National Football League

NFL Draft: Top 5 players at every position as draft nears

Published Apr. 27, 2015 11:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

The Combine is over, Pro Days are behind us and the 2015 NFL Draft is just days away. Who moved up and who fell in Joel Klatt's top five at each position? Check it out.

* -- Junior

** -- Red-Shirt Sophomore

Parentheses indicate previous ranking

OFFENSE

QUARTERBACKS

1. *Marcus Mariota - Oregon

2. **Jameis Winston - Florida State

3. Sean Mannion - Oregon State

4. Bryce Petty - Baylor

5. *Brett Hundley - UCLA

On Deck: Garrett Grayson - Colorado State

I was very close to adding Grayson in the 5 spot instead of Brett Hundley. Grayson is much more suited to the NFL game and should have a very shallow learning curve early in his career, however my final position was determined by the thought of which QB would win the starting role if on the same team. With that as the backdrop, Grayson stays on the outside and will likely be selected higher than this suggests. Mariota is the best prospect in the draft. He has everything that I want in a QB and leader. Winston has immense talent but is trying so hard to convince everyone that he is something that he is not. That type of mentality and behavior is not sustainable and the NFL pressure cooker will expose those that do not have deep conviction in who they are.

RUNNING BACKS

1. *Melvin Gordon - Wisconsin

2. *Todd Gurley - Georgia

3. Ameer Abdullah - Nebraska

4. Jeremy Langford - Michigan State

5. *TJ Yeldon - Alabama

On Deck: Javorius Allen - USC

Gordon and Gurley are both first-round talents and even if there are several NFL organizations that believe the RB position is devalued, they will go on the first day. Gurley is proving himself healthy in private meetings and his stock is improving daily. If it were not for the ACL injury I would have Gurley ahead of Gordon based on his natural instinct and the fact he runs with purpose. This is a good, deep group of RBs and I won't be surprised at all to see several of these guys contribute early in their careers.

WIDE RECEIVERS

1. Kevin White - West Virginia

2. *Amari Cooper - Alabama

3. *Jaelen Strong - Arizona State

4. *Dorial Green-Beckham - Oklahoma

5. DeVante Parker - Louisville

On Deck : *Nelson Agholor - USC

I want to make this a top 11 list because I think there could be that many wide receivers taken in the first 50 picks this year. If not the top 50 picks, it will be the top two rounds for the top 11 receivers. Kevin White has All-Pro written all over him and Cooper could be a team's No. 1 guy for the next 10 years. Strong is a great player and if he finds himself in the right situation he will also have a huge impact in his rookie year. The reports about his wrist injury are garbage as he played with this all last season and was still a beast. Watch out for DGB as his pure stature and athletic ability may make him the most dominant of the group.

TIGHT ENDS

1. **Maxx Williams - Minnesota

2. Clive Walford - Miami

3. Wes Saxton - So. Alabama

4. Nick O'Leary - Florida State

5. Jeff Heurman - Ohio State

On Deck: EJ Bibbs - Iowa State

MOVED OUT - None

Devin Funchess may be evaluated as a TE and would immediately be vaulted to No. 1 on this board. He played the entire year at wide receiver for Michigan and would be a fine NFL receiver, but has drawn comparisons to Jimmy Graham if he were to move to hybrid tight end.

This group lacks a real playmaker which is what prodded Maxx Williams to leave two years of eligibility on the table at Minnesota. Walford and Saxton gained solid momentum at the NFL Scouting Combine, but I don't see any tight end getting selected any time before the middle of the second round at the earliest.

TACKLES

1. *Ereck Flowers - Miami

2. La'el Collins - LSU

3. D.J. Humphries - Florida

4. Cedric Ogbuehi - Texas A&M

5. TJ Clemmings - Pitt

On Deck: *Andrus Peat - Stanford

2015 is an incredibly down year for tackles. With college football changing to the spread offense with more zone read and QB choice concepts taking a prominent role, the offensive tackles are not asked to do what an NFL tackle is asked to do. That makes it very difficult to project these guys to the next level. Many of them could wind up in the interior or on the right side, but none of them are franchise left tackle material. You may notice that Brandon Scherff is not on this list and that's because he is much better suited to play guard.

GUARD / CENTER

1. Cameron Erving - Florida State

2. Brandon Scherff - Iowa

3. Laken Tomlinson - Duke

4. Tre' Jackson - Florida State

5. AJ Cann - South Carolina

On Deck: Josue Matias - Florida State

I'm higher on this group than I am the tackles, but they lack a clear-cut leader. So, just as was the case with the tackle group, any of these players could be the first off the board at their position. I am a big fan of Erving because of his toughness and versatility having played defensive tackle, left tackle and center at FSU during his career. Scherff will be on most people's tackle list and while he just doesn't fit on the outside, he can have a good career on the interior as a guard. Laken Tomlinson is the guy that is the most intriguing because not many knew about him until his marvelous week in Mobile against Danny Shelton, a sure-fire top 10 pick.

