Touchdown Wire’s early 2021 NFL Draft watch list: Defense

Sure the 2020 NFL Draft just ended, but it is never too early to think about the next one. Here are the players to watch on defense.

Linebackers

(Matthew O’Haren-USA TODAY Sports)

1. Micah Parsons, Penn State

2. Dylan Moses, Alabama

3. Jack Sanborn, Wisconsin

4. Tuf Borland, Ohio State

5. Charles Snowden, Virginia

6. Chazz Surratt, North Carolina

7. Nate Landman, Colorado

8. Nick Bolton, Missouri

9. Jabril Cox, LSU

10. DaShaun White, Oklahoma

This might be the most intriguing group of prospects out of any positional group to study over the upcoming summer. Micah Parsons might be the next great Penn State linebacker, if he is not already. He garnered almost every single aware you can think of last season as a true sophomore, and among those honors he became the first sophomore in Big Ten history to win the Butkus-Fitzgerald Linebacker of the Year Award. He finished the season with ten or more tackles in three straight games, and six of the final seven games. Borland is a two-time captain at Ohio State and has played in 44 career games, notching 180 tackles, 15.5 tackles for a loss and five sacks. He has played in every game the past three seasons (42), and that includes playing in 2018 despite suffering an Achilles injury during spring practice.

Plus he has an almost perfect name for a linebacker.

The two most interesting players might be Chazz Surratt from UNC and Jabril Cox at LSU. We can start with Surratt, who was named the Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year his senior year in high school in the state of North Carolina, and the Gatorade state player of the year, as a quarterback. As a redshirt freshman in 2017 he made seven starts for the Tar Heels, throwing for 1,342 yards and eight touchdowns. But he appeared in just one game at quarterback in 2018, and after that season he switched to linebacker. Last year, his first as a ‘backer? He was named a First-Team All-ACC selection and was a runner-up for ACC Defensive Player of the Year. His 115 tackles led the team and were second in the conference.

Then there is Cox, who joins the Tigers as a graduate transfer from North Dakota State. While with the Bison, Cox was a two-time FCS All-American and a three-time National Champion. With both Patrick Queen and Jacob Phillips departing to the NFL, he has a chance to step right in and prove himself in the testing grounds of the SEC.