At the NFL scouting combine last month, Notre Dame product Quenton Nelson made his case for why teams should use a top-five pick on a guard — a position, historically, taken in the later rounds.
He rattled off Aaron Donald and Geno Atkins: two destructive forces that wreak havoc on a weekly basis. They are both defensive tackles, and defenses are having increasing success up the middle.
“You need guys to stop them,” Nelson said.
There’s no thrill in selecting a guard — no matter the round, truthfully. Remember the mixed reaction to the Redskins selecting Brandon Scherff with the fifth pick in 2014?