The process for evaluating prospects is any draft class beings years before — for coaches moving from the NCAA to the NFL, it can start with players they tried to recruit out of high school, and watched all along the way. In an NFL sense, it begins with the area scouts, who are watching and rating all their prospects from season to season, with an obvious increased focus as those prospects prepare for their coming-out seasons.
Once the season is over for NFL teams, whenever that happens, it’s then time for all the area scouts to arrive at the facility to meet with the home staff including scouting directors, coaches, and executives.
At this point, beyond positions rankings, NFL teams start to put together their bog boards — the top prospects for them, regardless of position, with need and internal positional value factored in to whatever degree.
At Touchdown Wire, it’s time to approximate that process in our own way. Beyond the positional rankings we’ve been doing for a while, it’s time for our own big board — the top 50 players in the 2023 draft class, regardless of position, with need and internal positional value factored in to whatever degree.
So, here are Touchdown Wire’s final top 50 draft prospects in the 2023 draft class.
(All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus, Sports Info Solutions, and Football Outsiders unless otherwise indicated).
(All prospect measurement percentiles courtesy of MockDraftable.com).
1. Jalen Carter, DI, Georgia
Height: 6′ 3⅛” (59th percentile) Weight: 314 (74th)
40-Yard Dash: N/A
10-Yard Split: N/A
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: N/A
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 33½” (63rd)
Hand Size: 10¼” (73rd)
Bio: A five-star recruit out of Apopka High School in Apopka, Florida, Carter played defensive tackle, tight end and punter in high school and chose the Bulldogs over a wave of possibilities. In three seasons with Georgia, Carter had nine sacks, 13 quarterback hits, 57 quarterback hurries, 57 tackles, 51 stops, and two forced fumbles. He had 695 snaps in the B-gaps, 186 over the tackles, 132 in the A-gaps, and 35 outside the tackles. In a 2021 Georgia defense that sent seven players to the NFL in the 2022 draft, Carter was considered by many evaluators to be the most talented player on the roster.
Carter’s pre-draft process was obviously complicated by the story which broke at the scouting combine regarding his arrest on traffic charges in a crash that killed a teammate and a school football staffer hours after the team’s national championship parade. Carter’s subsequent pro day, which he did not appear ready for, didn’t help.
Stat to Know: In 2022, Carter’s True Pressure Rate (pressure rate that isolates straight dropbacks, which are more likely to be similar across situations) of 16% led all interior defensive linemen in this class.
Strengths: Carter’s nose for the pocket puts him on a different level than any other defensive player in this class. Even other first round-projected prospects like Florida right guard O’Cyrus Torrence have found it difficult to keep up with his furious rush.
"O'Cyrus, I'm in fear for my life from the long arm of the law…" pic.twitter.com/vdvQhpQzLK
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) April 6, 2023
Carter’s ability to leverage gaps with lateral quickness and agility is just ridiculous. When he uses his hands to maximize his lower-body movement skills… well, that’s one reason he’s just a rare talent.
And the pure power to just knife through double teams is generational. We tend to overuse that word when describing draft prospects, but it applies here. Carter at his best balances upper-body strength and technique to make himself virtually unblockable.
And it can’t be overstated just how insane it is that Carter, at 6-foot-3 plus, and 315 pounds, can win from any gap. Even as an edge defender, he creates serious problems for opposing blockers.
Weaknesses: Carter isn’t quite as consistent as a run defender; there are times when his tools take him right to the edge of blowing up a back, and he’s late to engage. While he is talented enough to work off blocks from just about anybody… I don’t want to make this about “effort” because I have to get inside his head to do that, but he’s not as dynamic in these situations.
Conclusion: Based purely on his game tape, Carter is the best prospect in this class, regardless of position — there are more NFL-ready traits here than with any other prospect, and the upside is fearsome. The off-field issues and unimpressive pro day will have NFL teams doing all kinds of due diligence, and rightly so, but however much it’ll be about the tape… well, someone’s going to redefine their defense with Jalen Carter if everything goes the right way.
NFL Comparison: Chris Jones. Like Jones, who the Chiefs selected in the second round of the 2016 draft out of Mississippi State, Carter is a perfect distillation of the modern interior defensive lineman in that he can create pressure from any gap in multiple ways. Jones has further advanced his skills throughout his estimable career to become one of the best of his era, and given the right environment, Carter absolutely has that potential.
2. C.J. Stroud, QB, Ohio State
Height: 6’3″ (54th percentile) Weight: 214 (25th)
40-Yard Dash: N/A
10-Yard Split: N/A
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: N/A
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 32⅝” (71st)
Hand Size: 10″ (80th)
Bio: Coleridge Bernard “C.J.” Stroud IV attended Rancho Cucamonga High School in Inland Empire, California. He and his family have faced serious adversity — his father was arrested in 2015 on counts of carjacking, kidnapping, robbery and misdemeanor sexual battery, and is currently serving a 38-year sentence at Folsom State Prison. Stroud and his three siblings experienced financial hardship, but that didn’t keep Stroud, who grew up without the benefits of elite quarterback coaching, from playing on the varsity team all four years. He earned U.S. Army All-America honors, and was also Rancho Cucamonga’s starting shooting guard.
A four-star recruit, Stroud found the college offers slow to come in until he won Most Valuable Player at the 7-on-7 The Opening tournament in July, 2019. Julian Fleming and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, two receivers on Stroud’s team there who had already committed to Ohio State, put in good words for him, and Stroud chose the Buckeyes over Georgia in the end. In two seasons as Ohio State’s starting quarterback, Stroud completed 574 of 833 attempts for 8,108 yards, 85 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, and a passer rating of 128.1. He also ran 80 times for 136 yards and a touchdown.
Stat to Know: When throwing outside the pocket in 2022, Stroud completed 39 of 69 passes for 473 yards, 311 air yards, 10 touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 117.3.
Strengths: Stroud had an Adjusted Completion Percentage of 72.8% last season (PFF’s metric which totals the rate of aimed passes thrown on target (completions + drops / aimed), and his ball placement is the best in this class of quarterbacks. PFF also has Stroud’s 26.7% rate of perfectly-placed passes as the best among FBS quarterbacks since 2021. Stroud is mechanically tied together from his feet to his delivery, and you don’t often see him just scorch one in there that’s wildly off-target. He has eminent big-play potential with a very high floor when it comes to placement and accuracy.
We saw that ball placement against Georgia in the College Football Semifinal in a different way, of course — all of a sudden, Stroud was effectively and efficiently mobile to a level that convinces you that, though you didn’t see it a lot on tape before that game, he’s clearly refined it to a high level. This 31-yard roll-right touchdown pass to Marvin Harrison Jr., in which Stroud is basically calling his shot outside of structure, is a throw not a lot of NFL quarterbacks can make.
Weaknesses: There is a narrative about Ohio State’s offense which states that their quarterbacks benefit greatly from a lack of pressure, and from receivers just standing open all over the place. It would be a mistake to put too many of Stroud’s positive plays on that and ignore what he brings to them, but there are also times when the combination of pressure and muddy pictures downfield can lead to calamity. This interception against Michigan is one such example, and it’s especially worrisome because a guy with Stroud’s arm talent should have easily hit tight end Cade Stover right up the middle on the inside of 3×1.
And while Stroud can throw on the move, he does lose velocity at times when he does so, and his decision-making reduces in scope. This pick against Iowa was particularly ugly.
Conclusion: Stroud’s wildly divergent numbers against different types of pressure — he threw 21 touchdowns to two interceptions when blitzed, and six touchdowns to two interceptions when actually pressured — tells you a few things about where he is now in his timeline. Yes, he had the benefit of a ridiculous offensive line and first-round receivers all over the place, but we also need to avoid taking away too much from Stroud himself. We also need to avoid scouting the helmet. Ohio State’s history of quarterbacks moving onto the NFL is startlingly bad for such a prominent school, but Stroud has more than enough on the ball as a pro-style quarterback to make the transition fairly seamless.
It’s also important to re-emphasize how refined Stroud is as a quarterback despite a relative lack of help from a performance coaching perspective, and a horrific family situation to transcend. These things don’t show up on tape, but they do matter. A lot.
NFL Comparison: Sam Bradford. We’re talking about the Bradford who would light up NFL fields occasionally with good-not-great velocity, easy movement, and ridiculous ball placement, not the Bradford who unfortunately couldn’t stay healthy. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 draft by the Rams out of Oklahoma, Bradford had a cool demeanor on the field, surprising mobility, ridiculous ball location, and an arm that was good enough to get everything done. In those cases, he was very much what Stroud is now.
3. Bryce Young, QB, Alabama
Height: 5′ 10⅛” (1st percentile) Weight: 204 (6th)
40-Yard Dash: N/A
10-Yard Split: N/A
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: N/A
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan:
Arm Length: 30½” (10th)
Hand Size: 9¾” (61st)
Bio: Young, who started working with quarterback coaches in the sixth grade, stated his high school career at L.A. Cathedral, transferring to national powerhouse Mater Dei in Pasadena, California in his junior season, becoming the first Black quarterback in school history. He is the third Mater Dei alum to win the Heisman Trophy, joining John Huarte (1964) and Matt Leinart (2004). As a senior, he won California Gatorade Player of the Year, USA Today Offensive Player of the Year and the Most Valuable Player award for his conference.
Young was a five-star recruit and the second-highest player in his class behind defensive lineman Bryan Bresee, who chose Clemson. Young first committed to USC (verbally), but when Steve Sarkisian became Alabama’s offensive coordinator, he was able to convince Young to make Alabama his home. In three seasons with Alabama, including the last two as the tea’s starting quarterback following Mac Jones’ NFL graduation, Young completed 623 of 952 passes for 8,341 yards, 80 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. He also gained 162 yards and scored seven touchdowns on 139 rushing attempts.
Stat to Know: Against six or more pass-rushers in 2022, Young completed 20 of 34 passes for 318 yards, 146 air yards, 12 touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 129.7. As they say, if you come at the king, you’d best not miss.
Strengths: Why is Young so effective against the blitz? He has his own version of what Patrick Mahomes has developed to an alien degree — an instinctual feel for where people are in the pocket, and how to get out of it to make the big play. That’s how he can make ridiculous scramble drill throws like this one against LSU.
Mahomes-ish pic.twitter.com/4UFkL32l32
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 23, 2023
One reason the ball just explodes off Young’s hand is that he’s generally mechanically integrated — everything works together for the optimal result. And here’s where his throwing height — where the ball comes out — is crucial. Young doesn’t really have any weird stuff in his windup that would affect his process. He has a compact, quick, overhand delivery, and though he can adjust his arm angles, that’s the default setting, as it should be.
When throwing directly over the middle in 2022, Young completed 63 of 90 passes for 839 yards, 340 air yards, seven touchdowns, two interceptions, and a passer rating of 115.9. It’s the kind of thing that isn’t a problem for shorter quarterbacks until it is, and in Young’s case, it hasn’t been yet.
This 53-yard pass to Isaiah Bond against Arkansas showed not only how Young could navigate a cross blitz, but also how well he moves to the open spots of the line to see open targets. This is Young moving up in the pocket, and throwing a 49-air yard dart.
Moving to the open lane is an adaptative strategy adopted by any great shorter quarterback from Fran Tarkenton to Drew Brees to Russell Wilson. Young has perfected it, because he has had to.
There’s also the issue of defenders getting right in his face — well, how does he do when some giant dude beats his blocker and prevents Young from seeing things as he would like to? Ask Kansas State defensive lineman Jaylen Pickle, who swore he had Young dead to rights, and had to watch helplessly as Young threw this 47-yard bomb to receiver Jermaine Burton.
Weaknesses: Like a lot of young quarterbacks, Young will occasionally fixate on a target to his detriment — on this interception against Auburn, he had tight end Cameron Latu in his sights, but Latu was pressed out of the route by linebacker Owen Pappoe. Young needs to reset when these things happen and avoid burning that throw in there regardless.
And as great as Young is on the move, that also leads at times to needless freneticism in and out of the pocket. There’s a point when Young started to speed the clock in his head, and that’s where he can start to make mistakes in both reading and accuracy.
Conclusion: Young is a modern-day outlier from a height and weight perspective, but he hasn’t suffered injuries because of it, and his adaptive strategies to overcome it are well-placed on his tape. Regardless of those physical concerns, Young is an ideal point guard in a movement-based offense in which he can both get around in the pocket and leave the pocket to make big plays as a passer. That said, teams will want him for what he offers above the neck — he comes into the NFL with a pro-level sense of how to run an offense, and if you can get past the size thing (which I suspect a lot of teams have already done), he’s got just about everything else you want at the game’s most important position.
NFL Comparison: Deshaun Watson. Of course, we’re talking about Watson on the field ONLY, and Watson before his off-field stuff affected how things go on the field. When Watson was at his best in his first four seasons, he was running total NFL offenses to a very high degree, and his relatively slight stature (6-foot 2, 215 pounds) didn’t factor into it. It’s tough to remember that Deshaun Watson, but if you can, you can superimpose a lot of what that Deshaun Watson did on the field at a very high level.
4. Devon Witherspoon, CB, Illinois
Height: 5′ 11½” (54th) Weight: 181 (10th)
40-Yard Dash: N/A
10-Yard Split: N/A
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: N/A
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: 73⅝” (18th)
Arm Length: 31¼” (42nd)
Hand Size: 8⅞” (25th)
Bio: Witherspoon was the 2018 Pensacola (Florida) Defensive Player of the Year out of Pine Forest High School, a feat cinched by his seven interceptions in his senior year. He had 329 snaps in 2019 as a true freshman for Illinois, showing impressive maturity in coverage and run support, and he’s been a factor ever since.
Over four seasons, he had two sacks, six total pressures, 118 tackles, 46 stops, and he allowed 88 catches on 172 targets for 1,168, yards, 492 yards after the catch, five touchdowns, five interceptions, 22 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 70.6. Witherspoon had 1,968 college snaps at outside cornerback, 229 in the slot, 69 along the defensive line, 56 in the box, and 12 at free safety.
Stat to Know: Witherspoon picked the right year to put it all together at an utterly ridiculous level — in 2022, he allowed just 22 catches on 62 targets for 209 yards, 71 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, three interceptions, 14 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 25.3. That was by far the lowest passer rating allowed for any FCS cornerback in the 2023 class — Tulsa’s Jaise Oliver finished second at 37.4.
Strengths: Any cornerback is going to be tested deep, especially when he gets to the NFL level. Quarterbacks testing Witherspoon deep might want to have a Plan B, because his combination of backpedal, transitional movement, and balletic footwork make such completions quite difficult.
Quarterbacks targeted Devon Witherspoon 15 times on passes of 20 or more air yards last season. This was a Very Bad Idea, as Witherspoon allowed ONE CATCH for 39 yards, no TD, and two INT. One of many reasons he's my CB1. The footwork for a guy his size is just special. pic.twitter.com/dAOid5F84o
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 31, 2023
Witherspoon allowed an opponent quarterback rating of 0.0 on deep passes in 2022. Yes, he went Full Blutarsky.
But it’s when Witherspoon is defending short and intermediate passes that you really see the unusual footwork for his size. He has what I call “match feet,” which allow him to trail receivers through any bend and angle, and then just snuff things out at the catch point.
Witherspoon’s NFL team will love his alpha playing personality — whether he’s tracking a receiver or stopping the run, he goes all-out to the ball, and he’s bis and aggressive enough to make those hits stick.
Weaknesses: That aggression does come with a potential price — Witherspoon was penalized six times in the 2022 season, but NFL officials (such as they are) may find that his proclivity for nearness to the receiver when the ball shows up lands on the wrong side of pass interference more often than one would prefer. He’s going to have to time those hits and breakups microscopically at the next level.
There aren’t a lot of massive dings in his game, but Witherspoon can get beaten by savvier receivers on angular routes right when those routes start to turn. His grabby demeanor might be an adaptive strategy; it’ll certainly bear watching for his NFL coaches.
Conclusion: Illinois has become an underrated “DBU” over the last couple of years. Two of the Fighting Illinis’ safeties in this class (Sydney Brown and Jartavius Martin) made out top 9 list there, and 2022 graduate Kerby Joseph, a third-round pick by the Lions, picked Aaron Rodgers off three times in his rookie season. With all that said, Witherspoon comes out of the gate with the most obvious NFL skill set of all these players, and his blend of size, aggressiveness, and transition speed should make him a plus starter at the next level as soon as possible.
NFL Comparison: Sam Madison. Selected by the Dolphins in the second round of the 1997 draft out of Louisville, Madison transcended any concerns about his size (5-foot-11, 180 pounds) with great movement skills and the toughness to take any receiver right to the woodshed. Madison parlayed all that into four Pro Bowl appearances and two All-Pro nominations. Witherspoon seems to have the tools to possibly put up an equivalent NFL career, given the right home.
5. Will Anderson Jr., EDGE, Alabama
Height: 6′ 3¾” (47th percentile) Weight: 253 (23rd)
40-Yard Dash: 4.6 (89th)
10-Yard Split: 1.61 (73rd)
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: N/A
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 33⅞” (63rd)
Hand Size: 9⅞” (50th)
Bio: A consensus four-star prospect out of Dutchtown High in Hampton, Georgia, Anderson chose the Crimson Tide over Auburn, LSU and Tennessee among his nearly 40 offers and got to work early, winning the starting job at Jack linebacker on a defense that doesn’t usually allow freshmen to do such things. Anderson leaves Alabama as the school’s second most productive player in terms of sacks behind only Pro Football Hall of Famer Derrick Thomas.
Over three seasons in Nick Saban’s defense, Anderson totaled 37 sacks, 36 quarterback hits, 134 quarterback hurries, 112 tackles, 109 stops, and one forced fumble. He also allowed an opponent passer rating of 64.4 and had an interception on 13 targets. Anderson had 1,802 snaps outside the tackles, 339 over the tackles, 26 in the B-gaps, 18 in the box, 13 in the slot, and one in the A-gaps.
Stat to Know: Anderson’s 2022 Pressure Share Rate (the percentage of a team’s individual pressures made by the defender) of 25% leads all players on this list.
Strengths: Anderson is so prolific as a bringer of sacks and pressures because he has so many different ways to get to the quarterback. His speed-to-power stuff is probably the primary tool in the box. Once he gears up to full gear and gets that long arm out, you, Mr. Offensive Tackle, are about to have a bad rep.
When he’s zapping you right off the line with his footwork, Anderson almost looks like a receiver in his fakes; he’ll set you up either inside or outside, and then work for the kill with impressive acceleration to the pocket.
Anderson has a natural and practiced ability to jump multiple gaps in conjunction with other linemen, which should make him NFL-ready in any defensive line where stunts and games are the order of the day.
Weaknesses: Anderson’s goose-egg against Tennessee right tackle Darnell Wright will obviously be discussed in NFL buildings, and Wright’s scouting combine breakdown of how he held Anderson at bay was quite revealing.
“During the week, I was just breaking him down, and I picked up on some things I might be able to do on each play,” Wright said. “Pretty standard, like an inside-out set. I knew I could take it very simple. When you break down a guy like Anderson, you know he’s mostly going to be… so, you have categories [for edge-rushers]. You have speed, you have power, and you have finesse. Very rarely do you have someone who’s going to hit all of those categories. So Anderson, he’s speed and power. With him, it’s just different.”
Anderson did try some finesse with Wright, like this little euro-step, but here’s where Anderson’s wingspan disadvantage came into play. He needs to strike the first blow, or he can get enveloped.
Anderson also isn’t the type of edge guy you want to kick inside 20% of the time or more; he can get bulldozed in power situations pretty easily. If gap versatility is what you want most of all in your pass-rusher, you might look elsewhere.
Conclusion: Anderson’s combination of quickness off the snap, acceleration to the pocket, outside power and lean, and closure to the quarterback makes him the best edge defender in this class. How his NFL team deploys him will be fascinating. If you have him on the edge as an end in four-man fronts, or as an “edgebacker” in the NFL’s increasing use of five-man fronts, you can just sit back and watch the pressures roll in.
NFL Comparison: T.J. Watt. The Steelers selected J.J. Watt’s younger brother with the 30th pick in the 2017 draft because Watt had just one full season of production to project to the next level. But Watt has become an absolute terror on the outside because of his technical palette, gap-moving athleticism, quickness to the pocket, and speed/power conversions. It is not unreasonable to assume that Anderson will have a similar level of success.
6. Bijan Robinson, RB, Texas
Height: 5′ 11″ (57th percentile) Weight: 215 (56th)
40-Yard Dash: 4.46 (82nd)
10-Yard Split: 1.52 (83rd)
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: 37″ (80th)
Broad Jump: 124″ (83rd)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: 74¾” (56th)
Arm Length: 31⅛” (57th)
Hand Size: 9¾” (84th)
Bio: Robinson attended Salpointe High School in Tucson, Arizona, made the varsity team as a freshman, and announced his presence with authority in this sophomore season, gaining 2,023 rushing yards and scoring 26 touchdowns on 189 carries. Robinson finished his time at Salpointe as Arizona’s all-time high-school leader in rushing yards with 7,036, and touchdowns with 114. Robinson was a five-star recruit, the No. 1 running back in the nation in 2020, and the No. 2 overall prospect behind only Georgia cornerback Kelee Ringo. Robinson chose Texas over just about any school he wanted, which led to amazing productivity and an NIL deal to endorse his own brand of mustard, called “Bijan Mustardson.” It is the “Official Dijon of Bijan,” and we have nothing to add that could amplify the greatness of this idea.
In three seasons with the Longhorns, Robinson gained 3,407 yards ad scored 33 touchdowns on 539 carries. He also caught 60 passes on 77 targets for 803 yards and eight touchdowns. In 2022, he had 475 snaps in the backfield, 23 out wide, and 14 in the slot.
Stat to Know: Robinson forced 104 missed tackles last season, which is the most for any running back in the history of Pro Football Focus’ charting. In addition, his career Missed Tackle Rate Forced of 39% is tied with former North Carolina and current Denver Broncos star Javonte Williams for the highest in PFF’s charting annals.
Strengths: Robinson’s contact balance is as good as for any running back I’ve ever evaluated. And it’s not just about pure power, though he’s got more than enough weight to just throw defenders aside — it’s the eerie combination of vision, lateral agility, and force through all kinds of contact. There are plays in which you wonder how he “only” broke 104 tackles last season.
And if you want preposterous jump cuts combined with home-run speed you’d more expect out of a guy 20 pounds lighter… well, Robinson can do that all day. He’s probably got more pure “Holy [EXPLETIVE]’ plays on his tape then any other player in this class.
As a receiver, Robinson presents a more than credible weapon in the slot — he’s about far more than just swings and screen passes. Here, he just leveled Iowa State cornerback Anthony Johnson Jr. with a move on the skinny post, adding acrobatics at the end.
Weaknesses: Well, this section is going to be pretty light. Robinson is the most ding-proof prospect in the 2023 class. His only consistent weakness is that he’s a running back in the year 2023 as opposed to the year 1998.
Conclusion: Positional value is a fickle thing, and it’s far from absolute. There are those who will automatically criticize any team that takes a running back in the first round of any draft, and it’s really missing the overall point. Overall, running backs are like insurance — they don’t matter until they do, and when they do, they REALLY do. Especially when we’re talking about a running back who pins the needle with every attribute for the position, and adds legitimate value as a multi-level receiver. Robinson is the best non-quarterback and non-defensive player in this class, and were we talking about another era, he could be No. 1 overall. None of this should shadow his value and potential at the NFL level, because it’s absolute, and it’s bulletproof.
NFL Comparison: Josh Jacobs. The Raiders took Jacobs out of Alabama with the second of their three first-round picks in the 2019 draft. The other two picks, edge-rusher Clelin Ferell and safety Johnathan Abram, were unmitigated busts. But Jacobs became one of the best running backs in the NFL, especially in the 2022 season, when he forced a league-high 90 missed tackles, showed all kinds of second- and third-level speed, and showed that he could get things done as a receiver. Robinson is more evolved with a lot of Jacobs’ traits, but it’s a fairly even comp.
7. Christian Gonzalez, CB, Oregon
Height: 6′ 1⅜” (89th) Weight: 197 (68th)
40-Yard Dash: 4.38 (89th)
10-Yard Split: 1.54 (53rd)
Bench Press: 14 reps (44th)
Vertical Jump: 41½” (96th)
Broad Jump: 133″ (95th)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: 76⅞” (70th)
Arm Length: 32″ (70th)
Hand Size: 9½” (76th)
Bio: A four-star recruit out of The Colony High School in Texas, Gonzalez played his first two seasons of college ball for the Colorado Buffaloes, transferring to Oregon for the 2022 season when cornerbacks coach Demetrice Martin moved from Colorado to the Ducks. Gonzalez started all five games of Colorado’s COVID-shortened 2020 season, and kept that status through his collegiate career until he opted out of Oregon’s 2022 Holiday Bowl game against North Carolina.
Over three collegiate seasons, Gonzalez had no sacks or pressures, 115 tackles, 37 stops, and he allowed 89 catches on 155 targets for 1,054 yards, 473 yards after the catch, seven touchdowns, four interceptions, 14 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 82.6. He played 1,524 snaps at outside cornerback, 204 in the slot, 176 in the box, 10 along the defensive line, and four at free safety.
Stat to Know: Last season, Gonzalez lined up in the slot on 29% of his snaps, by far the highest rate for any cornerback in this class — TCU’s Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson ranked second at 28%.
Strengths: Okay, here’s the REAL stat to know with Gonzalez — in 2022, against throws of 20 or more air yards, he allowed two catches on nine targets for 69 yards, no touchdowns, and three interceptions. Metrics aren’t always the optimal indicator of performance, but if a cornerback has more interceptions than catches allowed on deep passes, that’s probably pretty good. Gonzalez’s tape backs that up in a couple of ways.
Gonzales is also the best zone cornerback on this list from a statistical perspective — he gave up nine catches no 21 targets in zone last season for 107 yards, one touchdown, four interceptions, and five pass breakups. Because he’s so smooth and athletic through his transitions, he can make these kinds of deep dropbacks look far easier than they are. You don’t really get the sense that Gonzalez is physically overwhelmed at any time.
And whether Gonzalez is in man or zone coverage, throwing any kind of ball to the boundary when he has position is just… well, you don’t want to do it.
Weaknesses: I was surprised that the Ducks wanted Gonzalez in the slot as much as they did, because he just doesn’t seem as comfortable there. Richard Sherman once told me that the tough part of playing in the slot is that the boundary is no longer your friend, and that lack of “friendship” makes him look a bit lost at times when he’s playing inside.
There’s been a bit of talk about Gonzalez’s lack of “killer instinct” — that if he worked more on affecting the receiver instead of just playing the ball, he could be even more dominant. I’m not trying to venture inside his head, but there are times when it’s clear on his tape. If he had Devon Witherspoon’s playing personality, he might be illegal.
Conclusion: There are players at every position in the NFL who just make things look easier than they have any right to make them look. Christian Gonzalez has all the attributes to become one of those players sooner than later at the next level. If he manages to add a bit of grit to the reams of teach tape, there’s no telling how good he can be — especially if he’s aligned as an outside cornerback as much as possible.
NFL Comparison: Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. There’s a little Richard Sherman to Gonzalez’s game in that he defends every deep fade with a curiosity that any quarterback would try such a thing, but Gonzalez also has a smoothness to his game that’s just unusual for his size, and he doesn’t have Sherm’s obvious desire to physically embarrass his opponent. That puts me in mind of Rodgers-Cromartie, who at his best was just impossible for receivers to shake.
8. Zay Flowers, WR, Boston College
Height: 5′ 9¼” (8th percentile) Weight: 182 (10th)
40-Yard Dash: 4.42 (82nd)
10-Yard Split: 1.53 (68th)
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: 35½” (50th)
Broad Jump: 127″ (84th)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: 72¼” (9th)
Arm Length: 29¼” (2nd)
Hand Size: 9¼” (39th)
Bio: Xavien “Zay” Flowers attended University High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and he played on the varsity team all four years. He played receiver, running back, and defensive back, helping University to back-to-back Class 4A state semifinal appearances, and he also played basketball. A three-star recruit, Flowers chose Boston College over more than 30 offering schools because of the educational opportunities. He committed as a defensive back, but switched to receiver almost immediately.
In four seasons with the Eagles, Flowers amassed 199 catches on 347 targets for 3,056 yards and 29 touchdowns. In 2022, he had 547 snaps out wide, 169 in the slot, and three inline.
Stat to Know: 49% of Flowers’ routes run in 2022 were 15 yards or more, which was the highest rate for any receiver on this list.
Strengths: You press Flowers at your peril, because he comes out of his breaks with pure evil in his feet. He is outstanding at displacing cornerbacks and breaking their leverage with foot fakes and at-the-snap movement… and then, it’s off to the races.
Not that you, Mr. Defender, have a better shot at Flowers if you’re playing off-coverage — he’ll set you up well into his route, and turn on the burners. If you catch up to him because his quarterback threw him closed (again), he’ll find a way to catch the ball. Flowers has outstanding contested catch toughness for his size.
In Flowers’ hands, a simple screen, slant, or drag route can become a big play at any time. He accelerates very well after the catch, and he has that special third gear you want in an intermediate and deep receiver — it’s just nice that he can use that on anything.
Weaknesses: You’ll read analysis of Flowers’ route exactness as remedial; maybe that’s true, but it’s so much more about a basic passing game and weird quarterback play than it is a debit in Flowers’ case. So much of this offense was “Get it to Zay however you can” with limited options. I look at it as more an opportunity for Flowers’ NFL coaching staff to make even more of his potential.
Conclusion: Keep in mind that Flowers did everything he did in 2022 with two quarterbacks in Phil Jurkovec and Emmett Morehead who played at a sub-standard level; this is a guy who could have used a good transfer portal last season. Unlike the second and third receivers on this list, Flowers wasn’t catching passes from Kenny Pickett, C.J. Stroud, or Caleb Williams; he had to make more happen at a higher level than any other receiver discussed here. Flowers was thrown closed far more than he was thrown open, and he faced contested catch situations that were not his fault at all. This makes me think that when he gets to the NFL, he’ll be able to exploit his explosiveness even more than he did in college. Flowers is my top receiver primarily because of that — the projection to the NFL includes at least above-average quarterback play, and with that, Flowers might be just about unstoppable.
NFL Comparison: T.Y. Hilton. The Colts took Hilton in the third round of the 2012 draft out of Florida International, and though he had some work to do with the nuances of the position, the 5-foot-10, 183-pound Hilton could present nightmares to opposing defenses immediately with his explosiveness in all kinds of ways. Hilton was Andrew Luck’s best buddy before that whole thing fell apart, and I think Flowers has the same potential to make his NFL quarterback a very happy person.
9. Tyree Wilson, EDGE, Texas Tech
Height: 6′ 6⅛” (95th percentile) Weight: 271 (68th)
40-Yard Dash: N/A
10-Yard Split: N/A
Bench Press: 23 reps (48th)
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: N/A
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 35⅝” (96th)
Hand Size: 9⅝” (34th)
Bio: Wilson was a three-star recruit out of high school, but he chose Texas A&M over offers from (among other schools) Arkansas, Baylor, Florida, Houston, Kansas, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, SMU, TCU, Texas and Washington State. He entered the transfer portal after two seasons (one a redshirt) with the Aggies and landed with the Red Raiders. Over four seasons on the field, mostly with Texas Tech, Wilson totaled 18 sacks, 18 quarterback hits, 76 quarterback hurries, 75 tackles, 69 stops, and one forced fumble. He also had one pass breakup on five targets in coverage.
Wilson had 1,035 snaps outside the tackles, 493 over the tackles, and 126 in the B-gaps. He also had five in the box and three in the slot… for whatever reason.
Stat to Know: Wilson’s Pressure Rate +/- (Pressure Rate above or below an expected pressure rate as determined by the quarterback’s drop type, the down and distance, the score, the use of play action, and the defender’s alignment) of 11.2% was by far the highest for any player on this list. He also had the highest Quick Pressure Rate (percentage of pass rushes that resulted in the player generating the first pressure on the quarterback and doing so in 2.5 seconds or less) at 6%.
Strengths: Wilson’s pass-rush plans are still very unrefined, but there are plays in which he’s able to take his athletic gifts and fierce determination to the pocket, and just wreck multiple blockers. When you hear about Wilson’s utterly insane upside, plays like this sack against North Carolina State, in which he demolishes the left tackle and the left guard on the way to the quarterback, this is what is meant by that.
Where you really get excited about Wilson’s NFL potential is when you watch him just erase guards as an inside pass-rusher. Wilson isn’t just an upright athlete with no pass-rush subtleties; he can bring strong hands and some bend and flexibility as a multi-gap guy. His NFL coaches should maximize the heck out of it.
And you’d better block Wilson with intent when he’s coming after your running back, or it’s going to start looking like Shark Week out there.
Weaknesses: Wilson’s rawness and his eagerness to go kill the guy with the ball will make him look like an overmatched kid on the playground at times. He is susceptible and vulnerable to misdirection…
…and he wouldn’t be my first choice to cover anyone in the slot or from a zone exchange.
Not that it’s easy to get Wilson in a situation where he’s losing the leverage advantage, but if you compress his wingspan off the edge, that’s where his lack of a pass-rush plan shows up. He’s so used to dominating college tackles, it could be a rough go for a while against the best the NFL has to offer. He must develop counters to attack after he’s been beaten, and he must avoid a tendency to come off the snap late.
Conclusion: Selecting Wilson in the first round, which some team will undoubtedly do, will give that team the fifth-year option, and that’s important in this case. Wilson might need what amounts to a redshirt NFL season in which he puts it all together from a technical perspective, and becomes the best version of what his physical upside will allow. That should be a terrifying thought for anybody who has to block him, because we just don’t see potential like this at the position very often.
NFL Comparison: Jason Pierre-Paul. The Giants selected Pierre-Paul out of USF with the 15th pick in the 2010 draft despite the fact that Pierre-Paul was quite raw, because his tools were off the charts. Sound familiar? Well, it took Pierre-Paul exactly one season to blow up in the NFL’s face, with a 17-sack, 72-pressure season in 2011 in which he was just about unblockable from anywhere in Big Blue’s fronts. I would not be at all surprised if Wilson was able to make the same jump.
10. Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR, Ohio State
Height: 6′ 0⅝” (37th percentile) Weight: 196 (36th)
40-Yard Dash: N/A
10-Yard Split: N/A
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: 35″ (44th)
Broad Jump: 125″ (75th)
3-Cone Drill: 6.57 (96th)
20-Yard Shuttle: 3.93 (97th)
Wingspan: 75½” (38th)
Arm Length: 30½” (14th)
Hand Size: 9″ (20th)
Bio: Smith-Njigba went to Rockwell High School in Rockwell, Texas, and played receiver on the varsity squad in all four years. The 6A State Player of the Year and Texas Gatorade Player of the Year, Smith-Njigba totaled 5,414 yards and 82 touchdowns in his high school days. That made him a five-star recruit, and Smith-Njigba chose Ohio State over several major schools after visiting the Buckeyes in his junior season. Smith-Njigba had just 10 catches on 13 targets for 49 yards and a touchdown in 2020, but he absolutely blew up in 2021 with 95 catches on 112 targets for 1,595 yards and nine touchdowns. He was limited to just four catches on eight targets for 39 yards last season, as he missed 10 games with a left hamstring injury.
In 2021, his primary season of productivity, Smith-Njigba had 562 snaps in the slot, 80 out wide, two inline, and one in the backfield.
Stat to Know: In 2021, Smith-Njigba caught 13 passes of 20 or more air yards on 18 targets for 424 yards and five touchdowns.
Strengths: Smith-Njigba’s movement skills in short spaces, and the way he uses them to get and stay open, are as good as they are for any receiver in this class. He’s an angular expert who can just eat up press coverage, and do the same to off-coverage cornerbacks when they come up to deal with him. Smith-Njigba can also easily extrapolate those skills to gain yards after the catch. This textbook example against Penn State is particularly enlightening; he put Tariq Castro-Fields in the dryer.
Smith-Njigba also has an excellent sense of how to work zone coverage — whether he’s inside or outside, he’ll find open space. He’s especially effective with this in bunches and stacks, where defenders have to take that extra millisecond to discern where he’s going. That millisecond is all Smith-Njigba needs.
And when you’re facing up to Smith-Njigba in any kind of coverage, you don’t want to get fooled by his feet, because if he turns you around, it’s all over. He’s too quick to allow defenders to recover from missteps most of the time.
All three of these examples have Smith-Njigba winning from more of an outside role, and that’s an important delineation, given the fact that he played so much in the slot at Ohio State. I do not believe that he’s limited to that role at the next level, but all those attributes certainly project well inside, as well. He can make everyone else look as if they’re a step behind all the way through the defense.
Weaknesses: Smith-Njigba cam get on top of defenders with his route awareness and movement skills, but he doesn’t have the kind of pure burner speed that will allow him to consistently get and keep away from those defenders in a straight line at the second and third levels.
And at his size, he’s not going to break tackles with pure power, He’s an exploiter and creator of open space as opposed to a bigger guy who’s just going to crash into people for extra gains.
Conclusion: As long as Smith-Njigba is fully healthy, allowing him to be the player he was in 2021, he’s one of the best receivers in this draft class because he can take a small window and make it bigger for his quarterback. His ability to do so is unusual for a receiver coming into the NFL. Smith-Njigba’s game is as much about refinement as it is about pure athleticism, and he combines those two larger attributes in ways that allow him to won consistently all over the field, from anywhere in the formation.
NFL Comparison: Cooper Kupp. The Rams stole Kupp in the third round of the 2017 draft out of Eastern Washington, and Kupp made it clear pretty quickly that he was going to define Sean McVay’s passing game, regardless of the quarterback, with his route precision, his awareness of defenders around him, and his ability to move away from them despite decent (but not amazing) straight-speed. The NFL team adding Smith-Njigba to its roster will benefit from all of this at a very high level.
11. Calijah Kancey, DL, Pitt
Height: 6′ 0⅝” (2nd percentile) Weight: 281 (4th)
40-Yard Dash: 4.67 (99th)
10-Yard Split: 1.64 (95th)
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: N/A
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 30⅝” (1st)
Hand Size: 9⅛” (7th)
Bio: A First-team All-Florida Class 6A defensive lineman for Miami Northwestern, Kancey helped his high school team to back-to-back Florida 6A state championships. He was an Administration of Justice major at Pitt, which fits nicely with his playing profile. In 2022, Kancey was named Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the second Pitt alum to be so honored. The other honoree, Aaron Donald, might be a familiar name.
Over three seasons with the Panthers, Kancey totaled 19 sacks, 28 quarterback hits, 64 quarterback hurries, 63 tackles, 63 stops, and one forced fumble. He had 1,040 snaps in the B-gaps, 311 in the A-gaps, 52 outside the tackles, and 14 over the tackles.
Stat to Know: Not only did Kancey have the highest pressure rate (percentage of pass rushes that resulted in a quarterback hurry, hit, knockdown, or sack) in this class among interior defensive linemen at 14%, he also tied with Clemson’s Bryan Bresee for the highest Quick Pressure Rate (percentage of pass rushes that resulted in the player generating the first pressure on the quarterback and doing so in 2.5 seconds or less) at 6%.
Strengths: Kancey also tied with San Diego State’s Jonah Tavai for the most tackles for loss (15) among all interior defensive linemen in the nation last season. And at his size, it’s amazing to watch how many times he’ll beat double teams to blow things up in the backfield.
As a pass rusher, Kancey has incredible lateral movement and quickness to slant around blockers; he’ll then use the power in his hands to press and disengage to the pocket. When he does this to you, you’re likely left thinking, “How did that just happen?”
Overall, Kancey’s trump card — outside of his estimable quickness — is an upper body strength that allows him to just move multiple blockers aside to get to the ball. It’s a terrifying combination when he puts it all together.
Weaknesses: Kancey is great at beating double teams when he’s working to the side, but he’s not going to blast through them with pure strength by taking them on directly. In situations like this, the size issues do show up.
This holds true against one-on-ones as well — if Kancey isn’t using his lateral mobility to work around blockers, things can get ugly for him in a big hurry.
Conclusion: Kancey is more than just a fun story because he amazed at the combine, or because he has so many splash plays for his size. He is a legitimate disruptor everywhere from edge to nose shade, though his ideal spot in the NFL would be as a three-tech tackle who can just frustrate blockers all day with his enviable combination of strength and quickness. Put him there, let him do his Tasmanian Devil thing every week, and prepare to reap the rewards.
