The 2018 NFL Draft is roughly a month away, meaning prospects are meeting and visiting with teams to get more familiar with one another. The NFL Combine and Pro Days are mostly in the books, meaning prospective NFL players have very few chances left to improve their draft stock.
How did the Combine and Pro Day affect Virginia Tech’s Tremaine Edmunds? Well, if you ask ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr., the effect was negative.
Edmunds flashed at the 2018 NFL Combine, running a 4.54-second 40-yard-dash and measuring in at 6-foot-5 and 253 pounds. Everyone knew Edmunds was a bit of an anomaly, with few players possessing such measurables. But because of those traits, Kiper believes teams are viewing it as a negative.
“Edmunds hasn’t really projected quite as high as many thought he would,” Kiper said on Wednesday. “I think what affects Edmunds is that he’s such a freakish talent, you’d expect more dominant play week in and week out. I don’t think teams necessarily saw that, even though he had over 100 tackles and made a lot of plays. He shows a lot of versatility.
As a junior in 2017, Edmunds was a productive linebacker. He finished the season with 109 total tackles, his second-straight season with 100 or more tackles. He also registered 14 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks, which is nothing to scoff at. However, Kiper said that with Edmunds’ natural talents, teams expected more production from him in his 29 career starts.
“I think maybe the freakish numbers worked against him in that regard,” Kiper said. “You thought he would be Lawrence Taylor out there, just making plays everywhere in every game, and it wasn’t the case. That’s why I have him dropping down to 12 to the Buffalo Bills. Roquan Smith from Georgia has moved a little bit ahead of him.”
In Kiper’s latest mock draft, he has Edmunds being taken with the 12th-overall selection by the Buffalo Bills. Kiper is projecting Roquan Smith from Georgia to go at No. 10 to the Oakland Raiders, two spots ahead of Edmunds.
Kiper Still High on Settle’s Draft Stock
Defensive tackle Tim Settle is another Virginia Tech prospect with the potential to be taken in the early rounds of the draft. Settle played just two seasons for Virginia Tech, declaring for the 2018 NFL Draft as a redshirt sophomore. Settle had a productive season in 2017, registering 12.5 tackles for loss and four sacks, but struggled at the NFL Combine. He finished at the bottom end of his position group in every test and struggled in drills.
However, at Virginia Tech’s Pro Day, the 6-foot-3 and 329-pound lineman felt better about his performance. Kiper, who has been a fan of Settle since he declared, still believes that he is a day-two prospect.
“In terms of Settle, I like him. I think I got him in there before anybody else, in terms of once he decided to come out,” Kiper said. “I think he’s a top-10 caliber defensive tackle. Big body along the interior, decent quickness. I’d say third round is where I would think he would come off the board.”
Terrell Edmunds Boosts Stock With Strong Combine Performance
Lastly, Kiper noted that safety Terrell Edmunds has caught his attention while viewing Virginia Tech film. The middle Edmunds brother impressed scouts with a 4.47-second 40-yard-dash and second-place finishes in both the broad jump and vertical jump. Edmunds has 31 career starts under his belt, and because of his experience and talent, Kiper sees Edmunds as a potential mid-round selection.
“He’s still a developmental safety, but with his numbers, his potential, you could see him coming off the board in the third or fourth round,” Kiper said.
The 2018 NFL Draft begins on Thursday, April 26 at 8 p.m. and runs through Sat., April 28. The first two days of draft coverage can be seen on ESPN, the NFL Network and FOX, while the draft’s final day can be seen on ESPN and the NFL Network.
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I hope I’m wrong but draft projections for VT players are usually over-inflated. I would not be surprised to see Tremaine fall to second round; Settle to mid-rounds; and Terrell to lat rounds.
Edmunds was completely unremarkable the first few weeks of the season. All of the VT sites talked about it. He started to come on at the end of the season but he was never a totally dominate player mainly because… he’s so young and inexperienced. He’s going to be alright, but if he’d turned it up next season he probably could have been a top 5. Still made a pretty good decision.
Latest 2 round mock draft on CBS sports has Tremaine at #16 to Baltimore and Settle going in the 2nd round to the Patriots at pick #63. For whatever that’s worth….
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/news/two-round-2018-nfl-mock-draft-broncos-take-barkley-as-qbs-go-1-2-3-4-after-trade/
Does Kiper ever get anything right? He is mostly a big hair who is full of hot air..Hs argument makes no sense
Isn’t the real reason Edmunds might not be picked so high is that 4 quarterbacks are now expected to go high, Barkley will be picked. You know there will be DL, OL, and some WR or secondary mm rr picked. You can name 8-12 or more players who will picked in front of that have nothing to do with Edmunds himself. I think the reasons mentioned in the article are made up just to give a reason. In reality, it is just other positions and players will be chosen
Why would Kiper or others feel they need to make up something? They have no reason to do that.
How about Cam?
UFA…i don’t think he is projecting to get drafted.
Kiper is full of BS. How does this explanation jive with guys who kill it at the combine and wind up going high in the draft because they killed it at the combine?
He dropped two spots in the 1st round and this is Kiper’s explanation? He could have written off this so called huge drop of two spots by saying Oakland simply likes the UGA guy a little better. That would have made more sense.
Stupid talking heads talking stupid. They love the sound of their own voice and the attention they get.
Tremaine did not “will” his team to a Conference title (Georgia did) or win in the playoffs or take have his team as close as an overtime coverage bust from a title. Wish these guys the best, but in my mind, leave some trophies in the VT closet before leaving early – Ford, Hodges, Evans, Settle. Leave early if your are a first team All-American and a Conference or national Champion.
Nail meet hammer! Perfectly stated.
Yep, easy to get the bighead, big fish in a moderate pond
enviable goal, just not realistic. If you are a first round talent, you declare, period!
I still agree with the scout that said Tremaine would commit too early on plays and that is just a young player mistake. He would run himself out of a play, but on plays where he got to right spot, he was dominant.
Scout also said that would be a relatively easy fix for NFL coaches.
100% Accurate…2-3 in NFL he will be potential All-Pro (- injury bug bite!)!
Go Hokies!
2-3 yrs in NFL
Man if it’s an easy fix then can we not also fix it…. I’m no coach but i think it’s a reasonable question.
Lol. So, because he’s such a talent, he needed to show he was MORE dominant? How about he played his position and didn’t try to do too much either?
Talk about overthinking!
Buffalo Bills??? Say it ain’t so.
Blessing when Mel kiper doesn’t sing your praise. Lol. Only reason Edmunds isn’t a top 5 pick is because of the QBs and the teams in desperate need of one
Kiper’s comments about Tremaine are just plain stupid dumb and to top it off he gets paid ….
Well, Junior is generally stupid, IMO. He’s a bag of hot air, who continues to get paid a lot of money, as some so called “expert”.