Gretz:The Top Ten – Version #1

[Tribal Warfare]

The Top Ten – Version #1

January 2, 2009 - Bob Gretz |

Now that the New Year’s Day bowl games are completed, there are only a handful of college players left who are still preparing to play a game.
The best among those finished with their seasons are pondering the future. Specifically, sophomore redshirts and juniors are trying to decide if they should enter the NFL Draft.
Underclassmen have until January 15 to submit their names to the NFL to be included in the ‘09 talent pool. Despite comments last week from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell saying there would be no rookie wage cap next year, agents are still telling college players that if they want to guarantee the type of pay day that draft choices have received in recent year, ‘09 is the year to jump.
We spent time talking with two NFL teams and scouts from two other clubs and pulled together the bobgretz.com top 10. This group includes players who have not yet declared for the draft, and in fact, may choose to stay in the college ranks for another season.
But the NFL guys all think the underclassmen on this list will jump.
We picked 10 because of the Chiefs position as the No. 3 choice in the first round. If the team uses that selection, their choice is in this list. Now, if they should decide to trade down, I wouldn’t expect them to go much beyond the 10th spot. If there are as many underclassmen jumping in as the league expects, the pick at No. 10 will be a very, very good player.
As the weeks and months go on, we’ll adjust this list accordingly, but here’s version No. 1.

TOP 10 PROSPECTS FOR 2009 NFL Draft

#	Player	Pos	YR	School
1.	Sam Bradford*	QB	So-R	Oklahoma
2.	Matt Stafford*	QB	JR	Georgia
3.	Michael Crabtree*	WR	So-R	Texas Tech
4.	Jeremy Maclin*	WR	So-R	Missouri
5.	Andre Smith*	T	JR	Alabama
6.	Aaron Curry	LB	SR	Wake Forest
7.	Eugene Monroe	T	SR	Virginia
8.	Malcolm Jenkins	CB	SR	Ohio State
9.	Percy Harvin*	WR	JR	Florida
10.	Rey Maualuga	LB	SR	Southern Cal

*-underclassmen who have not yet declared for NFL Draft.