NFL Comparison: Grady Jarrett. Jarrett was one of the most important players in Clemson’s knockout 2014 defense, but size concerns (6-foot-0, 205 pounds) saw him drop all the way to the fifth round, where the Atlanta Falcons got him. That was a multi-mistake on the part of 31 other teams, because Jarrett became a rolling ball of butcher knives in Atlanta’s fronts for years, and I think Kancey will be the same wherever he goes. I’ve seen comps from Aaron Donald to Ed Oliver in Kancey’s case, but this one makes the most sense to me.
12. Darnell Wright, OT, Tennessee
Height: 6′ 5⅛” (44th percentile) Weight: 333 (89th)
40-Yard Dash: 5.01 (90th)
10-Yard Split: 1.81 (32nd)
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: 29″ (61st)
Broad Jump: 114″ (94th)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 33 3/4″ (33rd)
Hand Size: 9″ (1st)
Bio: A five-star recruit out of Huntington High in Huntington, West Virginia, Wright was the No. 2 offensive tackle prospect in his 2019 class, behind only Evan Neal, who went to Alabama and was selected by the Giants with the seventh pick in the 2022 NFL draft. He made the SEC All-Freshman team in 2019 with 11 games and seven starts at right tackle and right guard, expanded that to 10 games and nine starts at right tackle in 2020, flipped to the left tackle position in 2021, and moved back to the right side in 2022. Last season, he allowed no sacks, two quarterback hits, and six quarterback hurries in 507 pass-blocking reps.
Stat to Know: Wright had the lowest blown block rate (0.0%) on run plays of any player on this list, and the lowest in the nation versus his high run play rate (45.9%). Wright also had the highest Points Above Average (15.34) overall among all blockers in the nation, minimum 500 snaps. (Per Sports Info Solutions, Points Above Average is the total of a player’s EPA responsibility while blocking using the Total Points system that distributes credit among all players on the field for a given play. For blockers, this includes accounting for blown blocks, yards before contact on running plays, and performance given the defenders in the box).
Strengths: NFL teams will obviously look at strength of opponent when evaluating players at any position, and Wright’s 2022 tape allows him to brag about quite a bit in that regard. He has multiple and consistent examples in which he just buries Alabama’s Will Anderson Jr., Clemson’s Bryan Bresee, and LSU’s BJ Ojulari, which is nice work if you can get it.
Bresee was the third-ranked interior defensive lineman on our list, he reminds me of Darnell Dockett, and not a lot of dudes just walked him back like this. Wright gets his hands on you and starts walking you back… well, it’s not going to be nice.
At the scouting combine, Wright went into chapter and verse when I asked him how he dealt with Anderson, the top edge defender on our board (and most others).
Anderson is a speed-to-power end, which made Wright’s game plan pretty clear. At first, he didn’t want to reveal how that worked (“I might have to face him again”), but he eventually warmed up to the idea.
“During the week, I was just breaking him down, and I picked up on some things I might be able to do on each play. Pretty standard, like an inside-out set. I knew I could take it very simple. When you break down a guy like Anderson, you know he’s mostly going to be… so, you have categories [for edge-rushers]. You have speed, you have power, and you have finesse. Very rarely do you have someone who’s going to hit all of those categories. So Anderson, he’s speed and power. With him, it’s just different.”
Anderson tried more than speed-to-power against Wright — there was this euro-step early in the first quarter — and Wright countered it with a quick set, his own quick feet, and his long arms. Eventually, Anderson was going to have to rush, and that’s where Wright had him.
There were also instances in which Wright had to deal with more than just Anderson — on this play, it was Anderson at first, and then, edge-rusher Dallas Turner. Either way, neither guy was getting near Hendon Hooker.
As for the speed-to-power stuff, those inside-out moves prevented Anderson from getting into the pocket.
Ojulari, with his speed and bend to the pocket, required different techniques, and Wright was up to the challenge.
“Ojulari, you give him speed and finesse. Going into [the game against] BJ. like in practice, it wasn’t a good thing to do, but I would over-set — we don’t have a BJ Ojulari on scout team, obviously — but I would over-set just because I know that BJ Ojulari makes all his money on the edge. That’s mostly what he’s good at. His counter move isn’t as effective. So, going into it, when you’re setting, you want to stay inside-out. But for this game specifically, in practice and leading up to it, I would go inside, but I was baiting him into [the outside].
This rep with 23 seconds left in the first half showed how Wright would feign vulnerability to Ohulari’s inside counter, and then move outside to manhandle him before Ojulari could start pressing the edge.
And here, you can see Wright appearing to over-step as he said to keep Ojulari from beating him with his quickness.
By the way, if you’re a lighter edge-rusher, and you don’t give Wright enough power, he’ll just throw you aside and sit on you. That seems like an unpleasant experience.
Weaknesses: Bresee was able to get back at Wright on this rep with a nice inside counter, and Wright will need to work on his mirror and recovery skills at the next level. Wright’s playing weight was probably 20 pounds more than what he showed at the combine, so keeping that weight down will be important.
Wright will also need to work on picking up stunts and games, especially when he hits an NFL that has been doing more of that in more ways of late.
Conclusion: I would probably keep Wright on the right side of the offensive line were I in charge of his NFL team based on his 2021 reps on the left side, but Wright is also coming into a league in which the different in importance between left and right tackles have bridged to a pretty decent degree. Wright played in a spread/Air Raid/veer offense, but he’s all about pure power and setting the tone for his offense, and given his ability to take tape study to the field at a very high level already, his prospects for NFL success seem high.
NFL Comparison: Kareem McKenzie. Selected in the third round of the 2001 draft out of Penn State by the Jets, the 6-foot-6, 330-pound McKenzie brought serious run-blocking attitude and eventually elevated technique to the right tackle position for the Jets and Giants through the 2011 season. Wright may not be your top choice if you’re into athletic, graceful blockers, but if you want a true earthdog who can announce his presence with authority, he’s the best offensive lineman in this class.
13. Brian Branch, DB, Alabama
Height: 5′ 11⅝” (28th percentile) Weight: 190 (3rd)
40-Yard Dash: 4.58 (42nd)
10-Yard Split: 1.56 (55th)
Bench Press: 14 reps (22nd)
Vertical Jump: 34½” (34th)
Broad Jump: 125″ (78th)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: 75¼”(39th)
Arm Length: 30¾” (19th)
Hand Size: 9½” (62nd)
Bio: Branch was a four-star recruit out of Sandy Creek High School in Georgia (which Calvin Johnson also attended) who bypassed offers from Ohio State, Tennessee and Oklahoma to roll with the Crimson Tide. Over three collegiate seasons, he amassed five sacks, 20 quarterback pressures, 140 tackles, 74 stops, and 96 catches allowed on 148 targets for 861 yards, 379 yards after the catch, eight touchdowns, four interceptions, 15 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 87.1. Branch played 1,182 snaps in the slot, 300 in the box, 101 at free safety, 59 along the defensive line, and 42 at cornerback.
Stat to Know: As a pure single-high or split-field safety in 2022, Branch allowed five catches on eight targets for 46 yards, no touchdowns, and one interception.
Strengths: Branch just sees the game very well; even if he’s beaten on the play, he has a tendency to limit the damage after the catch as a deeper defender. because he’ll close with confidence and intelligence.
As a slot defender, which comprises a lot of the safety position for most of the players on this list, Branch is a real pain in the butt for opposing quarterbacks and receivers. In the slot last season, he allowed no catches on three targets… and he had four pass breakups. When you have more deflections than targets, that says a lot about your range.
Branch’s intelligence and feel for the game extend to his abilities as a blitzer, where he’ll use a linebacker’s sense of how to explode through gaps to get to the quarterback.
Weaknesses: Branch is a feisty player, and stronger than you would expect for his size, but there are times when that third percentile weight does show up in a negative sense. He needs to have that great gap sense, because he’s not going to win a lot of rock fights.
Conclusion: Branch is the very model of the modern versatile safety in that you can play him just about anywhere on the field, but we’re projecting him as a safety and slot defender here because this is where his best NFL value might lie. Most NFL defenses would be able to take him in the first round the find first-round value for him sooner than later, because he does so many things so well from multiple positions. It’ll be fascinating to see where his NFL team has him playing, and whether that changes from game to game and season to season.
NFL Comparison: Minkah Fitzpatrick. The Dolphins took Fitzpatrick out of Alabama with the 11th overall pick in the 2018 draft, and they played him similarly to the ways in which he was deployed at Alabama — all over the defense. When the Steelers traded for Fitzpatrick in 2019, they turned him into more of a pure free safety, and Fitzpatrick was able to make that transition. Branch has all the attributes to make that happen, though you probably don’t want to take too much away from his outstanding slot coverage. Nick Saban and his staff have had a knack for developing these multi-position stars, so it’s no surprise that Branch is the latest guy to shoot out of that pipeline.
14. Joey Porter Jr., CB, Penn State
Height: 6′ 2½” (96th percentile) Weight: 193 (52nd)
40-Yard Dash: 4.46 (64th)
10-Yard Split: 1.50 (82nd)
Bench Press: 17 reps (73rd)
Vertical Jump: 35″ (36th)
Broad Jump: 129″ (87th)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: 80⅞” (97th)
Arm Length: 34″ (98th)
Hand Size: 10″ (95th)
Bio: The son of former Steelers, Dolphins, and Cardinals edge-rusher Joey Porter, who played in the NFL from 1999 through 2011, made four Pro Bowls, and was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame All-2000s team, Joey Porter Jr. was a first-team all-state selection at North Allegheny High School in Wexford, Pennsylvania before committing to the Nittany Lions.
Over four collegiate seasons, Porter had one sack, five pressures, 101 tackles, 24 stops, and allowed 72 catches on 120 targets for 783 yards, seven touchdowns, one interception, 15 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 95.2. Porter played 1,387 snaps at outside cornerback, 230 in the box, 44 along the defensive line, 30 in the slot, and 13 at free safety.
Stat to Know: Porter aligned in press coverage on 39% of his 2022 snaps, the third-highest total among cornerbacks on this list — Maryland’s Deonte Banks ranked highest with 45%.
Strengths: Porter is a natural in man coverage, and it’s not just on solo boundary stuff — as he showed on this deflection against Northwestern in Week 5, Porter is quite able to break off against a short crosser in Cover-1 and just demolish it. You’d better run that pick concept correctly and get him out of the way if you want the play to succeed.
And if you want your cornerback to smother a receiver in man coverage… well, this rep against Purdue’s Mershawn Rice is teach tape.
There are times when Porter a bit more vulnerable in zone, or he’ll give up short completions that are almost automatic in the scheme, but his 2022 zone defense tape is where the development really shows up.
On this deep deflection against Minnesota in Week 8, Porter took receiver Daniel Jackson all the way up the rail on the right boundary in Cover-3, and there was no way Jackson was moving Porter away from his outside position through the vertical route. Porter has a way of smothering receivers with that aggressive demeanor and developed technique, and this is an excellent example. If you were to change the unform and tell me that this was a Richard Sherman rep from about 2012, I’d be inclined to believe you.
And this deflection against Central Michigan’s Finn Hogan in Week 4 shows something that would have to come to bear were Porter to be considered a top prospect — the ability to charge and recover in off-zone coverage. It’s great to plaster guys all over the field when you have that ability, but NFL teams will challenge you to play off-coverage with route combinations and reduced splits, and you’d better be ready for it.
Weaknesses: Porter’s NFL coaches will want to work with him on advanced route combinations, because there are times where his aggressiveness will get the better of him in those circumstances, and he’ll be out of position to get to the ball. Opposing offenses also deal with him by throwing screens and picks at him, and that doesn’t always work in Porter’s favor. This screen against Michigan in Week 7 is one example.
The best cornerbacks and cornerback coaches will talk about staying in phase and not chasing plays. Porter is better with this than he used to be, but there are still coaching points to consider.
At the same time, even if Porter is a step off at any point in the route, his recovery speed and closure to the ball combine to make a great adaptative strategy. Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr. got an 11-yard catch on the crosser here, but it wasn’t a pleasant experience — and Harrison had to throw everything he had at Porter at the angle to get the ball in the first place.
Regarding Porter’s low interception totals, I don’t think it’s an indication of terrible ball skills. I think he’s so focused on breaking up the play, that he’ll forget to go after the ball. The same was said of Sauce Gardner, and Sauce Gardner turned into a pretty good NFL cornerback in his 2022 rookie campaign.
Conclusion: Porter obviously breaks the matrix when it comes to measurables — when you have a cornerback with a wingspan that outdoes a lot of offensive tackles, that’ll get coaches excited. What I think will make Porter a plus NFL starter has a lot more to do with development than traits. He’s still got some work to do with the spatial stuff, but the improvement seen in 2022 augurs well for his future.
NFL Comparison: Jaycee Horn. The Panthers selected Horn with the eighth overall pick in the 2021 draft, and he’s become a lockdown cornerback regardless of coverage concept. While I like to go into the Wayback Machine for a lot of these NFL comps, I think that Porter and Horn have a lot of the same attributes in the sense that they can become scheme-transcendent defenders at the highest level when a lot of comparable players are stuck on one side of the man/zone debate.
15. Broderick Jones, OL, Georgia
Height: 6′ 5⅜” (45th percentile) Weight: 311 (42nd)
40-Yard Dash: 4.97 (93rd)
10-Yard Split: 1.74 (79th)
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: 30″ (73rd)
Broad Jump: 108″ (76th)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: 82 3/4″ (69th)
Arm Length: 34¾” (74th)
Hand Size: 10⅝” (87th)
Bio: A five-star recruit out of Lithonia High School in Lithonia, Georgia, Jones was the No. 2 offensive tackle prospect in his class behind only Paris Johnson, Jr. He got his first offer from Georgia when he was just a sophomore, and though he considered offers from other big schools, he chose to stick with the Bulldogs. He was Freshman All-SEC in 2021 and played left tackle in Georgia’s College Football Championship win over Alabama. Jones was the fixture on the left side after Jamaree Salyer moved on to the NFL, starting all 15 games as he was able to experience back-to-back national championships. Last season, he allowed no sacks, two quarterback hits, and seven quarterback hurries in 470 snaps at left tackle.
Stat to Know: Runners going behind Jones in his gaps averaged 3.5 yards per carry before contact last season.
Strengths: Jones has a strong lower body which he uses to create a solid base, and though he’s more of a fighter than a technician, his steps through the arc are generally good enough to keep wide rushers at bay.
And we all remember this play from the College Football Championship, where Jones got to the second level and took TCU safety Mark Perry into outer space on this Stetson Bennett touchdown run.
Weaknesses: Jones can get a bit ratchety with his kicksteps, causing him to address his opponent later and with less leverage than he should. When that happens, his base tends to go out the window, and he’ll get pushed back more often than you’d like.
Jones also needs to avoid dropping his head around the arc, because when he does that, speed rushers like LSU’s BJ Ojulari can explode on him. He looks to cut too often when he should be finishing the rep through the arc.
Conclusion: The more I watch Jones, the more I think that with his issues in space as a pass-blocker, his predilection for finishing violently, and his target awareness at the second level, he could be an outstanding NFL guard. I wouldn’t necessarily put him there without giving him a shot at tackle at the next level; all I can say is that the more I watched Jones, the more I thought, “Yup. He’s a guard, and a really good one.” Maybe it’s just me.
NFL Comparison: Joel Bitonio. Selected by the Browns in the second round of the 2014 draft out of Nevada, Bitonio was a college left tackle who excelled immediately and consistently at left guard. Bitonio brought a nasty streak, a great skill set for the interior, and the obvious desire to improve to the position, and he’s been a top 3 guard in the NFL for a long time. Jones could have the same future with such a conversion.
16. Bryan Bresee, DL, Clemson
Height: 6′ 5⅝” (94th percentile) Weight: 298 (30th)
40-Yard Dash: 4.86 (93rd)
10-Yard Split: 1.71 (72nd)
Bench Press: 22 reps (15th)
Vertical Jump: 29″ (46th)
Broad Jump: N/A
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 32½” (25th)
Hand Size: 10¼” (73rd)
Bio: A star at Damascus High School in Damascus, Maryland, Bresee was ranked the top high school prospect in the country by 247Sports and chose Clemson over a ton of other offers. Over three seasons with the Tigers, Bresee had eight sacks, 13 quarterback hits, 39 quarterback hurries, 34 tackles, 35 stops, and one forced fumble. He had 583 snaps in the B-gaps, 190 in the A-gaps, 69 over the tackles, and 68 outside the tackles.
Stat to Know: Bresee’s pressure rate of 12% ranked third in this class among interior defensive linemen, behind only Jalen Carter and Calijah Kancey.
Strengths: Bresee’s ability to create quick pressure on the quarterback is something that NFL teams value. It speaks to his explosiveness off the snap, and how he can just wreck a backfield by knifing through blocks.
These traits also apply to his potential as a run defender — when Bresee has it on lock right from the snap, there are times when blockers can’t even get their hands up before he’s zoomed by them.
Weaknesses: This is true of a lot of collegiate defensive linemen and edge defenders who haven’t yet learned to integrate advanced techniques with their athletic potential, but Bresee doesn’t always have a plan if you stone him at the line of scrimmage. Too often, he’ll wrestle instead of disengaging. Tennessee right tackle Darnell Wright, another player with first-round talent, got Bresee on this play for that exact reason.
Bresee could also do with a bit more functional upper-body strength; his hell-for-leather style doesn’t work as well when he’s getting buried by blockers who gain the leverage advantage.
Conclusion: Right now, Bresee would fit like a proverbial glove in any front in need of one-gap disruptors who go 100 miles per hour on every play, and can do so from any gap. Where he’s a bit of a project, and where the upside is really exciting, is how much he’ll be able to advance his hand work and pure power with next-level coaching and weight work. Were we to stamp all of that with a seal of approval, Bresee might have a few All-Pro nods in his future.
NFL Comparison: Darnell Dockett. Selected in the third round of the 2004 draft by the Cardinals out of Florida State, Dockett was a more powerful man than Bresee at 6-foot-3 and 293 pounds, but the quickness to the backfield from multiple gaps tracks pretty well. And if Bresee can add to his technique palette when he hits the NFL, those similarities could play even more obviously.
17. Anthony Richardson, QB, Florida
Height: 6′ 3¾” (66th percentile) Weight: 244 (96th)
40-Yard Dash: 4.43 (98th)
10-Yard Split: 1.53 (96th)
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: 40½” (99th)
Broad Jump: 129″ (99th)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 32¾” (75th)
Hand Size: 10½” (95th)
Bio: A four-star recruit out of Eastside High in Gainesville, Florida, Richardson finished his high-school time with 41 rushing touchdowns and 37 passing touchdowns, making him a four-star recruit, and the No. 1 quarterback in the state. Dan Mullen at Florida first offered Richardson a scholarship in his sophomore year in 2018, and Richardson stuck with the Gators despite an ever-increasing list of interested schools including Michigan, Georgia, and Penn State. Richardson was an All-SEC Freshman in 2020, and Emory Jones’ backup in 2021 with a few explosive plays to his credit in 2021.
In 2022, his one season as a starting quarterback in college, Richardson completed 175 of 330 passes for 2,553 yards, 17 touchdowns, nine interceptions, and a passer rating of 84.3. He also gained 654 yards and scored nine touchdowns on 103 rushing attempts.
Stat to Know: In Weeks 7-13 of the 2022 season, Richardson completed 96 of 186 passes for 1,375 yards, 12 touchdowns, two interceptions, and a passer rating of 92.9. The improvement over time wasn’t generational, but it was obvious.
Strengths: Let’s start with the measurables, which are absolutely stupid.
Athletically, Anthony Richardson compares favorably to Cam Newton… and Khalil Mack. pic.twitter.com/fefAUrBJoa
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 23, 2023
Richardson completed 26 of 64 passes of 20 or more air yards last season, and because his velocity is truly special, he has an ease with the deep ball that will show up on Sundays just as well as it did on Saturdays. This 51-yard pass to receiver Justin Shorter against LSU last season is about as indefensible as it gets. There isn’t any area of the field that’s safe from his deep ball.
Richardson is just as impossible to deal with as a runner; this 60-yard scamper against Texas A&M shows how easily he can break free and just beat everybody downfield. Putting him in a heavy RPO offense should present similar nightmares at times for NFL defenses.
