AL.com NFL Mock Draft 2: Trades, QBs and Alabama
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Alabama quarterback Mac Jones drops back to pass during the Rose Bowl against Notre Dame on Jan. 1, 2021, in Arlington, Texas.AP
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The NFL Draft is out of Roger Goodell’s basement and on the road to Cleveland, more like the three-day football extravaganzas of the past than the coronavirus pandemic-induced studio show of 2020.
NFL teams will select 259 players next week, and the AL.com Mock Draft forecasts how the first 32 picks might go. Unlike the first AL.com Mock Draft two weeks ago, which assigned picks based on the current draft order, the second look at the first round predicts seven trades in an attempt to inject some reality into something that’s speculation.
Let s get to it:
SCOTT SHILEY FROM BRICK, NJ: I really like what I have seen so far from cornerback James Pierre, even though it is a limited body of work. In your estimation, what do you believe is the best possible scenario for him this season if he were to have his absolute best preseason? Would you see him filling a role similar to Mike Hilton s, or do you think he has a chance to challenge for a starting cornerback role?
ANSWER: Not to get ahead of ourselves, but James Pierre has to start by earning a spot on the 53-man roster. I don t disagree that Pierre earned a spot last season and that the Steelers have a need for cornerbacks who can step up and contribute following the loss of Mike Hilton and Steven Nelson this offseason. But Pierre still is young enough and inexperienced enough that either assuming he is going to be capable or anointing him to a spot he hasn t actually earned would be a mistake. If Pierre shows up at training camp and then uses those practices plus th
Why Jacksonville Jaguars, presumptive No. 1 NFL draft pick Trevor Lawrence face difficult road to success
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Why Spears expects Trevor Lawrence to be successful with the Jaguars (1:23)
Marcus Spears asserts that Trevor Lawrence has the highest ceiling in the 2021 NFL draft class. (1:23)
Graduate of Jacksonville University
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. The Jacksonville Jaguars are a little more than a week away from having the franchise quarterback the team has been trying to find for two decades.
Trevor Lawrence is the best quarterback prospect since Andrew Luck (and maybe Peyton Manning), the fourth-highest-rated quarterback prospect ESPN NFL draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. has ever graded and a guy who lost just four games as a starter since his freshman year of high school.
Nearly 8,000 first-year Penn State students packed Beaver Stadium Saturday for the first time in their college careers to enjoy a modified version of the annual Blue-White spring scrimmage.
Although this weekend’s practice was anything but a normal Penn State football gameday experience, the university deserves praise and applause for making the event special for each and every student in attendance. For many students without established ties to the school, the two-hour production first introduced them to Penn State pride.
Prior to the action on the gridiron, the “Beaver Stadium – 101” crash-course into Penn State football cheers and traditions immediately involved the spread out, yet united, student body from the get-go. Blue Band director Gregory Drane spearheaded the effort by teaching the words, motions, and cadence of each traditional chant in a clever and engaging manner.
Photo by Heinz Kluetmeier /Walt Disney Television via Getty Images
It’s time once again to hop into the only time machine they ever would entertain to budget at BTSC.my brain’s Delorean. Today, our trip into Steelers yesteryear takes us back to the day when a crash of a Spantax charter-flight from Madrid to New York claimed 50 people and injured 110 more, Chicago had the country’s top single with “
Hard For Me To Say I’m Sorry”, movie-goers were falling for Richard Gere and Debra Winger
in An Officer and a Gentleman, and the football world was bracing for a long work stoppage that was two weeks away.