Who is your 2018 NFL Draft crush?

The extensive, drawn-out process that is the NFL offseason makes it easy to acquire a so-called “draft crush.” There is so much time between the Super Bowl and the NFL Draft that fans can learn so much about prospects before they’re even officially in the league.

There are no rules about what constitutes a draft crush. For some, stars like Saquon Barkley, Lamar Jackson, Baker Mayfield, and Bradley Chubb might be the biggest draft crushes this year, as is often the case for top players at their positions. You get enough film of one guy burning 11 others, and people fall in love.

For others, it’s more about under-the-radar prospects, the sleepers that not many others have heard of.

We’re not looking at putting any restrictions on the term ourselves — a crush is a crush. And we want to know: who are you currently making googly-eyes at, with the NFL Draft now approaching?

These are the players we’re fawning over here at SB Nation.

Look, sometimes you have a poster of JTT hanging on your wall just like everyone else. Barkley is this year’s universal crush, but he’s the obvious choice for a reason. I don’t know if I’ve seen a running back this absurdly, delightfully athletic and with this much potential as a game-breaking two-way player — no, make that three-way, if you include his return ability — in years. Or ever.

And while you never know a person, Barkley seems like a legitimately good kid and one who will make a difference in his community, wherever he’s drafted. I hope he goes in the top five — and proves that he was worth it. — Sarah Hardy

I mean, look at the size of this lad. Absolute unit. — Richard Johnson

I wish all of these players would have been paid their fair market value in college, but there are some dudes I especially want to make money given what they’ve been through. Every Mike Leach quarterback fits that mold. Because of what that air raid offense asks of signal callers (“please throw your arm off every game if you don’t mind”), I just hope Leach QBs can get a look after what they’ve been through it.

With Falk especially, my first memory of him is getting absolutely beaten up by UCLA in his freshman year. He left the game with concussion-like symptoms and was cleared to return. Football is a brutal game, and it may seem oxymoronic to concern yourself with someone’s health who is willingly continuing to play the sport. But it’s what he loves, and is good at, and I hope the paydays keep coming ‘til he calls it quits of his own volition. — Richard Johnson

UTEP, a program that went 0-12 in 2017, isn’t known for pushing top prospects to the NFL. But Hernandez started every game, and he was rarely beat. Now he’s one of the top guard prospects in the draft, behind only Quenton Nelson. He’ll be gone by the second round, but could also go in the first. He’s got the size (6’3, 330 pounds) and strength (37 reps of 225 in the bench press) to be a dominant left guard, and absolutely manhandles everyone put in front of him. — James Brady

Jackson is arguably the most exciting player coming out of the draft, despite “experts” putting other quarterbacks above him. He won a Heisman in 2016 because of his superhero-like efforts on the field, which he basically continued during the 2017 season. And to put it simply, you know you’re damn good when even Michael Vick says you’re a spitting image of him.

Draft experts and fans will find every reason for Jackson not to work in the NFL, or reasons for him to play wide receiver, but if there’s a player to root for to work out in this draft, Jackson’s gotta be high on the list. That’s not just for reasons on the playing field, but for how we discuss prospects, and specifically black quarterbacks. — Harry Lyles Jr.

Imagine a smaller Barkley-style talent who may not be the guy to tote the mail 35 times in a game, but look out if the right offensive coordinator can find inventive ways to get him the ball. John Kelly is that type of player, with an incredibly low center of gravity honed through skateboarding as a teenager to the extent that Pop Warner coaches had to lobby his mother to get him off of a board and into some cleats. Kelly is an electric talent and really fun to watch. He’ll be a late-round steal because of his size, and I can’t wait to watch him do his thing. — Richard Johnson

He’s definitely not the biggest receiver and he’s really not even that fast, but Kirk is smooth, sharp, tough and able to win with angles in a way that made him effective on the first day he started his career with the Aggies. He’s the kind of player that you can trust to get nine yards when it’s third-and-8, and that’s the way to win over fans in a hurry. It’s hard to imagine Kirk not making an instant impact in the slot and he’ll probably do damage as a punt returner too. — Adam Stites

It’s a great time to be a stud FCS quarterback. Former North Dakota State quarterback Carson Wentz was a leading MVP candidate before his knee injury last season with the Eagles, and former Eastern Illinois standout Jimmy Garoppolo is 7-0 as an NFL starter. Lauletta could be the next link in that chain. At 6’3 and 215 pounds, he’s got good size and athleticism to go with an accurate arm and a solid understanding of how to look off defenders. He’s been as smooth as can be with the Spiders, finishing his career with a school-record 10,422 yards and generally doing everything his team has asked of him in the process. — Christian D’Andrea

I’m a biased Maryland grad, but I see a lot in Moore that I saw in Stefon Diggs a couple of drafts ago. Moore has amazing hand-eye coordination and body control, and he tested through the roof at the league’s scouting combine in March. He was an elite producer in a college program that never gave him a good long-term partner quarterback. He can cook people in the open field, but he’s strong enough to push for yards at the end of a play — almost like a running back in a receiver’s body. He’s a complete player. — Alex Kirshner

Besides having one of, if not the best, names in the NFL Draft, St. Brown is one of the more intriguing prospects too. If you’re a fan of tall wide receivers making smaller defensive backs look silly, he’s you’re kind of guy. He’s 6’5 and 214 pounds, with a father, John Brown, who was Mr. Universe (twice) and Mr. World (three times). He shined under DeShone Kizer in 2016 and could develop in the NFL with the right quarterback. — Harry Lyles Jr.

There is nothing in all of team sports like an explosive interior defensive lineman. It’s hard to explain how destructive a nose tackle can be to what an offense is trying to do because it’s often unquantifiable. There’s not a line in the box score for when you shove the center into the backfield, disrupt a pulling guard heading to the other side of the line and create a tackle for loss for one of your teammates. I’ve watched Vea do that time and time again. He moves with a deftness that a man of his size should not. He is controlled in the way he creates chaos for an offense. To blockers on the next level: good luck. — Richard Johnson

Another Ohio State defensive back coached by Kerry Coombs? Yes please. Ward is about to be the latest in an incredible lineage of NFL talent out of Columbus. The Buckeyes had three DBs taken in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft: Malik Hooker, Gareon Conley, and Marshon Lattimore. Ward played alongside them and is considered not just the best cornerback in the 2018 draft, but one with superstar potential. He’s likely going to be a top-10 pick, and for the 40-yard dash obsessed for cornerbacks, he passed that test with flying colors on a blazing 4.32. Congrats in advance to whoever drafts him. — Harry Lyles Jr.

Watch any Texas A&M game in the last couple years and you’re guaranteed to see Watts make a huge play that swings momentum in the Aggies’ favor. He doesn’t have the ideal size of an NFL safety at 5’10, and his “live by the sword, die by the sword” mentality can lead to big whiffs. But no player in the nation came up clutch more often with timely turnovers and game-winning interceptions. He’s the kind of player who consistently finds himself in the right place at the right time and it makes him easy to root for. — Adam Stites

Webb was an underappreciated three-star prospect who broke onto the scene in Nashville as Zac Stacy’s replacement, then wound up breaking all his program records on a smattering of awful Commodore teams. Webb ran through eight-man boxes throughout his career thanks to a passing attack led by quarterbacks like Stephen Rivers, Wade Freebeck, Johnny McCrary, and Patton Robinette. Despite being the focus of every opponent’s defense, he still managed to notch nearly 4,200 career rushing yards while running behind one of the SEC’s least effective offensive lines. Webb spent his college career turning chicken shit into chicken salad. He’ll do the same in the NFL. — Christian D’Andrea