Senior Bowl
 

I found some Senior Bowl reports, so I thought I would post them.

From Great Blue North Draft Report

With the first day of practice at this year’s Senior Bowl in Mobile, here is a rundown of some of our observations from this afternoon’s workout, although we note that the players were only in shells and there was no tackling per se.

To put it simply, none of the QBs in today’s afternoon session which included Joe Milton of Tennessee, South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler, Michael Pratt of Tulane and South Alabama’s Carter Bradley threw the ball with any kind of authority.

The star of the day, at least in the afternoon session may have been WR Ladd McConkey of Georgia; he’s not all that big or fast, but displayed a dizzying of array of moves that left more than one cover guy wondering exactly where he’d gone. Don’t blink! To boot, McConkey also made at least one acrobatic diving catch to add to his resume. At the same time, Jamari Thrash of Louisville and McConkey’s Georgia teammate Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint got free for a number of receptions in the team drills. On the other hand, scouts had to be a little disappointed with what they saw from Johnny Wilson of Florida State and South Carolina’s Xavier Legette. Both are big receivers who made a couple of contested catches, but they really struggled to get much separation in the open field, while neither showed much of an extra gear when the ball was in the air.

If the American team (which practised in the afternoon) have an edge in Mobile one would figure its the offensive line which includes among others OTs Tyler Guyton and Patrick Paul. However, while both had their moments Tuesday afternoon, we’re not sure either was all that consistently dominant. Guyton, a potential top 15 candidate for 2024, for example, could really lock and generally kept his feet moving in pass protection, but lunged at a couple of rushers and pretty much whiffed completely. For his part, Paul consistently gave up too much penetration and seemed to have some issues planting and redirecting when challenged with counter moves. In fact, a pretty good case can be made the Christian Jones of Texas may actually have been the best OT on the day, while Missouri’s Javon Foster wasn’t all that far behind. A case could also be made that American team OGs were really good as a group as none of Brandon Colemen of TCU, Christian Haynes of UConn, Layden Robinson of Texas A&M and Miami’s Javion Cohen gave up much of anything.
On the other hand, we’re still waiting for someone on the American defensive line to really step. Alabama’s Chris Braswell did flash while rushing the passer on a couple of plays, while Florida State DT Braden Fiske stayed low and aggressive and was also able to make a couple of plays in the backfield.

January 30, 2024 - 1:36 pm

Preliminary observations from AM Senior Bowl practice … With the players warming up for this afternoon’s Senior Bowl practice, here are a couple or three or more preliminary observations from this morning’s workout, although we note that the players were only in shells and there was no tackling per se.

It didn’t appear as if Michael Penix threw the ball all that well on the day. Nothing egregous, but the precision just wasn’t there as a number of his passes were off-target.

It was also a somewhat disappointing day for UCLA DE Laiatu Latu, arguably the highest rated player in Mobile this week. He was buried by Oregon State’s Taliese Fuaga early in the OL-DL one-on-one drills and didn’t show much in the team portion, although he did beat BYU’s Kingsley Saumataia on a nice inside spin move to wrap up the day. And that may have been the issue with Latu who up until then had really only tried to win with outside speed. It was also a quiet day for Oregon’s Brandon Dorlus, who lined up both inside and out, but didn’t make much of a splash at either, On the whole though it was a pretty good day for the defensive linemen with Marshawn Kneeland of Western Michigan, Baylor’s Gabe Hall, and Austin Booker also showing some pretty good quickness getting into the backfield.

Speaking of Fuaga, on first blush he appeared to be the best offensive lineman in the morning session. He’s a big guy, but he plays low, gets good arm extension and has very quiet feet. Also on first blush it appeared that Oregon C/G and Illinois OG Isaiah Adams, the only Canadian on this year’s Senior Bowl roster, had solid mornings. On the other hand, Arizona’s Jordan Morgan had a bit of an up-and-down practice. He washed out DT Michael Hall, who otherwise was pretty solid, at least defending the run, but struggled at times especially reacting to counter moves. Utah OG Sataoa Laumea also had a tough time sustaining against quicker interior defenders.