Last season when under pressure, Richardson completed 41 of 108 passes for 593 yards, seven touchdowns, three interceptions, and a passer rating of 66.6. He was even better when blitzed — 59 of 129 for 890 yards, eight touchdowns, three interceptions, and a passer rating of 79.9. He’s as big, strong, and athletic as a lot of the edge-rushers coming after him, and with that easy velocity, he can throw it on a rope even when his mechanics are affected by defenders in his face.
Weaknesses: When Richardson throws from a solid base, he’s fine. But there are too many times when he gets cute with his mechanics, and that can be a problem. Here against Vanderbilt in Week 12, he’s got receiver Thai Chiaokhiao-Bowman beating cornerback Tyson Russell downfield. Richardson still has a relatively clean pocket when he throws the ball, but because he narrowed his base when he threw the ball, the pass was wildly offline.
Against USF in Week 3, Richardson had receiver Ricky Pearsall running an intermediate crosser on a switch release from left to right. Richardson actually did a nice job of looking the safety off to his right, but when he re-focused over the middle, he committed two cardinal sins: He threw Pearsall late and closed through the coverage, and he failed to account for linebacker Dwayne Boyles, who was right where Richardson was intending to throw.
Richardson has the kind of arm strength most quarterbacks would envy, but it didn’t always transfer to arm talent. On this interception against Eastern Washington in Week 6, he tried to feather a deep throw to Xzavier Henderson on a seam route. Two issues here: There wasn’t enough velocity on the throw to allow Henderson to release from quadruple coverage… and Richardson was throwing into quadruple coverage in the first place when he had Justin Shorter wide-ass open on the intermediate crosser. This is where Henderson is the clear-out guy. Shorter is the target, and you thank the football gods for such an easy opportunity.
Also: You’re up 35-3 at the start of the second half. Take the profit, man.
Conclusion: Bult like an edge-rusher, runs like a track star, and throws the ball right out of the building… though Richardson is still in need of development as a pure quarterback, he brings a toolkit to the position that we’ve never really seen at the NFL level. For that reason alone, he’ll be highly discussed in every building, and highly regarded in most of them. If he is able to reach any part of his ceiling, Richardson will be a most estimable weapon at the next level. If he’s able to hit it all? It’s hard to imagine what he’ll be, but it will be amazing to watch.
NFL Comparison: Colin Kaepernick. The comps to Cam Newton are widespread and understandable, but Newton came out of college with a more refined sense of touch and differing velocities. Kaepernick, who presented an equivalent running threat in his prime as an NFL quarterback, was also a 95-MPH pitcher at one time, and just about everything was a fastball with Kaepernick when he had a football in his hand. But when Kaepernick had it going on, he destroyed defenses with his running ability, and those fastballs had a lot of opponents on edge more often than not.
18. Paris Johnson Jr., OT, Ohio State
Height: 6′ 6⅜” (74th percentile) Weight: 313 (49th)
40-Yard Dash: N/A
10-Yard Split: N/A
Bench Press: 29 reps (82nd)
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: 110″ (84th)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle:
Wingspan: 85⅛” (95th)
Arm Length: 36⅛” (96th)
Hand Size: 9½” (13th)
Bio: Johnson moved from St. Xavier to Princeton High in the Cincinnati area, and started working out with former Bengals and Ravens tackle Willie Anderson while still in high school. To bring up another former Bengals tackle, Johnson was awarded the Anthony Muñoz Lineman of the Year honor in 2019, given the best high school offensive lineman in the country. The five-star recruit and No. 1 offensive lineman in the nation committed to Ohio State, but rescinded that commitment when Urban Meyer left. Johnson visited multiple schools in the interim, but re-committed to the Buckeyes. He started all 13 games at right guard in 2021, moving to left tackle for the 2022 campaign.
Stat to Know: Johnson allowed two sacks and 14 total pressures in his first season as Ohio State’s left tackle. Both sacks and eight total pressures came in True Pass Sets — PFF’s pass-blocking metric which excludes plays with less than 4 rushers, play action, screens, short dropbacks and time-to-throws under 2 seconds.
Strengths: At his best as a pass-protector, Johnson combines his impressive wingspan with a strong base and good technique. On snaps like this, and protecting a mostly pocket-bound quarterback in C.J. Stroud (little did we know until the Georgia game), Johnson is perfectly capable of erasing opponents who are trying to get to his quarterback.
As a run-blocker, Johnson hits the second level not only with aggressive intent, but also a nice sense of hitting and negating his target. He did just that here to Iowa’s Jack Campbell, who placed second on our list of draftable linebackers.
Weaknesses: Power can be a problem for Johnson at times. Iowa’s Lukas Van Ness (No. 8 in our edge defender rankings) presented issues for him by putting his hands on his chest and just pushing him back. Johnson will need to watch his timing in his pass sets to avoid these kinds of things in the NFL.
Johnson’s relative inexperience overall at left tackle shows up when he’s asked to pick up stunts, deal with rushers by foiling them with independent hand usage, and get his feet quiet to present his best possible counters to opponents.
Conclusion: Johnson looks every bit the ideal left tackle, and with more experience at the position, he will likely make that ideation a reality. He combines power, technique, and agility into a very appealing package, and if he’s the first offensive lineman taken in the 2023 draft, it would come as a surprise to nobody.
NFL Comparison: D’Brickashaw Ferguson. Selected fourth overall by the Jets in the 2006 draft out of Virginia, Ferguson combined athletic ability with developed power to make three Pro Bowls in his 10-year career. Ferguson occasionally dealt with bouts of iffy protection, but overall, he availed himself well in the run and pass games. Johnson could rise to that level over time.
19. Dalton Kincaid, TE, Utah
Height: 6′ 3⅝” (25th) Weight: 246 (20th)
40-Yard Dash: N/A
10-Yard Split: N/A
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: N/A
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: 78⅜” (40th)
Arm Length: 32⅝” (32nd)
Hand Size: 10¼” (81st)
Bio: A multi-sport guy as he was growing up, Kincaid didn’t really start playing tackle football until his senior year in high school. That’s when he became a receiver for Faith Lutheran High School in Las Vegas, Nevada. Basketball had been Kincaid’s primary sport, but the no-star recruit signed with San Diego and played two year there before deciding to explore what might be available at bigger schools. The 2019 Third Team All-American, who led all FCS tight ends in receiving yards, chose Utah as his next destination. Over three seasons with the Utes, Kincaid caught 107 passes for 1,414 yards and 16 touchdowns. In 2022, he lined up to the formation on 376 snaps, with 257 in the slot, 49 out wide, and one in the backfield.
Stat to Know: If you watch Kincaid’s tape and assume that he’s a killer against zone coverage, you would be correct. His 45 receptions against zone ranked first among all tight ends not only in this class, but in the FBS. Kincaid gained 626 yards on those catches, also tops in the nation, and only Notre Dame’s Michael Mayer had more touchdown with four than Kincaid’s three.
Strengths: Kincaid is just creeping death to basic zone coverage for a few reasons: He has the speed to get through the first gates, he’s on point when it’s time to stop and catch, and he’s just a bully after the catch. You need to have a better plan for this guy once he gets going than Colorado’s defense did here.
And though his athleticism is a primary attribute, Kincaid can also be a real problem for defenses with contested catches. Even with defenders all over him, the ball is more his than it is theirs.
In 3×1 sets, the “Y-iso” — the tight end who can align alone to one side of the field and make big plays — is of primary importance if your tight end has the skills to get that done. Kincaid’s athletic attributes and ball-tracking ability project him quite well into that particular scenario.
Weaknesses: Kincaid seems to be a willing blocker most of the time, but it obviously wasn’t a point of focus at Utah. He needs some work latching onto his targets and making his blocks look like more than effort reps with minimal results. There are other instances in which… well, let’s just say he’ll need to be coached up at the next level with this stuff.
Conclusion: Any NFL team would find Kincaid to be an asset in its offense, but those teams most dependent on multiple tight end sets — think the Chiefs, Ravens, Seahawks, Falcons, and Packers — would especially love what he brings as a space weapon capable of major plays all over the field. Maybe your second and third tight ends are the big blockers, and you just have Kincaid working defenses to all three levels. There is no other tight end in this class more capable of winning in these roles.
NFL Comparison: Travis Kelce. The Chiefs took Kelce out of Cincinnati in the third round of the 2013 draft, and after a rookie season in which he didn’t make an impact due to a knee injury, Kelce quickly became an epicenter of a Kansas City offense that has become exponentially more complex, explosive, and hard to stop in the last decade. Kincaid projects so well in many of the areas that have made Kelce a future Hall-of-Famer.
20. Peter Skoronski, OL, Northwestern
Height: 6′ 4″ (8th percentile) Weight: 313 (49th)
40-Yard Dash: 5.16 (70th)
10-Yard Split: 1.75 (73rd)
Bench Press: 30 reps (86th)
Vertical Jump: 34½” (97th)
Broad Jump: 115″ (96th)
3-Cone Drill: 7.8 (48th)
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: 79½” (9th)
Arm Length: 32¼” (4th)
Hand Size: 10″ (45th)
Bio: A four-star recruit out of Maine South High in Park Ridge, Illinois, Skoronski started getting college offers as a sophomore, but his status as a Northwestern fan sealed the deal. His grandfather, Bob Skoronski, played left tackle for the Packers from 1956 through 1968, winning five NFL titles and the first two Super Bowls under Vince Lombardi. Peter Skoronski was Freshman All-American in 2020 and immediately played left tackle for the Wildcats, as Rashawn Slater (now with the Chargers) opted out for the season due to COVID. Skoronski then made First Team All-Big Ten in 2021, and gathered up all the awards in 2022 — Unanimous All-American; First Team All-Big Ten; Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year. He had 33 starts in 33 games, all at left tackle.
Stat to Know: In 184 True Pass Set plays last season, Skoronski allowed one sack, one quarterback hit, and no quarterback hurries.
Strengths: Skoronski is able to overcome his “measurable deficiencies” because his technique is at a level to rival any offensive lineman in this class. He sets well straight-ahead and vertically, he has a smooth kick-step, and his uses his hands well to mirror the defender through the rep. His hands work well with his base.
Skoronski also does a very nice job of consistently getting his hands out first — he beats his opponent to the punch very well. This is another way he’s able to get past his arm length and keep rushers out of his radius.
If you want to project Skoronski as a guard, there are reps last season in which he’s inside another tackle in heavy sets, and his power to wrestle interior defenders to a draw or better is pretty impressive.
Weaknesses: NFL teams will obviously be interested to find reps in which Skoronski’s wingspan is an issue, and they’re out there. If he doesn’t come off the ball with leverage and target accuracy, things can get ugly for him in a hurry. He will get overwhelmed in these situations, and the recovery ability is limited.
And I’m not always in love with Skoronski’s ability to get to the next level with timing and accuracy — this would be a coaching point were he to convert to guard or center at the NFL level.
Conclusion: It’s not impossible for a tackle to succeed in the NFL with Skoronski’s height/weight profile — David Bakhtiari, Duane Brown, and Donald Penn are among those tackles in the 6-foot-4, 310-poundish range who have found favor in the league in the new millennium. And Skoronski brings enough refinement and technique to the position to make it a possible reality, despite the fact that his arm length doesn’t align with those guys. He’ll need to be with the right team and in the right system for that to happen, but Skoronski should be given the opportunity to at least try tackle before the seemingly inevitable move inside.
NFL Comparison: Zack Martin. It’s the automatic comparison for every top-level tackle who kicks to guard at the next level, but in Skoronski’s case, it’s a good fit with his power, technical refinement, and playing demeanor. A tackle at Notre Dame, Martin was selected by the Cowboys with the 16th overall pick in the 2014 draft, and he’s racked up eight Pro Bowls and six All-Pro nods since. I do think that Skoronski will be better inside, but it’ll be an acceptable compromise if he maximizes his attributes there.
21. Deonte Banks, CB, Maryland
Height: 6′ 0″ (61st) Weight: 197 (68th)
40-Yard Dash: 4.35 (93rd)
10-Yard Split: 1.49 (89th)
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: 42″ (92nd)
Broad Jump: 136″ (98th)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 31⅜” (47th)
Hand Size: 9⅜” (68th)
Bio: An All-County selection at Edgewood High School in Baltimore, Banks stayed close to home for his college tenure, choosing the Terrapins and making an impact right away with multiple snaps, and an interception in his final 2019 game against Michigan State.
Over four seasons, Banks had no sacks, one pressure,70 tackles, 16 stops, and he allowed 50 catches on 102 targets for 557 yards, 138 yards after the catch, six touchdowns, two interceptions, 11 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 77.1. Banks played 1,321 snaps at outside cornerback, 71 in the box, 63 in the slot, 28 along the defensive line, and six at free safety.
Stat to Know: As we detailed in the Joey Porter slide, Banks had the highest rate of press coverage among cornerbacks on this list at 45%. Targeting Banks in press coverage was not a great idea — he allowed nine catches on 23 press targets for 46 yards, and only seven of those targets were deemed successes.
Strengths: Banks’ reps in press coverage are consistently hilarious, because it’s just bust after bust after bust for opposing offenses with very little relief. If he’s on you from the first step, his sense of technique and “matchability” to the receiver create a suffocating environment for receivers.
Banks will also stick and stay through the entire route, and he has the temerity to create pass breakups even when the play is extended and the receiver in question isn’t his original assignment. Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr. found that out here.
And while he wasn’t asked to stick his nose in a lot in run support, Banks has no aversion to it.
Weaknesses: So, how is Banks in off-coverage? I wouldn’t say it’s a problem for him, but he’s naturally inclined to give up more ground to receivers when he isn’t pressing, and though his recovery rate makes him a pest when he’s not pressing, he’s a different cornerback on plays like this.
Conclusion: Teams in need of a smart, aggressive, consistent cornerback to go to the head of the room in a hurry would do well to look Banks’ way. The off-coverage issues aren’t problematic to the point where they’re going to prevent him from NFL success; they just stand in stark contrast to his press skills. Put him on a team whose defensive coaches want their cornerbacks to breathe all over receivers before the snap, and reap the rewards.
NFL Comparison: Jamel Dean. The Buccaneers took Dean in the third round of the 2019 draft out of Auburn, and were rewarded with a top-notch cornerback with a specific knack for pressing and matching receivers all over the field. Banks has a lot of attributes that make up his game, but any team involved in a lot of aggressive press coverage should find him especially intriguing.
22. Nolan Smith, EDGE, Georgia
Height: 6′ 2⅛” (15th percentile) Weight: 238 (2nd)
40-Yard Dash: 4.39 (99nd)
10-Yard Split: 1.52 (99th)
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: 41½” (98th)
Broad Jump: 128″ (95th)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 32⅝” (17th)
Hand Size: 9″ (5th)
Bio: Smith was a consensus five-star recruit out of the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, and he was Georgia’s co-winner of the Defensive Newcomer of the Year Award in 2019. Over four seasons with the Bulldogs (his 2022 campaign ended after eight games due to a torn pectoral muscle), Smith totaled 17 sacks, 16 quarterback hits, 51 quarterback hurries, one batted pass, 65 tackles, 65 stops, and one interception on 14 targets. Smith had 1,068 snaps outside the tackles, 28 in the slot, 23 in the box, 16 at cornerback, 15 over the tackles, and 10 in the B-gaps.
Stat to Know: In his abbreviated 2022 season, Smith had two sacks and 19 total pressures… in just 102 pass-rushing snaps.
Strengths: Smith’s speed off the snap is real, and it is spectacular. Those historic 40-yard and 10-yard times at the combine show up on the field. Whether he’s chasing quarterbacks outside the pocket to futile results…
…or embarrassing enemy blockers with ridiculous inside counters and multi-gap switches (the stanky leg move here is just preposterous)…
…he’s a constant problem with that functional speed.
Smith also has great bend and lean around the edge, which just accentuate his inside moves.
Weaknesses: While Smith occasionally shows more strength and power for his size than you’d expect, it’s not his alpha trait — he can be easily enveloped if his speed isn’t first-featured.
Conclusion: You can set the injury aside when evaluating Smith’s NFL potential; he showed as much as he needed to at the combine from a recovery sense. The question is, will all NFL teams value him in the same way when it comes to his size? His speed and athleticism are such valuable assets, the last thing you want to do is to beef him up to 260 and lose that. As an “edgebacker” in any of the five-man fronts the NFL is working with more frequently these days, Smith has all the tools you’d want. Just keep him on the edge, let him be freaky, and he’ll help to define your defense.
NFL Comparison: Haason Reddick. The Cardinals selected the 6-foot-1, 240-pound Reddick out of Temple with the 13th pick in the 2017 draft, tried to make him an off-ball linebacker for whatever reason, and finally reaped the benefits of his skill set when they made him a true edge-rusher in 2020. With the Panthers in 2021, and especially with the Eagles in 2022, when he amassed 21 sacks and 87 total pressures, Reddick has been one of the most consistently productive outside rushers in the NFL in recent years. Hopefully, Smith’s NFL team will take the latter Reddick plan, and will just let him work his athletic magic where he’s best-suited.
23. Jordan Addison, WR, USC
Height: 5′ 11⅛” (26th percentile) Weight: 173 (3rd)
40-Yard Dash: 4.49 (56th)
10-Yard Split: 1.56 (46th)
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: 34″ (32nd)
Broad Jump: 122″ (56th)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: 74½” (28th)
Arm Length: 30⅞” (20th)
Hand Size: 8¾” (9th)
Bio: Addison played quarterback, receiver, and defensive back at Tuscarora High School in Frederick, Maryland. The four-star recruit got an offer from Notre Dame, which was an early preference, but at defensive back, which was not. Eventually, Addison chose Pitt in favor of receivers coach Chris Beatty. After two seasons with the Panthers in which he racked up kudos ranging from Freshman All-American in 2020 to the Biletnikoff Award in 2021, Addison transferee to USC — a decision cemented by coaching changes, and quarterback Kenny Pickett’s graduation to the NFL.
In two seasons with the Panthers and one with the Trojans, Addison totaled 219 receptions on 310 targets for 3,130 yards and 29 touchdowns. In 2022, Addison had 422 snaps outside, 102 in the slot, nine in the backfield, and four inline.
Stat to Know: Addison’s Catchable Catch Rate of 95% (the percentage of receptions on catchable targets) tied him with North Carolina’s Josh Downs and Tennessee’s Jalin Hyatt for tops among 2023 receiver prospects.
Strengths: Whether you’re watching him at Pitt or at USC, the first thing that stands out about Addison is how well he can manipulate defenders with routes — not just the routes in total, but how he’s able to bend the stems and attack opponents with them. He’ll shake prominent cornerbacks right out of their cleats. Utah’s Clark Phillips III is one of the best cornerbacks in this class, and Addison gave him no shot at all on this filthy vertical route.
Addison’s speed and suddenness make him a weapon in a straight line, sure, but it really shows up when he needs to take those short-area movements and make them explosive. If you’re handing him off through coverage, any mis-step could be fatal for your defense.
NFL teams that like to employ their receivers on sweeps are probably already dreaming of how well Addison has already proven to fit that particular paradigm.
Weaknesses: It’s good that Addison has all that speed and quickness, because he’s not going to win any physical battles. He’s not an effective blocker at his size, and bigger, more aggressive press cornerbacks could give him fits… if they can keep up with him.
Conclusion: Whether from the slot or outside, Addison has proven in multiple offenses and with two different major college programs that he can tie defenders in knots with his specific, highly-practiced skills. In an NFL that is becoming more and more about creating explosive plays on offense and preventing them on defense, Addison’s creative skills make him a highly valuable asset at the next level.
NFL Comparison: Tyler Lockett. The Seahawks took Lockett in the third round of the 2015 draft out of Kansas State, and he’s become one of the league’s most difficult receivers to consistently defend because he can beat you in so many different ways. Like Addison, the 5-foot-10, 182-pound Lockett isn’t going to win any strength battles, but you don’t buy a Ferrari to tow your boat. Put Addison on the field, and your NFL passing game immediately becomes more of a problem for every opponent.
