*Walt taking 2014 and 2018 |
Charlie Campbell, Senior Draft Analyst |
No Consensus on Paul Dawson
Updated Jan. 29, 2015By Charlie Campbell. Follow Charlie on Twitter @draftcampbell.
One interesting player in the 2015 NFL Draft is TCU inside linebacker Paul Dawson. The TCU defense came alive to help lead the Horned Frogs to a huge season that nearly secured them a berth in the college football playoff. Dawson came up huge for the defense, as he put up a huge stat line with 128 tackles, 18.5 tackles for a loss, five sacks, two forced fumbles, five passes batted and four interceptions. While Dawson had a big senior year, opinions on him are extremely split among NFL teams, and they are all over the map on where they grade him.
The team that was the highest on Dawson has him as a second-round pick, and the next-highest grade for Dawson is in the third round. A few teams have him as a fourth-round pick and said he could go somewhere on Day 3. Another team said that they’ve graded Dawson as a sixth- or seventh-round pick.
Dawson is listed at 5-foot-10, 240-pounds, but it wouldn’t be surprising if he checks in smaller than that at the NFL Scouting Combine. That could send him to outside linebacker, and some teams don’t like his lack of height and length in pass coverage.
Dawson has to hope that the team that views him as a second- or third-round pick is the one that drafts him; otherwise the team that believes he’ll slide into Day 3 could be correct.
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