NFL Draft 2017: Top Prospects and 1st-Round Mock Predictions

The 2016 NFL draft isn’t even over yet, but NFL fans are already beginning to cast their gaze to next season’s crop of potential draftees.

Between now and the 2017 draft, a number of players considered to be top picks will see their stock slide, while others will surge up draft boards. At the very least, though, a handful of stars will head into next year as viable first-rounders.

Below is an early mock for next year’s draft, followed by three of the best draft-eligible talents available.

2017 Mock Draft

Note: Draft Order is courtesy of Odds Shark’s 2017 Super Bowl odds. Teams with the same odds are listed in alphabetical order.

Prospects to Watch Leonard Fournette, RB, LSU

The fact people even broached the idea of Leonard Fournette sitting out the 2016 season is a testament to his ability. The LSU Tigers running back doesn’t have to take a single snap, and he’d still be a near-lock to be the first running back taken in the 2017 NFL draft.

Fournette took a major jump in his sophomore season, rushing for 1,953 yards and 22 touchdowns. Until his lackluster showing—19 carries, 31 yards, one touchdown—in a 30-16 defeat to Alabama on Nov. 7, he seemingly had the inside track on the Heisman Trophy.

At times, Fournette looked like a man among boys, no more so than on his 29-yard touchdown run against Auburn on Sept. 19, via SEC on CBS:

Leonard Fournette can NOT. BE. STOPPED. http://t.co/xYZIUj6YCR

— SEConCBS (@SEConCBS) September 19, 2015

At the very least, Fournette is the equal of Ezekiel Elliott, who recently went fourth overall to the Dallas …

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