If you’ve consumed many NFL mock drafts in the recent weeks you’ve probably not seen many Notre Dame players selected in the first round. It’s at best a toss-up but seeming less likely by the day, and the mock draft that a former Fighting Irish football player is selected in the first round.
One outlet that has been all about a certain Notre Dame player this off-season though is Pro Football Focus, who again has Julian Okwara going in their latest mock draft’s first round.
It’s important to remember that PFF conducts these drafts by making the picks by selecting the players they would take if they were the GM of all 32 teams, not by picking who they believe each team will take. With that said, here is what Steve Palazzolo had to say about Okwara who they have going 28th overall to the Baltimore Ravens.
Even with the Ravens franchising Matt Judon, Okwara is a fantastic fit for their defense. They have the most versatile defense in the league, and Okwara is an edge rusher with coverage-dropping athleticism. The Ravens can continue their “positionless football” approach on defense with Okwara, who had an excellent 90.4 pass-rush grade a year ago to go with the movement skills to play off-ball linebacker if needed. The Ravens will use that skillset to keep opposing offenses off balance.
This isn’t the first time PFF has had Okwara going in the first round as two weeks ago Mike Renner had Okwara going 29th to the Tennessee Titans.
If I had to guess I’d think that coming off of injury especially hurts Okwara as he didn’t workout besides in the bench press at the NFL Rookie Combine a few weeks back. Because of that I’ll be pleasantly surprised if someone does step up and take him in the first round.