How many Cougs will hear their name called in the NFL Draft?

The NFL Draft’s three-day extravaganza kicks off tonight with the first round, and while Washington State has three credible hopefuls to be selected in the next few days, one might hear his name called this evening.

We know how good Abe Lucas is after watching him lock down the right side of WSU’s line for the past four seasons, and that’s likely not lost on NFL scouts, either. FoxSports.com’s Rob Rang has rated Lucas the No. 45 overall prospect, and he identified Lucas as a potential “mock buster”:

Had Lucas played in the Big Ten or ACC, he might already be considered a first-round pick. As it stands, don’t be surprised if he sneaks into the top 32. He’s a plug-and-play right tackle joining a league desperate for them.

Lucas impressed scouts with his combine results, and he did a ton of pre-draft interviews, stopping by the facilities of more than a third of NFL teams. We know how impressive Lucas is in interviews, so it wouldn’t at all be surprising to see a team fall in love with him and grab him near the end of the first round.

Rang also thinks highly of WSU cornerback Jaylen Watson, ranking him the No. 75 overall prospect. That would place Watson in the third round range.

For the alternate projection, there’s NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein, who thinks much less of the draft prospects of both: He has projected Lucas as a 3rd/4th round selection, while he considers Watson an undrafted prospect. That seems far fetched, honestly.

Running back Max Borghi, meanwhile, might be waiting until after the draft to lock down his future team. There are a number of factors working against Borghi, ranging from the fact that running back is no longer a premium position in the NFL to the fact that he’s had some durability issues at WSU. Still, he could hear his name called late, and even if he doesn’t, he’ll certainly have a number of teams wanting to bring him in on an undrafted free agent contract.

You can watch the first round of the draft tonight on either NFL Network or ESPN starting at 5 p.m. PT. The second and third rounds begin Friday at 4 p.m. PT, and then rounds 4-7 will conclude the draft on Saturday starting at 9 a.m. PT.

LINKS

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