Grocery shopping: Five college players to watch who could interest the Eagles in the 2017 NFL Draft

It's college bowl season, and as long as you're taking in some college football action this New Year's Eve, here are some players who could make some sense for the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2017 NFL Draft.

To note, the Eagles currently have eight draft picks in the 2017 NFL Draft, listed here.

Leonard Fournette, RB, LSU (6'1, 230): (20) LSU vs. (13) Louisville, Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl, Dec. 31, 11:00 a.m.

After the Minnesota Vikings got off to a 5-0 start, I wasn't even going to bother profiling Fournette, as he is going to be a surefire top-12 pick, and probably even higher than that. But after the Vikings have gone 2-8 in their last 10 games, the Vikings' pick, which is of course owned by the Eagles, would be 14th overall if the season ended today. It can rise as high as ninth depending on the outcome of games this Sunday, although that's a long shot.

If the Eagles' pick climbs to somewhere close to 10th overall, Fournette could actually be in play.

If you don't know who Fournette is, you're just not that into college football. He may have the best size-speed combo since Adrian Peterson. First, his numbers:

Leonard Fournette	Rush	Yards	YPC	TD
2014	187	1034	5.5	10
2015	300	1953	6.5	22
2016	129	843	6.5	8
TOTAL	616	3830	6.2	40

While Fournette doesn't have elite lateral agility and he only has 41 career receptions, just watch the highlight reel below, and tell me you wouldn't be intrigued to watch this guy run over and then away from defenders. No written analysis is going to describe Fournette better than this:

Honestly, it's hard to watch that highlight reel above and not feel bad for some of the poor bastards who got trucked.

To note, in LSU's bowl game against Louisville, Fournette made the decision not to play so that he could begin to prepare (cough, not get injured) for the pros. Personally, I have no problem with that, and I doubt any NFL teams will either.

There will debates as to whether you should take a running back in (or near) the top 10, and there will be concerns that Fournette will injure himself with the reckless way he runs, but good God, when he's good to go he's a scary human being.

Kevin King, CB, Washington (6'3, 192): Washington vs. Alabama, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Dec. 31, 3:00 p.m.

The Huskies' secondary is absolutely loaded with talent, sporting a likely first-round pick in CB Sidney Jones and another potential first- or second-round pick in S Budda Baker. They also have CB Kevin King, who could be a Day 2 pick as well.

King has "Seahawks corner" measurements, at 6'3, 192. His college career path followed a similar pattern to that of former Eagles second-round pick Eric Rowe, in that King moved from safety to corner while at Washington. He has also played quite a bit in the slot.

In 2016, King had 35 tackles, two interceptions, and an impressive 13 pass breakups. One of King's interceptions was this highlight reel snag against Arizona State:

My sense is that height-weight-speed excites Jim Schwartz less than it does other personnel people around the league. In other words, there may be other NFL teams who give a higher grade to King for his measurables than the Eagles will. Still, King is an intriguing, versatile corner-slot-safety hybrid who could be of interest.

Tyquan Lewis, DE, Ohio State (6'3, 260): (3) Ohio State vs. (2) Clemson, PlayStation Fiesta Bowl, Dec. 31, 7:00 p.m.

Lewis' pass rush numbers for the Buckeyes over the last four years are decent. Over that span, he has 15.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, and 24 tackles for loss, although he was helped by favorable matchups due to Ohio State's outstanding front seven. Lewis relies on his power, but he's not exactly the most explosive guy around the edge.

While he's not Von Miller, Lewis' appeal is as an excellent run defender, which makes sense for an Eagles team in the same division as the Cowboys and Redskins, who both have excellent road-grading offensive lines.

Some have Lewis pegged as a third-round prospect. I don't see that. However, as a Day 3 pick, I like Lewis as an immediate contributor on run downs, and a guy you can work with to improve the pass rush element of his game over time.

Joe Mixon, RB, Oklahoma (6'1, 226): (14) Auburn vs. (7) Oklahoma, Allstate Sugar Bowl, Jan. 2, 8:30 p.m.

Mixon has become better known for his actions off the field than his talent on it, due to an incident in 2014 in which he punched a female. Unlike most cases of violence against women, video of Mixon's incident surfaced. This is despicable:

On the field, Mixon is a weapon and would be an outstanding fit in the Eagles' offense. He's big (6'1, 226), he's fast, he has great lateral agility for a player his size, and he runs with a smoothness that looks effortless. His rushing numbers:

Joe Mixon - Rushing	Rush	Yards	YPC	TD
2015	113	753	6.7	7
2016	168	1183	7.0	8
TOTAL	281	1936	6.9	15

He also has very good hands and is a polished route runner out of the backfield. His receiving numbers at Oklahoma:

Joe Mixon - Receiving	Rec	Yards	YPC	TD
2015	28	356	12.7	4
2016	32	449	14.0	5
TOTAL	60	805	13.4	9

A highlight reel:

NFL.com's Bucky Brooks spoke with an NFL team executive about how teams will view Mixon as a person, and their willingness to draft him.

"He's a hard sell to ownership," the exec said. "The climate has changed so much that I don't know how you convince an owner to take a chance on him when the negative P.R. and potential protests could put a black cloud over the franchise. I know there has been some time between the incident and where we stand now, but it's such a hot-button topic that it's tougher to bring him into the building."

Jeffrey Lurie once gave the OK to bring Michael Vick into the organization when many felt that he was toxic. Some team is going to draft Mixon. I think he has "future Cowboy" written all over him.

Carl Lawson, DE, Auburn (6'2, 253): (14) Auburn vs. (7) Oklahoma, Allstate Sugar Bowl, Jan. 2, 8:30 p.m.

Lawson is an oft-injured pass rusher who missed the 2014 season with a torn ACL, and a big chunk of the 2015 season with a hip injury. In 2016, he stayed healthy and produced nine sacks for Tigers.

When he's healthy, Lawson is a relentless speed rusher, but shorter than ideal at 6'2. In a wide-nine alignment, Lawson is the kind of player who would make it very difficult for opposing offensive tackles to stay in front of him when asked to block him one-on-one on an island. At Auburn, more often than not he rushed from a two-point stance, although he rushed with his hand in the dirt at times as well. Personally, I think he's better suited to rushing with his hand in the dirt, as his get-off at the snap is very impressive.

Lawson is a polarizing player. Some believe he's a top-20 type of prospect. Others wouldn't touch him until much later. Personally, I think he would represent decent value in the second round but has far too many red flags to take with a top-20 pick.

Grocery shopping recap

We have now profiled 100 prospects this season, listed a little further down on this page. Here's the breakdown of the positions we've looked at the most: