Missouri defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson is among the 11 defensive linemen ESPN analyst Mel Kiper projects in the first round of April’s NFL draft.The first round of the 2013 NFL draft is expected to be heavy on defensive linemen and very light on quarterbacks.
ESPN analyst Mel Kiper believes a dozen defensive linemen could go in the first round, with Texas A&M defensive end Damontre Moore and Utah defensive tackle Star Lotulelei in the running for the top overall selection. Kiper has six Southeastern Conference defensive linemen in his first-round projection, with Moore going second to Jacksonville, LSU end Barkevious Mingo ninth to the New York Jets, Missouri tackle Sheldon Richardson 14th to Carolina, LSU end Sam Montgomery 19th to the New York Giants, Georgia nose John Jenkins 25th to Seattle and Florida tackle Sharrif Floyd 30th to San Francisco.
“It’s a tremendously high number of defensive linemen who are first-round worthy this year, more so than any I can remember,” Kiper said this week. “It’s very deep. If you go to Sharrif Floyd at Florida in the late first round — in most years he would be a mid first-rounder.
“When you have a big kid like John Jenkins who can stuff the run and occupy the way he can, and he’s in the 20s? That very rarely happens.”
Kiper has 11 defensive linemen in his first-round projection and five linebackers, with Georgia’s Jarvis Jones topping that position. He pegs Jones going fifth to Detroit, Notre Dame’s Manti Te’o eighth to Buffalo, Georgia’s Alec Ogletree 13th to Tampa Bay and LSU’s Kevin Minter 29th to Baltimore.