The 2014 NFL Draft is finally here, and after months and months of discussing prospects, we're very close to knowing which teams will be drafting various players. All it takes is one team to fall in love with a prospect, and with so much talent on the board this year we could be in for a turbulent first round Thursday night.
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NFL Media analyst Charley Casserly said a number of front offices take a look at mock drafts to get an idea of what players will go in the first round and see what direction teams might take. To that end, we went through the latest NFL.com mock drafts, listened to all the latest rumors and considered what team is talking to what prospects.
What we came up with is a list of first-round locks; other players who are likely to go in the first round (but could slip); those who are under consideration to go late in the first round; and a few fringe candidates who could find their name called on the first day.
Top 10 locks
No. of mock drafts: 10/10
Average position: No. 1 overall
High/low: 1st overall
No. of mock drafts: 10/10
Average position: 3rd
High/low: 2nd/5th
No. of mock drafts: 10/10
Average position: 4th
High/low: 2nd/8th
No. of mock drafts: 10/10
Average position: 4th
High/low: 3rd/5th
No. of mock drafts: 10/10
Average position: 7th
High/low: 5th or 7th
First-round locks
No. of mock drafts: 10/10
Average position: 6th
High/low: 2nd/12th
No. of mock drafts: 10/10
Average position: 8th
High/low: 6th/17th
No. of mock drafts: 10/10
Average position: 11th
High/low: 3rd/31st
No. of mock drafts: 10/10
Average position: 12th
High/low: 9th/18th
No. of mock drafts: 10/10
Average position: 13th
High/low: 9th/19th
No. of mock drafts: 10/10
Average position: 13th
High/low: 8th/25th
No. of mock drafts: 10/10
Average position: 14th
High/low: 8th/21st
No. of mock drafts: 10/10
Average position: 14th
High/low: 13th/23rd
No. of mock drafts: 10/10
Average position: 14th
High/low: 7/24
No. of mock drafts: 10/10
Average position: 15th
High/low: 10th/27th
No. of mock drafts: 10/10
Average position: 15th
High/low: 8th/22nd
No. of mock drafts: 10/10
Average position: 15th
High/low: 8th/20th
No. of mock drafts: 10/10
Average position: 17th
High/low: 5th/26th
No. of mock drafts: 10/10
Average position: 17th
High/low: 13th/28th
No. of mock drafts: 10/10
Average position: 19th
High/low: 11th/25th
No. of mock drafts: 10/10
Average position: 22nd
High/low: 18th/25th
No. of mock drafts: 10/10
Average position: 22nd
High/low: 18th/30th
No. of mock drafts: 10/10
Average position: 22nd
High/low: 19th/27th
No. of mock drafts: 10/10
Average position: 25th
High/low: 24th/27th
Likely first-round picks
No. of mock drafts: 8/10
Average position: 27th
High/low: 19th/32nd
No. of mock drafts: 8/10
Average position: 29th
High/low: 25th/31st
Possible first-round picks
No. of mock drafts: 7/10
Average position: 24th
High/low: 19th/28th
No. of mock drafts: 7/10
Average position: 30th
High/low: 28th/32nd
No. of mock drafts: 6/10
Average position: 29th
High/low: 21st/32nd
No. of mock drafts: 5/10
Average position: 26th
High/low: 26th
No. of mock drafts: 4/10
Average position: 24th
High/low: 20th/28th
Fringe first-round picks
No. of mock drafts: 4/10
Average position: 25th
High/low: 21st/29th
No. of mock drafts: 3/10
Average position: 27th
High/low: 22nd/32nd
No. of mock drafts: 3/10
Average position: 30th
High/low: 28th/31st
No. of mock drafts: 3/10
Average position: 30th
High/low: 27th/32nd
No. of mock drafts: 2/10
Average position: 16th
High/low: 16th
No. of mock drafts: 2/10
Average position: 25th
High/low: 21st/29th
No. of mock drafts: 2/10
Average position: 30th
High/low: 27th/32nd
No. of mock drafts: 2/10
Average position: 31st
High/low: 29th/32nd
No. of mock drafts: 1/10
Pick: 14th
No. of mock drafts: 1/10
Pick: 20th
No. of mock drafts: 1/10
Pick: 27th
No. of mock drafts: 1/10
Pick: 27th
No. of mock drafts: 1/10
Pick: 29th
Cody Latimer
No. of mock drafts: 1/10
Pick: 30th
Follow Bryan Fischer on Twitter @BryanDFischer.