The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar: Doug’s favorite underrated draft prospects

In this week’s Xs and Os, Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar discuss Ricky Pearsall, Malik Washington, Renardo Green, Max Melton, Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, and Javon Bullard.

In this week’s episode of “The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get into six of Doug’s favorite underrated prospects in the 2024 NFL draft — players who most likely won’t hear their names called in the first round next Thursday night, but who all can provide serious value to their soon-to-be NFL teams. Two weeks ago, we focused on “Greg’s Guys” in that same regard. Now, here are Doug’s favorites.

Florida receiver Ricky Pearsall — Will Pearsall be able to maintain his gliding speed, route awareness and amazing catches into contact at the NFL level? We’re betting on “yes.”

Virginia receiver Malik Washington — Washington is a shorter (but not thin) player who can create explosive plays all over the field; a team like the Chiefs (for example) should be watching as much of his tape as possible right now.

Florida State cornerback Renardo Green — Green projects well as an outside cornerback despite a lack of desired size, but how will his NFL team deploy him?

Rutgers cornerback Max Melton — In Melton’s case, his NFL team will love his ability to match receivers all over the field, and they’ll likely see the necessary technique fixes as a worthy time investment.

Texas Tech safety Dadrion Taylor-Demerson — More than any other safety in this class, Taylor-Demerson has field-scalding speed when in coverage. If he can tamp down the more rogue elements of his athleticism, he could be an easy Pro Bowler.

Georgia safety Javon Bullard — Over the last two seasons, Georgia asked Bullard to completely change his positional profile in ways most college defenders are not asked to do, and he did it all very well. That should make him an easy prospect for most NFL teams.

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NFL releases list of early entrants for the 2020 draft

The NFL Draft is just a few months away and the league released a list of all the early entrants, including from Georgia football.

On Tuesday, the NFL released the official number of early entrants for the 2020 draft.

Of the 115 early entrants, 99 athletes were granted special eligibility (three years removed from high school) and 16 will have graduated but have collegiate eligibility remaining.

Last year, a record 135 collegians left early for the NFL draft. Of those, nearly one-third did not hear their name called on draft day. The siren song of the NFL sometimes isn’t so sweet.

The SEC, proving once again it is the most talented and competitive conference in the nation, saw 35 players forgo their senior year. The Big Ten lost 21 early entrants, the ACC and Pac-12 each lost 13 and the Big 12 lost 8 players to the draft. Other conference and NCAA division early losses include:

  • Mountain West, 6
  • AAC, 5
  • Conference USA, 4
  • Independents, 3
  • Sun Belt, 1
  • MAC, 0
  • FCS, DII, DIII, 5

National champion LSU lost the most early entrants with 9. SEC rivals Alabama, Georgia and Texas A&M were next, losing 6, 5 and 4, respectively.

Georgia  offensive tackle Andrew Thomas (junior) is widely expected to be one of the early entrants drafted in the top 10. Other Georgia early entrants include tackle Isaiah Wilson (RS soph, 2nd-3rd round), guard Solomon Kindley (RS junior, late 1st-2nd round), quarterback Jake Fromm (junior, 1st-2nd round) and running back D’Andre Swift (junior, 1st-2nd round).

The 2020 NFL Draft will be the 85th annual meeting of National Football League franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft is scheduled to be held from April 23–25, 2020, in Paradise, Nevada and will be televised live on ESPN.