It’s way too early to be talking about the 2021 NFL Draft outside of a couple of things.
The year long debate is on as to who the better quarterback prospect is between Trevor Lawrence of Clemson and Justin Fields of Ohio State. Lawrence enters as a slight favorite but not by nearly the amount he would have been viewed as a year ago.
What about Notre Dame? Will the Fighting Irish see a player or two selected in the 2021 NFL Draft’s first round or will it be two straight seasons without a Notre Dame player getting their name called on day one?
Jason McIntyre of Fox Sports released his self-admitted too-early 2021 NFL Draft mock for the first round Monday. In it he has Trevor Lawrence going first overall to the Jacksonville Jaguars and Justin Fields fourth to the Chicago Bears.
And to the Notre Dame question?
Left tackle Liam Eichenberg is the 16th player off his board as he has the offensive lineman headed to the New York Jets.
Looking around a couple sites today I’ve seen a few people throwing junk at the wall and hoping something sticks in terms of 2021 mock drafts. They seem to think at this point Eichenberg is the best bet to be a day-one selection. I don’t question that although I think his ability in the run game has a lot of catching up to do compared to his pass blocking.
I’m very curious to see a year from now though if Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah ends up being a day one pick. Koramoah had 8.5 sacks last season, twice recording three or more in the same game, doing so against Virginia Tech and having another 3.5 against Iowa State.
Well-respected draft analyst Todd McShay thought the same a little over a month ago when he was trying to evaluate a few Notre Dame players for the 2020 NFL Draft.
Trying to study four Notre Dame draft prospect for this years class but LB 6 Owusu-Koramoah keeps distracting me! This dude is all over the field on three tapes studied so far. #nfldraft2021 pic.twitter.com/Jf3z58zHv5
— Todd McShay (@McShay13) March 10, 2020
I don’t know where most experts have Koramoah slotted right now but if there is such a thing I’d like to get in now on his draft stock because a year from now I have a strong feeling it’s going to be a lot higher.