Draft Nuggets 2014 #1

by Jeff Bowers

[Editor's Note: You can find this blog at www.theticket.com under Norm's blog]

Draft Nuggets 2014: Entry #1

By Jeff Bowers of www.thedraftnarrative.com

Twitter: @sportsnarrative

 

It’s Draft Time Again!

Hello P1’s and welcome back to your home for the best coverage of the NFL Draft. I’m Jeff Bowers, associate producer and researcher of The Ticket’s Draft coverage, and I will be updating you here at Norm’s blog each week on all the latest happenings in the NFL offseason. For even more info, check out my website www.thedraftnarrative.com for all the sights, sounds, interviews and more from now until draft day itself May 8^th live from Radio City Music Hall in NYC. So let’s get it started!

The deadline for underclassmen to declare themselves eligible for this year’s draft has passed. Each year the number that declare continues to grow and this year is no exception. After a record 74 early entries last year, the 2014 NFL Draft pool will have a record 92 underclassmen in it. Here’s a complete list (Potential 1^st Rounders in Bold):

No.	Player	Pos.	School	No.	Player	Pos.	School
1	Davante Adams	WR	Fresno State	47	A.C. Leonard	TE	Tennessee State
2	Jace Amaro	TE	Texas Tech	48	Colt Lyerla	TE	Oregon
3	George Atkinson III	RB	Notre Dame	49	Aaron Lynch	DE	USF
4	Dion Bailey	S	USC	50	Johnny Manziel	QB	Texas A&M
5	Odell Beckham	WR	LSU	51	Marcus Martin	C	USC
6	Kapri Bibbs	RB	Colorado State	52	Tre Mason	RB	Auburn
7	Russell Bodine	C	North Carolina	53	Terrance Mitchell	CB	Oregon
8	Blake Bortles	QB	Central Florida	54	Viliami Moala	DT	California
9	Chris Boyd	WR	Vanderbilt	55	Donte Moncrief	WR	Ole Miss
10	Carl Bradford	DE/OLB	Arizona State	56	Adam Muema	RB	San Diego State
11	Bashaud Breeland	DB	Clemson	57	Jake Murphy	TE	Utah
12	Teddy Bridgewater	QB	Louisville	58	Troy Niklas	TE	Notre Dame
13	Martavis Bryant	WR	Clemson	59	Louis Nix III	DT	Notre Dame
14	Ka'Deem Carey	RB	Arizona	60	Jeoffrey Pagan	DL	Alabama
15	Ha Ha Clinton-Dix	S	Alabama	61	Ronald Powell	LB	Florida
16	Jadeveon Clowney	DE	South Carolina	62	Calvin Pryor	S	Louisville
17	Brandon Coleman	WR	Rutgers	63	Loucheiz Purifoy	CB	Florida
18	Brandin Cooks	WR	Oregon State	64	Kelcy Quarles	DL	South Carolina
19	Scott Crichton	DE	Oregon State	65	Ed Reynolds	FS	Stanford
20	Isaiah Crowell	RB	Alabama State	66	Darrin Reaves	RB	UAB
21	Jonathan Dowling	S	Western Kentucky	67	Antonio Richardson	OT	Tennessee
22	Kony Ealy	DE	Missouri	68	Paul Richardson	WR	Colorado
23	Dominique Easley	DT	Florida	69	Marcus Roberson	CB	Florida
24	Eric Ebron	TE	North Carolina	70	Allen Robinson	WR	Penn State
25	Bruce Ellington	WR	South Carolina	71	Greg Robinson	OT	Auburn
26	Mike Evans	WR	Texas A&M	72	Bradley Roby	CB	Ohio State
27	Ego Ferguson	DT	LSU	73	Richard Rodgers	TE	California
28	Mike Flacco	TE	New Haven	74	Bishop Sankey	RB	Washington
29	Cameron Fleming	OT	Stanford	75	Lache Seastrunk	RB	Baylor
30	Khairi Fortt	LB	California	76	Austin Seferian-Jenkins	TE	Washington
31	Austin Franklin	WR	New Mexico State	77	Ryan Shazier	LB	Ohio State
32	Devonta Freeman	RB	Florida State	78	Yawin Smallwood	LB	UConn
33	Xavier Grimble	TE	USC	79	Brett Smith	QB	Wyoming
34	Vic Hampton	CB	South Carolina	80	Jerome Smith	RB	Syracuse
35	Jeremy Hill	RB	LSU	81	Willie Snead	WR	Ball State
36	Adrian Hubbard	LB	Alabama	82	Josh Stewart	WR	Oklahoma State
37	Kameron Jackson	CB	California	83	Xavier Su'a-Filo	OL	UCLA
38	Timmy Jernigan	DT	Florida State	84	De'Anthony Thomas	RB	Oregon
39	Anthony Johnson	DT	LSU	85	Stephon Tuitt	DE	Notre Dame
40	Storm Johnson	RB	UCF	86	Trai Turner	OG	LSU
41	Henry Josey	RB	Missouri	87	George Uko	DL	USC
42	Cyrus Kouandjio	OT	Alabama	88	Pierre Warren	FS	Jacksonville State
43	Jarvis Landry	WR	LSU	89	Sammy Watkins	WR	Clemson
44	Cody Latimer	WR	Indiana	90	Terrance West	RB	Towson
45	Demarcus Lawrence	DE	Boise State	91	James Wilder Jr.	RB	Florida State
46	Marqise Lee	WR	USC	92	David Yankey	OL	Stanford