The Senior Bowl is rarely a particularly good venue for RBs to show their stuff, but at least in today’s practice in shells, Marshall’s Rasheen Ali and USC’s Marshawn Lloyd both showed off some nice speed and quickness to the hole, while Lloyd also made a couple of nice catches downfield in one-on-one wrap-up contest working against Notre Dame LB JD Bertrand. Meanwhile, New Hampshire’s Dylan Laube, one of the few FCS players in Mobile this week, did not look at all out of place, although he didn’t seem to get as many touches as the other backs.
Nice day for Michigan WR Roman Wilson who showed some speed and quickness and caught the ball well, while it was an up-and-down day for North Carolina’s Tez Walker, who clearly has a second gear, but was a little slow off the snap and not that clean in his cuts.

Toledo CB Quinyon Mitchell, one of the big risers in the 2024 draft class, did nothing to slow that mo with some sticky coverage that resulted in a couple of PBUs. Meanwhile, Cam Hart of Notre Dame had a nice pick when he undercut an underneath route, but did appear to have some problems staying with receivers on deeper routes.

https://gbnreport.com/

And a link to the weigh in's:

https://www.seniorbowl.com/assets/pd...ter-012924.pdf

Good stuff! Maybe McConkey really is that dude, nice to hear Thrash is showing out too. Good for them.

No thanks on McConkey. He's pale Skyy Moore. Don't draft guys that don't have crazy traits.

Beau Limmer is a guy who seems to be showing out and has position versatility with guard and center. I wonder if he'd be a guy on our radar, especially given we'll be figuring out our future interior line during the 24 and 25 off-seasons.

I'm starting to think OT or DT in the 1st and trading up for a WR like Wilson in the 2nd might be our best bet.

Hard to really grasp these things without free agency first.

I’d rather trade up for Rice in the second round

Day 2 morning practice. Again from GBN:


Preliminary Senior Bowl Day 2 morning practice observations … The morning practice session at this week’s Senior Bowl in Mobile is in the books. Again, one doesn’t want to draw too many conclusions as there is a limited sample of plays for each player in the all-star game format. As well, while the players were in full pads, there really wasn’t any tackling allowed. We also don’t see everything. However, with all that said, here are some thoughts on the highlights and lowlights from this morning’s workout:

It was probably a better day for QB Michael Penix, whose passes were just a little crisper today. Still, there were still too many outright misses for Penix who really didn’t appear to be setting his feet. One also worries a little about what appears to be a somewhat elongated release. On the other hand, it appeared to be an outright miserable day for Bo Nix who appeared to be rushing things and tryimg to put too much mustard on his throws which resulted in a lot of wild passes that weren’t all that close to the intended receiver. And that’s just not his game which has always depended on precision accuracy.

No question that Michigan WR Roman Wilson has emerged as the top receiving threat for the morning team. Wilson isn’t all that big or physical, but he’s quick with an extra gear in space, plus he’s got great hands. It was also a nice day for Florida WR Ricky Pearsall who made a number of catches in the team drills. Again, not necessarilly going to burn people deep, but runs precise routes and has good hands. At the same time, UCF’s Javon Baker might have sent more than one team’s scouts back to the tapes as he showed some sneaky quick deep speed. On the other hand, North Carolina’s Tez Walker continued to fight the dropsies, although he didn’t appear to have a whole lot of trouble getting open.

It was also another nice day for Toledo CB Quinyon Mitchell, while like UM’s Wilson has clearly established himself as the top cover corner on the morning team. He punctuated that with a really nice interception. It was also an interesting day for Washington State CB Chau Smith-Wade, who isn’t exactly one of the most well-known prospects in Mobile. He’s also not all that big (5-10, 187) or long (with less than 30-inch arms); he’s also a little handsy in coverage, but he is very physical and will battle for position. As a result, he had a pick in today’s practice, but also stumbled on another occasion and gave up a big completion.

