Wisconsin Football: Badgers Mock Draft Roundup 1.0

Let’s see where a few members of the Wisconsin Football team are landing in some of the most recent mock drafts.

If you couldn’t tell, it’s mock draft season and with the completion of the NFL Combine, more and more will continue to be released. For the Wisconsin Football program, they had four players invited to the combine and these four players should hear their names called at some point during NFL draft weekend.

Of course, the four players that I’m referring to are Zack Baun, Jonathan Taylor, Quintez Cephus, and Tyler Biadasz.

After putting together an All-American season at Wisconsin in 2019, Baun began to see his draft stock rise. And now with more draft analysts having seen his tape along with his performances at the Senior Bowl and combine, many believe he is worthy of a first-round selection.

While at the NFL level he is expected to play off-ball linebacker, he had displayed great versatility at Wisconsin showing that he can get after the quarterback while also being able to hold his own in coverage situations. In today’s NFL, this is what teams are looking for at the linebacker position.

Then there is Taylor who is easily the most accomplished running back in this year’s draft class after back-to-back 2,000-yard seasons and being named the Doak Walker Award winner in each of those seasons as well.

We all knew how good Taylor was as a back, but in 2019 with 26 receptions for 252 yards with five touchdowns, he had shown that he can be effective in the passing game as well. On top of that, any silly questions that there were about his speed were answered at the combine with his 4.39 – 40 yard dash time. Taylor is now vying to be the first running back taken in this year’s draft.

Moving along we have Cephus who has seen his draft stock rise as well in recent months, although not as much as Baun’s has. Early on in the 2019 season, Cephus was expected to be a late Day 3 pick if he was even drafted at all, but now he could be taken somewhere around the fourth round.

Cephus has a very good release at the line of scrimmage which helps create space, along with very good hands, and he has shown that he can catch off-target passes as well. Had Cephus been in a more pass-happy offense, his numbers certainly would have been more impressive over his career which may have led to more recognition early on.

However, the combine was a mixed bag for him. He had the most bench press reps of any receiver and also performed well in the explosive drills. But the 40-yard dash and 3-cone drill really hurt him. NFL teams knew that he could catch but they wanted to see that speed which shows up on tape but it didn’t in these two on-field tests. Now we wait and see what affect the combine results have on his draft stock.

Last but certainly not least, is Tyler Biadasz who won the 2019 Rimington Trophy which is awarded to the nation’s top center. Like many Badger offensive lineman before him, Biadasz has developed into an incredibly consistent player.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to participate at the combine as he elected to have surgery on his shoulder. And like Cephus, we will have to see if this has any effect on where he goes in the draft.

And one other player I want to mention is Chris Orr. While he wasn’t invited to the combine and we won’t see him in this mock draft roundup, he put together a fantastic senior season alongside Baun. Orr would total 78 tackles, 14 of which were for a loss, along with 11.5 sacks and five pass breakups.

Whether he’s drafted or signs somewhere afterward, whoever lands him will be getting one heck of a football player.

So as I mentioned above, it is mock draft season, so let’s take a look at some of the recent mock drafts that have been released since the combine ended and see where these Badger players are ending up. Also, keep in mind that these mock drafts vary in length from one round up to three rounds.