NFL draft 2017 results: 3rd round ruled by small-school prospects

The second day of the NFL draft is in the books with the conclusion of the third round. There was all sorts of talent still left on the board after the first round, and sure enough, teams stocked up throughout Friday night. You could see a lot of future Pro Bowlers taken in the second and third rounds here.

The first player taken in the third round was a small-school prospect, which immediately set the tone for this board. Only two quarterbacks were taken, while the Houston Texans made a low-key great move by grabbing dynamic Texas RB D’Onta Foreman.

Here’s a brief rundown of the big storylines heading out of the third round. Be sure to keep up with the 2017 NFL draft with SB Nation’s tracker, and follow along with SB Nation’s grades of every single pick going into the third round.

The third round was defined by a run of small-school talents. It started right off the bat, with the Cleveland Browns taking Larry Ogunjobi out of Charlotte, which started its football program in 2008 and was recently promoted to FBS.

Perhaps the most notable small-school name in this round was receiver Cooper Kupp, who emerged at Eastern Washington. Los Angeles took Kupp at the nice draft slot of No. 69, giving Jared Goff another weapon to work with. Other small-school talent to go in this round include Taywan Taylor (Western Kentucky), Carlos Henderson (Louisiana Tech), Kareem Hunt (Toledo), Shaquill Griffin (UCF), Chad Williams (Grambling State), Jonnu Smith (FIU), and Brendan Langley (Lamar).

The New England Patriots actually ended up with two small-school prospects, both of whom have a high ceiling. They finally had their first draft pick at No. 83, and made the most of it with Youngstown State DE Derek Rivers, who some considered a second-round talent. Two picks later, New England traded back up and got Troy OT Antonio Garcia. Bill Belichick once again did more with less, getting two solid talents deep into the second day.

After three quarterbacks were taken in the first round, it would’ve been easy to predict a big run on the second-tier talents, as teams feel safer taking them in later rounds. However, that never quite happened. The second round came and went with just one QB (DeShone Kizer at No. 52), and it took over 30 picks before another one came off the board. The New York Giants selected Davis Webb at No. 87, hoping to groom a successor for Eli Manning.

After another long drought, the San Francisco 49ers traded into the end of the third round to get C.J. Beathard of Iowa.

As it turns out, all that smoke about quarterbacks making late rises up draft boards and going earlier than expected was just that — smoke. This is not a great class and teams know it. Players like Nathan Peterman, Brad Kayaa, and Joshua Dobbs will have to wait another day to hear their names called.

You know what wasn’t a smokescreen? That this year’s defensive back class is ridiculously stacked.

And there are a lot of quality players still available for the third day. It’s a gold mine for teams needing secondary help.

After signing DeSean Jackson and drafting O.J. Howard in the first round, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers still weren’t satisfied with their skill positions, nabbing Penn State receiver Chris Godwin in the third round. Nobody can deny that Jameis Winston is lacking for weapons now.

Here are the complete pick-by-pick results for the third round.