Clemson’s T.J. Parker, of course, isn’t eligible for the 2025 NFL Draft. But if he were eligible to be drafted this year, where would the star defensive end land in April’s draft?

Longtime NFL Draft analyst Rob Rang of FOX Sports recently did a mock draft projecting every first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft — with all college players draft eligible, including underclassmen like Parker.

Rang predicted that Parker, a sophomore, would be a top-20 prospect in this year’s draft class and go to the Cincinnati Bengals with the No. 17 overall pick.

“The Bengals have long shown a willingness to gamble on youth, winning big with one-year college stars like Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase and investing the No. 18 overall pick last year in offensive tackle Amarius Mims, who started just one season at Georgia before heading to the NFL,” Rang wrote. “Cincinnati might be a franchise willing to roll the dice on a talented edge rusher, like Clemson’s Parker, a powerfully-built and cat-quick defender who recorded 32 tackles for loss and 16.5 sacks over his first two seasons at Clemson.”

Parker is coming off a stellar sophomore season in 2024. A second-team All-ACC selection, he finished the season with six forced fumbles, setting the Clemson record for forced fumbles in a single season. He also finished tied for second in the nation and tied for the national lead among power conference players in forced fumbles.

The 6-foot-3, 265-pounder also finished fifth nationally in tackles for loss (19.5) and ninth nationally in sacks (11.0) this past season.

By posting the aforementioned numbers, Parker was the only player in the nation to rank in the top 10 nationally in all three categories — forced fumbles, tackles for loss and sacks.

Parker’s tackles for loss and sacks totals were both the most by a Clemson player since Clelin Ferrell’s 19.5 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks in 2018, while Parker’s 11.0 sacks rank ninth in a season in Clemson history.

After following up his freshman All-American season in 2023 with an outstanding sophomore campaign, Parker enters 2025 credited with 105 tackles (32.0 for loss), 16.5 sacks, six forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries and three pass breakups over 27 career games (17 starts) in his two-year Tiger career thus far.