon for an offense that already includes Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley. If they decide not to draft quarterback Matt Ryan’s successor, they’ll likely instead give the veteran a new toy.

NEXT: Kadarius Toney is back in the first round

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Kyle Trask among Bill Belichick ‘interesting group’ of quarterbacks in NFL draft

The Patriots have sent scouts to several of these top prospect’s Pro Days; it’s clear they’re prepared to draft a QB if the fit is right.

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Editor’s note: This article was originally published by The Providence Journal and has been republished in its entirety below.

Bill Belichick isn’t going to come out and say it. The Patriots coach won’t allude to it. He really won’t even hint at the possibility of the Patriots drafting a quarterback in the 2021 NFL draft later this month.

That was clear as the Patriots coach talked on Thursday during his annual pre-draft press conference. Belichick swatted away questions about the quarterback position with ease. However, considering the Patriots quarterback depth chart is Cam Newton (on a one-year deal), Jarrett Stidham and Jake Dolegala, it’s obvious the Patriots are doing everything in their power to study this year’s quarterback draft class.

If you look at whom the Patriots have sent to several of these top prospect’s Pro Days, it’s clear the Pats are prepared to draft a quarterback if the right opportunity presents itself.

“As always, there’s some interesting players,” Belichick said when asked about this year’s quarterback draft class. “I think we talked earlier about the draft process. Some players didn’t play. Some players played a full season. Some played a partial season. So, when you look at the players at that position, I think you see a lot of differences in the 2020 season. A lot of it is by conference, but there are some other circumstances as well. It’s an interesting class. It’s an interesting group of guys. Some are very strong in some skills. Some seem very strong in other skills. It’s definitely an interesting group.”

During his opening statement, Belichick announced that former Patriots defensive coordinator and Lions head coach Matt Patricia has been “heavily involved” in the team’s pre-draft process. Belichick then named three staff members who are in charge of this year’s draft process.

“Dave Ziegler, Eliot Wolf and Matt Groh have really carried the ball on this,” Belichick said. “They’ve done a ton of work and their respected staffs that they oversee as well. In particular, those three guys have really done a tremendous amount of work, evaluation, organization and have done a great job of putting things together.”

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That comment was noteworthy because those three people have been seen around the country, scouting the quarterbacks in this draft class.

On Wednesday, Ziegler (who took over for Nick Caserio) and Groh (a pro scout) joined offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels at Ohio State to see Justin Fields work out. This marked the second pro day for Fields, who is one of the top five quarterback prospects in this draft. It also marked the second time the Pats saw Fields as Wolf (a scouting consultant) was at Ohio State’s first pro day on March 30.

Based on Belichick’s comment, the three men in charge of this predraft process along with McDaniels have all been to Ohio State to see Fields throw the ball. But Fields isn’t the only quarterback connected to the Patriots in this draft.

In fact, almost all of them are.

Wolf went to BYU, where quarterback Zach Wilson worked out. Groh went to North Dakota State, where Trey Lance worked out. Belichick and McDaniels were at Alabama where Mac Jones worked out. McDaniels then went to Florida to see quarterback Kyle Trask. At the Senior Bowl, the Pats met with Jones and quarterbacks Jamie Newman and Kellen Mond. The Patriots also had a representative at Mond’s Texas A&M pro day, and the Boston Globe reported that he’s been in contact with McDaniels.

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The Patriots were also present at pro days with quarterbacks Trevor Lawrence (Clemson), Davis Mills (Stanford), Sam Ehlinger (Texas), Ryan Willis (Virginia Tech) and Collin Hill (South Carolina).

Belichick was also asked about the trend at quarterback with players being more athletic compared to a typical pocket passer. He wouldn’t say that he prefers either but did say the team is willing to make their offense work with anyone who is talented.

“Every team has their own style of player. Their own style of offense,” Belichick said. “You’re looking for a player who will fit your style or maybe you want to adapt your style to that player… We’ve had a couple different styles of players at that position and we’ve tried to do that in those examples.”

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These two Gators will be featured on ESPN’s programming ahead of NFL draft

The NFL’s 2021 draft is rapidly approaching and in the days leading up Florida fans have two players who will be featured on ESPN.

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The National Football League’s 2021 draft is rapidly approaching, and in the days leading up to the premiere event, Florida Gators fans have two players who will be featured on ESPN’s pre-draft programming.

Tight end Kyle Pitts, who won the Mackey Award and is expected to be selected early in the first round, is one of four players followed by the “Hey Rookie: Welcome to the NFL” series along with Ohio State‘s Justin Fields, Penn State‘s Micah Parson and South Carolina’s Jaycee Horn.

The program follows incoming rookies as they experience the ups and downs of the professional draft, stretching from their waning collegiate days all the way to the big day. The series is set to air on four consecutive weeks starting April 13, according to the press release.

Quarterback Kyle Trask will also get some air time on “QB21 with Kirk Herbstreit”, a seven-episode series that features six of the highest-rated quarterbacks in the nation coming into the draft. The episode will air on Monday, April 19 at 7 p.m. EDT on ESPN2 and also includes Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, Alabama‘s Mac Jones, Fields, North Dakota State’s Trey Lance and BYU’s Zach Wilson.

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