Mel Kiper believes the season opener against LSU will help dictate where Clemson defensive tackle Peter Woods falls in the NFL Draft.
It’s never too early to start evaluating NFL Draft prospects, and Mel Kiper and Field Yates at ESPN have begun. Clemson defensive tackle Peter Woods is a player drawing interest in the top 10 picks among prognosticators.
Yates and Kiper have him even higher. The duo projected him to go No. 4 overall to the New York Giants in a recent edition of First Draft.
Kiper believes Peter Woods can help make or break his draft stock in the season opener against LSU. He explained.
“I think for Peter Woods that first game against LSU, that rebuilt LSU offensive line, right, lost all those guys to the NFL, how do they deal with (TJ) Parker off the edge, who I’m sure you have somewhere (in the mock draft), I do see Parker’s name mentioned here in the top 10 coming out of Clemson,” Kiper said. “So you’ve got the edge guy in Parker, the guy that was at the edge… now get him in at three-technique, get him in after the quarterback.”
Kiper further explained the importance of the LSU game. That will be under a national spotlight in the season opener, and Clemson has playoff aspirations. Winning that one would put the Tigers on the fast track to a berth.
“Peter Woods, to me, when you think about that LSU game, will define a lot about where he’s going to be,” Kiper said. “Because if he can go out and dominate and get off to that great start and maintain that, you’re right, he goes in the top five, Peter Woods does.”
Yates explained why he sees Peter Woods going to the Giants. It’s based on a few different factors.
“What a pairing this would be, Mel, Peter Woods and fellow Clemson guy as well Dexter Lawrence, way back in the day,” Yates said. “This would be quite the formidable defensive tackle duo. Let me just explain quickly, Mel, when I was looking at my board and the Giants not taking a quarterback, the two most obvious candidates to go after the quarterbacks were Peter Woods and Caleb Downs. As of right now I have a higher grade, better grade, strong grade on Caleb Downs than Peter Woods.
“But given the fact that the Giants drafted Tyler Nubin in the second round a year ago, maybe it was top of the third round, and then also this offseason signed Jevon Holland, I thought to myself, ‘Two safeties is what most teams are playing 80 to 85, maybe 90% of the snaps on defense anyways. Would the team instead address a position at defensive tackle where it’s much more common to see a rotation, so having depth at defensive tackle is totally fine?’
“That being said, Mel, I don’t think there’s a whole lot of debate that Peter Woods, Caleb Downs, two of the best non-quarterback prospects in this year’s class.”
Category: Football
