NFL Draft 2018: 5 players that should have returned to school

1. Sam Darnold, QB, USC

Coming into the 2017 college football season, the hype-train for Sam Darnold was all but out of control. The USC Trojans quarterback took over the starting job as a redshirt freshman in 2016 and set the football world ablaze with his play. He had the size, arm, mobility and pro traits to where he looked to be a shoo-in Heisman Trophy candidate and a lock to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. However, as his redshirt sophomore season progressed, all of that went by the wayside.

Darnold looked to regress a great deal from his previous 10 games as a starter. Granted, he had worse talent around him and protecting him, but that didn’t excuse some of the things that we saw from him. He started to show a propensity for getting uncomfortable and making poor decisions against pressure. Even worse, he started turning the ball over at an alarming rate — not just with interceptions, but also fumbles as well.

Even still, the USC quarterback decided to declare for the draft. While he’ll still surely be an early first-round pick and will have his chance to make real noise in the league, staying with the Trojans for at least another year would have been to his benefit. He would’ve been able to work on the weaknesses that he showed this season and become a more complete pro prospect. Not only could that have locked him down as a No. 1 overall pick, but it also could have made his pro career much more promising.