Very interesting day in the trenches. It was certainly a much better day for UCLA ER Laiatu Latu, arguably the highest rated player in Mobile who looked very tentative yesterday. He was particularly disruptive in the team drills as he just kept running around people either on quick outside moves or stunts to the inside. Indeed, he could have had 2-3 sacks on the day if sacks were allowed. He also showed a nice inside spin to slide away from Taliese Fuaga, the National team’s top OT in the one-on-one stuff. However, what we still haven’t seen from Latu is much physicality and the ability to take on and shed blockers. It appeared that Kansas DE Austin Booker also could have had a couple of sacks as could underrated Michigan DE Jaylen Harrell, while Western Michigan DE Marshawn Kneeland also got some pressures. On the other hand, we’re still waiting to see an impact from Oregon DE Brandon Dorlus who just hasn’t been able to get off blocks in Mobile. Meanwhile, Clemson’s DT Tyler Davis had a really nice workout with a couple of solid run stuffs as well as a couple of QB pressures; he’s a low built guy who gets off the snap quickly and is relentless getting after the ball.

Not surprisingly, with the National DEs racking up the pressures, it was a bit of a struggle for the team’s OTs this morning. Even Taliese Fuaga, who was so dominant yesterday struggled at times especially when forced to cut off the edge. At the same time, Jordan Morgan of Arizona, Marshall’s Ethan Driskell and Washington’s Roger Rosengarten all struggled to keep people in front of them today. On the other hand, several interior offensive linemen continued to play well for the National team. It appeared, for example, that Kansas C/G Domininck Puni had an outstanding workout; same for Wisconsin C/G Tanor Bortolini, while Isaiah Adams of Illinois was solid for the second straight day.

So apparently Sweat weighs 364lbs that's rather insane.

Quinyon Mitchell is making himself some bank with these Senior Bowl practices. Quinyon Island might be a thing.

Roman Wilson looking nice also, and had a really good televised interview yesterday. Very smart, likeable kid. 6’ 190 and runs in the mid 4.3s.

Jayhawk Austin Booker looking really nice at DE. Although the Left Tackle he’s facing, 6’9” 330lb Ethan Driskell is getting beaten like a drum by everyone I’ve seen him face. Dude is enormous, but moves like he’s wearing cement shoes.

Hope the Donks or the Faid take Bo Nix. He’s looked terrible so far today.

Roman Wilson with an absolutely sick catch 1 on 1 vs Quinyon Mitchell.

Paragraphs would be nice

I made it through about two sentences and it gave me a migraine

I really like what I'm reading/seeing about this kid.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Buy stock in Mizzou&#39;s Darius Robinson immediately. If I shared the player comp one of his American squad coaches gave me last night, it would change a lot of these first round mocks you&#39;re seeing right now. And that&#39;s just after Practice Day 1.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheDraftStartsInMOBILE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TheDraftStartsInMOBILE</a>™️ <a href="https://t.co/ddg8KK6ueu">pic.twitter.com/ddg8KK6ueu</a></p>&mdash; Jim Nagy (@JimNagy_SB) <a href="https://twitter.com/JimNagy_SB/status/1752698630451184058?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 31, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Missouri DL Darius Robinson is putting on a clinic at the Senior Bowl��<br><br> <a href="https://t.co/fCadFCjjHv">pic.twitter.com/fCadFCjjHv</a></p>&mdash; PFF College (@PFF_College) <a href="https://twitter.com/PFF_College/status/1752776905785213101?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 31, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Sorry! Done

Sorry about your migraine Johnny. I hope it doesn't last too many days.

Notes from PM Senior Bowl practice …

Arguably the best players on the field in Mobile Wednesday afternoon were defensive linemen Darius Robinson of Missouri and Texas’ T’Vondre Sweat. Robinson, a rising prospect with some late first-round aspirations had a quiet practice session on Tuesday, but rebounded nicely earlier today with a dominating performance. He’s not necessarily going to outrun anybody, but he’s got a quick, long first step, has better than advertised lateral agility and uses his long arms effectively to gain the advantage. It also looks like he has a pretty good motor in pursuit. The burly Sweat, of course, is a different kind of cat who is more brute strength than anything, but he was virtually unstoppable today bull-rushing the pocket, but just for good measure threw in a couple of sweet swim moves that opened a clear path to the QB. In fact, it was a pretty good day for the American team pass rushers as Myles Cole of Texas Tech, Nelson Creaser of Houston, UConn’s Eric Watts, and Justin Egoigbe of Alabama all got pressure on at least 2-3 plays. Somewhat surprisingly, the one American pass rusher who didn’t get much pressure was Alabama’s Chris Braswell, the highest rated DE/ER in Mobile.

