Blake Bortles was impressive enough in his final season at Central Florida that his name was thrown into the No. 1 overall pick pool for a while. In some corners, he was believed to be the best quarterback prospect available, no matter where he landed in Thursday's NFL draft.
The Jacksonville Jaguars confirmed that notion by making Bortles the first quarterback taken, with the third overall pick — the first major surprise of the 2014 draft.
Teams looking for the closest thing to prototypical size and traditional strengths for the position had to look at Bortles closely. At an athletic 6-foot-5 and 232 pounds, he's more apt to keep his feet moving in the pocket than outside of it, but scouts were impressed with how he played from the pocket and stood up to pass pressure.
Interpretations of his pro day were all over the map, though, with some onlookers concerned about his accuracy on deep throws. His arm strength has never been in doubt, however, and neither are his college stats.
Playing in the same conference as Teddy Bridgewater, Bortles beat him out for offensive player of the year, with 3,581 yards and 25 touchdown passes to nine interceptions. Central Florida also dealt Bridgewater's Louisville team its only loss, suffered its only loss by three to Jadeveon Clowney and South Carolina, and outgunned Baylor 52-42 in the Fiesta Bowl.
Bortles was a second-round pick, the 40th overall, in Sporting News' final mock draft, and was the second-rated quarterback prospect by NFL.com.
Bills scramble for Watkins
Not long after the 2014 NFL Draft began, the Bills made the first of many expected moves.
In a trade with the Cleveland Browns, Buffalo moved up five spots from No. 9 to No. 4 to select Clemson wide receiver Sammy Watkins.
In return, the Browns received the Bills' first-round and fourth-round picks for the 2015 draft.
Watkins is the biggest game-breaker of the receiving class, drawing comparisons to Calvin Johnson, who played in the same conference at Georgia Tech and went second overall to the Lions in 2007. At 6-foot-1 and 211 pounds, Watkins is not at big as "Megatron," but he's faster than almost anyone his size, and bigger than almost anyone who can run with him.
He caught 101 passes for 1,464 yards and 12 touchdowns for the Tigers last season, including a 227-yard receiving game against Ohio State in a rare BCS bowl victory for an ACC program. He can run after the catch and beat defenders deep, and as draft day approached he separated himself from the receiver pack and got himself into the discussion for the top-five overall picks.
Watkins was the No. 3 pick on Sporting News' final mock draft, and is the fourth-rated player on the Top 100 big board of Optimum Scouting's Eric Galko.
Tadd Haislop contributed to this story.