By: Jeff Doke

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The NFL Draft always has one guarantee; hope.

It’s the one time of the year where every fanbase can at least start the day with hope for the future and speculation runs rampant.

This year is no different…well, at least after the first pick, that is.

Trevor Lawrence headed to the Jaguars with the first overall pick is as close to a lock as you’re going to get.

Granted there is a small but noisy contingent of JagNation that is trying to sway public opinion towards picking Heisman Trophy winner DeVonta Smith instead of T-Law 2.0, and an even smaller contingent trying to convince Shad Khan to go for Gator QB Kyle Trask in a Tebow-esque reach with the first pick. We have names for those people, and they are “misguided” and “delirious,” respectively.

No, Trevor Lawrence is coming to Duval, you can bank on that one.

Whether he starts immediately or not will be largely determined by whether or not the Jaguars use a slice of their $85mil+ of cap space to bring in a journeyman quarterback to ease the transition (Alex Smith seems to be the speculation du jour).

After the first pick, however, this year’s draft could turn into a lesson in controlled chaos.

First round trades have been on the decline over the last few years, but I think (hope?) that this year will be different.

The crop of quarterbacks alone looks to rival that of the fabled 1983 draft, and there are more than a handful of franchises with question marks behind center. With most mock drafts having the first four picks selecting QBs, if two more signal callers get the first-round nod, that would tie the record for most quarterbacks in the first round.

That outcome might not be outside of the realm of possibility. I think it’s safe to say that the top four in some order will read Trevor Lawrence, Zack Wilson, Justin Fields, and Trey Lance (at least that’s the way I see them going), but there are several more that are worthy of first round consideration if the franchise fit is right.

Mac Jones, Alabama – Mac had a solid post-Tua career in Tuscaloosa. Draft prognosticators have him as a pretty solid first round candidate, more than likely headed to San Francisco or New Orleans.

Kellen Mond, Texas A&M – I’ll be honest, I always felt nervous when the Dawgs had to go up against him. There were times he looked like a Patrick Mahomes clone, and he had developed into a solid pocket passer with a refined touch pass already.

I don’t see why he couldn’t go late first round, especially last. I haven’t seen any speculation to back this up, but imagine him getting a year or two learning under Tom Brady. Scary. And speaking of scary…

Feleipe Franks, Arkansas – He’s a 6’ 6”, 234lb monster of a player with an attitude to match. If not for his consistency concerns, he’d be a first rounder easily. Regardless, there is a lot of potential there, and it wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility that a GM somewhere develops a serious man crush and takes a big reach on the big slinger (lookin’ at you, Denver…)

Jamie Newman, Wake Forest – I don’t care what CKS says, I will never consider Newman a Dawg, and I will never forgive him for leaving UGA in a pickle at the last minute in 2020.

That being said, he’s a solid, albeit rusty, pro-style passer that could be seen as a safe option for a team that gets nervous after a run on quarterbacks in the draft.

Kyle Trask – Just kidding. He’s got “third round” written all over him. But hey, stranger things have happened, and he’s been mentioned as an Indianapolis target. In short, who knows?

Will 2021 be a first-round record-setter? I think that will be largely determined by who blinks in the Deshaun/Texans standoff, whether someone tries to milk one more season out of FitzMagic, and if Drew Brees finally makes his retirement official.

We’ll find out soon enough.