Five overhyped first-round NFL Draft prospects teams should avoid

The NFL Draft can produce Hall of Fame players but teams still overreach for players that shouldn’t be drafted high.

Myles Murphy, EDGE Clemson

Again, there are a lot of first-round-worthy edge rushers in this draft. The talent is pretty overwhelming. But there are a few underwhelming prospects that do not belong in the first round. Myles Murphy is one of them.

Murphy, considered a project, is in fact a freaky athlete. He’s huge but moves like he’s a hundred pounds lighter. He does have a ton of potential as an every-down edge defender, especially setting the edge in the run game, but is his ceiling worth his floor?

Going to the film room, his game against Georgia Tech defines his floor as a prospect. On paper, he didn’t record a tackle. But on film, it didn’t even look like he was there. Against an inferior Georgia Tech offensive line, one would expect such a highly-touted prospect to feast and showcase his abilities. He went completely AWOL in this one, which is unfortunately the case in a couple of other games in 2022.

He has received comparisons to last year’s number-one overall pick Travon Walker, but Walker was a much more technically polished edge defender. Murphy, who does share elite size and athleticism with Walker, does not have the technique and football IQ that Walker had. Murphy essentially goes out there as a physical freak, with no game plan in mind, and just beats the competition. Does that typically translate against bigger, better competition in the NFL? Not really.