Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III and Trent Richardson -- the draft's first, second and third picks, respectively -- were hot topics before the draft, during its first day and even after the 253rd and final pick was made on Saturday. mRank monitors conversations across Twitter, Facebook and blogs, then aggregates them to produce scores between one and 100.
Who were the most buzzed-about prospects the day before the NFL Draft kicked off? Luck, considered by many to be the most can't-miss quarterback prospect to enter the league in years, topped the rankings with a perfect 100. Richardson, a stud running back out of Alabama who was eventually drafted third overall, was second at 92. Griffin, the Baylor quarterback who went second overall, was fourth in the mRank standings, with a score of 69. But he was beat out by Alabama safety Mark Barron, who went seventh overall but managed a pre-Draft mRank score of 71.
Of the top three picks, Griffin is the only one to have created a Twitter account so far.
The morning after the first round, Richardson surged to number one on the mRank charts, while Luck slid to number two. This is likely because the Colts announced ahead of time they would draft Luck, while the Cleveland Browns swung a widely criticized trade to land Richardson. The Browns traded up a pick to select Richardson, even though few thought they really needed to do so to add him to their team. Griffin was third in the mRank and Barron fourth the morning after the draft's first round.
After the NFL Draft dust had more than 24 hours to settle, Luck, Griffin and Richardson were were 2-3-4 in the mRank standings for Sunday's conversation. But Griffin was largely responsible for the new number 1 -- Kirk Cousins, a lightly regarded quarterback from Michigan State.
How did Griffin help Cousins' mRank push? The Washington Redskins selected Cousins in the draft's fourth round, three rounds after they had tapped Griffin -- also a quarterback -- with the second overall pick. The Redskins' quarterbacking double-dip set off a firestorm of online criticism, much of which clearly mentioned Cousins by name.
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