2024 NFL draft: Latest buzz, rumors, prospect sleepers
We’re less than three weeks from Round 1 of the 2024 NFL draft. Draft boards are starting to firm up, team needs are becoming more clear and prospects are starting to make their official visits. And along the way, intrigue around what every team is going to do on Day 1 is picking up.
We’ve heard a lot of buzz about early picks, standout players, potential trades and the quarterback market. So we asked NFL draft analysts Matt Miller, Jordan Reid and Field Yates to break down the latest intel from around the league.
Who are the hardest prospects to rank right now, and what is the most surprising piece of information you’ve heard about how specific positions stack up? Who are the most interesting Day 3 sleepers? And which teams could trade up for a non-QB in Round 1? We get into all that and then let Matt, Jordan and Field empty their scouting notebooks with what they’re hearing, seeing and thinking.
Who is the hardest prospect to rank right now
Miller: Drake Maye, QB, North Carolina. Projecting where Maye will ultimately be selected in the first round — somewhere in the top six picks — is much easier than deciding his grade. He is hovering at No. 9 overall on my board with the potential to slide down a little in the final run up to the draft. I
just think the situation he is drafted into will matter so much in determining what kind of success Maye has in the NFL. He only started 26 games in college, and his turnovers (16 interceptions) and missed-throws scare me. I’ve accepted that Maye will be drafted much higher than my ranking for him, but he’s my most difficult evaluation when it comes to balancing his upside with his current ability.
Reid: Amarius Mims, OT, Georgia. In talking to scouts over the past two months, I’ve gathered that opinions are all over the place on Mims. The talent and physical traits are impossible to ignore. At 6-foot-8 and 340 pounds, Mims has the tools, and it doesn’t take long to recognize his first-round talent when he’s on the field. But “on the field” is the key here.
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Mims battled durability concerns throughout the past two seasons, with only eight starts in 30 career games played. He underwent TightRope ankle surgery after three starts last season and even suffered a lower-body injury at the combine. If you told me that Mims would be the best offensive lineman from this class in five years, I’d believe you — but I’d also believe you if you said he would miss a significant amount of time with injuries as a pro. My No. 5 offensive tackle and No. 19 overall player on my board, Mims is a high-end talent, but the injury history could give some teams pause.
Yates: Laiatu Latu, EDGE, UCLA. This one is easy. Latu put out the best tape of any defensive player in the class last season. Heck, I’m not sure it’s even close. He is an incredibly talented pass-rusher who combines the ability to torque, bend the edge, use his hands and execute a plan to be the best sack artist in the draft.
But he’s also a medical question mark after he was forced into retirement while playing at Washington due to a neck injury in 2020. He resurfaced at UCLA in 2022, was able to resume his career and has been healthy since, but the reality is that every NFL’s team tolerance for medical risk is different. I see top-10 tape and believe Latu merits a top-10 selection — but if the medicals are alarming to teams, his range could be wider than the film would suggest. And some of that is baked into my No. 16 overall ranking.
