The defensive line position is one of the deepest in the 2016 NFL Draft this year. There are a lot of talented players that could be drafted on Day 1 alone and there’s not a lot of people who would disagree with me.
One of those people is NFL.com draft expert Mike Mayock who talked about the interior defensive line position. He said on Wednesday’s “NFL Total Access” that a large number of them could be taken in the first round.
“I could go 12 names deep where you might have, conceivably, a first-round grade,” Mayock said. “There are going to be some good defensive tackles that get pushed down a round or two this year, because it’s so deep.”
He continued to say that Ole Miss’s Robert Nkemdiche is one of those 12 players, despite his off-field troubles late in the season.
“If he played every week like he did against Alabama, and had no off-the-field concerns, we’d be talking about him potentially being the first pick of the entire draft,” Mayock said. “That’s how much talent this kid has. But he’s inconsistent on the field, he’s had well-publicized issues off the field, and it’s going to be intriguing to watch where this kid lands. NFL teams have a lot of homework to do on this kid.”
Nkemdiche was, at one point, considered to be top-five worthy. However, him missing the Sugar Bowl and having his off-field problems have hurt his draft stock somewhat.
Despite that, he should still be a mid-first round pick this year. He is just one of the many talented players that should be able to make an impact from the defensive tackle position in 2016.
