FLOWERY BRANCH — Here are 10 things to know about the NFL draft:
1. The fundamentals: When: Thursday, April 28, 8 p.m.; Friday, April 29, 7 p.m.; Saturday, April 30, noon
Where: Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, Chicago
TV: ESPN/NFL Network
Time between picks: 10 minutes in the first round, seven minutes in the second round, five minutes in rounds three to six, four minutes in the seventh round, four minutes for compensatory picks.
2. Build your draft board: Here are the links to our position by position series in order to help you build your draft board.
QUARTERBACKS
Rams quest for franchise quarterback behind big trade —Wentz or Goff?
D. Led’s breakdown of the Quarterbacks
A look at the top 10 Quarterbacks in the draft
RUNNING BACKS
D Led’s breakdown of the Running backs — Is Derrick Henry the next Charles Muncie?
A look at the top 10 Running backs
WIDE RECEIVERS
D. Led’s breakdown of the Wide receivers
A look at the top 10 Wide receivers
TIGHT ENDS
D. Led’s breakdown of the Tight ends
A look at the top 10 tight ends
OFFENSIVE LINEMEN
D. Led’s breakdown of the Offensive linemen
D. Led’s breakdown of the Defensive linemen
A look at the top 10 defensive linemen
LINEBACKERS
Falcons searching for hybrid linebacker/safeties
D. Led’s breakdown of the Linebackers
A look at the top 10 linebackers
CORNERBACKS
D. Led’s breakdown of the cornerbacks
A look at the top 10 cornerbacks
SAFETIES
D. Led’s breakdown of the Safeties
SPECIALISTS
D. Led’s breakdown of the Specialists, kickers, punters and returners
A look at the top 5 punters and top 5 kickers
3. Players Falcons have scouted. Here’s a list of players that have been linked to the Falcons through the pre-draft process:
- Brandon Allen, QB, Arkansas
- Jack Allen, C, Michigan State
- Stephen Anderson, WR, California
- Danny Anthrop, WR, Purdue
- Eli Apple, CB, Ohio State
- Sterling Bailey, DE/3-4DE, Georgia
- Alex Balducci, DT, Oregon
- Karnorris Benson, WR, Western Carolina
- Moritz Wilhelm Boehringer, WR, Germany
- Trevone Boykin, QB, TCU
- Jake Brendel, C, UCLA
- Kevin Byard, S, Middle Tennessee
- De'Vondre Campbell, OLB, Minnesota
- Jack Conklin, OT, Michigan State
- Fahn Cooper, OT, Ole Miss
- Su'a Cravens, OLB, USC
- Joe Dahl, G/OT, Washington State
- Clay DeBord, OT, Eastern Washington
- KJ Dillon, SS, West Virginia
- Kenyan Drake, RB, Alabama
- Leonard Floyd, OLB/3-4OLB, Georgia
- Will Fuller, WR, Notre Dame
- Darion Griswold, TE, Arkansas State
- Javon Hargrave, DT, South Carolina State
- Joel Heath, DT, Michigan State
- Kevin Hogan, QB, Stanford
- Tyrone Holmes, DE, Montana
- Austin Hooper, TE, Stanford
- Germain Ifedi, OT, Texas A&M
- Matt Ioannidis, DT, Temple
- Myles Jack, OLB, UCLA
- Jordan Jenkins, OLB/3-4OLB, Georgia
- Deion Jones, OLB, LSU
- Bronson Kaufusi, DE/3-4DE, Brigham Young
- Shaq Lawson, DE/3-4OLB, Clemson
- Darron Lee, OLB, Ohio State
- Antonio Longino, ILB, Arizona State
- Lene Maiava, OT/G, Arizona
- Blake Martinez, ILB, Stanford
- Braxton Miller, WR, Ohio State
- Keanu Neal, S, Florida
- Sherrod Neasman, S, Florida Atlantic
- Dadi Lhomme Nicolas, OLB, Virginia Tech
- Victor Ochi, OLB, Stony Brook
- Emmanuel Ogbah, DE/3-4DE, Oklahoma State
- Joshua Perry, OLB, Ohio State
- Reggie Ragland, ILB, Alabama
- Luke Rhodes, ILB, William & Mary
- Mike Rose, DE, NC State
- Jake Rudock, QB, Michigan
- Steven Scheu, TE, Vanderbilt
- Hunter Sharp, WR, Utah State
- Justin Simmons, FS, Boston College
- Terrance Smith, OLB/ILB, Florida State
- Jason Spriggs, OT, Indiana
- Lawrence Thomas, DT, Michigan State
- Joe Thuney, G, NC State
- Destiny Vaeao, DT, Washington State
- Nick Vannett, TE, Ohio State
- Nick Vigil, ILB, Utah State
- DeAndre Washington, RB, Texas Tech
- Josh Woodrum, QB, Liberty
4. Saban, Freeze to represent SEC: Here are the the 12 college coaches who’ll be on hand for the draft:
Art Briles, Baylor; Mark Dantonio, Michigan State; Sonny Dykes, California; Jimbo Fisher, Florida State; Hugh Freeze, Mississippi; Brian Kell, Notre Dame; Chris Klieman, North Dakota State; Urban Meyer, Ohio State; Jim Mora, UCLA; Gary Patterson, Texas Christian; Nick Saban, Alabama and Dabo Swinney, Clemson.
