NFL mock draft with every college football player eligible: Do Bengals take Joe Burrow or Trevor Lawrence?

Every college football player is eligible in this 2020 NFL Mock Draft but would the Bengals take Joe Burrow if Trevor Lawrence was eligible?

Last year was the first time I did an all-college mock draft where every player was eligible and I had the Arizona Cardinals taking Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence with the first overall pick. Lawrence was coming off a record-breaking freshman season after helping guide the Tigers to the national championship over Alabama and the praise was effusive.

Would he be the top pick in the 2020 NFL Draft if he was eligible or would it still be Joe Burrow? Underclassmen aren’t eligible in the NFL Draft, unlike the NBA Draft where players are eligible after their freshman season so it deprives us of a great what-if.

But we can still ask in this hypothetical scenario. This is an exercise in fun. This is not real, obviously, but my latest 2020 NFL mock draft is and has moves reflecting what’s happened in free agency.

Three players who are still not eligible for the 2020 NFL Draft are picked in the top-10 and nine players are included in the first round mock draft who would have to wait another year or two before pursuing their NFL dreams. That pushes out seven would-be first-rounders in the event all players were eligible to declare for the NFL Draft.

Before getting to the specific picks, here are some interesting numbers that illustrate where the majority of the top talent is playing. It’s no wonder why these are the best teams in the nation. They have the best players. What a concept, right?!

• LSU has the most first-rounders with eight, which would break the record of six held by 2004 Miami.
• Alabama had five players picked while Clemson had four. Ohio State only had three in the first round, but they all went in the first seven picks.
• Together, these four schools represent 20 of the 32 first-round picks.
• The SEC has the most players picked with 16 players, representing half of the 32 picks in the first round.
• Nine underclassmen were taken in the first round

Let’s kick this all-college mock draft off with the Cincinnati Bengals who are on the clock and have a decision to make between the Heisman winner and hometown star in Burrow or if they take Lawrence.