2024 NFL Draft: Way-too-early top 10 prospect rankings
It’s always NFL Draft season.
With the 2023 class in the books as of Saturday, here is The Post’s early lookahead to the top 10 pros🔜pects in tꦅhe 2024 NFL Draft class, after conversations with a few NFL scouts.
By all accounts, it is expected to be a much deeper first rou🌞nd than t🗹he one that just passed:
1. Caleb Williams, QB, USC
Like Trevor Lawrence before him, Williams almost can’t play himself out of the No. 1 overall pick unless he is seriously injured.
The 2022 Heisman Trophy winner has a quick and accurate rele🌄ase, passed for 42 touchdowns compared to five interceptions last season, and has the gift for the off-schedule plays that are all the rage in the NFL nowadays.
He is athletic enough to run the read-option or scramble when the pocket breaks down, but if heဣ wan🌳ts to be a dual-threat then people will question his 6-foot-1 frame’s durability.
2. Drake Maye, QB, North Carolina
A great athlete who happens to be a very good quarterback, Maye is an easy thrower with nice touch 🅘on the ball, especially downfield.
He can evade pass-rusheꦍrs 𓆏while keeping his eyes downfield looking to extend plays.
Because he so often makes something out of nothing, he can slip in🌊to bad habits — ♋like throwing off his back foot — that will bite him in the NFL.
Maye passed for 4,321 yards and 38 touchdowns and ran for anot🎐her 698 yards and seven touchdowns.
3. Marvin Harrison Jr., WR, Ohio State
Sons of Hall of Famers rare�꧟�ly turn out as well as their fathers, but Harrison Jr. could have a chance to follow his father’s footsteps if he finds his own Peyton Manning.
Of all the great Ohio State receivers of late, Harrison coܫuld be the best.
He has the size (6-foot-4, 205 pounds) that his f♑ather lacked but the same innate ability to uncover ꦜthrough precise route-running and sticky hands (with a bigger catch radius).
He thrives on physicality, whether beating press coverage or run-blocꦐking.
4. Brock Bowers, TE, Georgia
In a deep 2023 tight end class that included college teammate Darnell Washington, the 6-foot-4 Bowers likely would’ve🐎 been the first off the board if☂ eligible.
The Mackey Award wi🌳nner (nation’s top tight༺ end) has 119 catches for 1,824 yards and 20 touchdowns through his first two seasons despite some concentration drops.
He will chip a p🐬ass-rusher before getting into his route — and then he’s hard to bring to the ground.
An “absolute freak sh🗹ow,” NFL Network analys♔t Daniel Jeremiah said.
5. Olumuyiwa Fashanu, LT, Penn State
The 6-foot-6, 323-pound former three-star recruit allowed zero sacks on 281 pass-bloc🌃king snaps in eight games as a first-year starter last season and was named his team’s Offensive Player of the Game against Purdue and Auburn.
The🌱re 🔯is talk he would’ve been a first-round pick if he entered the 2023 draft despite the lack of experience.
If ไhe plays as consistently over the next 1,000 snaps as he did over the first 600,🅰 then he could be the first non-quarterback taken.
6. Joe Alt, LT, Notre Dame
The first-team All-American has꧂ ꦜmade 21 straight starts at left tackle.
Alt allowed zero sacks on 406 pass-blocking snaps, paved the way for a 2,457-yard rushing attack and was the highest-graded offensive tackle in the country — just ahead of Peter Skoronski, whom the Titans just took at the No. 11 picꩵk — according to Pro Football Focus.
Li♉ke Harrison Jr., the 6-foot-8, 315-pound Alt has good genes.
His father, John, was a two-time Pro Bowler who is in the Chiefs’ Hꦫall of Fame after a 13-yea𒐪r career (1984-96).
7. Dallas Turner, EDGE, Alabama
Is he the next Will Anderson?
Comparisons to the No. 3 pick🌊 in the 2022 draft will be auto🉐matic, but Turner isn’t there yet physically in terms of generating consistent knockback.
The lanky 6-foot-4, 245-pound Turner’s different skill set than Anderson’s include an ability to drop into coverage as an out⛄side lineba🍬cker.
Regarded as a sure-tackler, Turner has 12.5 sacks across 28 c🐭areer games (13 starts).
He is missing spring practice due to offseasonꦚ ༺surgery.
“He’s going 𒆙to be the next Alabama great,” Anderson told NFL.com🍎.
8. Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB, Alabama
Oh yeah! Drink the Kool-Aid on thi✅s speedster out of the Defensive 𒊎Back Factory.
McKinstry had 16 passes defen𓃲ded in his first year as a starter, showing an ability to high point the ball and recover when beaten.
Any interception has a chance to be a touchdown given that McKinstry averaged 15.8 per punt 🌳return.
McKinstry could line up in the slot or on the peri♈meter in zone coverage, but he gets away with handsiness𒊎 that won’t fly with NFL officials.
9. Jared Verse, EDGE, Florida State
The 🃏Albany transfer — who actually redshirted at the FCS lev🧔el before becoming CAA Defensive Rookie of the Year — could’ve been a first-round pick in 2023 after his impressive ACC debut.
He showed explosiveness, length and power in ﷽compiling nine sacks and 17 tackles for loss.
Verse keeps offensive tackles guessing with a repertoire that includes speed around the e💫dge and bull-rushes.🐻
But is he a specialist or an every-down player?
There will be a microscope on his run defense and backside chase ef🥀for༺t this season.
10. Maason Smith, DT, LSU
Talent? Tons of it.
Uncertainty? Well, Smit🐎h missed almost all of last season after tearing his ACL in the first quarter of the season-opener.
If he returns at full strength, as expected, the former No♋. 1 defensive tackle recruit in the country is the up-the-gut pass-rusher that NFL t🧜eams covet, with the scheme versatility to come off the edge if needed.
Smith had four sacks in nine games (four starts) as a freshman but was already fighting through double-teams with a high m🔜oto🔥r.
