Mississippi State defensive tackle Fletcher Cox has flown up draft boards of late and it now looks like he’ll be drafted before we’re a third of a way through the first round.
That likely comes as a great shock to the NFL’s Draft Advisory Board. When Cox was contemplating whether or not to throw his hat into the ring for this year’s draft, he asked the board for their assessment of where he would go. He didn’t get the answer he wanted when they told him he projected as an early second-round pick.
“I was a little mad about it,” said Cox, via the Panthers’ website. “But I figured once I went out and could prove that I can go in the first round, I’d be OK.”
Cox didn’t waste much time proving it. He had a terrific performance at the Combine and just kept rising up the ranks as teams took a closer look at him. Now it looks like a sure thing that he’ll be the first defensive lineman off the board, a far cry from the way things looked at the start of the process.