The NFL Draft 2016 is held in Chicago between 28th-30th April with the first round taking place on Thursday 28th.
Star Players
This years draft class is one lacking in ‘star’ power. There are probably 7 players – Jared Goff (QB), Carson Wentz (QB), Joey Bosa (DE), Jalen Ramsey (S/CB), Laremy Tunsil (OT), Deforest Buckner (DE/DT), Vernon Hargreaves III (CB) who are guaranteed to go in the top ten picks.
Two players with injury concerns were locks for the top 10 – Jaylon Smith (OLB) who will likely sit out the 2016 NFL season to recover from surgery and Myles Jack (LB) who has issues with one of his knees that could drop him down teams draft boards.
Ezekiel Elliott the super talented RB from Ohio State could go as high as number 4 to Dallas or he could drop to 14 and be selected by Oakland. The recent history of starting RBs being selected in late rounds or as college undrafted free agents means it is possible that Elliot gets selected outside the top 10.
The Value
After these players there are a group of about 50 players who could make it into the first round. A number of NFL scouts and talent evaluators feel that the value in the 2016 draft is in the 2nd and 3rd round. Teams with extra picks in those rounds are likely to do as well as teams with a first round pick in the 11-18 range.
Offence of defence?
The way I see it there will likely be 3 QBs selected in round one (Goff, Wentz and Paxton Lynch), 1 RB (Elliott), 3 or 4 Offensive Tackles (Tunsil, Stanley, Conklin and one of Spriggs or Decker), 2 or maybe 3 Wide Recievers in a really weak class (Laquon Treadwell, Corey Coleman and maybe Will Fuller), possibly 1 Center (Ryan Kelly), possibly 1 TE (Hunter Henry) and no guards.
Were this to pan out the first round would feature between 10 and 13 offensive players and conversely between 18-21 defensive players.
The deepest position this year is the Defensive Line with a number of DEs (Bosa, Buckner, Shaq Lawson and Kevin Dood likely to crack the top 20 and four or six DTs to feature (Jarran Reed, Sheldon Rankins, A’Shawn Robinson, Javon Hargreave, Chris Jones and Robert Nkemdiche). Nkemdiche could easily fall to the 2nd round given some teams concerns with his recent off-field behaviour.
As the NFL becomes more and more of a passing league teams need DBs to try and slow down teams aerial attacks. There is likely to be a run on Cornerbacks in the late teens to the end of the draft with Eli Apple, William Jackson III Artie Burns and Mackensie Alexander the most talented players.
NFL Draft 2016 – Best Bets
There are too many obvious bets e.g. first selected Defensive back will be Jalen Ramsey, and there is no value in the odds available.
Number of Defensive Players selected in Round One – Greater than 17.5 – bet a 2.0/10 stake with Bet 365.
Bet here:
Total number of Alabama players drafted in round one – Greater than 3.5 (ILB Ragland, DT Reed and Robinson and C Kelly) – bet a 1.5/10 stake at 1.70 with Unibet.
Bet here:
