Malik McDowell seems to be a consensus first-round pick on way-too-early draft boards. That, of course, is assuming that the preseason All-American leaves East Lansing after his junior season.

Hold the phone.

Apparently McDowell is not dead-seat on cashing in after the 2016 season. He said on Monday that he’ll only leave school for the NFL if he’ll be a top-three pick.

“Top 10 ain’t good enough for me,” McDowell told the Detroit Free Press at Michigan State media day. “I ain’t leaving if I’m (only) Top 10. If I’m not top three, I don’t leave. Really. I’m just trying to live day by day. It’s one through three, that’s the only way I’m going. I’m happy, I like it here, I ain’t really in a rush to leave.

“The teammates I have the on-field stuff we do, the off-field stuff we do. Just good people around me. I can’t complain.”

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That’s certainly noteworthy coming from a guy many feel is the top defensive tackle in the country.

McDowell is expected to take on an even bigger role in 2016 without the likes of Shilique Calhoun, Joel Heath and Lawrence Thomas, all of whom left for the NFL.

The Spartan defensive tackle was NFL draft expert Todd McShay’s top defensive prospect in the 2017 class of the players he’d seen to that point. For whatever it’s worth, McDowell was at No. 15 overall in McShay’s way-too-early mock draft.

Will McDowell hold true to his word? That’ll definitely be a question on MSU fans’ minds throughout the 2016 season.