24. Myles Murphy, EDGE, Clemson
Height: 6′ 4⅝” (70th percentile) Weight: 268 (60th)
40-Yard Dash: N/A
10-Yard Split: N/A
Bench Press: 25 reps (65th)
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: N/A
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 33¾” (57th)
Hand Size: 8½” (0)
Bio: Murphy came out of Hillgrove High School in Marietta, Georgia as ESPN’s No. 3 player in the nation, the No. 2 defensive end, and the No. 1 player in the state of Georgia. He was a consensus Freshman All-American, and kept the pace throughout his collegiate career. Over three seasons with the Tigers, Murphy totaled 20 sacks, 10 quarterback hits, 66 quarterback hurries, five batted passes, 63 tackles, 64 stops, and six forced fumbles. He had 1,244 snaps outside the tackles, 180 over the tackles, 117 in the B-gaps, and five in the A-gaps.
Stat to Know: Murphy’s Broken and Missed Tackles Percentage Rate of 5% last season was the lowest among all edge-rushers in the 2023 class.
Strengths: Murphy has excellent speed to the pocket for a player his size; there’s nothing “hybrid” about how well he accelerates when he’s working the arc, and he has the strength and technique to go through multiple blockers to get home.
The Tigers didn’t have Murphy inside the tackles a lot, but I think he can be a credible inside/outside guy at the next level. He presents a nice bull-rush to displace interior offensive linemen, with a good finishing kick to the quarterback.
And as a run defender, Murphy’s speed and strength are pretty much NFL-transferable right now. Just plug him in and go.
Weaknesses: Power is the base of Murphy’s game, but he’ll need to get lower more frequently to maximize it — he loses leverage too often when he shouldn’t because he comes off the snap high.
Murphy is also limited in his technical repertoire — if he can’t get you with the bull-rush or the long-arm, there aren’t a lot of counters and adaptive strategies to use for him to recover if he doesn’t get home on the first try.
Conclusion: Murphy’s instant NFL success will be dependent on which set of schemes he’s in. I think he’ll have a rough go of it for a while as a four-down edge defender. But in the NFL’s increasing use of five-man fronts, he could be beneficial right away as both a big end and a strong-side pass-rusher in sub-fronts. He has enough on the ball to be somewhat productive early on, with the potential for far more if he can get his arms around the refinements that make people at his position truly great.
NFL Comparison: Rashan Gary. The Packers took Gary with the 12th pick in the 2019 draft out of Michigan despite the fact that his pass-rush repertoire was pretty basic at the time (bull-rush and long-arm). They bet on his upside as a bigger guy who could do damage from multiple gaps, and that took hold in Gary’s second, third, and fourth seasons. Murphy presents a similar set of rewards for a patient NFL coaching staff ready to give him the tools he needs to take his basic speed/power profile to the proverbial next level.
25. Sydney Brown, S, Illinois
Height: 5′ 10″ (6th) Weight: 211 (69th)
40-Yard Dash: 4.47 (79th)
10-Yard Split: 1.51 (83rd)
Bench Press: 23 reps (91st)
Vertical Jump: 40½” (93rd)
Broad Jump: 130″ (92nd)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 31½”(46th)
Hand Size: 10¼” (94th)
Bio: Born in London, Ontario, Canada, and the twin brother of Illinois running back Chase Brown, Sydney Brown was a football and track star in high school, and had 585 snaps as a true freshman for the Fighting Illini in 2018. Over five collegiate seasons, Brown had two sacks, nine pressures, 259 tackles, 78 stops, and allowed 91 catches on 150 targets for 1,296 yards, 497 yards after the catch, 12 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, 13 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 87.5. Brown played 1,340 snaps in the box, 747 at free safety, 768 in the slot, 101 at cornerback, and 191 on the defensive line.
Stat to Know: Brown did a lot well in 2022, but he was especially tough to deal with as a single-high safety. In Cover-1 and Cover-3 last season, Brown allowed 13 catches on 31 targets for 155 yards, one touchdown, five interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 29.0.
Strengths: If Brown isn’t starting out in the deep third, it doesn’t matter, because he has the transition ability and backup speed to match a receiver from the slot or the box and take him all the way upfield to deny the reception.
Brown is also excellent when it comes to matching receivers on crossing routes and any other route requiring a defender to catch up at the top of the route. When he starts getting sticky, he usually stays there.
And whether he’s asked to press tight ends at the line of scrimmage from the slot, or blow up run plays behind the line of scrimmage, Brown has the size and playing personality to chase, or square up with, just about anybody.
Weaknesses: Brown did have 14 missed tackles last season, and that’s disconcerting for a guy who plays in the box as often as he does. When he’s blocked, he seems at times to be more interested in getting aggressive against whoever’s blocking him, as opposed to finding ways to slip off blocks and stop the play. And sometimes, when he does slip off the blocks, bad things happen from there.
Brown’s sixth-percentile height shows up when he’s charged to defend tight ends and bigger receivers — he’ll do his level best to deal with targets of this size, but there are times when the math just isn’t optimal.
Conclusion: Brown should be an ideal fit for single-high dominant teams in need of a deep-third and slot defender who wants to mix it up in the box, but doesn’t always have the wherewithal to do so. His height will limit him in some instances (nothing he can do about that), and his tackling technique (which will hopefully improve in the NFL) will make him a tweener to a degree, but the things he does well are important enough to make him worthy of a Day 2 pick. Brown played an astonishing 56% of his 2022 snaps in the box last season; the first thing I’d do as his NFL defensive coordinator is to cut that rate in half.
NFL Comparison: Amani Hooker. I’ll compare Brown to another former Big 10 defender in Hooker, who the Titans selected in the fourth round of the 2019 draft out of Iowa. Like Brown, Hooker is an under-tall safety who can play the deep third (and would do so more often were he not in the same secondary as Kevin Byard) and the slot, and uses intelligence and aggression to mask his liabilities.
26. John Michael Schmitz, C, Minnesota
Height: 6′ 3½” (54th percentile) Weight: 301 (38th)
40-Yard Dash: 5.35 (25th)
10-Yard Split: 1.85 (26th)
Bench Press: 26 reps (51st)
Vertical Jump: 29½” (68th)
Broad Jump: 104″ (62nd)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: 4.56 (68th)
Wingspan: 78⅜” (53rd)
Arm Length: 32⅝” (46th)
Hand Size: 9½” (28th)
Bio: Originally a defensive end for Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, Illinois, Schnitz transferred to o Homewood-Flossmoor Community High to play left tackle for a bigger school. The three-star recruit received a ton of offers from MAC schools, deciding on P.J. Fleck’s Western Michigan program, subsequently following Fleck to Minnesota. Schnitz played 57 games for the Golden Gophers, starting 35, and all at center. In 2022, he allowed two sacks, one quarterback hit, and five quarterback hurries in 302 pass-blocking snaps.
Stat to Know: Schmitz was utterly reliable in the run game last season, and with a large sample size — he had a Blown Block Rate of just 0.4% in the run game, and 48% of Minnesota’s runs were intended to go to his gaps.
Strengths: Smith loves to hit people when he’s on the move, and he has all the talent required to do it at the NFL level, as Senior Bowl Executive Director Jim Nagy has observed.
John Michael Schmitz rolls out of bed reaching frontside DTs.
There aren’t 31 better/cleaner prospects in this year’s draft.#TheDraftStartsInMOBILE™️ pic.twitter.com/XkWGgTHIcz
— Jim Nagy (@JimNagy_SB) April 14, 2023
There was also this two-fer against Wisconsin, in which Schmitz proved that it’s he’s bouncing off of you, it’s generally going to be worse for you than it is for him. Schmitz has outstanding functional strength that shows up on the field all the time.
When it’s time to seal the edge, Schmitz isn’t just laterally quick to his target; he has the strength and leverage to move his opponent where he wants his opponent to go.
Weaknesses: Schmitz will let defenders cross his face too often to get to the ball — this might be a function of his average arm length, but it’s something his NFL coaches will want to address.
Conclusion: You don’t often think of centers as touchstones for their offenses, but if you have a center like Schmitz, who can get the job done in any scheme and will tattoo his personality all over the team, centers can be just that kind of player. The NFL team that selects Schmitz will have a plug-and-play guy from Day 1 with All-Pro potential down the road.
NFL Comparison: Alex Mack. The Browns selected Mack with the 21st overall pick in the 2009 draft out of Cal, and Mack took a play style with more root strength than you’d imagine for his size (6-foot-4, 311 pounds), impressive agility, and the technique and intelligence required to make seven Pro Bowls in his career. Furthermore, Mack was a Pro Bowler by his second NFL season. Schmitz wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he hit that same high bar.
27. Luke Musgrave, TE, Oregon State
Height: 6′ 5⅞” (80th percentile) Weight: 253 (52nd)
40-Yard Dash: 4.61 (88th)
10-Yard Split: 1.58 (87th)
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: 36″ (82nd)
Broad Jump: 125″ (93rd)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: 79½” (53rd)
Arm Length: 32⅝” (32nd)
Hand Size: 10⅜” (87th)
Bio: A championship skier in his younger days, Musgrave played quarterback, defensive back, receiver, and then tight end at Bend Senior High School in Bend, Oregon. The three-star recruit chose Oregon State over Oregon, and he’s got a lot of family connections in football. Most notably, his uncle, Bill Musgrave, was selected in the fourth round of the 1991 draft out of Oregon by the Dallas Cowboys, and Bill Musgrave spent five seasons in the NFL as a backup quarterback, later becoming an offensive coordinator for several NFL teams. Over four seasons with the Beavers, Luke Musgrave caught 47 passes on 80 targets for 633 yards and two touchdowns. In 2022, he lined up 80 times inline, 28 times in the slot, and six out wide. Musgrave missed all but two games in the 2022 season due to a knee injury.
Stat to Know: Last season, Musgrave was targeted just three times on passes of 20 or more air yards — due mostly to that injury. His 2021 season, in which he caught four deep passes on 10 targets for 117 yards, should be more indicative of his explosive play opportunity rate, with a serious bump in efficiency based on his 2022 tape.
Strengths: Musgrave’s high-percentile speed and burst at the combine absolutely show up on tape. He’s quick out of the gate, and he has excellent build-up speed through the second and third levels of a defense. This doesn’t just allow him to create big plays in a straight line — he’s also comfortable and capable at the end of a route in an explosive play situation. If you want to echo Kyle Shanahan and run a bunch of “Y-throwback” stuff, Musgrave would be plug-and-play.
Musgrave’s comfortable speed has also allowed him to develop subtle (and at times not-do-subtle) moves to create separation, thwarting tight coverage.
Musgrave also brings a good sense of creating openings through route breaks; he knows how to maximize space and leverage, and this will be important in his professional development — especially as he expands his route palette.
Weaknesses: Musgrave is more of an innocent bystander than a true blocker; effort and intent don’t really show up on tape. Teams will have to decide how important and coachable that is in his case.
There are times when Musgrave could improve his radius for his quarterbacks by squaring to the ball more accurately and with better timing. He has nine drops throughout his collegiate career, and he’ll need to shore that up.
Conclusion: Musgrave’s value to NFL teams will depend entirely on what NFL teams are looking for. Making him a YAC specialist who blocks a lot and gets the occasional big play isn’t the ideal paradigm for him at all. He is a player for teams who see tight ends as big receivers, have moved on from the “traditional” constructs of the position, and will let the developmental liabilities slide in the name of how he can burn up the field.
NFL Comparison: Darren Waller. Selected in the sixth round of the 2015 draft by the Ravens out of Georgia Tech, Waller overcame personal issues to become one of the NFL’s most explosive pass-catching tight ends. Musgrave doesn’t have Waller’s longer track speed (Waller ran a 4.46-second 40-yard dash at his scouting combine), but the 1.58-second 10-yard splits are identical, and from the deep play potential to the blocking issues to the occasionally maddening drops, Musgrave looks a lot like Waller to me.
28. Jalin Hyatt, WR, Tennessee
Height: 6′ 0⅛” (35th percentile) Weight: 176 (5th)
40-Yard Dash: 4.40 (86th)
10-Yard Split: 1.50 (86th)
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: 40″ (92nd)
Broad Jump: 135″ (97th)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: 77⅝” (61st)
Arm Length: 32½” (65th)
Hand Size: 9″ (20th)
Bio: Hyatt attended Dutch Fork High School in Irmo, South Carolina after serving as a ball boy for the football program in his younger years. The three-year varsity star also burned up the track at an All-American level, and participated in strength contests despite the fact that he weighed just 155 pounds as a high school senior. Perhaps it was the weight that had Clemson and South Carolina, the two prominent schools in his home state, looking elsewhere. Eventually, Hyatt committed to Tennessee over Penn State, Michigan, and Miami (Fla).
In three seasons with the Volunteers, Hyatt totaled 108 catches on 151 targets for 1,769 yards and 19 touchdowns. In 2022, as the featured weapon in Josh Heupel’s field-stretching Air Raid/Veer offense, Hyatt had 311 snaps in the slot, seven out wide, two in the backfield, and one inline.
Stat to Know: Hyatt’s 13.9 yards per target leads all receivers on this list by a large margin; TCU’s Quentin Johnston ranked second at 10.9.
Strengths: Very few receivers have ever done to Alabama’s defense what Hyatt did to it last season. He caught six passes on eight targets for 207 yards and FIVE TOUCHDOWNS, and his tape against the Crimson Tide is as frightening as any you’ll see from any receiver in this class.
Obviously, Hyatt’s speed is game-changing, and it’s a constant threat. Even the balls he didn’t catch against Alabama showed a danger any defense has to account for. Had Hendon Hooker not been pressured to throw this ball short on Hyatt’s vertical sweep, Hyatt would probably have had another touchdown. He’s just so scary in open space.
Teams would press other Tennessee receivers in man and zone coverage last season even when they wouldn’t press Hyatt because they were petrified of his deep speed. Often, the results turned out the same with that more cautious approach. You’re going to want safety help more often than not when you’re on him — especially if he’s dusting your cornerbacks with any kinds of switch releases.
Hyatt isn’t a yards after catch receiver in the sense that he’ll beat contact to gain yards after it. What he is, is a dominant yards after catch receiver because he can turn on that Road Runner gene, go all “meep meep” on a defense, and that’s going to be that.
Weaknesses: Hyatt faced very little press coverage in that offense, and you’d expect that he’ll get a lot more of it in the NFL. That’s a tough projection, because there just isn’t a lot of press tape to watch, He lived in a constant state of free release, and he certainly won’t at the next level. Even the few guys who did press him did so with some trepidation.
Conclusion: Debiting Hyatt too much because he’s not a “traditional” receiver with this or that route tree might betray a lack of understanding not only of his specific assets, but also a lack of understanding of how these kinds of receivers are deployed at the NFL level right now. If Hyatt was beating press all the time and running 20 unique routes (he had 12 last season, per Sports Info Solutions), he would be the lead-pipe No. 1 receiver in this class, and probably a top-five pick. That’s not who he is, and maybe it’s not who he’ll ever be, but if he can develop the things he wasn’t asked to develop in college, you’re talking about a Tyreek Hill-level field-tilter who will just waste a defense, and automatically change how those defenses are forced to play.
NFL Comparison: DeSean Jackson. Jackson came out of Cal and was selected by the Eagles with the 49th overall pick in the 2008 draft as Andy Reid’s vertical element in his West Coast-based passing game. Jackson had burner skills from his first minicamp, and over time, he developed an underrated ability to alter his routes and movements to further create issues for defenses. Hyatt has a lot of that same profile, and whichever speed receiver he most reminds you of, he is absolutely That Guy.
29. Anton Harrison, OT, Oklahoma
Height: 6′ 4¼” (14th percentile) Weight: 315 (56th)
40-Yard Dash: 4.98 (93rd)
10-Yard Split: 1.77 (60th)
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: 28½” (53rd)
Broad Jump: 105″ (62nd)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 34⅛” (55th)
Hand Size: 9¼” (5th)
Bio: The son of Andre Harrison, who played on Ole Miss’ defensive line in the 1990s, Anton Harrison started his athletic life as a basketball player, and moved to football when he enrolled at Archbishop Carroll High in Washington D.C. The four-year letterman and four-star recruit chose the Sooners over Maryland, Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State, and Ole Miss. He put up 23 starts at left tackle and one at right tackle over the last two seasons for Oklahoma. In 2022, he allowed one sack, no quarterback hits, and eight quarterback hurries in 424 pass-blocking snaps.
Stat to Know: Harrison helped his running backs gain 3.8 yards per contact to his gap per attempt in 2022, tied with Florida’s Richard Gouraige for the best in the nation among draft-eligible tackles.
Strengths: With any offensive lineman, you want to see how they recover from those reps that start out in potentially disastrous fashion. Harrison has the overall technique soundness to recover from getting beaten, and he has a good sense of how to make the most of early-in-the-down blips. It’s not always pretty, but he gets the job done for the most part when he’s pushed back or countered.
When he’s on point with his technique, Harrison effectively deals with stunts and games — he’s aware and doesn’t get overwhelmed most of the time, and there’s generally a nice finishing kick to his play style, especially when it’s time to run the ball.
Harrison’s “peripheral ability” is also clear in the passing game, and he blocked very well on most of Oklahoma’s deep passing attempts last season.
Weaknesses: As technically precise as he can be most of the time, Harrison will just lose his bearings occasionally. He will overextend, he’s not always exact with his hands, and he’ll lose power and placement when he’s guessing and flailing.
Conclusion: It sounds strange to say, but when you think of an offensive tackle as “boring.” it’s really a compliment. You want consistency above all at the position, and most coaches would take that over amazing, piledriving plays alternated with plays in which you’re not quite sure what the player is doing. Yes, Harrison has blips where he’ll unwrap himself in ways you’d prefer he didn’t, but overall, he’s probably the most underrated tackle in this class. Consistency is a big part of that.
NFL Comparison: David Bakhtiari. The fourth-round pick of the Packers in the 2013 draft is one of my automatic comps for any smaller offensive lineman who can transcend that and make it look easy at the NFL level, and Harrison will come off the bus to his first minicamp with that capacity. If he can stay within himself and make the most of his estimable athletic traits, he could very well be the best pass-blocker in this class.
30. Trenton Simpson, LB, Clemson
Height: 6′ 2⅛” (68th percentile) Weight: 235 (33rd)
40-Yard Dash: 4.43 (97th)
10-Yard Split: 1.55 (85th)
Bench Press: 25 reps (75th)
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: N/A
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 32⅜” (52nd)
Hand Size: 10¼” (90th)
Bio: A running back and linebacker at Mallard Creek High School in Charlotte, North Carolina, Simpson was named the North Carolina High School Football Player of the Year in 2019, and he was ranked the 13st-best prospect in the nation by 247 Sports. Over three seasons with the Tigers, Simpson had 12 sacks, 64 total pressures, 119 tackles, 79 stops, and he allowed 50 catches on 73 targets for 406 yards, 319 yards after the catch, three touchdowns, no interceptions, two pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 96.0. In the 2022 season, Simpson had 404 snaps at linebacker, 129 along the defensive line, 88 in the slot, and one at cornerback.
Stat to Know: Simpson allowed the lowest Deserved Catch Rate (50%) and yards per target (2.6) of any linebacker in this draft class.
Strengths: When it comes to pure range, Simpson puts up tape that most linebackers can’t touch. You do not expect a 6-foot-3, 235-pound ‘backer to align at a cornerback position and bomb out the top of a wide trips right formation, but Simpson has multiple examples of doing just that.
That said, we should not downplay Simpson’s power in the run game — whether from the edge or off-ball, he’ll sift through blocks and zoom into the backfield for some major stops.
And as a pass-rusher, Simpson can act as a LEO off the line, blitz with relative impunity, or just run-and-chase the quarterback from a spy position.
Weaknesses: When he’s in the slot as a pass defender, Simpson shows a need for more development. He’s not always quick to the draw for his own assignments, and this can have him struggling to catch up when receptions are made. He’s better off right over his coverage target in situations where he can bump receivers and tight ends off their marks.
As is the case for most lighter linebackers in the modern era, Simpson is better off reading gaps like a running back to get to the ball. Taking on guards and centers who outweigh him by 100 pounds is not always an optimal strategy.
Conclusion: It should come as no surprise that Simpson is from the same program that produced Isaiah Simmons — Clemson obviously has a lot of bandwidth for linebackers who play all over the defense, and do so successfully for the most part. As was the case for Simmons when he was selected eighth overall in the 2020 draft by the Arizona Cardinals, the challenge for his NFL coaches (which is still in place for Simmons and the Cardinals) will be to understand which parts of that amazing versatility transfers to the NFL, and which stuff is best left on the cutting room floor. Simmons projects best as an off-ball wrecker who can blitz off the edge, and can cover in certain (mostly man) concepts.
