Mike Renner, Pro Football Focus 5y

Picking 10 sleepers for the 2019 NFL draft: Who we love more than most

NFL, NFL Draft, College Football, Northern Illinois Huskies, Western Illinois Leathernecks, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, San José State Spartans, Arkansas State Red Wolves, Eastern Michigan Eagles, Arkansas Razorbacks, Michigan Wolverines, Toledo Rockets

Anyone can tell you that 2019 NFL draft prospects Nick Bosa and Quinnen Williams are going to be good players at the next level. Where draft evaluators separate themselves is filling out their rosters with quality starters on Days 2 on 3.

Using Pro Football Focus grades -- we grade every play of every game of the college football season -- here are 10 prospects our advanced staff and draft analysts love more than the general consensus. All statistics and rankings below are from PFF.


David Long, CB, Michigan

Position ranking: No. 4
Overall ranking: No. 33

Few cornerbacks have been stingier than Long since we started college charting in 2014. In 595 coverage snaps in his three seasons at Michigan, he was targeted 60 times and allowed all of 18 receptions -- the vast majority of which were throws underneath -- for 130 yards and a passer rating of 24.3. On targets 10-plus yards downfield, Long yielded only four completions on 29 attempts for 59 yards while breaking up 13. Those stats are out of this world.

In his combine performance, leading the 3-cone and short shuttles, Long showed that he has the athleticism to translate to the next level. Teams might take him off their boards entirely because he is shorter than 5-foot-11 with less than 31-inch arms, but if they do, they'll miss out on a great player.

Khalen Saunders, DT, Western Illinois

Position ranking: No. 7
Overall ranking: No. 47

We had a hunch that Saunders was a special talent after he posted the second-highest grade of any defensive lineman in the pass-rushing one-on-ones at the Senior Bowl. So we went back and graded all his games this past season, and it made us realize that it was more than a hunch.

Saunders has tremendous movement skills for a 324-pound nose tackle -- so much so that Western Illinois lined him up as an edge defender on 53 snaps this past season. Saunders was asked to be more of a run-first player and dominated in that regard. His 11-percent run-stop percentage ranks fifth among defensive tackles in the draft class.


Diontae Johnson, WR, Toledo

Position ranking: No. 11
Overall ranking: No. 77

There might not be a more electric player with the ball in his hands than Johnson in this class. He led the nation in punt return average the past two seasons, averaging 19.9 yards per return while notching four total return touchdowns in that span.

In 2017, Johnson racked up more than 1,200 yards and earned the fourth-highest receiving grade in the nation. This past season, he was hampered by a downgrade at quarterback from Logan Woodside and a newfound drop habit (eight drops on 57 catchable passes), but the playmaking ability remained. Johnson broke 10 tackles on his 49 catches in 2018.

Hjalte Froholdt, OG, Arkansas

Position ranking: No. 4
Overall ranking: No. 55

Pass protection on the interior is never going to catch your eye like a pancake block does, but the former is far more valuable than the latter as an evaluator. That's likely one of the only reasons Froholdt isn't in the conversation as the draft's top guard.

He's far softer in the run game than you'd like and rarely moved people off the line of scrimmage in the SEC. As a pass protector, though, his hands, feet and technique are all top-notch. Froholdt allowed all of five pressures between center and guard last season. He held up better against Quinnen Williams than any other offensive lineman all season (zero pressures on 41 pass-blocking snaps). That alone should tell you that he can step in and play at the next level.


Maxx Crosby, Edge, Eastern Michigan

Position ranking: No. 12
Overall ranking: No. 72

Few edge defenders in this class can go toe-to-toe with Crosby when it comes to on-field production. He racked up 133 pressures in his career at Eastern Michigan (ninth in the class) and 72 run stops (seventh).

His projection to the NFL is murky coming from the MAC, but it helps that he's a freak athletically. Crosby put up a 4.66 40 at the combine and bolstered it with an absurd 6.89 3-cone and 4.13 short shuttle. Those are freakish numbers for a 6-foot-5, 255-pound edge defender.

Ronheen Bingham, Edge, Arkansas State

Position ranking: No. 11
Overall ranking: No. 63

On a snap-for-snap basis in 2018, no one won more as a pass-rusher than Bingham. The Arkansas State edge defender is a bit of a one-trick pony, but it's a great trick. He has a ferocious spin move that was as unblockable a move as we saw in the country.

Bingham even got Alabama left tackle Jonah Williams with it in their early-season matchup for an almost sack. He finished the season with a 31.7 percent win rate as a pass-rusher, the highest in the country.


Josh Oliver, TE, San Jose State

Position ranking: No. 5
Overall ranking: No. 95

One of the biggest skills a tight end needs to bring to the table in the NFL is the ability to catch the ball in traffic. The space most players see when working the middle of the field in college is palatial compared to what they'll see in the pros. That's why one feels comfortable about the projection of a tight end such as Oliver, who proved his ability to haul in passes in traffic again and again.

The San Jose State tight end led the position in contested catches this past season, and it wasn't particularly close. His 16 contested catches were four more than that of the next tight end in the draft (Kaden Smith) and ranked 10th among all players in the country.


Te'Von Coney, LB, Notre Dame

Position ranking: No. 3
Overall ranking: No. 57

While freaky athleticism helps at the linebacker position, it's not a dealbreaker for what makes a good player. Darius Leonard dominated as a rookie with middling testing numbers only a season ago. Coney similarly plays much more quickly than his testing numbers and has exceptional balance. He missed only 17 tackles on 319 attempts in his college career.

In coverage the past two seasons, he allowed only 16 first downs while racking up 30 coverage stops. While other players might have more untapped "upside," with Coney you know you're getting a solid pro.

Jimmy Moreland, CB, James Madison

Position ranking: No. 11
Overall ranking: No. 85

This one is cheating a bit because, unlike Saunders, we don't have all of Moreland's snaps graded. The ones we do show one of the feistiest corners in the entire draft class, though.

In the five graded games we have of Moreland the past two seasons, he allowed 23 receptions on 46 targets but picked off four passes and broke up three others. He finished his career as James Madison's all-time interceptions leader, with 18. Moreland is as physical a 5-foot-9, 179-pound corner as you'll see (he racked up five penalties against East Carolina back in 2017). If you can rein him in a tad, you'll have one heckuva slot corner.


Max Scharping, OT, Northern Illinois

Position ranking: No. 7
Overall ranking: No. 50

It might not have looked the prettiest, but all Scharping did for four seasons at NIU was get the job done. His lowest single-season pass-blocking grade in that span was an 87.2 that came in 2016. He allowed all of 33 pressures on 1,894 pass-blocking snaps in his college career. At a hulking 6-foot-6, 327 pounds, he can be a starting tackle in the NFL sooner rather than later.

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