Sunday Storyline: NFL Draft results speak volumes about Clemson's returning talent
Join ClemsonSportsTalk.com as a premium subscriber today! Try premium for just $1 or get your first year at our discounted rate of just $49.95.
Earlier this month at the Midlands Prowl and Growl, Dabo Swinney stated, "This is truly the first year that we've ever had the talent, experience, and depth returning that we have this season" and the results from the NFL draft may have actually accentuated that point.
The Tigers only had three players selected. No first round picks. No second round picks.
Clemson's first loss to the NFL came with the 100th overall and final pick of the third round when Kansas City selected Dorian O'Daniel.
Another Clemson Tiger wouldn't be selected until the sixth round when Deon Cain was selected by Indianapolis with the 185th pick. Two picks later, Ray Ray McCloud was taken at 187th by Buffalo.
That was it.
Throughout the week on Clemson Sports Talk, our daily radio show, I talked about the fact that I wasn't sure if any of Clemson's seven players entering the NFL Draft would be taken, outside of Dorian O'Daniel and Deon Cain.
There was no doubt someone would pick them, but the remaining five appeared to be "reaches" at best.
I felt like teams would take a chance on O'Daniel given his versatility. I still feel that my comparisons of O'Daniel to a player like Derwin James at Florida State were valid. I think that O'Daniel will eventually find a spot in the NFL that suits his game. It might not be in Kansas City long-term, but I think he has a chance to stick in the league for a while.
By comparison, just three years ago, coming off of the Clemson's first appearance in the College Football Playoff, the Tigers had nine players selected during the NFL draft including Shaq Lawson going 19th to the BIlls in the first round.
That 2015 Clemson team finished second to Alabama, but even with the nine lost players, the 2016 Tigers made it back to the playoff and brought home the national title.
The championship team had six players selected in the NFL Draft, including Mike Williams going 7th to the Chargers and Deshaun Watson landing in Houston with the 12th overall selection.
In back to back seasons, Clemson lost 15 players to the NFL and there they were in January, back in the playoffs as the No. 1 seed.
That team lost three players. Let that sink in.
Of the players not selected, only Ryan Carter and Tyrone Crowder had expired their eligibility from college. The other two, Van Smith and Taylor Hearn, chose to leave Clemson early for a shot to play in the NFL, but both probably should have returned.
Hearn and Smith both could have proved themselves for another year with very little chance of “slipping.” Heck, when you aren't drafted, is "slipping" even an option.
Hearn announced a deal with the Panthers, while Smith posted that he signed a free agent deal with the Falcons. Carter inked with the Bills and Marcus Edmund, who was injured much of last season added a deal to play for the Chargers. We still haven't heard anything about Crowder.
Back in Clemson however, the coffers are loaded.
As a matter of fact, the competition for Cain and McCloud at wideout in 2018, would have made it extremely difficult to put up better numbers in their final seasons in Clemson. It may not have been very logical for either receiver to return.
I felt McCloud could have returned to Tiger Town and possibly improved his stock by playing more on the defensive side of the ball.
From this observer's perspective, both seemed fortunate to have been drafted in the sixth round this season. If both of them put up fewer numbers in a return to college, it's possible that they may have ended as "undrafted" statistics.
Take a minute and look around at some of the other programs and what they lost to the NFL.
Alabama had 12 players selected. LSU, NC State, and Ohio State all had seven players taken. Six players were selected from FSU, Georgia, Miami, and Penn State.
Clemson returns a senior class that has a 40-4 record in their first three years of college. They've played in three college football playoffs, two national championships, winning the 2017 National Title. That group lost just one player in the first three rounds this season.
There's no question that Clemson's biggest loss heading into the 2018 season will be losing the versatility of O'Daniel. O'Daniel who was the true leader on the field, in the locker room, in during the off-season and embodies what Dabo Swinney looks for in recruits.
There wasn't a single time I spoke with O'Daniel that I didn't come away impressed.
Players like O'Daniel are exactly what has made Clemson into the power that has become. High character, self-motivated, and determined.
But here is the rub, the 2018 Clemson Tigers are just flat-out loaded. It's quite possible that during the next NFL draft, all four defensive linemen will be drafted in the first round. There is a legitimate chance that a single position group could put more players into the NFL next season during the first 32 picks.
One thing is for sure, although it may not have been a banner weekend for Clemson football in the NFL draft, it looks like 2018 will be a banner year for the Tigers given the returning talent, maybe even more so the lack of talent lost.