Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe is not coming off a year where he raised his NFL draft stock to sky-high levels and for most of the lead-up process has been seen as a mid-rounder, perhaps with a second-round ceiling. But like every year things are changing rapidly and Milroe has seen himself bumped up to the No. 5 available quarterback on Mel Kiper Jr.'s big board for ESPN. And there's speculation that be could keep elevating to the third quarterback selected in the draft on a heels of a report from The Athletic's Dane Brugler that Milroe is accepting an invitation to attend the draft in Green Bay.
This is, for obvious reasons, not something that a lot of players do unless they think they have a good chance to go in the first round. No one likes to be the prospect that keeps getting camera time as selection after selection comes and goes without hearing their name. If Milroe is jumping into the spotlight then it stands to reason that he has reason to hope he's a first-rounder.
"It was interesting to me when I saw the report," NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport told Pat McAfee on Monday. "I don’t necessarily know that that means Jalen Milroe is definitely going to the first round, but it does seem to mean that he’s in that conversation.”
“Does that make us kind of go, like, all right, hang on. Like, is he in contention to be the third quarterback taken,” Rapoport added. “Sounds like he is. So it’d be like, Jaxson Dart, who could potentially be the third you have Jalen Milroe, you have Quinn Ewers. Like, the evaluations are all over the map.
“I was not surprised when I saw the report but I was like all right, like this really is more all over than I even realized. It’s going to lead to an unbelievably wild first, and maybe second round of this draft.”
So perhaps Milroe will be on television for the NFL draft in Green Bay. Perhaps he'll go in the first round. Perhaps he won't. Know one really knows but if you that's going to stop people from guessing, well, think again.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Jalen Milroe's Draft Invite Indicates He's in First Round 'Conversation,' NFL Insider Says.
