Five under-the-radar 2024 NFL Draft prospects who could sneak into Round 1
Several NFL Draft scouts have stated there are 32 first-round picks in every draft, but most years there aren’t 32 players worthy of a first-round grade.
Once the draft gets beyond the first 20 picks, it’s anyone’s guess as to what order each team ranked the remaining 220 or so players.
Here are five players who are likely projected as second-round picks but could potentially sneak into the first round.
Ruke Orhorhoro, DT, Clemson
Outside of Illinoi’s Jer’Zahn Newton and Texas’ Byron Murphy and T’Vondre Sweat, the 2024 class is thin at first-round defensive tackles, and there are plenty of teams looking for premium interior defensive linemen.
Orhorhoro had a solid 2023 season, totaling 26 pressures, 17 hurries and five sacks in pass-rushing situations and 14 tackles with 12 run stops on run defense.
At 6-foot-4 and 290 pounds, Orhorhoro is a big-bodied run stuffer who can get to the quarterback and be a disrupter in the backfield. His game is predicated on gaining leverage on offensive linemen and using his strength to explode and win one-on-one battles.
It wouldn’t be surprising at all if Orhorhoro was the fourth defensive tackle off the board near the end of Round 1.
Marshawn Kneeland, DE, Western Michigan
The 2024 draft is loaded with plenty of top-tier edge-rushers, and if there’s a run on them at any point in Round 1, Kneeland will be the beneficiary. Alabama’s Dallas Turner, UCLA’s Laiatu Latu, Florida State’s Jared Verse and Penn State’s Chop Robinson all could be top-20 picks.
But after that, Kneeland is in the next tier of pass-rushers along with Washington’s Bralen Trice, Utah’s Jonah Elliss, Missouri’s Darius Robinson and Alabama’s Chris Braswell. He led Western Michigan with 37 pressures, 28 hurries, 4.5 sacks and a 17.3 pass-rush win rate. He has the athleticism and speed burst to wreak havoc off the edge, and he could be a steal for a team like Tampa Bay, Baltimore or San Francisco near the end of the first round.
Roger Rosengarten, OT, Washington
Many scouts are torn between which position group is the deepest in the 2024 class — offensive line or wide receiver. There’s as many as 10 offensive tackles, three guards and two centers who could go all go in Round 1, and Rosengarten is one of them.
He played 1,937 offensive snaps at right tackle over the last two years with the Huskies, allowing a combined 32 pressures and 27 hurries and surrendering zero sacks.
At 6-foot-6 and 300 pounds, Rosengarten has the potential to be a mauler in the NFL. He isn’t on the same level as Notre Dame’s Joe Alt, Penn State’s Olu Fashanu, Oregon State’s Taliese Fuaga, Alabama’s JC Latham or Georgia’s Amarius Mims, but he could be in the second tier of tackles with Oklahoma’s Tyler Guyton, Duke’s Tyler Barton, Arizona’s Jordan Morgan and BYU’s Kingsley Suamataia. It wouldn’t be surprising if he landed in the 25 to 32 range.
Payton Wilson, LB, N.C. State
Inside linebacker is another position, like defensive tackle, that isn’t terribly deep. Most draft don’t have an ILB going in the first round, but Wilson, who’s at the top of the draft’s linebacker group along with Clemson’s Jeremiah Trotter, Michigan’s Junior Colson and Texas A&M’s Edgerrin Cooper, could be the one to buck the trend.
Wilson logged 138 tackles, six sacks, six passes defensed, three interceptions and a forced fumble this year. He’s got the instincts and skillset to be an excellent quarterback of a defense at the next level, and he could make a lot of sense later in Round 1 for a team like the Dallas Cowboys (Leighton Vander Esch), Miami Dolphins (Jerome Baker), Baltimore Ravens (Patrick Queen) or Seattle Seahawks (Bobby Wagner) who lost their starting middle linebackers this offseason.
Xavier Worthy, WR, Texas
There’s as many as 10 receivers who could go in Round 1, and Worthy is arguably the most under-the-radar player of that group. His dual-threat ability as a WR and punt returner is appealing to many teams, and he upped his draft stock at the NFL Combine when he ran a record 4.21 in the 40-yard dash.
Worthy led the Longhorns with 75 receptions, 1,014 yards, and 571 yards after the catch. He spent a fair amount of time both out wide (60% of his 2023 snaps) and in the slot (40% of his snaps in 2023), and with his speed, he’s a home-run threat on every play.
He could make a dark-horse first-round pick for any WR-needy team including Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Arizona, Baltimore and Kansas City.
More must-reads: