Clemson football: Former Tiger falls out of the first round in latest mock drafts

Clemson football is expected to have three players taken within the first two rounds of the 2020 NFL Draft. However, everyone has one player sliding a lot further back than anyone initially thought.

Yesterday, Rubbing the Rock wrote about how Clemson football wide receiver Tee Higgins would be the steal of the draft as he is the most talented receiver in this draft but most had him coming in late in the first round after players like CeeDee Lamb, Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs, and Justin Jefferson.

While NFL experts still feel this way, the experts over at NFL.com all have Tee Higgins lasting until the second round of the NFL draft. A large part of this could be Higgins’s decision to not participate at the combine mixed with the team’s inability to work him out in person has aided the plummeting of his draft stock.

Not only do the draft experts at NFL.com have Higgins completely dropping out of the first round, but a couple of them also have former Clemson football defensive back A.J. Terrell climbing into the middle of the first round and being selected by his hometown Atlanta Falcons at 16.

A couple of things to keep in mind when talking about mock drafts, they typically do not account for trades that are sure to happen on draft day, nor do these experts have any idea what a team’s draft board actually looks like. Mock drafts are educated guesses based on what each expert believes that a team will need.

NFL Network reporter Ian Rapoport tweeted out Friday that he was told by an NFL GM “The media is wronger about mock drafts this year than you guys have ever been.” Point being, players are going to be taken in places no one expects.”

This could include Tee Higgins dropping out of the first round when the NFL draft starts next week. Wherever Higgins falls to next week, that team is getting the best receiver in the draft and will be ecstatic that a player of his caliber and work ethic lasted that long.