Oklahoma football: Your guide to OU players in the NFL Draft day one

Marquise Brown

Background: Marquise “Hollywood” Brown might very well have been the fastest player in college football last year (with teammate Kyler Murray lining up as a potential challenger), but he’s much more than just a deep threat. Brown refined his game in 2018 and became more of a complete receiver with a short and intermediate game to go along with his blazing speed. It’s hard to believe this is the same guy who showed up in Norman tipping the scales at less than 150 pounds in 2017.

The stories: It’s a shame that Brown didn’t get a chance to run at the NFL Combine after offseason foot surgery, but it certainly hasn’t slowed down the constant praise and attention from NFL scouts that seems to be building to a crescendo at exactly the right time. Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller said after talking with multiple sources, Brown’s chances of going in the first round are as high as they have been since the junior declared for the draft. Fox Sports’ Peter Schrager said something pretty similar on Twitter.

Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Oakland, Baltimore and Green Bay are all on the list of potential landing spots for Brown, who looks ready to contribute to an NFL team from day one.

Our prediction: Could Brown end up in Oakland with his cousin Antionio Brown? It would make immediate trouble for anyone trying to figure out how to cover the both of them, but we are pretty sure Gruden has his eyes on repairing the Raiders’ woeful defense in the draft this year. Instead of joining his cousin, we see him replacing Antionio Brown in Pittsburgh. The Steelers are in need of firepower in their receiver corps if they want to give an aging Ben Roethlesburger another shot at a late-career ring. With the franchise’s record for developing receivers in recent years it would be a near-ideal spot for the burner from Hollywood, Fla.