3 Best 1st-round sleepers of the 2021 NFL Draft

With the position of quarterback dominating the 2021 NFL Draft, plenty of teams are going to be able to take advantage of that early signal-caller run to get great talent lower than usual. But there are going to be some high-value selections that just manage to slide into the end of the first round or sit at the top of the second round for teams, and they will become bigger contributors than some high-grade first-rounders.

Every year there are plenty of sleepers that are fringe first-round players that end up being solid NFL players, outplaying their expected production and draft stock. For this year’s NFL draft, there are players that fit this mold again, and they look to be solid options for teams that are looking for first-round talent.

For this year's NFL Draft, the following three prospects have received varying draft grades, putting them firmly on the edge of first-round territory – take a look and see if your team should select any of these three.

Jabril Cox, Linebacker – LSU

Looking to continue the pipeline of linebackers that Devin White, Patrick Queen, and others have established, LSU’s Jabril Cox is one of the best LB prospects this draft has to offer in a bit of a top-heavy class for this year's NFL Draft.

With positional flexibility dominating collegiate defensive units, Cox ranks right up there with Penn State’s Micah Parsons, Tulsa’s Zaven Collins, and Notre Dame’s Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah in terms of talent, although Owusu-Koramoah and Parsons project as the best LB options. But for Cox, his football pedigree speaks for itself, and any team that grabs him will be getting a stout ‘backer with above-average coverage abilities, even with his documented struggles against the run.

Cox took an unconventional route to the league, as he transferred to LSU from North Dakota State, where wreaked havoc on the FCS level before joining the SEC. While he easily had the talent to declare for the draft last year, Cox understood that transferring to a bigger school would be exactly the kind of boost his draft stock could use, which is what brought him to Baton Rouge.

He showed out for the Tigers in his lone season there, as his play on the big stage helped elevate him even further than when he was a member of the Bison. Having been nominated as a semifinalist for the Butkus Award for the nation’s best LB, Cox produced 6.5 tackles for loss, three interceptions (one for a TD), and 58 total tackles.

Having played in an NFL-ready scheme, Cox will be able to translate into the NFL at a quick pace, and that will help him overcome his run-game deficiencies – whichever team he goes to will be picking up a solid player, especially if he ends up slipping into the early part of the second round. If so, he could be one of the steals of the NFL Draft.

Carlos ‘Boogie’ Basham Jr., EDGE Rusher – Wake Forest

The second defensive member on this list is edge rusher Carlos Basham Jr. out of Wake Forest University. As a higher-ranked member of a relatively okay edge-rushing class, Basham can be a great value pick for a team that is looking for a moldable pass-rushing option.

Boogie Basham produced more in his ‘19 season than in ‘20, which was seen as a mild disappointment. His return for his redshirt senior season was supposed to help boost his tape and draft stock, and while his solid play (5 sacks, 4.5 tackles for loss, 4 forced fumbles) was good enough, he did not do enough to truly make himself stand out among the group that also includes Kwity Paye, Jaelen Phillips, Gregory Rousseau, and others.

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Sitting at 6-foot-5 and 275 pounds, Basham has the chance to be a key cog in any team’s defensive linemen rotation – his abilities to use his physicality to beat an offensive lineman can help him overcome his lack of a quick first step, and he could eventually be asked to move inside as well to help provide an edge-like rush from the inside.

Elijah Moore, Wide Receiver – Ole Miss

The lone offensive player on this list has seemingly been all over the draft board, and thanks to the amount of shorter wide receivers in this year’s class, Ole Miss’ Elijah Moore may not stand out as much as he would in a normal year.

While Ja'Marr Chase, DeVonta Smith, and Jaylen Waddle all sit at the top of this year’s class, Moore is definitely getting undervalued. The 5’9 junior is an athletic masterpiece, and his combination of speed, shiftiness, and vision will stand out and make him someone’s early pick.

His stature, which is a knock on many of the smaller receivers in this draft, certainly can drive some teams away from selecting him, but all teams utilize some sort of slot weapon, and Moore fits that bill perfectly – so why would you not want that? Think of the likes of Randall Cobb, Cole Beasley, and others – while not direct comparison points to Moore, the roles that those two NFL veterans have played in their careers certainly could point to how Moore would be used as well.

A team sitting at the end of the first round, like a Baltimore or a Green Bay, could be viable landing spots for Moore – as could a spot like the Cincinnati Bengals, New York Jets, or Detroit Lions early in the second round. Even with the kind of struggles that he will most likely face getting out of the press and physical situations, Moore’s role in the NFL will be a valuable one for whichever team decides to take a chance on him.

Seeing which sleepers pan out this year will truly show how highly teams value scout interpretations of players versus actual game tape. With an abbreviated offseason that did not allow teams a typical testing period to be able to medically and physically test all prospects, players like Moore may have to deal with going later than they would like to in the NFL Draft.

But putting that kind of chip on the shoulders of prospects can certainly help better their careers in the beginning.