Not everybody got selected in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft. Here are the 10 best players still available heading into day two of the draft.
While it was a night to remember for 32 NFL hopefuls and their families, there are still plenty of former college standouts that will have to wait one more day before getting drafted. Thursday night saw five quarterbacks go in the first round, as well several pass rushers and skill position players.
However, the wideouts weren’t as lucky, as only two receivers were selected on Thursday night: D.J. Moore out of Maryland to the Carolina Panthers at No. 24 and Calvin Ridley out of Alabama to the Atlanta Falcons at No. 26. There are plenty left to be had in day two and day three of the draft.
And that leads us here. There have to be a few diamonds in the rough still waiting to be mined in day two. Odds are, a few of these guys will end up being perennial Pro Bowlers. Honestly, there might even be a handful of players taken in the second round that will end up being better pros than their teammates taken a round ahead of them.
Without further ado, here are the 10 best players that will still be available to be drafted heading into the Friday portion of the 2018 NFL Draft. Maybe one of these 10 college standouts will be the next star on your favorite NFL team?
Expect him to be the sixth quarterback taken in the 2018 NFL Draft. Mason Rudolph was a proven star for the Oklahoma State Cowboys during his time in Stillwater. He is an accurate deep ball thrower with good touch to all parts of the field. Rudolph was a fringe first-round candidate, but few outside of Oklahoma really thought he was going to be picked on Thursday night.
Rudolph was coached hard at Oklahoma State playing for head coach Mike Gundy. He will end up being a better pro than both former Pokes quarterbacks of note in recent years in Zac Robinson and Brandon Weeden. Look for Rudolph to be a backup in 2018 and a potential starter within the next few years.
In college, he won a bunch of games, but never the big one. He struggled against in-state rival Oklahoma. That and having elite receiving talent probably propping him up in college with the likes of James Washington and Marcell Ateman knocked him back into being a second-round prospect.
Don’t expect Rudolph to be a franchise cornerstone like the five quarterbacks taken before him. However, he should be able to stick in the league for several years. He might have a journeyman career, but his size and arm talent will likely give him staying power in the NFL into his 30s.