Analysis: Round-by-round projections for Pac-12 players in the NFL draft

Players report for the NFL Combine next week and begin workouts March 2.

Then come the on-campus Pro Days … and the private workouts at team facilities … and only then, in early April, will the draft begin to take its true shape.

In order to track the changing fate of Pac-12 prospects, we need a starting point. This is that point.

I’ve compiled a working list of the current projections for all the top players. For some, it could look vastly different six weeks from now (much less at the conclusion of the draft). For others, the difference will be incremental.

I’d place Washington receiver Dante Pettis, Oregon tailback Royce Freeman and UCLA tackle Kolton Miller on the short list of players whose stock could rise significantly by mid-April.

At the other end of the spectrum, don’t be surprised to see NFL teams grow increasingly wary of Washington State defensive tackle/end Hercules Mata’afa, who doesn’t fit cleanly into a model for linemen (and teams like clean fits).

(Detailed scouting reports on specific players are coming next week in the Hotline’s combine preview. Also consider my conversation with NFL Networks analyst Charles Davis, who provided a post-Senior Bowl breakdown of each Pac-12 participant.)

You’ll notice some overlap below with the rounds listed. Most players are tweeners, and there’s a potentially significant difference between a first/second round tweener and a second/third round tweener.

The former could be the No. 25 pick; the latter could go late in the third round. I selected categories that make the most sense based on the current landscape.

Colorado cornerback Isaiah Oliver would fit into the former category, with USC linebacker Uchenna Nwosu in the latter.

The projections are taken from trusted Hotline sources, with players listed alphabetically by school within each category.

(I’ll use those same sources for the early-April outlook to provide an apples-to-apples comparison of the changes.)

Prospects not listed below are currently viewed as borderline selections.

FIRST-ROUND LOCKS

UCLA QB Josh Rosen
USC QB Sam Darnold
Washington DT Vita Vea

FIRST/SECOND ROUND

Colorado CB Isaiah Oliver
Stanford DT Harrison Phillips
USC TB Ronald Jones

SECOND ROUND

Oregon OT Tyrell Crosby
Stanford FS Justin Reid
USC DE Rasheem Green

SECOND/THIRD ROUND

Stanford CB Quenton Meeks
UCLA OT Kolton Miller
USC OLB Uchenna Nwosu

THIRD/FOURTH ROUND

Stanford TE Dalton Schultz
USC WR Deontay Burnett
Washington WR Dante Pettis
Washington State QB Luke Falk
Washington State DL Hercules Mata’afa

FOURTH/FIFTH ROUND

Arizona State TB Kalen Ballage
Arizona State LB Christian Sam
Oregon TB Royce Freeman
Washington State G Cole Madison

SIXTH/SEVENTH ROUND

Arizona G Jacob Alsadek
Colorado TB Philip Lindsay
Oregon CB Arrion Springs
Stanford OT David Bright
UCLA C Scott Quessenberry
UCLA LB Kenny Young
Utah WR Darren Carrington
Utah DE Kylie Fitts
Utah DT Lowell Lotulelei
Washington LB Keishawn Bierria
Washington LB Azeem Victor
Washington State G/T Cody O’Connell