Where experts have NC State’s NFL prospects landing in draft
The NFL draft is just over a week away and NC State has a few prospects expecting to hear their name called to arrive at the next level of football.
NC State’s professional headliner is linebacker Payton Wilson, the 2023 Bednarik (best defensive player) and Butkus (best linebacker) award winner. He logged 138 total tackles, including 17.5 for a loss with six sacks, six pass breakups, three interceptions and a forced fumble.
Wilson’s impressive graduate season in Raleigh vaulted him up draft boards as one of the top linebacker prospects in this year’s edition. ESPN’s Jordan Reid ranked Wilson as the No. 62 overall available player in the draft, which slotted him as the No. 3 linebacker, in his most recent top 400 prospects list.
While the Hillsborough, N.C., native was put inside the top-70 by Reid, The Athletic’s Dane Brugler released his seven-round mock draft Wednesday and it had Wilson going No. 56 overall to the Dallas Cowboys. That would make Wilson the highest draft pick from NC State since tackle Ikem Ekwonu went sixth overall in the 2022 draft.
Brugler, The Athletic’s go-to draft expert, previously had Wilson as a third-round pick and the No. 4 linebacker. Now, he slotted the do-it-all defender as the second-best at his position in the draft.
ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. and Field Yates created a three-round mock draft, alternating selections, earlier this week and had Wilson going to the Green Bay Packers in the second round with the 58th overall pick.
“The Packers have a need at inside linebacker, and Wilson’s tape is tremendous,” Yates wrote. “A lengthy injury history will have to check out for this pick to happen, but Wilson had 130 tackles last season.”
While it seems like Wilson is a consensus second-round pick in the draft, center Dylan McMahon has also received rave reviews. He had a breakout season with the Wolfpack this past season with just 11 pressures (one sack, one hit and nine hurries) allowed in 345 pass blocking opportunities.
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McMahon had the option to use his final year of eligibility, but he elected to forego it and enter the draft. Brugler slotted McMahon as a seventh-round pick to the Minnesota Vikings with the No. 232 overall selection, while Reid did not have him on his top 400 rankings. ESPN’s Matt Miller had McMahon as the No. 275 player in the draft in his rankings released earlier in the week.
The Savannah, Ga., native turned some scouts’ heads at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, where he recorded three top-10 testing results among the offensive linemen in attendance. He posted the second-fastest three-cone drill (7.26) with the fourth-best broad jump (9-foot-7), fourth-fastest 20-yard shuttle (4.45). McMahon also logged a 5.10 40-yard dash time, the 20th-best of the 49 offensive linemen that competed in the event.
It appears increasingly likely that McMahon will hear his name called on the final day of the NFL draft. If he does, it will be the eighth time that NC State coach Dave Doeren has produced multiple draft picks in the same season during his 11 years in Raleigh.
In addition to McMahon and Wilson, long snapper Joe Shimko, the 2023 Patrick Mannelly award winner, has created some buzz on the draft circuit as well. Reid slotted Shimko as the No. 3 long snapper available in his rankings Wednesday, one slot ahead of where Brugler had him as the No. 4 player at the position in this year’s draft.
The NFL draft is set for April 25-27 at Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza in Detroit. The first round will kick off with the first round at 8 p.m. on April 25, while the second and third rounds will begin at 7 p.m. on April 26. The final four rounds will begin at noon on April 27.