NFL Comparison: Dre Greenlaw. The 49ers stole Greenlaw out of Arkansas in the fifth round of the 2019 draft, and while coverage has never been his thing, Greenlaw has become one half of the NFL’s best linebacker duo alongside Fred Warner. There are also elements of Tampa Bay’s Devin White in Simpson’s play style in his ability to disrupt the passer from everywhere, but Simpson has more potential in coverage.
31. Jahmyr Gibbs, RB, Alabama
Height: 5′ 9⅛” (25th percentile) Weight: 199 (14th)
40-Yard Dash: 4.36 (97th)
10-Yard Split: 1.52 (83rd)
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: 33½” (37th)
Broad Jump: N/A
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: 74⅛” (46th)
Arm Length: 30½” (35th)
Hand Size: 9¼” (47th)
Bio: Gibbs overcame financial insecurity as a child and young adult, became an early star at Dalton High School in Dalton, Georgia. He earned All-State and All-American honors as a senior, and was named Georgia’s Mr. Football in 2019. Gibbs, who also excelled in basketball and track, was a four-star recruit and committed to Georgia Tech — primarily because he had developed a relationship with running backs coach and former NFL running back Tashard Choice. An immediate star as a running back and return man, Gibbs transferred to Alabama for the 2022 season.
Over three seasons with the Yellowjackets and the Crimson Tide, Gibbs totaled 2,139 yards and 15 touchdowns on 383 carries, adding 103 receptions on 123 targets for 1,215 yards and eight touchdowns. In 2022, he had 391 snaps in the backfield, 18 in the slot, four out wide, and two inline.
Stat to Know: Gibbs leads all NCAA running backs over the last three seasons with 25 catches of 15 or more yards, and 39 forced missed tackles on receptions.
Strengths: Gibbs had 31 explosive plays last season on just 192 touches in 2022, which gives you a basic idea of how he is as a player. You love the deep receptions, of course, but I had to put this 60-yard catch against Kansas State in the Sugar Bowl. This is a seemingly simple short crosser, but from Gibbs just disintegrating linebacker Austin Moore with a preposterous foot fake, to the “I’m open” move, to the speed after the catch, to the acceleration up the boundary, Gibbs is clearly a player who can creative explosives out of plays a lot of running backs just couldn’t.
Gibbs blends appealing contact balance for his size with elite lateral agility, and the kind of multi-directional speed that will leave defenders in his dust. Add a level of vision that a lot of backs would envy, and it’s a very complete package.
Weaknesses: Gibbs’ size and prediction for getting into release routes out of the backfield makes him a less than optimal pass-blocker; he’s more of an innocent bystander than an interested party.
Conclusion: If you’re selecting Jahmyr Gibbs for your NFL team, probably in the bottom of the first round or the top of the second, you’re not doing that because you want a headbanger who impose his will on enemy defenses. You are doing so because you want to add an offensive weapon who has a proven ability to maximize his athletic attributes everywhere from the backfield to the slot to out wide, with possible further development along the way. He’s a prototype player for any team looking for elements in their running back that brings to mind anybody from Brian Westbrook to Le’Veon Bell.
NFL Comparison: Alvin Kamara. It’s the obvious comparison, it’s the one everybody is using, and while I could try to be cute and go elsewhere, it just makes too much sense. Selected by the Saints in the third round of the 2017 draft, Kamara was the ideal lightning/satellite back in Sean Payton’s offense. Payton helped to force the advent of the base nickel defense by moving Reggie Bush from the backfield to the slot, Kamara was a furtherance of that paradigm, and in a lot of ways, Gibbs is the next step in the progression — or, at the very least, a very good copy of the original.
32. Keion White, DL, Georgia Tech
Height: 6’5″ (79th percentile) Weight: 285 (91st)
40-Yard Dash: N/A
10-Yard Split: N/A
Bench Press: 30 reps (89th)
Vertical Jump: 34″ (60th)
Broad Jump: 117″ (57th)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 34″ (69th)
Hand Size: 10⅛” (71st)
Bio: White was a two-way star at Garner High in Garner, North Carolina, playing both defensive end and tight end. He originally committed to Old Dominion, and made his impact on the edge before transferring to Georgia Tech for the 2021 season, his redshirt junior season. White had just 72 snaps for the Yellow Jackets in that first campaign, but he really put it together in 2022. Last season, White totaled seven sacks, four quarterback hits, 30 quarterback hurries, one batted pass, 33 tackles, and 28 stops. White had 445 snaps outside the tackles, 96 over the tackles, 39 in the B-gaps, and three in the box.
Stat to Know: Last season, White allowed six catches on eight targets for 179 yards, 135 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, no interceptions, no pass breakups, three penalties, and an opponent passer rating of 156.3. I’m not sure you want him covering tight ends up the numbers, for example.
Strengths: As an interior defender, White’s ability to displace far bigger blockers is just fun to watch. He’ll come at a guard with the punch of a 300-pound man, and it shows up on tape — especially when working through double teams.
And if White gets his hands into your base before you’re ready for it, it could be a real problem for your blocking future.
Weaknesses: When White does get stalemated at the line of scrimmage, you’d like to see him develop more second-reaction moves and counters to get out of it. He’s violent with his hands, but not always in a refined sense.
Conclusion: White comes into an NFL that seems tailored for his skill set in some ways. The need for multi-gap power disruptors is high, and he checks all the boxes in most categories. You’re not going to get an excessive amount of bend and edge athleticism from White’s game, but he’ll surprise you once in a while, and with some technique refinement, he could be well on his way to status as an indispensable cog in a professional defensive front.
NFL Comparison: Denico Autry. An undrafted free agent out of Mississippi State by way of East Mississippi Community College, Autry first got on with the Raiders in 2017, became a real force multiplier with the Colts in 2019 and 2020, and has continued that with the Titans over the last two seasons. Like White, Autry came from relatively humble athletic beginnings to maximize what he could bring to a team, and now, he does it as a hybrid-sized game-wrecker from all over the line.
33. Antonio Johnson Jr, S, Texas A&M
Height: 6′ 2″ (86th percentile) Weight: 198 (18th)
40-Yard Dash: 4.52 (64th)
10-Yard Split: 1.57 (55th)
Bench Press: 8 reps (1st)
Vertical Jump: 31″ (5th)
Broad Jump: 118″ (32nd)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 32⅛” (68th)
Hand Size: 9¾” (80th)
Bio: A four-star recruit from East St. Louis, Illinois, Johnson hit the ground running for the Aggies, starting in Texas A&M’s Orange Bowl win over North Carolina as a true freshman. Over three seasons, he had two sacks, 14 pressures, 125 tackles, 60 stops, and 75 catches allowed on 106 targets for 506 yards, 366 yards after the catch, four touchdowns, one interception, one pass breakup, and an opponent passer rating of 89.6. Johnson played 262 snaps in the box, 123 at free safety, 1,029 in the slot, 33 at cornerback, and 92 along the defensive line.
Stat to Know: In 2022, Johnson had five tackles for loss in the slot, in the box, and as an edge blitzer.
Strengths: Johnson can use his size and aggressive nature to make life tough for quarterbacks as a pressure defender. Auburn’s left tackle really didn’t appreciate getting embarrassed by a 6-foot-2, 198-pound safety on this sack, but that’s what happened.
And as he showed against LSU, Johnson will not hesitate to get grimy when a running back is coming straight at him, whether Johnson is in the box or playing deep to start.
Johnson is comfortable enough as a deep safety despite his non-existent interception and pass breakup numbers in 2022; on this play against Auburn, he probably would have had a pick were it not for an over-eager teammate.
Weaknesses: Johnson’s height shows up as a negative when he’s asked to cover smaller, quicker receivers underneath — it’s common among defenders with longer moving parts, but it does dot his game tape. Any kind of comeback can be a problem from the slot.
Johnson can also struggle to catch up in off-coverage at times; if you’re putting him in the slot, you probably want him pressing and disrupting the receiver more often than not. Otherwise, that extra millisecond it takes him to get everything moving in the same direction will lead to some easy completions.
Conclusion: Teams want big aggressors at the safety positions, especially when you get closer to the line of scrimmage, and Johnson should be able to walk into his NFL facility from Day 1 with that palette ready to go. He was an underrated and under-utilized deep defender who could be built up in that role, and he’ll be one of your best blitzers from the start.
NFL Comparison: Kyle Dugger. Selected by the Patriots in the second round of the 2020 draft out of Lenoir-Rhyne, Dugger is a bigger (6-foot-2, 220) defender who excels everywhere from boxbacker to press slot defender to the deep third at times. Like Johnson, Dugger is at his best when he can set the tone against receivers as opposed to letting them get him out of phase with certain route concepts, and he’s become one of the most valuable cogs in New England’s defense. Johnson could be that kind of player with a few technique fixes, and maybe a couple of protein shakes.
34. Cam Smith, CB, South Carolina
Height: 6′ 0¾” (70th percentile) Weight: 180 (8th)
40-Yard Dash: 4.43 (72nd)
10-Yard Split: 1.49 (89th)
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: 38″ (75th)
Broad Jump: 134″ (96th)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: 76⅛” (58th)
Arm Length: 31⅝” (59th)
Hand Size: 9⅛” (47th)
Bio: A noted star prospect at both Meade High School in Maryland and Westwood High School in South Carolina, Smith redshirted his first year with the Gamecocks (appearing for just 40 snaps) before breaking onto the scene in 2020 with a two-interception season.
Over four years with South Carolina, Smith had no sacks, four pressures, 71 tackles, 20 stops, and he allowed 48 catches on 94 targets for 701 yards, 184 yards after the catch, seven touchdowns, six interceptions, six pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 73.9. Smith had 1,009 snaps at outside cornerback, 235 in the slot, 74 in the box, 22 at free safety, and 14 along the defensive line.
Stat to Know: In man coverage last season, Smith allowed just seven catches on 23 targets for 53 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions, four pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 21.8.
Strengths: Smith is also excellent in off coverage because he anticipates routes so well, and he closes to the receiver quickly. Once he’s on your track, you’ll have a tough time shaking him.
In fact, you can play Smith at safety depth and get away with it because he closes to the ball so well.
Weaknesses: As a force defender against the run, or when asked to blow through screens to the ball, Smith might not be your first choice, because he’s more of a technician than an aggressor.
Conclusion: Smith isn’t the most obviously gifted cornerback on this list’ his tape doesn’t blow you away as much as it lulls you into a safe, happy place because he’s just so consistently good in coverage. But most teams would rather have the cornerback who just keeps things under control than amazes and frustrates with boom/bust drama, and Smith fits that role well.
NFL Comparison: Derek Cox. Who is Derek Cox, you may ask? He was selected by the Jaguars in the third round of the 2009 draft out of William and Mary, and he had three different four-interception seasons in four years for Jacksonville, and he had his hands all over the ball, with 11 pass deflections in both 2009 and 2012. Cox stood 6-foot-1 and weighed 180 pounds, and he’s probably the best recent example of how a player with similar build and ball skills to Cam Smith can succeed in the NFL. Most cornerbacks who played at a high level at around 180 pounds did so well before our time, but Cox proved that it’s still possible in the modern era.
35. Will McDonald IV, EDGE, Iowa State
Height: 6′ 3⅝” (46th percentile) Weight: 239 (3rd)
40-Yard Dash: N/A
10-Yard Split: N/A
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: 36″ (79th)
Broad Jump: 132″ (98th)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: 82¼” (80th)
Arm Length: 34⅞” (90th)
Hand Size: 9½” (26th)
Bio: McDonald was also a baseball, basketball and track star at Waukesha North High in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and the three-star recruit chose Iowa State over Minnesota and Baylor. Over five seasons with the Cyclones, McDonald put up 35 sacks, 20 quarterback hits, 72 quarterback hurries, eight batted passes, 11 forced fumbles, 56 tackles, and 73 stops. McDonald had 981 snaps outside the tackles, 396 over the tackles, and 101 in the B-gaps. He also spent 21 of his snaps in the box, and four in the slot.
Stat to Know: In 2022, McDonald spent just 80% of his time designated as an edge defender, and not always to his best benefit. We’ll get into this right away.
Strengths: So, here’s the problem. Iowa State plays a ton of three-man fronts in which McDonald was either inside or outside the tackles. This forced him to work outside, or outside to inside, without the help you’d get in more populated fronts, and he also had to deal with the inside shoulder of the tackle and the outside shoulder of the guard far more than anybody his size should have to.
When he was outside the tackle, McDonald did get to show off his inside counters, which are pretty nice. He’ll put some NFL tackles off-center pretty quickly with moves like these from shoulder to shoulder.
McDonald did develop some cool hacks when he had to work inside. On this run stop against Kansas, he had to deal with the slide from the offensive line, and he beat the left tackle by out-running him to the gap. Not that you’d want your 6-foot-4, 240-pound edge rusher in this position, but hey — points to McDonald for making it work.
The more I watched McDonald, the more I was impressed with his technical palette. Here against Texas Tech, he was actually the EDGE in a four-man front (progress!), and he did a nice job of disengaging from his first spin move with a second to unravel and present pressure.
McDonald also has some speed-to-power skills.
Weaknesses: Setting the schematic schisms aside, McDonald isn’t going to bust up a lot of double teams or be a power run defender, but you don’t really want him on that wall, anyway.
Conclusion: The NFL team that takes Will McDonald IV might wind up with one of the best surprises and biggest bargains in this draft class. His speed, bend, play strength (at times) and advanced technical bag should have him becoming a problem as a rusher outside the tackles with more help than he had in college. There are times as a draft evaluator when you have to remind yourself that college coaches don’t always put their players in ideal positions to succeed, and you then have to take the traits to the pros with that in mind. McDonald has enough good tape in enough ways to make that a pleasant experience.
NFL Comparison: Robert Quinn. I’m not going to compare McDonald to Dwight Freeney, though there are similarities in the spin techniques and the ability to create turnovers. So, I’ll go with Quinn, selected with the 14th pick of the 2011 draft by the Rams. Quinn has parlayed a smooth, quick, athletic took box to 106 sacks, 505 total pressures, and 26 forced fumbles in his NFL career so far. It’s hard to give an accurate comp for McDonald right now because he’ll be used so differently in the NFL, and to his great advantage. I can’t wait to see what he does at the next level.
36. Hendon Hooker, QB, Tennessee
Height: 6′ 3⅛” (63rd percentile) Weight: 217 (34th)
40-Yard Dash: N/A
10-Yard Split: N/A
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: N/A
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 33″ (81st)
Hand Size: 10½” (95th)
Bio: A four-star recruit out of Dudley High School in Greensboro, North Carolina, Hooker chose Virginia Tech over Notre Dame, among other schools. After three seasons on the field with the Hokies, Hooker graduated in December 2020 with a degree in public relations, and went looking for a new home in the transfer portal. He chose Tennessee over Ohio State and Colorado, among other schools. In his collegiate career, Hooker completed 633 of 951 passes for 8,982 80 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, and a passer rating of 119.7. He also gained 2,079 yards and scored 25 touchdowns on 517 rushing attempts.
Hooker was off to a torrid start in 2022, completing 229 of 331 passes for 3,135 yards, 27 touchdowns, two interceptions, and a passer rating of 123.9 before suffering a torn ACL against South Carolina.
Stat to Know: The NFL classifies explosive passing plays as those plays gaining 16 yards or more, and when throwing passes of 16 or more air yards dead over the middle in 2022, Hooker completed seven of 14 passes for 171 yards, 134 air yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 134.2.
How did C.J. Stroud and Bryce Young, the consensus top two quarterbacks in this class, fare on such passes in 2022?
Stroud: 12 completions in 23 attempts for 391 yards, 270 air yards, six touchdowns, three interceptions, and a passer rating of 97.6.
Young: Two completions in 11 attempts for 63 yards, 58 air yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 50.9.
Now, it’s time to look at the nature of those throws in Hooker’s case.
Strengths: When you’re evaluating Hooker as an NFL prospect, you absolutely have to take his college offense into account. The Vols were stretching defenses horizontally and vertically to an extreme degree, and that gave Hooker a lot of easy, defined openings. So then, you have to separate the transferable traits from an offense that isn’t 100% transferable.
When it comes to not only making tight-window throws over the middle, but also reading his receivers, I like this 14-yard completion to Ramel Keyton against South Carolina in Hooker’s final college game. He started by looking the deep safety off to the other side of the field, read the outside front-side receiver as an unfavorable look, and hit Keyton in stride where the receiver could get the ball, and the defender couldn’t.
And on this 43-yard pass to Keyton against Florida in Week 4, Hooker had to wait for his receiver to get any separation from cornerback Jason Marshall Jr., who was making that pretty tough. The solution was to get the ball past Marshall at the right time, which Hooker did.
On this 78-yard completion to Jalin Hyatt against Alabama in Week 7, was Hooker assisted by Hyatt’s preposterous downfield speed? Sure. Did he also make a stick throw to his target between two converging defenders with timing and placement? It kinda looks like he did.
This 28-yard touchdown pass to Cedric Tillman against Pitt in Week 2 wasn’t over the middle, but I think it presented another example of Hooker reading the situation well and capitalizing when the opportunity arose. Pitt clogged the middle of the field here, so Hooker’s best option was to wait for Tillman to get open against fairly good lockdown coverage to the boundary. This he did, while stepping up in the pocket to give himself the needed time for everything to play out.
I think there are enough examples of Hooker making the kinds of NFL throws required to strike a balance between what he did in college, and what he’ll be expected to do at the next level.
Weaknesses: Hooker’s passing efficiency is bumped up to a point not only by the nature of his offense, but by the fact that he took a lot of sacks (28 in 2022) when he wasn’t clear about what he was seeing. You have to manage the high completion rate and low mistake rate with that in mind. Here, South Carolina was showing a Cover-0 look which they spun to 2-deep post-snap, and Hooker froze a bit. He’s going to see stuff like this all the time in the NFL, so that’s a thing.
Overall. Hooker was good against two-deep coverages last season (69 of 100 for 947 yards, 742 air yards, eight touchdowns, and two interceptions), but he does need to work on adaptive strategies for when his receivers are pressed, and he has to re-set quickly. Georgia took his spread offense and spit it right back at him more often than not. Hooker completed 23 of 33 passes against the Bulldogs for 195 yards, no touchdowns, one interception, eight sacks (!!!), and a passer rating of 72.2 — by far the worst performance of his season. Hooker’s NFL coaches will need to work with him on getting the ball out in time to avoid disasters like this.
Conclusion:
NFL Comparison: Geno Smith.
37. Lukas Van Ness, DL, Iowa
38. Quentin Johnston, WR, TCU
Height: 6′ 2¾” (76th percentile) Weight: 208 (64th)
40-Yard Dash: N/A
10-Yard Split: N/A
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: 40½” (93rd)
Broad Jump: 134″ (97th)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: 81⅝” (96th)
Arm Length: 33⅝” (91st)
Hand Size: 9⅝” (68th)
Bio: Johnston was a basketball and track star at Temple High School in Temple, Texas, but football was his primary avocation. A four-star recruit, Johnston originally committed to Texas, but repeated entreaties from then-TCU head coach Gary Patterson and receivers coach Malcolm Kelly had Johnston changing his mind in favor of the Horned Frogs. Over three seasons with TCU, Johnston caught 115 passes in 199 targets for 2,158 yards and 14 touchdowns. In 2022, he had 412 snaps out wide, and 35 in the slot.
Stat to Know: 533 of Johnston’s 1,069 receiving yards came after the catch in 2022, the most YAC for any receiver in this class. Even a cursory look at his game tape will leave you completely unsurprised by this particular metric.
Strengths: Johnston’s size/speed profile forced defenses think more than twice about giving him single coverage; you really needed a bracket to deal with him when he was on point. As a deep crosser/post weapon, he is a real problem.
That’s also where the after-catch magic comes in; unless you’ve got your shoulders square to attack Johnston when he’s got the ball, you are in for a rude education.
Not that Johnston is limited to after-catch magic. This 51-yard catch against Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship game saw him shaking cornerback Julius Brents out of the picture, and adjusting to a pressured throw from quarterback Max Duggan.
Weaknesses: Johnston’s much-discussed issues with drops are definitely a thing. He had eight last season, and most of them were either simple focus drops, or instances in which he was so into turning and getting upfield, that he forgot to bring the ball with him. Oops.
And for a receiver his size, with his physicality as a pass-catcher, you’d certainly want him to be a more consistent and willing blocker.
