The NFL draft is still months away, but with bowl games ending, players have started declaring for the NFL draft and this season there are a number of players coming out that could have huge impacts as rookies and some names past Johnny Manziel and Teddy Bridgewater includes Blake Bortles, De'Anthony Thomas, Marqise Lee and Sammy Watkins.
According to ESPN.com, Bortles, who is quickly moving up draft boards, is declaring for the draft after leading UCF to a huge BCS win over Baylor, giving up his senior season with the Knights. Past Bortles, De'Anthony Thomas, Marqise Lee and Sammy Watkins are also coming into the draft out of Oregon, USC and Clemson respectively and all are considered very talented and could be first round picks for teams like the Minnesota Vikings, Jacksonville Jaguars or Oakland Raiders.
Bortles now is being looked at as the number two quarterback behind Teddy Bridgewater and this comes after he had a great game against Baylor and passed for over 3,500 yards and 25 touchdowns while leading his teams to a 12-1 record. Bortles also added six touchdowns on the ground and he is considered an athletic quarterback and one that has a very solid arm. Bortles was a redshirt junior and passed for 301 yards and three scores and rushed for another one and now he will turn that into a high draft pick.
Thomas comes out as one of the fastest players in college football after playing at the University of Oregon and last season he had 594 rushing yards, 246 receiving yards and 10 total touchdowns while also returning kicks and that was a specialty and he leaves the school with 5,345 total yards and while he returned punts also, he will be remembered for his kick returns, as he has the team records for kickoff return yards with 1,885 and also for return average on punts. Thomas leaves after rushing for two touchdowns in the Rose Bowl in 2011 and he also added a kick return for a score in the Fiesta Bowl in 2012 and now he could be an early draft pick this year.
