Meet 7 Day 2 NFL picks you may well never have heard of before Friday

It may not have matched the shock of Daniel Jones going No. 6 overall or Buffalo and Washington nailing their picks, but Day 2 of the 2019 NFL Draft wasn’t lacking for surprises.

Drew Lock fell all the way to the 42nd pick. The Patriots, even with a surplus of picks, still managed to trade down multiple times. Greedy Williams somehow wound up being the sixth cornerback taken in the second round alone.

And then came the guys who caused some fans in Nashville and elsewhere to turn to each other and ask “who?” These were the players who rarely showed up on mock drafts or came from schools that rarely earned national broadcasts. They played in conferences like the MAC and Missouri Valley and Northern Sun. They were (mostly) awesome on flawed teams, or on great teams facing bad competition.

So who were these lesser-known players who earned their spot in training camps Friday night? Here’s a deeper look at the seven guys you might not have heard about before they had their names called in Rounds 2 and 3 of the 2019 draft.

The first big surprise of Day 2 was Tavai, who had typically been ranked around the 100 mark on most big boards leading up to this year’s draft. Dan Kadar tagged him as the 94th-best prospect in this year’s draft, citing his Fred Warner-esque ability to get into the backfield thanks to his above-average size and speed.

So why didn’t you hear more about Tavai? Well, partially because he played in his own unique time zone, and partially because the Warriors’ defense around him was ...not great.

Tavai was uber-productive in his final three seasons at Hawai’i, averaging 9.8 tackles per game and recording 36 tackles for loss and 13.5 sacks in that span. He plays hard and runs fearlessly into blocks, but that also leaves him to get washed out by bigger lineman. He’s got decent, not great, speed that will be an issue against faster tight ends.

Second-year coach Matt Patricia got a tone-setting linebacker who won’t be outworked in the second round. If he can overcome the questions about his athleticism in the NFL, no one will think this was a reach come 2020.

The Texans’ quest to keep Deshaun Watson upright continued with Scharping, a product of one of the MAC’s strongest programs.

He was a staple for the Huskies, starting 53 consecutive games over four seasons and providing consistency every step of the way. When he allowed a sack against Iowa during the 2018 season, it was the first time he gave one up since his freshman season in 2015.

Scharping stood out in a big way at the Senior Bowl too:

Houston took a project with huge potential when they drafted Tytus Howard, but he has some growing to do. Scharping is already a polished player, even if he wasn’t at a Power 5 school.

Pittsburgh has to find JuJu Smith-Schuster a new running mate after trading Antonio Brown to the Raiders. Johnson could be the next man up. The 5’11 wideout showcased game-breaking tendencies at Toledo, though his production varied. After a breakout 2017 (74 catches, 1,278 yards, 13 touchdowns) he backslid to 49-761-8 in one fewer game with the Rockets, thanks to the departure of All-Mac passer Logan Woodside.

The Steelers are betting a re-introduction to a stable QB situation will unlock the potential he showed as a sophomore. Johnson isn’t a big target, he’s only got decent speed (a 4.53-second 40-yard dash at the combine), and he can struggle to shake larger cornerbacks at the line of scrimmage, but he creates separation well downfield and tracks the ball effectively once it’s in the air. His special teams cred — he was an All-MAC punt and kick returner — likely gave him an edge over other wideout prospects for Pittsburgh.

The very first bullet point on Davis’s NFL Network profile was that he has a “unique frog stance.” They showed highlights and, yep, it’s pretty weird.

Evidently that stance worked really well for Davis in college, though. According to Pro Football Focus, he allowed a grand total of four pressures on 234 pass-blocking snaps during the 2018 season.

He’s only the second draft pick in Charlotte history — joining Browns defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi — although that’s because the program played its first season in 2013.

He joins a Titans team that lost both its starting guards this spring after releasing Josh Kline and watching Quinton Spain leave in free agency. Rodger Saffold’s presence and Kevin Pamphile’s return means Davis won’t have to start right away, but Tennessee would prefer to get him into the lineup sooner rather than later in order to keep Marcus Mariota as protected as possible.

Lets talk about Sioux Falls University first — a program with a more recent NFL Draft pick than UCLA, Cal, Oregon, Nebraska, Texas, or Tennessee. The Division II Cougars grind in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, so while Pipkins only allowed two sacks over the past two seasons he also did so against teams like Augustana, Upper Iowa, Northern State, and the University of Mary.

Huh.

If Pipkins makes the Chargers’ roster, he’ll be the first non-special teamer to play in the NFL from SFU. There’s reason to believe he’ll blaze that trail. At 6’7 and 307 pounds, he’s a massive, long-armed tackle who looked like he was playing Madden on easy mode with the Cougars.

He showed off above-average agility but below-average strength at the combine, but that’s good — the Chargers can get him stronger, but they probably can’t make him faster. Los Angeles would like him to be able to usurp Sam Tevi’s hold on right tackle this fall, but Tevi’s still growing as a player and gives the club some latitude to bring their big South Dakotan project along slowly if they so choose.

The Giants are hoping Ximines can fill the hole created when the club shipped Olivier Vernon to the Browns, but they’re going to have to hope the Conference USA standout can make a major adjustment from low-level FBS to the big leagues. There’s reason to believe he can contribute in 2019. Ximines was a wrecking ball at Old Dominion, racking up 27.5 sacks over his final three seasons — including three in three games against Power 5 competition.

At 6’3 and 253 pounds he had decent, but not outstanding, size. His three-cone and 20-yard shuttle times suggest he might have trouble getting around opposing tackles, especially with a limited New York pass rush to soften up pockets from up the middle. Ximines was a big fish in a small pond, but he’ll have the chance to push his way into the rotation right away for a Giants team that needs all the talent it can get this fall.

Williams straight-up broke the NFL Network’s coverage, as the broadcast’s analysts had no highlights, no insight, and not even a pre-made chyron for the FCS standout. Our “gut feeling” analysis on the linebacker was, straight-up, “well, I dunno.”

That doesn’t mean this is a bad pick, but there aren’t a whole lot of successful 5’10 linebackers in the NFL. He’ll have plenty of doubters. Like former NFL scout Dan Shonka, for instance.

Even Williams was shocked he got picked.

But if you haven’t heard of Quincy Williams, you probably know his younger brother. That’s Alabama defensive tackle Quinnen Williams who was taken No. 3 overall by the Jets. Both played for Wenonah High School in Birmingham, Alabama before heading separate ways for their college careers.

At Murray State, Quincy Williams ... really didn’t do much. He finished his senior season with a sack and two interceptions. But apparently the Jaguars saw something nobody else did.