The National Football League announced today the names of 96 players who have been granted special eligibility for the 2016 NFL Draft and 11 players who have fulfilled their degree requirements with college football eligibility remaining and are also eligible for selection in the 2016 NFL Draft on April 28-30 in Chicago.
There were 74 players granted special early eligibility in 2015. There were a record 98 early entrants in the 2014 draft; there were 73 in the 2013 draft, 65 in 2012, 56 in 2011, 53 in 2010, 46 in 2009, 53 in 2008, 40 in 2007 and 52 in 2006. The number of underclassmen had increased six years in a row until last year's dropoff.
In NFL Media analyst Daniel Jeremiah's first mock draft of the year, each of the projected top three picks is an underclassmen, as well as eight of the top 10. In addition, nine of his top 12 prospects and 16 of his top 20 overall are underclassmen.
Each of the 96 players granted special eligibility has met the league's three-year eligibility rule and each has submitted a written application in which he renounced his remaining college football eligibility. The deadline for receiving applications was Jan. 18.
The players granted special eligibility for the 2016 NFL Draft:
» Bralon Addison, WR, Oregon
» Dominique Alexander, LB, Oklahoma
» Mackensie Alexander, CB, Clemson
» Eli Apple, CB, Ohio State
» Demarcus Ayers, WR, Houston
» Peyton Barber, RB, Auburn
» Vonn Bell, DB, Ohio State
» Caleb Benenoch, OL, UCLA
» Andrew Billings, DT, Baylor
» Dariusz Bladek, OG, Bethune-Cookman
» Joey Bosa, DE, Ohio State
» Tyler Boyd, WR, Pittsburgh
» Daniel Braverman, WR, Western Michigan
» Beniquez Brown, LB, Mississippi State
» Artie Burns, CB, Miami
» Kenny Clark, DT, UCLA
» Corey Coleman, WR, Baylor
» Trenton Coles, DB, Duquesne
» Alex Collins, RB, Arkansas
» Maliek Collins, DT, Nebraska
» Jack Conklin, OL, Michigan State
» Pharoh Cooper, WR, South Carolina
» Kamalei Correa, DL, Boise State
» Su'a Cravens, LB, USC
» Elijah Daniel, DT, Murray State
» Terrell Davis, LB, British Columbia
» Kevin Dodd, DE, Clemson
» Thomas Duarte, WR, UCLA
» Ezekiel Elliott, RB, Ohio State
» Leonard Floyd, LB, Georgia
» Kendall Fuller, CB, Virginia Tech
» Will Fuller, WR, Notre Dame
» Jared Goff, QB, Cal
» T.J. Green, S, Clemson
» David Grinnage, TE, North Carolina State
» Christian Hackenberg, QB, Penn State
» Vernon Hargreaves, CB, Florida
» Jerald Hawkins, OL, LSU
» Derrick Henry, RB, Alabama
» Hunter Henry, TE, Arkansas
» Willie Henry, DT, Michigan
» Rashard Higgins, WR, Colorado State
» Austin Hooper, TE, Stanford
» Jordan Howard, RB, Indiana
» Xavien Howard, CB, Baylor
» Germain Ifedi, OT, Texas A&M
» Myles Jack, LB, UCLA
» Cardale Jones, QB, Ohio State
» Cayleb Jones, WR, Arizona
» Chris Jones, DL, Mississippi State
» Jayron Kearse, DB, Clemson
» Denver Kirkland, OT, Arkansas
» Darius Latham, DL, Indiana
» Kenny Lawler, WR, Cal
» Shaq Lawson, DE, Clemson
» Darron Lee, LB, Ohio State
» Roger Lewis, WR, Bowling Green
» Steve Longa, LB, Rutgers
» Paxton Lynch, QB, Memphis
» Jalin Marshall, WR, Ohio State
» Alex McCalister, DE, Florida
» Brett McMakin, LB, Northern Iowa
» Keanu Neal, S, Florida
» Yannick Ngakoue, DL, Maryland
» Robert Nkemdiche, DL, Ole Miss
» Marquez North, WR, Tennessee
» Emmanuel Ogbah, DL, Oklahoma State
» Paul Perkins, RB, UCLA
» Joe Powell, DB, Globe
» C.J. Prosise, RB, Notre Dame
» Jalen Ramsey, DB, Florida State
» Alex Redmond, OL, UCLA
» Hassan Ridgeway, DT, Texas
» A'Shawn Robinson, DT, Alabama
» Demarcus Robinson, WR, Florida
» Rashard Robinson, CB, LSU
» Aldrick Rosas, K, Southern Oregon
» Zack Sanchez, CB, Oklahoma
» Isaac Seumalo, OL, Oregon State
» Wendell Smallwood, RB, West Virginia
» Jaylon Smith, LB, Notre Dame
» Tyrell Smith, OT, Massachusetts
» Ronnie Stanley, OT, Notre Dame
» Kelvin Taylor, RB, Florida
» Ron Thompson, DE, Syracuse
» Laquon Treadwell, WR, Ole Miss
» Laremy Tunsil, OT, Ole Miss
» Quinn van Gylswyk, K, British Columbia
» Nick Vigil, LB, Utah State
» Cleveland Wallace III, CB, San Jose State
» Dwayne Washington, RB, Washington
» Stephen Weatherly, LB, Vanderbilt
» De'Runnya Wilson, WR, Mississippi State
» Daryl Worley, CB, West Virginia
» Scooby Wright III, LB, Arizona
» Avery Young, OL, Auburn
The following 11 players have in timely fashion under NFL rules officially notified the league office that they have fulfilled their degree requirements. Consequently, they are eligible for selection in the 2016 NFL Draft:
» Roberto Aguayo, K, Florida State
» Travis Blanks, LB, Clemson
» Zac Brooks, RB, Clemson
» Eric Enderson, P, Delaware
» Austin Johnson, DT, Penn State
» Keith Marshall, RB, Georgia
» Tyvis Powell, DB, Ohio State
» Noah Spence, DE, Eastern Kentucky
» Michael Thomas, WR, Ohio State
» Corey Tindal, DB, Marshall
» Vincent Valentine, DT, Nebraska
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