Did your favorite NFL team get a bargain/value pick during the draft? Does that player also come from your favorite Pac-12 team?
It’s possible, says Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports, who writes that some of the best steals in the NFL draft came from the Pac-12.
Feldman broke down what he considered to be his top 20 bargain picks. And there are four Pac-12 players among his 20.
Coming in at No. 18 is UCLA running back Paul Perkins, who went to the New York Giants with the 149th pick. Perkins rushed for 1,343 yards last season with 14 touchdowns. What his role will be, however, is murky. The Giants have a pretty crowded backfield.
At No. 13 is former Washington linebacker Travis Feeney, who went in the sixth round to the Pittsburgh Steelers. As Feldman notes, Feeney is one of the fastest linebackers in the draft and a guy I considered for the Pac-12’s defensive player of the year last season. Our Jeremy Fowler agrees, saying Feeney has “ridiculous upside for the sixth round.” I caught up with Feeney back in February when he was training for the combine and he talked about how previous Washington defenders getting drafted is helping to pave the way.
Feldman’s No. 8 value pick is Arizona linebacker Scooby Wright III, the best defensive player in college football in 2014, who went to Cleveland with the 250th pick. Safe to say, Wright was excited to get drafted:
And of all the Pac-12 players picked, Feldman writes that Myles Jack was the best steal, going to Jacksonville at No. 36. Of course, any time you talk about Jack, the question is: What position is he going to play? Our Mike DiRocco cleared it up, writing that Jack will be a linebacker ... at least for now.
Jaguars defensive coordinator Todd Wash said they’ll start Jack slow before tinkering with multiple positions.
"With a rookie, you’d like to put him in one spot and leave him there so he can understand what we’re asking of him,” Wash said. “He can work those skill sets and then as he gets that stuff mastered we can end up moving him to different positions."