5. Players set to attend draft: Here’s the list of the confirmed players attending the draft:
- Eli Apple, cornerback, Ohio State
- Joey Bosa, defensive end, Ohio State
- Vernon Butler, defensive tackle, Louisiana Tech
- Corey Coleman, wide receiver, Baylor
- Jack Conklin, offensive tackle, Michigan State
- Taylor Decker, offensive tackle, Ohio State
- Josh Doctson, wide receiver, Texas Christian
- Kevin Dodd, defensive end, Clemson
- Elliott Ezekiel running back, Ohio State
- Jared Goff, quarterback, California
- Vernon Hargreaves, cornerback, Florida
- Myles Jack, linebacker, UCLA
- Chris Jones, defensive tackle, Mississippi State
- Shaq Lawson, defensive end, Clemson
- Darron Lee, linebacker, Ohio State
- Keanu Neal, safety, Florida
- Robert Nkemdiche, defensive tackle, Mississippi
- Reggie Ragland, linebacker, Alabama
- Jalen Ramsey, cornerback, Florida State
- Jarran Reed, defensive tackle, Alabama
- A'Shawn Robinson, defensive tackle, Alabama
- Ronnie Stanley, offensive tackle, Notre Dame
- Laquon Treadwell, wide receiver, Mississippi
- Laremy Tunsil, offensive tackle, Mississippi
- Carson Wentz, quarterback, North Dakota State
6. Trading frenzy: This draft marks the fourth time in the common draft era (since 1967) that the top two picks were traded. In the three previous instances – 1997, 1975 and 1967 – the third overall pick was also dealt.
The Rams traded for the first overall pick in this year’s draft, while the Eagles moved into the second spot.
7. Factoids: This is the second year the NFL has held its draft in Chicago. The previous 50 years, the draft was held in New York City. The Falcons would like to host the draft in the future, once their bid to host the Super Bowl in 2019 or 2020 is voted on in May.
—The NFL Network will interview the first pick this year as well as all even-numbered picks. ESPN will odd-numbered picks. The Falcons pick 17th and will be on ESPN.
—San Francisco and Cleveland have the most picks with 12.
—Los Angeles and Atlanta have the fewest with five.
—New England has 11 picks, including four compensatory and excluding its forfeited first-round pick.
—Three teams this year were docked a draft pick: New England (Deflategate), Atlanta (playing artificial crowd noise at the Georgia Dome), and Kansas City (improper contact with Jeremy Maclin).
8. Alabama’s draft streak: If an Alabama player is drafted in the first round, it will be the eighth straight year that’s happened.
Miami holds the record at 14 consecutive years (1995-2008) with a player taken in the first round; Florida is second at nine (1983-1991).
9. Underclassmen overflow: Ninety-six underclassmen declared for this year’s draft, up from last year’s 74. (The record is 98 in 2014’s draft.) Ohio State had the most underclassmen declare this year with seven. UCLA had six, followed by Clemson and Florida (five), Notre Dame (four), and Alabama, Mississippi State, and Ole Miss (three). The group includes 17 defensive backs, 16 wide receivers, 13 linebackers, 12 offensive linemen, 10 defensive tackles, 10 running backs, eight defensive ends, four tight ends, four quarterbacks, and two kickers.
10: First-round draft order:
1. Los Angeles (from Tennessee)
2. Philadelphia (from Cleveland)
3. San Diego
4. Dallas
5. Jacksonville
6. Baltimore
7. San Francisco
8. Cleveland (from Miami through Philadelphia)
9. Tampa Bay
10. N.Y. Giants
11. Chicago
12. New Orleans
13. Miami (from Philadelphia)
14. Oakland
15. Tennessee (from Los Angeles)
16. Detroit
17. Atlanta
18. Indianapolis
19. Buffalo
20. N.Y. Jets
21. Washington
22. Houston
23. Minnesota
24. Cincinnati
25. Pittsburgh
26. Seattle
27. Green Bay
28. Kansas City
29. New England (forfeited)
30. Arizona
31. Carolina
32. Denver
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