In this week's Take Two Tuesday, we debate who our favorite Big 12 sleeper is in the upcoming NFL draft:
Take 1: Jake Trotter -- Kansas State WR Tyler Lockett
Over the weekend, ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay unveiled his “All-Satellite team”
-- the five most difficult players to defend in space.
Topping the list was Kansas State wideout Tyler Lockett, which shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who watched him terrorize opposing Big 12 defenses.
“I can't count the number of times I'd see him make the first guy miss on tape, and he has the best ability to string together multiple moves in the open field of any player in this class,” McShay wrote. “Lockett is elite in the areas that matter most on this list: Acceleration, lateral quickness and change-of-direction ability.”
That’s why Lockett is my favorite Big 12 sleeper heading into this week’s NFL draft. Lockett won’t be a first-round pick, but he will be an impact player for the franchise that selects him on Day 2.
He isn’t just great after the catch. He’s great before it with pristine route-running. He can operate out of the slot or the outside. He has tremendous hands. He's proven he can be ultra-productive. And he can double as a lethal returner on both kicks and punts.
Until Lockett arrived, Jordy Nelson was K-State’s most recent All-American receiver. That turned out well for the Green Bay Packers, who gambled on Nelson in the second round of the 2008 draft. Odds are it will turn out well for the team that takes a chance on Lockett, too.
Take 2: Max Olson -- Kansas ILB Ben Heeney
I’ll go with another Kansan for my pick. If Ben Heeney had spent the past four years playing for a more successful Big 12 program, I’m guessing he’d be a household name by now.
“Captain Heeney” gave Kansas everything he had as a 34-game starter who finished his career with 335 tackles and 35.5 tackles for loss. It’s a shame, really, that we never got to see what he could do in big, important games. Heeney played for three different head coaches and four losing teams, yet he always made the best of his circumstances.
But NFL scouts don’t care so much about those losses when you’re a 230-pound inside linebacker who can run a 40 in under 4.6 seconds. Heeney did a killer job in his agility testing at the NFL scouting combine, too, putting himself in position to be a mid-to-late round selection.
The knocks on Heeney are understandable. He doesn’t have prototypical NFL size. The missed tackles are a problem. He’s going to have to overcome that if he hopes to stick.
But it’s his work ethic that got him this far and made him beloved by Kansas coaches, and nobody who’s coached or played with him will be shocked if Heeney’s stint in the league endures longer than expected. Whoever takes a chance on him on Day 3 could be getting a real steal.
