• Ohio State large receivers coach Brian Hartline shall be in Las Vegas for Thursday evening’s first spherical. Whose desk he chooses to sit down at stays to be seen.

“I don’t know,” he mentioned Monday afternoon. “That’s known as first-world issues. I additionally gotta work out which afterparty I’m going to.”

Three days out, a prime tier of draft-eligible wideouts has emerged, and three of the 4 have been collectively in a receiver room in Columbus for the 2019 and ’20 seasons. Chris Olave arrived in ’18, and Garrett Wilson and Jameson Williams got here collectively as a part of the Buckeyes’ ’19 recruiting class. They gained the Huge Ten collectively twice. They went to the School Soccer Playoff collectively twice. They performed, of their final recreation as a gaggle, for a nationwide title collectively.

Williams wound up transferring to Alabama after that loss to, sure, the Tide, and a 12 months later all three are more likely to go within the first half of the primary spherical—a feat that few, if any, faculty place groupmates have ever pulled off.

So forward of that, I figured we’d get scouting stories on all three from Hartline, who himself performed at Ohio State, was drafted within the fourth spherical and performed seven NFL seasons for the Dolphins and Browns.

On Wilson: “Garrett is gonna be very explosive. He’s a man that’s coming from the school hashes, and now will get to go play in the course of the sphere on each single snap. I feel the power for him to get off the road of scrimmage, create separation on the catch level after which carry the ball after the actual fact is basically gonna bode effectively within the NFL recreation. His catch radius is off the charts, and I feel his skill to transition to the NFL shall be easy. Inside or outdoors, he’s a plug-and-play. You’ll be able to put him anyplace you need. … And Garrett’s an final competitor. He desires group durations each single minute of observe; he hates scout group durations—that’s how he’s wired. He all the time desires to compete; he all the time desires the sport on the road. That’s simply how he’s operated, each in highschool and faculty.”

On Olave: “Chris is gonna be a quarterback’s dream—they’re gonna know the place he’s going, when he’s imagined to be there, [he’s] all the time in the correct spot. His ball-tracking and his completion share when focused is off the charts. So I feel a quarterback is gonna actually recognize the best way he performs. And relating to ball-tracking, he can do all of it. He might create a lot separation so constantly on Saturdays, that the necessity to stand up and go above guys was few and much between. However if you activate the movie, you possibly can see him doing it again and again, like Garrett does. … Chris can play anyplace, it comes right down to what you want achieved; these guys have been educated to play in each spot. So it doesn’t matter what you need. They each have an important really feel for the sport, and so they each can play outdoors, too. … Chris, within the room, has a quiet confidence to him. He’s not gonna all the time communicate up on a regular basis, however he’s gonna be pulling guys to the aspect, that’s simply who he’s. He’s acquired a giant coronary heart. Like Garrett, they’re ultracompetitors, they simply need to win. Something that helps them try this, they’re gonna do it.”

On Williams: “Jameson, it’s effectively documented, he’s very explosive, can play at a excessive fee of pace the additional he will get down the sphere. What I liked about Jamo is he all the time had a lot vitality; he was all the time out there on the sphere, by no means actually dinged up and all the time was a man who introduced juice in observe. Whether or not the ball was coming his approach or not, he was a type of guys you wished to have on the market with you. … He grew to become an important route runner. We spent a lot time engaged on his route craft, and he believed in it a lot, he was getting actually good at it. So he’s not only a pace man; he’s a route runner, too.”

And as for whether or not Hartline knew what he had again in 2019?

“I knew—I completely knew. It simply got here right down to some variables,” he mentioned. “COVID actually threw issues for a spin, season’s on, season’s off, we’re attempting to verify schematically we’re sound; we’re coping with every kind of issues, A.B., as you’d think about. However completely, I knew they have been, and so they all knew how I felt about them. … We knew precisely what nice folks they have been, how nice gamers they have been; there’s no shock from me, or out of our room.”

Which is the place Hartline advised me he’s rooting simply as exhausting for Williams (who transferred as rising star Jaxon Smith-Njigba created a logjam within the room) as he’s for Olave and Wilson, as a result of he’s happy with not simply the work he did, however how all of them discovered a approach to pull it off on their very own.

“I need to be sure you know that—it’s not me, it’s them,” he mentioned. “Coaches simply recommend. Gamers apply. To me, I’d be remiss to not say how 4 years in the past, when Chris got here strolling into that room, my first 12 months ever teaching, this was my objective. We haven’t had a first-round receiver since ’07, since Teddy [Ginn Jr.] and Anthony Gonzalez. In order that completely was on the forefront of our thoughts as opponents. We’ve had plenty of profitable NFL receivers; it’s effectively documented. However I actually wished to get us again to having first-round wideouts.”

We’re 72 hours from it taking place—and as Hartline sees it, that is simply the beginning. Referencing Smith-Njigba, I discussed to him that he may need one other one coming.

“Oh yeah,” he mentioned. “And there’s extra after that.”

Which is the place we are able to inform you to keep watch over Marvin Harrison Jr. (sure, he’s the son of the Corridor of Famer) and Emeka Egbuka for 2024. And doubtless extra after that, too.

• On Williams, with the chance that the Bama burner will go within the prime half of the primary spherical, the query turns into when he’ll be prepared to really play for his NFL group. I spoke to a few groups over the past 24 hours that advised me their docs are telling them he’d virtually actually begin the season on the bodily unable to carry out (PUP) record, which might sideline him, by rule, for the primary six weeks of the season.

The hope then could be that he’d be clear for full soccer exercise in mid to late October. And have been he to start out the season on PUP, the primary probability he’d need to play could be in Week 7, which this 12 months is the weekend of Oct. 23.

Now, that is the place I inform you I feel it’s foolish when groups base big choices like this on whether or not they’re getting early rookie-year manufacturing from a man. However primarily based on that timeline, and that it’d take some time for Williams to regulate to his NFL offense, it’s truthful to say any GM or coach who’s combating for his job may hesitate to take him. The others? Nicely, for these guys, it’d make sense.

• Jags proprietor Shad Khan and I caught up late Sunday afternoon, and the very last thing I requested him, as his group considers its choices for the No. 1 decide, was the place he stands on final 12 months’s No. 1 decide—Trevor Lawrence.

Over three years at Clemson, Lawrence was extensively seen as a generational quarterback prospect, alongside John Elway, Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck because the brightest to return into the NFL over the past 4 a long time or so. Then, Lawrence’s Troy Aikman–kind of rookie 12 months occurred, and, to make sure, some doubts crept into folks’s minds. Some NFL of us thought he appeared rawer than anticipated. Others questioned how briskly he might see the sphere.

However 12 months later, Khan says he’s as satisfied as ever that the Jags did the correct factor a 12 months in the past, and that’s partially due to what Lawrence went by way of final 12 months.

“I used to be actually assured final 12 months. If it’s attainable, I’m much more assured now,” he mentioned. “And I’ve actually gotten to know him much more by way of all of the trials and tribulations. I imply, I feel he’s as extremely proficient a younger man as there’s. However I feel he’s even a extra unimaginable human being. So I feel if there’s one choice in my decade of possession—it was 10 years in the past this January, you understand—I feel Trevor needs to be proper there among the many prime ones.”

• The drumbeat of groups trying to transfer down within the first spherical is powerful, and it’s at a number of ranges of the spherical, and getting louder as we get nearer to the draft. The Jets, Panthers, Giants and Commanders have all engaged groups under them to at the least inquire about transferring down (and in some instances, approach down) from the higher reaches of the spherical, in an effort so as to add picks in a 12 months when the draft’s power is outdoors the primary spherical.

As well as, groups choosing within the again half Thursday may need requested that a few of those self same groups sitting on the prime of second spherical hold them in thoughts if they give the impression of being to maneuver into the tip of the primary spherical to select up the fifth-year possibility on a participant (whether or not it’s quarterback or a man at one other place).

All of it confirms most of what you’ve heard—that there isn’t a giant distinction between the twentieth decide and the sixtieth decide this 12 months, and that the meat of a draft that’s sturdy in numbers will probably show to be within the second and third rounds.

• Figuring out the highest tier of gamers at receiver does miss a notable identify, in Arkansas’s Treylon Burks. So what offers? Sure, Burks was extremely spectacular as a Razorback—he had 66 catches for 1,104 yards and 11 touchdowns as a junior, to earn first-team All-SEC honors. However as a much bigger slot (he got here in at 6’2″, 225 kilos), there actually are two considerations.

The primary is how he suits into an NFL offense, as the kind of man who you’d most likely must have a plan for. Alongside these traces, there have been comps to Deebo Samuel, however Burks isn’t seen as fairly as quick or explosive as Samuel, and his 4.55 at mix didn’t assist. Second, his weight is seen as a problem, too. By means of no fault of his personal, he had hassle holding it off at Arkansas, and at instances performed as heavy as 240 kilos.

So add that up, and also you get a very proficient man, who it’s important to really feel fairly strongly about to absorb the primary spherical, because you’d need to accommodate him in sure methods.

• One factor that acquired the eye of loads of NFL groups this month was Texans coach Lovie Smith telling the Houston media that he wanted higher corners to run the protection he did final 12 months and desires to this 12 months—largely as a result of Smith is from the Tampa 2 household, one which usually hasn’t valued the place. And the reply, actually, is that in right now’s offensive age, defenses can’t play the identical approach they may 20 years in the past.

“They’re not straight Cowl 2 anymore,” mentioned one rival govt. “I nonetheless wouldn’t suppose they’d worth corners that top, however they do want corners, and issues break down the place everybody has to play at the least some man now.”

For what it’s price, the Texans are one of many groups that I’ve heard tied to LSU’s Derek Stingley Jr., a comparatively polarizing prospect, whereas rival execs have talked about to me how good a schematic and cultural match Washington’s Trent McDuffie could be for what Smith and Nick Caserio try to construct in Houston.

• We talked about within the MMQB column that Giants WR Kadarius Toney would most likely present up for this week’s voluntary work in East Rutherford—and on Monday morning he did. So what are the following steps? My understanding is that GM Joe Schoen and coach Brian Daboll need to get to know him earlier than doing anything.

And sure, groups did name, largely as a result of Toney didn’t present up for the beginning of this system, and since there’s no hurt in asking.

However I don’t get the sense that Schoen or Daboll are in any respect motivated to maneuver him. In reality, as I’ve heard it, they love the thought of with the ability to creatively play Saquon Barkley and Toney off one another in Daboll’s numerous offensive scheme.

• With the chance that the quarterbacks all tumble into the again half of the primary spherical, I’m reminded of some extent an exec from a group that doesn’t want one this 12 months made to me: “I feel the very best play this 12 months is to draft Sam Howell on Day 2.”

It’s a captivating concept in what’s extensively seen a rugged 12 months on the place. Howell does have some high-end traits (imaginative and prescient, escapability, accuracy), simply as he has some flaws. So in the event you seize between, say, the fortieth and sixtieth picks, you’re throwing a dart on the board on the place. And throwing this one, A) doesn’t preclude you from taking a much bigger swing subsequent 12 months or the 12 months after and, B) might provide you with nice, cost-controlled depth on the place if Howell doesn’t show to be an important starter.

And, by the best way, right here’s my MMQB column from two weeks in the past, through which I spoke to Howell about his time at UNC.

• And that brings us to certainly one of my favourite under-the-radar, draft-related information: QBs simply don’t go within the second spherical. During the last 10 drafts, 33 quarterbacks have been taken within the first spherical. Simply 10 have gone within the second.

The explanation? Nicely, my principle is that in the event you see a man at that place as a long-term starter for you, then you definitely take him within the first spherical. If not, possibly he’s a backup, and most groups really feel the second spherical is simply too excessive to be taking guys who’re backups. So who’re the second-round quarterbacks? Right here’s the record …

2021: Kyle Trask
2020: Jalen Hurts
2019: Drew Lock
2018: N/A
2017: DeShone Kizer
2016: Christian Hackenberg
2015: N/A
2014: Derek Carr, Jimmy Garoppolo
2013: Geno Smith
2012: Brock Osweiler

And simply outdoors that window, each Andy Dalton and Colin Kaepernick have been hits for his or her groups within the 2011 draft, far more so than first-rounders Jake Locker, Blaine Gabbert or Christian Ponder have been for his or her group. In these instances, by the best way, the Bengals and Raiders wound up getting Professional Bowlers (A.J. Inexperienced and Aldon Smith, respectively) by passing on taking a quarterback within the prime 10. Equally, the Raiders took Khalil Mack fourth total earlier than getting Carr within the second spherical in ’14.

Which might present a fairly attention-grabbing lesson for groups attempting to determine when to take one this weekend.

• I’d consider 49ers GM John Lynch on what he mentioned Monday about Deebo Samuel. As we mentioned within the morning column, I feel he’d need to be blown away by a suggestion to think about transferring Samuel. And, once more, by blown away, I imply I feel it’d most likely take a number of first-rounders for him to entertain it.

That’s simply my take. We’ll see what occurs between now and Thursday.

Learn extra of SI’s NFL draft tales right here:

• Why Go Rushers Will Rule the NFL Draft
• Aidan Hutchinson’s Rise to the High of the Draft
• Kayvon Thibodeaux Hears His Critics and Has a Plan
• Meet Matt Araiza, Punt God