Photo: USA TODAY Sports
For the first time in recent memory, the guards in this year’s draft crop of offensive linemen are rated more highly than the tackles.
That’s not a knock on the bookends; it’s just a really impressive group of guards. And the top two centers – James Daniels and Billy Price -- could project to guard in the NFL, which makes the interior group even more valuable.
Notre Dame OG Quenton Nelson is the only lineman projected in the top 10, but farther down in the first round, there is a cluster of seven or eight with similar rankings who could be part of a run that extends into the middle of Round Two.