It tells you plenty about the 2013 NFL draft that one of the questions I was asked most often was: "Where would Jadeveon Clowney have gone in this class?"
The answer is easy -- he would have gone No. 1.
That said, it's not an easy case to make for every draft. So don't blow it out of proportion. While Clowney is the definition of an elite NFL draft prospect at his position, those last three words are important. At. His. Position.
For instance, there's no way he goes before Andrew Luck in 2012. That doesn't happen. I could watch the hit against Michigan on a continuous loop for 24 hours and would still tell you the same thing. While Clowney is an extraordinary prospect, the possibility to land a franchise QB will always supercede anything else. So there's also the possibility he doesn't go ahead of Robert Griffin III, either.
I point that out because even as we enter a year where it seems like a given that Clowney will hear his name called first next April, don't forget about the quarterbacks. If Teddy Bridgewater takes another huge step forward this season, and you have a QB-needy team drafting at No. 1 (and that tends to happen), it's absolutely a possibility that Clowney could get bypassed at the top of the board.
But as we said, he wouldn't have in the 2013 draft. Now that you have my new Big Board, let's take a look at draft situations that could have been changed had any of the following top 2014 prospects been available. In some cases, the player hadn't spent three years in college football, while in other cases the player decided to stay in college.
More Kiper NFL draft content:
First 2014 Big Board | The next 25 | Remixing the 2013 draft
Jadeveon Clowney
The player: The current No. 1 prospect for 2014, Clowney is a potentially dominant pass-rusher at the next level.