 

For what lies ahead, here’s a calendar of events for the rest of the offseason. Join us next week for a recap of the East/West Shrine Game and a preview of the Senior Bowl.

January

January 18 — East-West Shrine Game, Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida.

January 19 — AFC and NFC Championship Games.

January 25 — Senior Bowl, Ladd-Peebles Stadium, Mobile, Alabama.

January 26 — AFC-NFC Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, Hawaii.

February

February 2 — Super Bowl XLVIII, MetLife Stadium, New York-New Jersey.

February 3 — Waiver system begins for 2014. A 24-hour claiming period will be in effect through the Friday prior to the last regular season game (waivers requests made on Friday and Saturday of each week will expire at 4:00 p.m., New York time, on the following Monday.)  Players with at least four previous pension-credited seasons whom a club desires to terminate are not subject to the waiver system until after the trading deadline.

February 17 — First day for clubs to designate Franchise or Transition Players.

February 19-25 — Combine Timing and Testing, Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana.

March

March to April - College Pro-Days

March 3 — Prior to 4:00 p.m., New York time, deadline for clubs to designate Franchise or Transition Players.

March 8-11 — Clubs are permitted to contact, and enter into contract negotiations with, the certified agents of players who will become Unrestricted Free Agents upon the expiration of their 2013 Player Contracts at 4:00 p.m., New York time, on March 11. However, a contract cannot be executed with a new club until 4:00 p.m., New York time, on March 11.

March 11 — Prior to 4:00 p.m., New York time, clubs must exercise options for 2014 on all players who have option clauses in their 2013 contracts.

March 11 — Prior to 4:00 p.m., New York time, clubs must submit Qualifying Offers to their Restricted Free Agents with expiring contracts and to whom they desire to retain a Right of First Refusal/Compensation.

March 11 — Prior to 4:00 p.m., New York time, clubs must submit a Minimum Salary Tender to retain exclusive negotiating rights to their players with expiring 2013 contracts and who have fewer than three Accrued Seasons of free agency credit.

March 11 — Top-51 Begins. All clubs must be under the 2014 Salary Cap prior to 4:00 p.m., New York time. All 2013 player contracts will expire at 4:00 p.m., New York time.

March 11 — The 2014 League Year and Free Agency period begin at 4:00 p.m., New York time.

The first day of the 2014 League Year will end at 11:59:59 p.m., New York time, on March 11. clubs will receive a Personnel Notice that will include all transactions submitted to the league office during the period between 4:00 p.m., New York time, and 11:59:59 p.m., New York time, on March 11.

March 11 — Trading period for 2014 begins at 4:00 p.m., New York time, after expiration of all 2013 contracts.

March 23-26 — Annual Meeting, Orlando, Florida.

March 31 - The Draft Narrative Scouting Guide release

April

April 7 — Clubs that hired a new Head Coach after the end of the 2013 regular season may begin offseason workout programs.

April 21 — Clubs with returning Head Coaches may begin offseason workout programs.

May

May 2 — Deadline for Restricted Free Agents to sign Offer Sheets.

May 7 — Deadline for Prior Club to exercise Right of First Refusal to Restricted Free Agents.

May 8-10 — 2014 NFL Draft, New York City, New York.

May 19-21 — NFL Spring League Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia.