NFL Hot Press: Survey of Teams Grade Marcus Davenport as a Late First-Round Pick

*Walt taking 2014 and 2018

Charlie Campbell, Senior Draft Analyst Follow Charlie on Twitter @draftcampbell for updates. Led all NFL media in draft rumor accuracy in '15, '16, '17, '18, and '20 Led all NFL media in correct picks for the 2017 and 2019 NFL Drafts 2021 NFL MOCK DRAFT - WALT'S | CHARLIE'S ROUND: 1

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Survey of Teams Grade Marcus Davenport as a Late First-Round Pick

Updated Feb. 28, 2018
By Charlie Campbell. Follow Charlie on Twitter @draftcampbell.

Every year in the NFL Draft, there are some small-school prospects who come out of nowhere to end up being highly sought-after players. This year, Marcus Davenport will keep that tradition alive, as the UTSA defensive end has gotten a lot of media acclaim with many mock drafts projecting him to be top-10 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. Helping Davenport to rise is the 2018 draft class being weak at defensive end and lacking talent for edge rushers.

At the NFL scouting combine, I caught up with sources from eight different teams to get their projection of Davenport. None of those eight teams had graded him as a top-10 pick. The grades for Davenport ranged from the middle of the first to late in the first round.

A NFC general manager, “We have him around middle of the first.”

An AFC general manager, “I see him going late first. Top 10 would surprise me.”

An AFC national scout, “We have him late one. Plays too high, has tightness in lower to be elite.”

An NFC national scout, “I don’t see him going that high. Late one.”

An AFC director of college scouting, “We graded him late first/early second. Good run defender. His pass rush needs work. He’s raw as hell.”

A national scout from a AFC playoff team said he didn’t have Davenport in his territory but believed he would end up being a mid-to-late first.

A NFC southeast scout, “We have him in the late one to early second range. I don’t know where top-10 talk came from. I haven’t heard from any guys that saw him that high. Too much of a developmental guy in so many aspects, and he’s at a position with a high bust rate. He’s strictly an edge guy also. He has questionable sub-package value, which is a killer in today’s game. Length is a big asset and he has impressive flashes.”

A NFC general manager said something similar but with a stipulation, “I don’t think he’s top 10 right now. Workouts change a lot of things though.”

A few of the team sources said they thought that Davenport could rise higher into the first round as that last NFC general manager stated. The 6-foot-5, 259-pounder is a good athlete with the size, strength and speed that should impress during the pre-draft workouts. However, after surveying a good sample of teams, for Davenport to become a top-10 pick, he is going to need a huge performance at the NFL Scouting Combine and in the workouts to follow.