The NFL Draft begins tonight, and several Mississippi prospects are hoping to hear their name called by the Commissioner during tonight’s first round.
Mississippi State may have three players selected in the first round when it’s all said and done, including DE Montez Sweat, S Johnathan Abram and DT Jeffery Simmons.
For Sweat, he’ll find out if the heart condition that was discovered at the combine will affect his draft stock. While ESPN has reported that some teams are concerned about the condition, Mel Kiper Jr. still has Sweat as the 21st overall pick to the Seattle Seahawks in his latest mock draft.
Simmons tore his ACL while training for the draft in February but Kiper thinks that his talent will outweigh the injury and he’ll still go in the first round at #26 to the Indianapolis Colts.
Abram has been projected as a first-round pick in multiple mock drafts as well. Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller has Abram going to the Colts with Simmons going #19 to the Titans.
For Ole Miss, WR D.K. Metcalf is hoping to be the first receiver off of the board, and he’ll be in attendance at the draft with head coach Matt Luke. Metcalf is not in Kiper’s final first-round mock draft, but his name has been mentioned in discussions regarding the draft’s top receivers along with Oklahoma’s Marquise Brown, Iowa State’s Hakeem Butler, Arizona State’s N’Keal Harry, and fellow Rebel A.J. Brown.
Miller has Brown going 32nd overall to the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.
Outside of the first round, MSU C Elgton Jenkins, CB Jamal Peters, S Mark McLaurin and QB Nick Fitzgerald will have to play the waiting game to see where they’ll land.
For Ole Miss, LT Greg Little was once thought to be one of the draft’s top OL, but he’ll likely be drafted in the 2nd or 3rd round. WR DaMarkus Lodge will also be drafted in later rounds in addition to TE Dawson Knox and DB Zedrick Woods.
The draft will begin tonight at 7 p.m. in Nashville.
