The 2018 NFL Draft had four Ole Miss football players get selected in the seven rounds and three days of the event. Who has the best NFL career of them all?
Ole Miss football sent a whole host of talent into the 2018 NFL Draft, after a surprisingly solid 2017 campaign under head coach Matt Luke. Next year, the Rebels should send another talented group of players into the 2019 NFL Draft, including star wide receiver A.J. Brown and cornerback Ken Webster.
At this point with all three days of the draft officially in the books, it’s time for the best undrafted free agents to find destinations to prove their worth. However, the four best prospects that the Rebels sent into the 2018 NFL Draft found their way to an NFL destinations in the seven rounds.
A lot of this talent that the Rebels developed to send to the next level got recruited by former Ole Miss head football coach Hugh Freeze. Tons of talent was brought to Oxford, Miss., during Freeze’s tenure, but Luke is having a high level of success on the recruiting trail too given the circumstances he has to work with.
Furthermore, once again the SEC led all conferences in the nation in NFL Draft selections in 2018. Ole Miss helped contribute to that, but not as much as the likes of the Alabama Crimson Tide, LSU Tigers, and Georgia Bulldogs.
The Rebels already have a ton of impact players they sent to the NFL. Just in terms of Ole Miss’s wide receivers, Laquon Treadwell, Donte Moncrief, and Mike Wallace are still active in the NFL. A ton of other Ole Miss talent has surfaced around the NFL in recent years too.
Here are three Ole Miss Rebels selected in the 2018 NFL Draft that will make an instant impact at the next level in the NFL.
Possibly the most questionable draft positions of every Ole Miss product selected came in the middle of the second round, when the Kansas City Chiefs took defensive end Breeland Speaks. In fact, many draft pundits had Speaks going after fellow Ole Miss defensive end Marquis Haynes.
However, that did not prove true and the Chiefs selected a breakout player from the SEC with the first pick they had in the 2018 NFL Draft. Kansas City did have a big need along the defensive line, and a few of their selections really can help build up the front seven.
Speaks jumped from one sack with the Rebels in 2016, to seven sacks in 2017. He set career highs in sacks, total tackles, tackles for loss, and forced fumbles in 2017. That type of improvement is something that NFL teams had to be impressed by.
The group of draft picks for the Chiefs does highlight some overlooked guys even outside of Speaks. That list includes former Texas A&M Aggies safety Armani Watts and Florida State Seminoles defensive lineman Derrick Nnadi. Yet, Speaks is the guy here to fill the spot left by the departed Tamba Hali.
Much like the Chiefs decided to do with a top pick, the Carolina Panthers also elected to draft a pass rusher to bolster the front seven. Marquis Haynes did have a slightly better stat line for the Rebels in 2017 than Speaks did.
Yet, Haynes ended up as a late fourth round pick of the Panthers, and he’ll get to learn under skilled lineman like Kawaan Short, Dontari Poe, and Julius Peppers. Carolina brought in a solid draft class altogether with players like
Haynes fits well with the Panthers defense, and he’ll likely be placed in as a pass rushing weakside linebacker behind Thomas Davis. However, Davis is getting older and someone needs to take his place soon. If Haynes shows the Panthers something in what playing time he does get in his rookie season, he could be the guy after Davis is gone.
Altogether, the Panthers look to have a very solid group of linebackers for the 2018 campaign. They might have the most talented group in the NFC South. Davis and Luke Kuechly can provide solid guidance to Haynes also. He’s in a great spot after the draft.
This is the best situation that any Ole Miss product landed in, with running back Jordan Wilkins going to the Indianapolis Colts in the fifth round. Indianapolis invested heavily into the offense in this draft, especially with their sixth overall pick going to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish guard Quenton Nelson.
The Colts also picked up another solid running back that adds a ton of depth in the backfield with NC State Wolfpack product Nyheim Hines. Wilkins and Hines bring different skill sets to the table which makes even more sense as to why the Colts selected them in back-to-back rounds.
Hines is a track star that could blow NFL defenders away with his speed. Meanwhile, Wilkins is a more balanced option that Indianapolis quarterback Andrew Luck can use in a more versatile way. Wilkins is a good presence to have in the backfield for both receiving and blocking.
Next: 3 questions facing the Ole Miss Rebels after spring camp
Picking Wilkins might be the best move the Colts made in the later rounds. If Luck is healthy, the Colts have a very potent offense that now has a lot of young depth at running back. Wilkins can use his vision and versatility to help out his new team in some situations this year.