CLEMSON FOOTBALL

Myles Murphy is a prospect who's produced much debate over the draft leadup.
Myles Murphy is a prospect who's produced much debate over the draft leadup.

Two Tigers make PFF's 'biggest boom-or-bust prospect' list


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Clemson football has had a trio of prospects in the NFL draft first-round conversation for quite a while now.

Check out any number of projections and you will see anywhere from one to three in a given first-round look, with more trending to second-round selections for the majority of the crew of Trenton Simpson, Myles Murphy and Bryan Bresee.

Pro Football Focus assessed the biggest "boom-or-bust" prospects at each position and two of those Tigers made the list.

At edge defender, there's Murphy:

"Murphy is one of the scariest athletes on the edge in the class. While he hasn’t tested pre-draft yet due to a hamstring injury, Murphy ranked third on Bruce Feldman’s Freaks List last fall with a reported high-4.5-second 40-yard dash, 35-inch vertical and 10-foot broad jump at 268 pounds. He’s a long and explosive edge who just doesn’t quite have a pass-rush plan as of yet and hasn’t shown much in the way of development since his freshman year. In fact, Murphy’s highest graded season came in that 2020 season, when he earned an 85.2 overall grade."

At linebacker, there's Simpson:

"Simpson’s write-up here looks a lot like Murphy’s above. The 6-foot-2, 235-pounder ran a 4.43-second 40 and vertical jumped 40.5 inches in the pre-draft process. He has the kind of frame, range and power that everyone is looking for at linebacker, but he just doesn’t quite have the tape and only played true between-the-tackles linebacker for one season. With all those tools, Simpson also only broke up two passes in his career and picked off zero."

The NFL draft will be held from April 27-29 in Kansas City. Last year broke up a run of three consecutive NFL drafts with a Clemson player picked in the first round.

The Tigers have had 14 NFL first-rounders since 2013 and 15 overall under Dabo Swinney as head coach.

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