As the NFL season winds down and college bowl season heats up, Pro Football Focus came up with its most recent 2023 NFL Mock Draft, and they have one current and one former Penn State standout going in the first round.
PFF Analyst Trevor Sikkema projects former Penn State and current Kentucky quarterback Will Levis going fifth overall to the Indianapolis Colts, and Penn State cornerback Joey Porter Jr. going to the Detroit Lions at No. 18 overall.
Sikkema has Levis (6-foot-3, 232 pounds) as the second quarterback drafted after Bryce Young going number one to the Houston Texans. Levis has the size, arm strength, and mobility that scouts, and executives look for in the quarterback, however his numbers indicated that he regressed this past season. He threw for only 2,406 yards and 19 touchdown passes and 10 interceptions.
However, he was compromised by a weakened offensive line that allowed pressure on 37 percent of his drop backs. The Colts need to find its franchise quarterback after deploying stop gap options in Phillip Rivers, Carson Wentz, and Matt Ryan after the early retirement of Andrew Luck in 2019.
As for Porter, scouts love his size (6-foot-2, 195 pounds) and ball production on the boundaries that forces incompletions. Detroit needs a boost to a defense that is dead last in the NFL in yards allowed, points allowed, and 30th in passing yards.
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