DEFENSE

SAFTIES

1. *Landon Collins - Alabama

2. *Chris Hackett - TCU

3. *Gerod Holliman - Louisville

4. Cody Prewitt - Ole Miss

5. Derron Smith - Fresno State

On Deck: Jaquiski Tartt - Samford

Collins is the clear class of this group, but he will have to deal with some lingering questions about the health of his shoulders after his days playing for the Tide. He is a solid player and will get drafted in the first half of the first round mainly because the free-agent market for safeties was so thin. Demand is outpacing supply for safeties right now, which is great news for the rest of this list. Overall, this is a solid but not great group of players that will have to contribute on special teams early in their careers in order to make rosters.

CORNERS

1. *Trae Waynes - Michigan State

2. *Marcus Peters - Washington

3. *Jalen Collins - LSU

4. Byron Jones - UConn (Prev NR)

5. *PJ Williams - Florida State (Prev 4)

On Deck: Kevin Johnson - Wake Forest (Prev 5)

Waynes has solidified his spot at the top of the group with a strong showing at the Combine, but Peters is very intriguing and it will only take one team to overlook the perceived character problems that caused his dismissal from the team at Washington. Ifo Ekpre-Olomu is just not healthy enough right now to be included in this group, which is unfortunate for him but some team is going to get an incredible value with him in the middle rounds of the draft. PJ Williams moves down after his run-in with the law that saw him refuse a roadside sobriety test at 3 a.m. in Tallahassee. Bryon Jones makes his debut on the list and I believe that his presence will be most felt as a nickel corner/safety who will mainly play against the slot and on special teams.

INSIDE LINEBACKERS

1. Eric Kendricks - UCLA

2. *Benardrick McKinney - Mississippi State

3. Denzel Perryman - Miami

4. Paul Dawson - TCU

5. Ben Heeney - Kansas

On Deck: Ramik Wilson - Georgia

McKinney did not run a solid 40 time and with Kendricks surprising some with his time, he is gaining momentum at the right time. Kendricks should be the first ILB taken in the draft. His tape is off the charts with production, recognition, tackling ability, stamina, pursuit ability and overall effort. Perryman is undersized but has good instincts, and Paul Dawson makes an appearance on the list. He was a disruptive player for TCU on their way to a fabulous season. The guy that is totally off the radar is Ben Heeney from Kansas, a very good player who will be on a roster next fall.

OUTSIDE LINEBACKERS

1. *Dante Fowler Jr. - FLorida

2. Vic Beasley - Clemson

3. *Shane Ray - Missouri

4. *Shaq Thompson - Washington

5. Eli Harold - Virginia

On Deck: Nate Orchard - Utah

This group, along with the wide receivers, are the best in the draft and all of these players should get selected in the top 50 picks. Fowler, Jr. had one of the five best Combine performances in 2015 and solidified himself as the most NFL-ready outside linebacker in the draft. He weighed in at 260 pounds, which is a great weight, but then backed it up with great performances in the movement drills. Shaq Thompson stays on this list, but he really needs to be evaluated as a dropped safety or a weakside linebacker. Thompson is likely the best pure football player available, but he is incredibly raw at this point. Won't surprise me to see him dominate the game in a way similar to what Troy Polamalu and Kam Chancellor have done in the last few years. Shane Ray was not healthy enough to perform at the Combine and then was disappointing at his pro day, but he is explosive and gets to the quarterback enough to be a top-15 selection.

DEFENSIVE ENDS

1. Bud Dupree - Kentucky

2. *Randy Gregory - Nebraska

3. Owamagbe Odighizuwa - UCLA

4. *Arik Armstead - Oregon

5. Mario Edwards Jr. - FSU (Prev NR)

On Deck: *Danielle Hunter - LSU (Prev 5)

With Gregory's failed drug test at the Combine, he slips down to No. 2, even though he has immense talent and potential. Dupree is solid in every category and should be the first defensive end selected now that Gregory has another red flag. I love Odighizuwa from UCLA and his production in the NFL is likely to be much better than his production in college, because in passing situations he was mainly down in a 3-technique, making it very hard to get to the quarterback. Danielle Hunter looks like a sure-fire first-round pick, but he does not play like it. He played on more than 80 percent of LSU's snaps and only had 1.5 sacks. That is alarmingly low production.

DEFENSIVE TACKLES

1. *Leonard Williams - USC

2. Danny Shelton - Washington

3. *Malcom Brown - Texas

4. Eddie Goldman - Florida State

5. **Jordan Phillips - Oklahoma

On Deck: Michael Bennett - Ohio State

The defensive tackles are another strong group and they were solid in Indy. Leonard Williams is the best player available in the draft and Danny Shelton continues to impress everyone. Jordan Phillips is one of the more intriguing players in the draft as he didn't have great production, but the athletic ability jumps off the tape. The major concern for Phillips is his nagging back injuries. All of these players are strong candidates to get selected in the top 50 picks.