Conclusion: Johnston profiles as a legitimate WR1 at the NFL level from a size/speed/traits perspective, but there are elements to his game that are lacking at this point, and he’s going to have to firm them up before he can really be that level of asset for his next team. Not that he can’t be a contributor in the NFL right away, but early on, there might be as much frustration as there is expectation until and unless he cuts down on the drops, expands his route palette, and plays in a more physical style that befits the archetype.
NFL Comparison: Tee Higgins. Selected with the first pick in the second round of the 2020 draft (the same draft that gave the Bengals Joe Burrow with the first overall pick), Higgins came into the league as a big (6-foot-4, 219 pound) receiver with all the traits, but gaps in consistency. Higgins has been incredibly productive in the NFL, especially over the last two seasons, and like Higgins, Johnston could be the same in any offense where he’s not the alpha dog, with the point of defensive focus on him every week. He could be part of a hellacious one-two punch, as Higgins is with Ja’Marr Chase, pretty quickly.
39. Michael Mayer, TE, Notre Dame
Height: 6′ 4½” (52nd percentile) Weight: 249 (33rd)
40-Yard Dash: 4.70 (66th)
10-Yard Split: 1.66 (32nd)
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: 32½” (42nd)
Broad Jump: 118″ (68th)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: 76¼” (9th)
Arm Length: 31⅝” (7th)
Hand Size: 9½” 924th)
Bio: Mayer grew up dreaming of playing basketball at Kentucky, but when he enrolled at Covington High in Covington, Kentucky, he started playing football, and it really stuck. He was a U.S. Army All-American and Kentucky’s 2019 Mr. Football, helping Covington to a 44-1 record with two state titles in his three varsity seasons. The five-star recruit chose Notre Dame over Penn State and Kentucky among a host of schools. Over three seasons with the Fighting Irish, Mayer caught 180 passes on 255 targets for 2,099 yards and 18 touchdowns. In 2022, he had 463 snaps aligned to the formation, 202 in the slot, 63 out wide, 19 in the backfield, and one on the offensive line.
Stat to Know: Mayer led all tight ends in the 2023 class with eight receptions of 20 or more air yards, gaining 420 yards and scoring four touchdowns on those plays.
Strengths: Mayer isn’t an explosive player with a lot of juice downfield — and we’ll get more into that in a minute — but he does have the ability to stack defenders with route awareness, and there are times when he looks like a proto-Gronk when he gets by opponents and just posts them up in some remarkable ways.
Mayer is also a highly effective receiver on short passes because he can explode (in a relative sense) after the catch. He’s learned through tons of positive experience to not fear contact, because he can just beat people up in open space.
As a run- and pass-blocker, Mayer also has no issue getting grimy. He could use a bit of help latching onto his targets in open space, but he’s a willing and effective protector.
Weaknesses: If your tight end preference leans toward the explosive slot guy who can riddle defenders with short-area movement and speed, Mayer isn’t going to be your optimal choice. He needs to be schemed open for those big plays, because he’s not going to win in those situations with his own pure athleticism, and he’s at his best aligned to the formation.
Mayer’s speed deficits show up in a couple of ways — he’ll look downfield too quickly at times on shorter passes because he’s looking to get going, and if the timing of the throw is off at all, Mayer will let defenders into his kitchen for potential incompletions.
Conclusion: It’s easy to overthink players like Mayer to their own detriment. When a prospect does most everything pretty well to very well, few things badly, and few things spectacularly, we tend to label him a “safe pick” and move to the next guy, hoping for something more explosive. Mayer will not throw highlights all over his NFL team’s game tape, but that team will get a few splash plays, a manageably low rate of negative issues, and proven repeatable consistency game after game. That may sound boring to some, but there are times when boring is preferable to zany spikes in production. He is a true tight end in the old-school sense, and if that is what you want (or are willing to settle for) at the position, Mayer will be plug-and-play from Day 1. There’s nothing wrong with that.
NFL Comparison: Jason Witten. I could also go with Zach Ertz, though Ertz has been a bit more explosive throughout his career. Instead, let’s look at Witten, selected by the Cowboys in the third round of the 2003 draft out of Tennessee. Witten was nobody’s idea of a speed demon, and he wouldn’t necessarily fit the modern prototype of the detached big receiver masquerading positionally as a tight end, but he made 11 Pro Bowls and had two All-Pro nods because he was consistent, tough, and fearless on the field. He maximized his abilities, and I think Mayer will do the same in his own way with similar athletic limitations.
40. O'Cyrus Torrence, OG, Florida
Height: 6′ 5⅜” (85th percentile) Weight: 330 (87th)
40-Yard Dash: 5.31 (47th)
10-Yard Split: 1.84 (35th)
Bench Press: 23 reps (33rd)
Vertical Jump: 23½” (8th)
Broad Jump: 101″ (50th)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: 4.81 (41st)
Wingspan: 83⅞” (96th)
Arm Length: 33⅞” (74th)
Hand Size: 11¼” (98th)
Bio: A three-star recruit out of (St. Helena Central High in Greensburg, Louisiana, Torrence played football in high school in part to get in shape (he weighed 420 pounds at one point), and he received nothing but smaller-school offers. He chose Louisiana, making Freshman All-American in 2019, and First Team All-Sun Belt in 2021. The move to Florida was an unqualified success in 2022 — Torrence was a Consensus All-American and First Team All-SEC. In 2022 for the Gators, blocking for Anthony Richardson, Torrence allowed no sacks, no quarterback hits, and eight quarterback hurries in 355 pass-blocking reps.
Stat to Know: Torrence’s Blown Block Rate of 1% is the lowest for any collegiate guard on this list.
Strengths: When Torrence moves you in the run game, you tend to stay moved. He has an incredibly powerful base, and excellent upper-body strength to displace defensive tackles where he wants them to go.
Torrence’s better pass-protection snaps, especially on deep passes, are full of pure power. Other guards might want to focus on picking up a stunt or blitz; Torrence is just as likely to block everybody in front of him to put the argument to rest.
Other guards: *I gotta focus on the three-tech and pick up the blitzing linebacker*
O'Cyrus Torrence: Nah, I'll just block them both at the same time. pic.twitter.com/PNEs0WGIrH
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) April 14, 2023
Torrance is also more than capable of taking the best a defensive tackle has to give him when he’s backing up, and erasing that defensive tackle from the play. Even better NFL defensive tackles will need an extra bowl of Wheaties before taking him head-up. The dude is just comically strong.
Weaknesses: It’s a good thing that Torrence can block two guys at once. Perhaps it’s an adaptive strategy, because he does struggle with picking up stunts and games and overloaded fronts on the move. For the most part, Torrence is not really laterally adept.
Torrence is going to have to work on his ability to pick anything up to either side — it’s a problem with single-blockers, as well. More experienced defensive linemen at the NFL level, whose entire job is based on identifying and exploiting obvious weaknesses, will absolutely eat his lunch with this stuff.
Conclusion: If you run the offensive line for a gap-based power offense (hello, Ravens), Torrence might be the top guard on your board. He has the power to shut down just about anybody. But if you need the kind of lateral agility and movement skills common to guards who excel in more complicates schemes, he could he a short-term to long-term project. Torrence’s strength to and through contact is the best in this class among any offensive lineman, but he won’t be able to trade on that alone when he gets to the NFL.
NFL Comparison: Mike Iupati. Selected with the 17th overall pick in the 2010 draft out of Idaho, Iupati was a massive (6-foot-5, 331-pound) guard who won far more with power than speed and agility. There is still a place for those big earthmovers in today’s NFL (Iupati made four Pro Bowls and had one All-Pro nod) as long as they have enough athleticism to get past the obvious transitive issues with this kind of size and strength. Torrence has snaps in which this seems possible, but it might not happen overnight.
41. Jack Campbell, LB, Iowa
Height: 6′ 4⅝” (96th percentile) Weight: 249 (84th)
40-Yard Dash: 4.65 (67th)
10-Yard Split: 1.59 (70th)
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: 37½” (84th)
Broad Jump: 128″ (94th)
3-Cone Drill: 6.74 (95th)
20-Yard Shuttle: 4.24 (66th)
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 31⅞” (34th)
Hand Size: 10¼” (90th)
Bio: Campbell was named to the All-Iowa Elite all-state team by the Des Moines Register as a senior out of Cedar Falls High, and he also won his team’s Golden Hammer Award, which is the best name ever for such a prize. Campbell could have been a Division I basketball prospect, but chose instead to go with the Hawkeyes as a linebacker. Over four seasons with the Hawkeyes, he had three sacks, 37 total pressures, 205 tackles, 126 stops, and he allowed 74 catches on 94 targets for 309 yards, 477 yards after the catch, three touchdowns, five interceptions, six pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 82.1. In 2022, Campbell had 761 snaps at linebacker, 89 in the slot, 21 along the defensive line, and two at cornerback.
Stat to Know: On plays in which he was double-teamed last season (21 of them), Campbell allowed four yards per carry and no explosive plays as a tackler.
Strengths: Against double teams and slide blocks, Campbell is big and aggressive enough to clock through protections and create tackles for loss. He spends a lot of time diagnosing things after the snap, so one thinks this might be accelerated in a defense where he can just pin his ears back and go more often.
Campbell is pretty nifty in coverage for a guy his size — you wouldn’t want him taking a tight end 30 yards up the chute, but he’s perfectly capable of working from the middle of the field to curl/flat responsibilities.
As a pass-rusher, Campbell can bring it from just about anywhere in the front seven; he combines the speed to fly by multiple gaps and the power to deal with blockers in an appealing package.
Okay, he should have sealed the deal there. Here, in the same game against Kentucky, he chased the quarterback down and did just that.
Weaknesses: There are times when I’d like to see Campbell be more sudden with his movements — as I said, he spends so much time diagnosing, that he’ll sometimes be a tick behind the play, whether it’s in the open field, or defeating blocks in closed spaces. I don’t think it’s a play speed issue, but it does show up on tape in a negative sense.
Conclusion: If you’re running a heavy dime defense in the NFL and you’re looking for a 230-pound move ‘backer whose 4.4 speed transfers to the field, Campbell probably isn’t your ideal. But if you prefer a nice combination of the new-school athletic linebacker and the old-school downhill thumper, Campbell would be a great fit. I would love to see his NFL coaches get him out of his own head a little bit, and have him just scream to the ball at times instead of thinking and processing through every play.
NFL Comparison: Karlos Dansby. There aren’t a lot of linebackers who move as well as Campbell does at his height and weight, but Dansby was one. Selected in the second round of the 2004 draft by the Cardinals out of Auburn, Dansby proved able to do just about everything on the field at 6-foot-4 and 250 pounds. Campbell has that kind of potential — once again, let’s have him not think and diagnose quite as much once he gets the hang of his NFL defense.
42. Will Levis, QB, Kentucky
Height: 6′ 3⅞” (67th percentile) Weight: 229 (75th)
40-Yard Dash: N/A
10-Yard Split: N/A
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: 34″ (79th)
Broad Jump: 124″ (95th)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 32″ (48th)
Hand Size: 10⅝” (96th)
Bio: An alum of Xavier High School in Madison, Connecticut, Levis was a three-star recruit who didn’t start getting serious offers until he was named Football Rating MVP at Nike’s The Opening in 2017. He committed immediately to Penn State when he got that offer, and graduated in three years with a degree in finance. He struggled to get starting reps and transferred to Kentucky in 2021. In four collegiate seasons, Levis completed 478 of 739 passes for 5,880 yards, 46 touchdowns, 25 interceptions, and a passer rating of 95.8. He also gained 742 yards and scored 17 touchdowns on 312 rushing attempts.
Stat to Know: We are all up in our feelings comparing Levis to Josh Allen apparently, so consider this: In Levis’ final collegiate season, he completed 16 of 39 deep passes for 541 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, and a passer rating of 75.5.
In 2017, Allen ‘s final collegiate season, he completed 15 of 46 passes of 20 or more air yards for 441 yards, eight touchdowns, two interceptions, and a passer rating of 90.7.
If you’re going to compare Levis now to Allen then, you’d better go looking for those seven missing deep touchdowns.
Strengths: You’re going to hear a lot about Levis’ relatively mediocre supporting cast when excusing his inefficiencies, and that does show up on tape. If you’re going to throw deep to the boundary, you need at least one receiver who can beat tight boundary coverage.
There were times when Levis’ targets could do that, as seen by receiver Barion Brown on this 31-yard completion against Georgia cornerback Kelee Ringo. Browning did a really nice job of separating at the right moment to get the ball Ringo couldn’t.
And here’s Levis throwing to Brown against Ringo from the slot in that same game — this time, for a 42-yard gain. One might call this an underthrow to a point — I tend to think that if Anthony Richardson was throwing this ball, it might have been a touchdown — but we’re splitting hairs there.
Now, there are times when timing, touch, and accuracy come together for Levis, and you can see where all the love comes from. This 47-yard guided missile to Brown over two defenders is a great throw, no matter who’s throwing it. Levis had to move in the pocket and reset to make the throw, and he did so beautifully.
Weaknesses: The problem with the throw we just saw is that Levis is too inconsistent in putting the timing/accuracy/velocity equation together. He will veer towards arm talent, and then regress back to arm strength, where you’re just not sure what you’re going to get. As this interception against Youngtown State showed, Levis struggles with the combination of these three aspects too often.
Levis can throw to any area of the field in which his receivers are decidedly open, and he will make the occasional big-time throw with outstanding velocity. But the finishing touches that make great NFL deep-ball throwers are not on display nearly enough.
One thing Levis will absolutely have to fix if he’s ever to become a top-tier NFL quarterback is a first-read fixation that got him in trouble too often at the NCAA level. His throwing windows are about to be reduced exponentially, so the processes that lead to plays like this just can’t happen. On this end zone incompletion against Vanderbilt, Levis followed tight end Jordan Dingle through his route, and when that was closed, he didn’t avail himself of any other options. Had he seen Brown’s backside crosser in time, it was open for a touchdown. Alas.
This end zone interception against Georgia had Kelee Ringo retorting for other sins in that game. Here, Levis started off reading Dingle on a similar route — taking the linebacker up the seam — and before that progressed, Levis threw to his outside read, the aforementioned Mr. Brown. Problem was, Ringo and safety David Daniel-Sisavanh were all over that, and it was obvious as the routes developed.
This interception against Tennessee had Levis giving perfunctory looks to his front-side reads (Brown and Tayvion Robinson), then traveling to the back side and making this inexplicable throw to Dane Key — which was picked off by cornerback Brandon Turnage. This was a third-and-seven situation, so maybe Levis thought he had to nuke one in there, but he also had a metric ton of room to run to that side, so… I dunno.
Levis isn’t doing himself any favors with these random plays predicated on a developmental ability to see — and react to — the entire route palette. His NFL coaches will have to put in work to get him where he needs to be in that regard.
If we want to label Levis a “winner” or a “finisher” as opposed to a
“gritty, tough guy,” it might behoove us to look at his red zone performance in the 2022 season. And that, my friends, is a problem. Levis threw 14 touchdown passes from the opposing 19-yard line and in, but he also led the nation with four interceptions in such instances, and he tied with North Carolina’s Drake Maye and San Jose State’s Chevan Cordeiro for the nation’s most red zone sacks, with 10.
We’ve already shown a couple examples, but here’s another red zone interception against Miami of Ohio in which Levis has tight end Keaton Upshaw open to the boundary on a well-executed pick play, and Levis can’t time it up. If he feathers the pass to Upshaw earlier, or zings it to Upshaw to make up for the elapse of time, maybe defensive back Eli Blakey doesn’t have an easy turnover. Upshaw’s WTF reaction is one that I suspect a lot of people would have at the end of this play.
This sack at the Georgia 16-yard line with 4:51 left in the fourth quarter of that game was notable because cornerback Javon Bullard got the takedown with a blitz from the slot. Rule No. 1 when you have a blitzer from an area of the field is to check for easy openings to the area of the field vacated by said blitzer. Dane Key had sone free real estate in the left slot, and if Levis had simply capitalized, maybe that’s a touchdown.
At this point in his progression, Levis’s slow reading ability, and his inability to capitalize on easy stuff in compressed areas, could be fatal at the NFL level. Again.., yes, he has tools, but his NFL coaches have their work cut out for them.
Conclusion: My evaluative process generally has me watching more tape of players who give me a negative hit right off the bat than the guys who just wow me. Because with those negative examples, I want to make sure I didn’t start with an atypically bad game. You don’t want to miss on a prospect because your evaluation started out on the wrong foot. So, I’ve watched a crapton of Will Levis, and I’m not any more sure of his NFL potential now than when I started. There are absolutely examples of Levis putting his athletic traits together in a compelling package, but they didn’t happen nearly enough, especially repeatedly enough, for me to be confident in his NFL future. Levis will need to be with NFL coaches who define things for him on every down. There’s nothing wrong with that per se — it’s not a professional death sentence. But when I weigh Levis’ experience against the rawness that’s still obvious… it’s a tough go.
NFL Comparison: Carson Wentz. Like Wentz, who was selected with the second overall pick in the 2016 draft out of North Dakota State, Levis brings a compelling bag of attributes that look good on their face until you dig underneath. Wentz has played at an MVP level when he operated very specifically in a defined offense with the Eagles, and he’s been mystery meat ever since in a variety of systems. Quarterbacks like Wentz and Levis, whose athletic traits pop off the tape, are always attractive until it’s time to successfully operate outside of structure, and then you just never know what you’re going to get. Not a great thing for the game’s most important position.
43. DJ Turner, CB, Michigan
Height: 5′ 11″ (42nd percentile) Weight: 178 (5th)
40-Yard Dash: 4.26 (99th)
10-Yard Split: 1.47 (96th)
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: 38½” (79th)
Broad Jump: 131″ (91st)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 30¾” (26th)
Hand Size: 9⅝” (83rd)
Bio: Turner helped North Gwinnett High School in Suwanee, Georgia to the 2017 GHSA Class AAAAAAA State Championship, and then transferred to the IMG Academy for his senior year. He was named Defensive Player of the Game in that 2017 state championship, and was named one of the 20 most athletic recruits in the finals of Nike The Opening in Frisco, Texas. Turner appeared in four games on special teams for the Wolverines in 2019, started to make his way into the secondary in 2020, started to make his way into the secondary in 2020, and then exploded in 2021 and 2022.
Over two seasons with primary cornerback experience in college, Turner had no sacks, three pressures, 65 tackles, 13 stops, and he allowed 59 catches on 130 targets for 675 yards, 215 yards after the catch, four touchdowns, three interceptions, 15 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 62.2. Turner played 1,202 snaps at outside cornerback, 94 in the box, 73 in the slot, five at free safety, and one along the defensive line.
Stat to Know: A lot of cornerbacks on this list are great when pressing receivers, but you’d struggle to find too many who are better in off coverage than Turner is. Last season, he allowed nine catches on 21 off-coverage targets for 93 yards..
Strengths: Turner excels in off coverage because his recovery speed is real, and it is spectacular. Moreover, he’s confident enough in it to flow smoothly from play to play without a lot of anxiety. Even if you turn him completely around, he’ll put himself back together and make up for it in ways that opposing quarterbacks must find shocking when they review the tape.
Yes, Turner is fast when he needs to be, but he’s also patient through routes, and he knows when and how to play the receiver and close to the ball. He’s great against the shorter, more angular routes that give a lot of athletic cornerbacks fits.
Weaknesses: Turner isn’t the most physically imposing cornerback on this list — he will get beaten up a bit by more aggressive receivers, and he’s not gong to be your first choice if you need a defensive back attuned to stopping the run.
And yes, Turner was the guy who allowed Quentin Johnson’s amazing 78-yard scamper in the Fiesta Bowl with this tackle-like product in need of refund status. Ouch.
Conclusion: Turner’s value to the NFL will depend on how many teams value true technicians who move the needle more with their athletic potential and understanding of the nuances of the position as opposed to glass-eaters who just want to humiliate the receivers they cover. I’d be perfectly happy with a cornerback like Turner who can just make receivers disappear, but that’s a subjective thing.
NFL Comparison: Johnathan Joseph. Selected with the 24th overall pick in the 2006 draft by the Bengals out of South Carolina, Joseph played 14 years in the NFL for Cincinnati, the Texans, the Cardinals, and the Titans. Joseph at his peak was always an underrated cornerback who did a great job of taking his freaky combine numbers to the field. Similarly, Turner’s tape shows a lot more than just another fast guy running around the field with half a clue.
