Jordan Love might be the surprise top-10 pick in the NFL Draft
By John Buhler
There could be as many as five quarterbacks taken in the first round. Don’t be surprised if Utah State’s Jordan Love is selected inside of the top 10.
What’s Jordan Love got to do with it?
Apparently a lot. Jordan Love is one of the quarterbacks of note entering the 2020 NFL Draft. Despite playing at a Group of 5 school at Utah State in the Mountain West, Love has had NFL scouts’ intrigue for some time.
At this point, he feels like a lock to go in the first round, along with LSU’s Joe Burrow, Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa and Oregon’s Justin Herbert. Assuming Washington’s Jacob Eason comes off the board before No. 32, there could be as many as five first-round quarterbacks in the 2020 NFL Draft class. But what if Love were to go higher than expected? Can he be a shock in the top-10?
We know Burrow, Tagovailoa and Herbert will be off the board before the No. 7 overall pick. Burrow will go to the Cincinnati Bengals at No. 1, while Tagovailoa and Hebert feel like logical fits to the Miami Dolphins at No. 5 and the Los Angeles Chargers at No. 6, respectively. However, those aren’t the only three teams picking in the top 10 who could use a new quarterback.
The only team we know won’t take a quarterback in the top 10 is the Arizona Cardinals picking at No. 8. They love Kyler Murray and they can’t be that inherently dysfunctional enough to take a first-round quarterback for the third year in a row, can they?
No, we shouldn’t expect the Washington Redskins picking at No. 2, the New York Giants picking at No. 4 or the Cleveland Browns picking at No. 10 to take a franchise quarterback either. However, all three teams have new head coaches in place, so who is to say all three young quarterbacks are guaranteed to be back? We’ve seen crazier things happen, just ask Josh Rosen about that.
And we probably not going to see the Jacksonville Jaguars take a quarterback at No. 9 either. They have the worst contract in football in Nick Foles. Plus, it looks like they’ll want to see what Gardner Minshew can do in his first full season as the Jacksonville starter. It’s not like they’ve done a great job historically drafting quarterbacks in the first round either.
Teams like the Detroit Lions picking at No. 3 and the Carolina Panthers picking at No. 7 could be in the market for a quarterback if they move off Matthew Stafford or Cam Newton. Let’s not forget about teams picking outside the top 10 who could go quarterback. Teams like the Las Vegas Raiders, the Indianapolis Colts and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers immediately come to mind.
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Overall, NFL scouts are willing to overlook a down junior season at Utah State in Love because he lost his entire Aggies coaching staff to the Texas Tech Red Raiders. His sophomore numbers were phenomenal. He has the traits NFL teams are looking for. With good mobility and a strong right arm, don’t be shocked if four franchise quarterbacks go in the top 10 this spring, including Love.