February 12, 2015
NFL.com's Mike Mayock listed his initial pre-Combine top five draft prospect list for every position. Unfortunately, it's just a list of names with no analysis, but here are some of the highlights:
• Mayock likes Jameis Winston over Marcus Mariota. In watching Mayock for years now, my perception of him (which may be completely off base, by the way) is that he tends to not like players with questionable character, so it's interesting that Winston (very questionable character) is listed ahead of Mariota (pristine character). Perhaps Mayock feels that there's a significant gap in their level of talent.
• Staying with the QB position, Bryce Petty is ahead of Brett Hundley. That's a surprise to me. Petty had better numbers in college, but Hundley arguably has more ability.
• Kevin White is listed as the #1 WR over Amari Cooper. That will come as a surprise to a lot of people, but I'm not so sure I disagree.
• Eric Kendricks (Mychal's brother) is listed as the fourth ILB. I like him a lot more than Mayock does.
• Shaq Thompson is listed as a safety. I don't agree with that. Thompson was a linebacker in college, and will more than likely be a linebacker or hybrid of some kind in the pros. While some teams may view him as a safety, listing him as one is pure projection.
• It's interesting that Kurtis Drummond did not make Mayock's top five at safety. He feels like a great fit for the Eagles. I'm curious to know what Mayock's criticisms of Drummond are.
• I think it's funny that Mayock has guys "tied" for the fifth spot. I'm sure he just doesn't want to leave a sixth guy off that he really likes, but on paper it looks like he's saying, "These two players are the exact same person."
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