44. Siaki Ika, DT, Baylor
Height: 6′ 3¼” (60th percentile) Weight: 335 (94th)
40-Yard Dash: 5.39 (5th)
10-Yard Split: 1.88 (1st)
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: N/A
3-Cone Drill: 7.8 (37th)
20-Yard Shuttle: 4.99 (4th)
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 32⅜” (22th)
Hand Size: 10¼” (73rd)
Bio: A universal four-star prospect out of East High School in Salt Lake City, Utah, Ika started his collegiate career at LSU, played on the 2019 National Championship team, and moved to Baylor via the transfer portal for the 2021 season. He won Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year, and went on from there. Over four seasons with the Fighting Tigers and Bears, Ika totaled seven sacks, 12 quarterback hits, 40 quarterback hurries, 53 tackles, and 45 stops. He had 664 snaps in the B-gaps, 574 in the A-gaps, and two over the tackles.
Stat to Know: Ika is seen primarily by some as a nose tackle, but six of his 18 pressures last season came when he was either aligned right over the guard, or to the guard’s outside shoulder.
Strengths: When he’s fresh in a game and on point, Ika’s movement skills for his size are preposterous. He possesses the kind of lateral movement and penetrative technique you dream of in most bigger, block-soaking nose tackles. This is true of his efforts as a run defender…
…and how he’s able to affect opposing quarterbacks. Ika’s relentless effort at times is a true force multiplier for his athletic toolbox.
Ika also has a nice elemental skill set for getting off blocks quickly that could be accentuated by further NFL coaching.
Weaknesses: Just three of Ika’s 18 pressures, and none of his three tackles for loss, came in the fourth quarter of games last season. You always wonder how long into a game guys his size will last, and there are legitimate concerns with that. Ika will start to fall off and miss things when he gets gassed. Not that Bijan Robinson is easy to tackle under the best of circumstances, but…
And needless to say, you’d like a guy his size to be a cheat code against double teams. For all his speed/power mix, Ika doesn’t always use his leverage to its maximum advantage.
Conclusion: Former Giants executive George Young’s “Planet Theory,” which is often mis-attributed to Bill Parcells, postulates that there are only so many people on the planet big enough and athletic enough to excel on the line of scrimmage in the National Football League. This applies to Ika in both a positive and negative sense. When he’s on, Ika is a Destroyer of Worlds, capable of taking half an offensive line and whoever’s unfortunate enough to have the ball right to the woodshed. However, his off-snaps will be cause for concern in NFL buildings. Making the most of Ika’s potential would have some NFL team with the kind of defensive weapon you just don’t see that often, but we’ll have to wait and see if that actually happens.
NFL Comparison: Vita Vea. When Vea came out of Washington for the 2018 draft, he was selected 12th overall by the Buccaneers despite similar concerns regarding the consistency of his play. The collegiate version of Vea was a terror on one series, and all too average the next. But Vea has made the most of his tools at the next level, and if Ika can do the same, he could have the same kind of unique — and transformative — impact.
45. Josh Downs, WR, North Carolina
Height: 5′ 9⅛” (8th percentile) Weight: 171 (2nd)
40-Yard Dash: 4.48 (63rd)
10-Yard Split: 1.49 (93rd)
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: 38½” (83rd)
Broad Jump: 131″ (92nd)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 30⅜” (12th)
Hand Size: 9¼” (39th)
Bio: Downs played his high school ball at North Gwinnett High School in Suwanee, Georgia (alums include Jared Cook, C.J. Uzomah, and Ja’Wuan James), and he was called up to the varsity team in his freshman year. An All-State and All-County player who finished his high-school tenure with 187 catches for 3,019 yards and 32 touchdowns, Downs also lettered in basketball and track. A three-star recruit, Downs was offered by several major schools, but decided on North Carolina after former NFL cornerback Dre’ Bly, who played for the Rams, Lions, Broncos, and 49ers from 1999-2009, was hired as the Tar Heels’ cornerbacks coach. Bly, who is now the Lions’ cornerbacks coach, is Downs’ uncle.
In three seasons with North Carolina, Downs caught 202 passes on 272 targets for 2,483 yards and 22 touchdowns. Last season, he had 815 snaps in the slot, 16 in the backfield, 14 out wide, and one inline.
Stat to Know: Sports Info Solutions defined its “Unique Routes Run” metrics as the number of distinct routes that a receiver ran at least once in a season. Downs led all receivers in this class with 23 Unique Routes Run.
Strengths: Downs is regarded primarily as a slot receiver due to his size, but he was also a pest, over and over, from the outside on all kinds of shorter routes like slants, drags, hitches, and out routes from the outside. Wherever you line him up, he has the quick movement skills to get open, and the speed to make something of it after the catch.
Of course, you really want Downs as a slot weapon in your offense, and he brings the attributes above, as well as an ability to play bigger and taller than he is at the catch point, to the inside. Downs isn’t going to bully anybody out there, but he’s not afraid of contact.
He’s also mot afraid to catch the ball over the middle, probably because he knows he can just run away from defenders before they can get a lick on him.
Weaknesses: As is the case with most smaller, faster receivers, Downs makes his after-catch bones in open space. He’s not a tackle-breaker to any great degree. And while he’s feisty enough against press coverage (you love the competitivetemperament in those situations), again, he’s a space player. He’s better at getting out of compressed situations than fighting against them.
Conclusion: Receivers like Downs are a preference as opposed to a mandatory type. You have to have a plan for him, and that plan involves the design of open-space concepts he can exploit. But in any NFL offense where such a player is valued, Downs could make immediate contributions with not only his speed and movement abilities, but also his route versatility.
NFL Comparison: Travis Benjamin. Selected in the fourth round of the 2012 draft by the Browns out of Miami, Benjamin was that same type of scooting receiver with the ability to beat defenders on all kinds of routes. At his peak with the Browns and Chargers, Benjamin could do those things both in the slot and outside. Not bad for a 5-foot-10, 175-pound receiver, and Downs could also be that sort of NFL weapon.
46. Clark Phillips III, CB, Utah
Height: 5″9′ (7th percentile) Weight: 184 (16th)
40-Yard Dash: 4.51 (44th)
10-Yard Split: 1.51 (74th)
Bench Press: 18 reps (81st)
Vertical Jump: 33″ (13th)
Broad Jump: N/A
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: 4.32 (17th)
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 29⅛” (1st)
Hand Size: 9⅛” (47th)
Bio: A four-star recruit out of La Habra High School in Orange County, California, Phillips chose to attach his name to a Utah program that has put out more than its share of fine NFL defensive backs in the last few years. He started at right cornerback in all five games of Utah’s COVID-shortened 2020 season, and remained a plus starter outside and in the slot throughout his collegiate career.
Over three seasons with the Utes, Phillips had one sack, five pressures, 107 tackles, 39 stops, and he allowed 114 catches on 178 targets for 1,362 yards, 557 yards after the catch, seven touchdowns, nine interceptions, 14 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 79.4. Phillips played 1,364 snaps at outside cornerback, 424 in the slot, 87 in the box, seven along the defensive line, and three at free safety.
Stat to Know: Some analysts refer to Phillips as a mostly zone cornerback — maybe it’s the size — but in man coverage for the 2022 season, he allowed just 11 catches on 28 targets for 145 yards, one touchdown, and three interceptions.
Strengths: Smith also works well on an island. When in Cover-1 and Cover-3 last season, he led the nation in interceptions with five, allowing 15 catches on 29 targets for 156 yards, and one touchdown. The footwork, transition skills, and closure to the ball make him an ideal cornerback to own a third of the field without help.
And this red zone defense of a pass from USC’s Caleb Williams to receiver Jordan Addison (one of the best receivers in this class) shows how well he moves from Point A to Point B and tracks the ball from there.
Weaknesses: Because of his size, Phillips really does need to establish ideal position against his receiver; if you are able to gain that geometric advantage, Phillips doesn’t always have the wingspan to match up.
Conclusion: Phillips’ size will have some teams dropping him on their boards or taking him off altogether, but for teams who have a more open-minded approach could be rewarded with a technician in the slot, and especially outside. It’s not impossible for him to succeed in the NFL; his coaches will just have to understand what he does well, and put him in positions where the measurables don’t matter.
NFL Comparison: Mike Hilton. An undrafted free agent out of Mississippi, Hilton got on with the Steelers, and has been an impact cornerback for Pittsburgh and the Bengals throughout his six-year career. He’s not the most imposing guy at 5-foot-9 and 184 pounds, but Hilton proves that you can succeed in the NFL without that stature if you’re a student of the game, and that transfers to the field in positive ways. Phillips profiles very much the same way.
47. Drew Sanders, LB/EDGE, Arkansas
Height: 6′ 4⅛” (96th percentile) Weight: 235 (33rd)
40-Yard Dash: N/A
10-Yard Split: N/A
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: N/A
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 32⅛” (43rd)
Hand Size: 9¾” (61st)
Bio: Everybody wanted Sanders out of Ryan High School in Denton, Texas, but Nick Saban bagged him for Alabama over offers from Oklahoma, LSU, Georgia, Notre Dame, Oregon and Penn State. Primarily an edge defender for the Crimson Tide in 2020 and 2021 (338 snaps on the defensive line, and just five in the box), Sanders chose to transfer to Arkansas for the 2022 season to move to a more traditional linebacker role — albeit with a lot of pass-rushing pop. In 2022 for the Razorbacks, Sanders had 11 sacks, 39 total pressures, 63 tackles, 43 stops, and he allowed 21 catches on 26 targets for 227 yards, 210 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, one interception, two pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 87.0.
Stat to Know: Sanders lined up along the edge on 20% of his snaps last season, amassing five sacks and 17 total pressures when he did so.
Strengths: Sanders has a real knack for getting to the quarterback whether he’s off-ball or on the edge; when he’s at the second level, he uses his closing speed (which is ridiculous for an off-ball linebacker) and range to close the distance between himself and the quarterback in a big hurry, even if he’s spying at first. Sanders can get to fifth gear right away.
Bryce Young discovered this last season in a highly unpleasant fashion.
Sanders can also bring his edge experience to the table with some nice speed-to-power stuff.
These attributes, as well as Sanders’ ability to take on blockers (running backs don’t like him very much at all in this regard), make him a plus run defender.
Weaknesses: Because he has just one year of experience as a true linebacker, Sanders is very raw in pass coverage. He struggles to pick up keys and will be left flat-footed more often than you’d like, even against short, easy stuff.
That off-ball inexperience also makes itself clear when Sanders tries to take on blocks in the run game, as opposed to just shooting gaps as a blitzer would. This is also a work in progress.
Conclusion: Sanders’ NFL team will have a series of fascinating discussions about his potential. There is an argument to be made that you just make him a pass-rusher most of the time, and forget about the linebacker stuff. On the other hand, if Sanders can get the hang of the nuances of the linebacker position over the next couple of seasons to add to all his existing attributes, he could be a true one-of-one player in the league. He’s a downhill linebacker and pass-rusher from Day 1; the question is, how much more can he become?
NFL Comparison: Connor Barwin. The Texans took Barwin in the second round of the 2009 draft out of Cincinnati, and while Barwin always had a decent number of snaps in the box throughout his career with Houston, the Eagles, the Rams, and the Giants, he was primarily an edge guy — and a very good one at his peak, with three seasons of double-digit sacks. Sanders profiles pretty well in that same way.
48. Cedric Tillman, WR, Tennessee
Height: 6′ 3″ (81st percentile) Weight: 213 (77th)
40-Yard Dash: 4.54 (37th)
10-Yard Split: 1.53 (68th)
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: 37″ (70th)
Broad Jump: 128″ (86th)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 32¾” (72nd)
Hand Size: 10″ (86th)
Bio: A three-star recruit out of Bishop Gorman High in Las Vegas, Tillman was high school teammates with eventual UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, among other notable names. He was lightly recruited, though, and it wasn’t until then-USC head coach Clay Helton told his brother Tyson, then Tennessee’s offensive coordinator, about Tillman that things got going. Tillman accepted the Vols’ offer for the 2018 class. In five seasons with Tennessee (two with serious playing time), Tillman caught 109 passes on 167 targets for 1,622 yards and 17 touchdowns.
Stat to Know: Tillman caught just three passes of 20 or more air yards last season, but two of them went for touchdowns.
Strengths: Tillman doesn’t have anything approaching home-run speed (the Vols had Jalin Hyatt for that), but he is capable of creating big plays with route nuance, after-catch toughness, and a nice awareness of the catch point.
Spread offenses are amplifiers for guys like Hiatt; Tillman may actually be more effective at the NFL level where his brand sheer determination after the catch is more valued in the short to intermediate game. There aren’t many receivers in this class who can drag defenders after the catch like he can — and is eager to.
That physicality extends to an ability to beat aggressive press coverage, as Tillman did here against Georgia cornerback Kelee Ringo. NFL cornerbacks who are used to pushing rookie receivers around might be surprised to see Tillman striking the first blow more often than not. In an NFL where quick game is the thing, and defenses are responding with more press coverage, this is an important next-level asset.
Weaknesses: Tillman does not have separation skills to any great degree — his speed is what it is, and he has a lot of assets to make up for it, but it’s just not his game. He’s also not going to make amazing plays that expand his catch radius.
Conclusion: Tillman’s athletic limitations will have some NFL teams wondering if he can be a credible starter in their offenses. If you want to run a track team on the field, that concern would be entirely legitimate. But if you have a need for a tough, smart receiver who is going to bail your quarterback out of some ugly situations and can be a plus in quick-game situations, Tillman might feast on your playbook. He is not spectacular, and he is not scheme-transcendent, but Tillman absolutely has a place in the right NFL home.
NFL Comparison: Eric Decker. Selected in the third round of the 2010 draft by the Broncos out of Minnesota, Decker became a high-volume receiver who was especially productive in Denver and for the Jets. Like Tillman (they ran the same 4.54-second 40-yard dash at the scouting combine), Decker was not a land speed wizard, nor did he create separation with anything but his wits and play strength. But Decker showed that there’s still a place for a receiver like this in today’s NFL — and again, with quick-game and RPO concepts increasing in popularity, there might be more of a place now than in Decker’s heyday.
49. Dawand Jones, OT, Ohio State
Height: 6′ 8¼” (97th percentile) Weight: 374 (98th)
40-Yard Dash: 5.35 (30th)
10-Yard Split: 1.92 (4th)
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: N/A
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: 87⅞” (97th)
Arm Length: 36⅜” (97th)
Hand Size: 11⅝” (98th)
Bio: Jones was primarily a basketball star at Ben Davis High
School in Indianapolis; he didn’t really focus on football until he was a senior. Still, he was a three-star recruit, and waited out several scholarships from his first favorite sport until he was able to choose the Buckeyes from a list that included Florida, Indiana, Penn State and USC. He wasn’t a full-time starter in college until 2021, when he became a fixture at right tackle.
Stat to Know: Jones allowed the fewest total pressures last season — no sacks, no quarterback hits, and five quarterback hurries — of any offensive tackle in his draft class, and he did so in 419 pass-blocking reps. He allowed just two quarterback hurries in 152 True Pass Set snaps.
Strengths: Jones’ movement skills for a man his size are rare. He gets to the second level quickly and efficiently, and when he gets there, he can turn on the power.
Of course, what you want if you’re putting a guy this big on your roster is the ability to just demolish everybody in the run game, and there are multiple snaps in which Jones proves eager and adept when it’s time to get nasty.
Jones’ size shows up as a positive when he’s able to just eclipse defensive linemen after he throws them out of the club with his ridiculous wingspan. Georgia’s Jalen Carter, the best defensive lineman (and perhaps the best overall player) in this class found it out on this rep, when Jones got his hands out, and Carter just couldn’t get anywhere near C.J. Stroud. If you come straight ahead at Jones… well, you’d best not miss.
Weaknesses: Jones will lose to defenders who can get to either side of him in a hurry; he’s not always as agile as you’d like in space. Not that the aforementioned Jalen Carter is an easy matchup for any offensive lineman, but you can see here how Jones struggles with quick movement at times.
Jones’ relative lack of lateral agility is evident from time to time when he needs to link with his fellow linemen in slide protection situations. He’ll get leaky when he shouldn’t.
Conclusion: Bigger offensive tackles have the ability to succeed in the NFL as long as they have plus movement skills, and Jones checks all the boxes there. His lateral issues can be coached up to a point, and managed with the right playing weight. He’s not a perfect fit for every NFL offense, but if you’re in charge of an offensive line where gap power is the point of the exercise, and you’re running a lot of quick game, Jones could be a great fit at the next level.
NFL Comparison: Orlando Brown Jr. The 6-foot-8, 363-pound Brown was selected by the Ravens in the third round of the 2018 draft out of Oklahoma. Brown was able to succeed in Baltimore’s heavy gap scheme at right tackle, and he subbed in on the left side for Ronnie Stanley when Stanley was hurt. That led to his trade to the Chiefs, in which Brown became a starting left tackle at a size you wouldn’t normally expect. Brown, who signed a major deal this offseason to be the Bengals’ left tackle, will lose edge-rushers around the arc, but like Jones, he’s great in quick-game pass pro, and there’s enough size and technique to make things work.
50. Tuli Tuipulotu, EDGE, USC
Height: 6′ 3¼” (51st percentile) Weight: 266 (25th)
40-Yard Dash: N/A
10-Yard Split: N/A
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: N/A
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 32¼” (15th)
Hand Size: 10⅛” (67th)
Bio: Tuipulotu’s connections to the USC football program are… intense. From his school bio:
His brother, Marlon, was a defensive lineman at USC (2017-20), earning All-Pac-12 first team in 2020, and now is with the Philadelphia Eagles. His cousins are former USC (2018-20) safety Talanoa Hufanga, the 2020 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year now with the San Francisco 49ers, and former USC (2005-08) defensive tackle Fili Moala, who played in the NFL with the Indianapolis Colts (2009-14).
Tuipulotu made The Athletic’s Freshman All-American second team and Pro Football Focus All-Pac-12 honorable mention, and became more productive and effective in each of his three seasons with the Trojans. From 2020 through 2022, Tuipulotu totaled 21 sacks, 13 quarterback hits, 60 quarterback hurries, three batted passes, 71 tackles, 63 stops, and four forced fumbles. Tuipulotu had 835 snaps outside the tackles, 446 over the tackles, 180 in the B-gaps, 61 in the box, 32 in the A-gaps, and eight in the slot.
Stat to Know: Tuipulotu’s 22 tackles for loss last season places him highest on this list. He also led the nation with 13 solo sacks.
Strengths: When you throw a 266-pound defensive end out in a wide-9 alignment, you’re assuming that he has not only the power, but also the speed to beat an offensive tackle around the arc. Tuipulotu has a proven ability to beat blockers with upper-body power moves as he’s also working to zoom past them to the quarterback. Tuipulotu’s suddenness is impressive for his size.
And while Tuipulotu isn’t particularly “bendy” in his ability to flatten his rush path around the corner, he has these bursts of acceleration at the right time to surprise tackles at the worst possible time — for the tackles, and for their quarterbacks. He will not be limited to an inside role at the next level, nor will he be automatically tethered to the tackle’s shoulder.
Tuipulotu’s heavy hands also allow him to knife through double teams and create run stops.
Weaknesses: Tuipulotu’s athleticism doesn’t always extend to open space; he’s probably not the first guy on your mind, for example, when it’s time to spy a mobile quarterback. He’s better as a straight-ahead “hunt and kill” disruptor.
Conclusion: Of all the multi-gap defensive linemen in this class who will primarily ply their trade as edge defenders in the NFL, Tuipulotu could well have the most upside as a pure edge guy with his quickness, flexibility, and suddenness to the quarterback. He’s done enough outside the tackles to prove that he has that on lock for his size, and I’ll be highly intrigued to see how his NFL team makes the most out of his athletic potential.
NFL Comparison: Adewale Ogunleye. An undrafted free agent out of Indiana, Ogunleye caught on with the Dolphins in 2001, had a couple of double-digit sack seasons with Miami and later Chicago, and was able to get to the quarterback at a high rate from multiple gaps when such things weren’t as common as they are today. At 6-foot-4 and 260 pounds, Ogunleye had “tweener” size for an edge defender, but he and his coaches turned that into versatile productivity, and I think Tuipulotu has similar traits.
