There’s a chance that 40 percent of the Notre Dame starting offensive line in 2017 will be among the first 10 players picked in the 2018 NFL draft.
Asked to identify the biggest surprise in the top 10 by Peter King of SI.com, Gil Brandt of NFL.com picks Irish tackle Mike McGlinchey.
“He’ll go in the top 10,” Brandt said.
If it happens, McGlinchey may join Notre Dame guard Quenton Nelson, who widely is regarded as a guy who’ll be taken in the top 10. Some of the more prominent mock drafts (we’ll have one, and it will be posted whenever it’s posted) have McGlinchey going no higher than No. 16, to the Ravens.
Brandt’s prediction suggests that he’s reliably been told by a team picking in the top 10 that McGlinchey will be the pick. In 17 days, we’ll see whether it happens. Along with every other pick taken in round one.
UPDATE 5:28 p.m. ET: Brandt claims he was misquoted. “I’m getting killed on Twitter,” he said in a tweet directed to King. “I didn’t realize you were asking me a prediction for the top 10. I thought you asked what would surprise me most in top 10. I would be shocked if McGlinchey went in top 10. I wouldn’t be shocked if he slid out of Round 1.”