Rolling the dice: The biggest risks in the 2020 NFL Draft

The NFL Draft is about managing risk. Every selection carries a bit of downside. Who are some risky propositions in the 2020 NFL Draft?

Netane Muti, IOL, Fresno State

(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Netane Muti might be the best interior offensive lineman in this group. At Touchdown Wire we ranked him our third interior prospect, behind Cesar Ruiz and Jonah Jackson, and at Pro Football Focus he claimed the top spot in their IOL group. He has almost legendary strength, is dominant as a run blocker and has allowed just 14 pressures on 697 career pass-blocking snaps, according to charting data from PFF.

The problem can perhaps be deciphered from that statistic. Muti has played just 318 total snaps over the past two seasons. In 2018 he suffered a ruptured Achilles, which ended his season after just 84 snaps. Last year it was a Lisfranc foot injury that ended his season, after playing in just three games. Doctors cleared him at the combine, and he was scheduled to participate at Fresno State’s Pro Day, but as a result of the COVID-19 crisis that was canceled.

When he is healthy, he is one of the strongest interior linemen in this class and a potentially dominant NFL guard. But that is a huge question mark. Two lower body injuries – in back-to-back seasons – are going to have an impact on how teams view him. Without a chance for him to test (aside from his impressive bench press numbers at the Combine) he might have to wait a little bit longer to hear his name called in the draft.