The 2020 NFL Draft has come and gone. Naturally, we’re tempted to gaze into the future and wonder how things will shake out a year from now. The 2021 draft has been drawing buzz for years, with interest continuing to ramp up due to what appears to be unprecedented turnover at quarterback throughout the NFL.
A mock draft that’s put together right before the draft is tricky and guaranteed to be incorrect. But a mock draft a year in advance? Yeah, it’s pretty tough. With those tempered expectations in mind, we wanted to take a crack at what the 2021 NFL Draft could possibly look like – knowing what we know in April 2020. This is a fun exercise to identify some of the most talented returning upperclassmen in college football and view them through the prism of NFL projection.
1. JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS: TREVOR LAWRENCE, QB, CLEMSON
Things have gotten a little messy in Jacksonville. Players are begging to be traded to the point they’re tweeting at the owner’s son, who is also an executive within the franchise. The Jaguars are intent on rolling with Gardner Minshew at quarterback and should be firmly in the mix for the top pick. Trevor Lawrence enters next season with the best odds to be the first player off the board. The Clemson signal caller has some of the best arm talent to enter the draft in years and has put together the strongest multi-year body of work of any draft eligible quarterback. With that said, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get a push from Justin Fields and maybe even Trey Lance of North Dakota State. For what it’s worth, the last presumptive top quarterback entering the season to go first was Jameis Winston in 2015. There’s no such thing as a lock No. 1 anymore. But you have to go with Lawrence right now, who should have another great season at Clemson and have the Tigers back in the College Football Playoff for the fifth straight year.
