NFL Draft watch: Florida State duo boost their stock with big weeks

It’s been widely acknowledged that the running back position has been devalued, but Benson’s value as a receiver out of the backfield coupled with his explosiveness could keep him in contention to be the first RB off the board likely in the 15-32 range. Right now, it’s a four-player race between Benson, Texas’ Jonathon Brooks and Michigan’s Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards.

Jared Verse | DE | Florida State | PFF big board: No. 3 DE, No. 14 overall

Verse began the year projected as a top-10 pick and in the conversation as the best edge-rusher in the draft. But except for two-sack performance against Virginia Tech, Verse has been close to invisible this season.

But against Wake Forest, Verse showed flashes of the player that was so highly regarded last year. He finished with eight pressures, four tackles, two tackles for loss and two sacks with a pass-rushing win rate of 35.3%, per Pro Football Focus. Verse leads FSU with 30 pressures, 18 hurries and 4.5 sacks, and he may be working himself back up into the top-15 range if he can have more performances like last weekend. 

Riley Leonard | QB | Duke | PFF big board: No. 9 QB, No. 64 overall

Once in consideration as the No. 3 QB in the 2024 class, Leonard has had quite the fall from grace over the last few weeks. He was solid but not impressive in a loss to Notre Dame three weeks ago, and ever since, he’s seemingly regressed.

In a 23-0 loss to Louisville last weekend, Leonard completed just 9 of 23 passes (39.1 completion percentage) for 121 yards and an interception, and he was sacked four times. It was the second straight week he completed fewer than 44% of his passes and threw for fewer than 125 yards. 

With a loaded QB class that includes USC’s Caleb Williams, North Carolina’s Drake Maye, Oregon’s Bo Nix, Washington’s Michael Penix Jr., Texas’ Quinn Ewers, Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy and LSU’s Jayden Daniels, Leonard is likely a Round 2 pick right now, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he even fell to the third round.