NFL Draft: Day 3 picks with Pro Bowl potential
There was Pro Bowl talent available in Day 3 of the NFL Draft, and here are the names to watch moving forward.
First and second-round picks get all of the NFL Draft headlines. The best general managers know that drafts are won and lost in the later rounds. In the 2018 NFL Draft, there was serious talent available on Day 3.
Almost every draft features late-round picks that end up making a Pro Bowl or two. New England hit it big with Tom Brady in the sixth round back in 2000. He’s just one of many examples of late-round gems turning into franchise players.
The trick, of course, is trying to figure out which players will pay off. The overwhelming majority of players selected in the fourth round and later end up struggling to make any meaningful impact in the NFL. Pro Bowlers are certainly the exception to the rule.
When analyzing who could turn into a late-round gem it’s helpful to look at a few different types of players. The easiest group to identify is the player who drops in the draft due to character issues. There were several players in this year’s draft who suffered from this issue.
You can also take a look at players with medical issues. Sometimes injured players get taken off of teams’ boards entirely. That makes them an excellent candidate to outperform their draft status if their bodies hold up. Drafting them is a big gamble, but it’s the sort of move that can really pay off.
Lastly, sometimes you just see a player who appears to be mis-evaluated. That’s the hardest sort of player to identify. It might be someone who is incorrectly scouted due to their position, size of school or some sort of physical limitation. In many ways, these are the most fun types of successes to forecast.
Read on to discover the five players drafted on Day 3 that are most likely to turn into Pro Bowlers in their career. The teams that drafted them should be salivating over their chance to outsmart the rest of the league.
5. Josh Sweat-Philadelphia Eagles
It’s almost unfair that the defending Super Bowl champions were able to draft such a prodigious talent in the fourth round. Sweat certainly didn’t produce enough on the field during his career at Florida State, but there’s no questioning his athletic ability.
Sweat posted a blistering 40-yard-dash time of 4.53 at the combine. That’s excellent for a player who profiles as an edge rusher at the next level. Add in a vertical leap of 39.5 inches and it’s easy to see why NFL scouts were salivating over his athletic ability.
Still, his lack of consistent production in college pushed him down the draft. There are also serious concerns about whether or not his knees are healthy enough to hold up against the grind of the NFL season. He’s dealt with knee injuries since his senior year of high school and there’s no real reason to believe he’s going to magically heal at the professional level.
Despite those concerns, Sweat’s ceiling is clearly that of a Pro Bowl defensive end. There’s a lot of precedent around the NFL for smaller defensive ends becoming extremely disruptive forces. At his best, Sweat could develop into an Elvis Dumervil type player for the Eagles. That isn’t the most likely scenario, but it does represent Sweat’s sky-high ceiling.