The Tide’s Braswell did have some really good battles with Texas OT Christian Jones, but in the end it was the Longhorns’ rising star that got an easy decision. In fact, Jones was again the most consistent OT for the American team, although he did get beaten by UConn’s Watts early in the one-on-one pass blocking drills; otherwise, though, he pretty much pitched a shutout. One tackle who didn’t manage a shutout today, though, was Oklahoma’s Tyler Guyton who was beaten more than once today in the individual drills. It appeared that while Guyton was setting up very efficiently, he might have been trying to anticipate where the ER was going next and just didn’t have time to react when he guessed wrong. Also didn’t see the kind of consistency that pro scouts are no doubt looking for from Houston OT Patrick Paul who did shut Alabama’s Braswell down quite nicely on one series, but too often gets caught with his pads too high and struggles to both anchor and plant and redirect. In fact, other than UT’s Jones, the best offensive linemen in the American practice today were OGs Javion Cohen of Miami and UConn’s Christian Haynes. Cohen, in particular, was textbook solid technically with great balance, quick feet and lateral agility.


Of note, the American QBs generally threw the ball much better today than Tuesday. Spencer Rattler of South Carolina, in particular, looked very cool and composed in the pocket today as he consistently took what the defence gave him and didn’t try and force anything. Tennessee’s Joe Milton also threw the ball pretty well today, but didn’t have a whole lot of reps. Among the American receivers, unheralded Ja’Quan Jackson of Tulane had a really nice day; he was able to run away from several corners in the one-on-one drills and showed great hands and concentration including one terrific diving, sliding sideline catch in the team drills. Xavier Legette of South Carolina also had a better day today than yesterday as he ran some nice routes to get open for easy receptions and climbed the ladder to make a nice catch in the team drills. Meanwhile, Louisville’s Jamari Thrash continued to get open today, but like North Carolina’s Tez Walker in the morning session, didn’t always make the catches that were in front of him.


Its tougher to get a read on the corners, especially in the team drills, but both of DJ James of Auburn and Louisville’s Jarvis Brownlee stood out in the one-on-one duals with the wideouts with consistently sticky coverage. Both also broke well on the ball with both getting clear shots at picks; unfortunately, though, neither could make the catch, which is presumably why they play defence.

A couple of final notes. You get the feeling that overall the National team practices in the morning are somewhat more spirited than the afternoon American team workouts. That said, today’s session did get a little testy when LSU DT Jordan Jefferson ended up ripping off the helmet of UConn’s Christian Haynes. And they continued jawing at each other until cooler heads intervened. Also wanted to note that while Miami’s James Williams played safety with the Hurricanes he’s been working pretty much exclusively with the LBs after measuring in at over 6-4 and 230 pounds earlier in the week. Meanwhile, the one roster change we noticed today was that Kentucky OT Jeremy Flax has been replaced by Georgia State’s Travis Glover.

A DE that can reduce inside.

Much better! No more migraine!

He has looked incredible and is making himself some serious bank. I’m watching yesterday’s practice and Daniel Jeremiah has been drooling over him non-stop.

;)

I did the first one's on my phone from work. Couldn't get it to scroll so I could add them in. And I get it. I hate the no paragraph look too!

Good listen if you have the time. Puts Legette in the 3rd-4th round.

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That'd be fine by me

The game is at Noon Central Time today on the NFL Network.

Is Ladd McConkey going to be any good or are these guys being paid to blow him like they have all week?

I’ll preface this by saying I’m watching a recording and am at the end of the 3rd quarter, so maybe he ends up making some plays, but if not, Tez Walker would’ve been better off staying at home this week. Dropped 2 more today trying to one-hand nice passes. He had such a brutal week I feel bad for him. Might’ve cost himself as much money as Darius Robinson made for himself.

Walker had a good 5yds of separation on a deep pass in the 4th quarter but the QB under threw him. Getting open isn’t a problem for him. Catching the ball has been another story though, which is weird because they said he only had 3 drops at NC last season.

I didn't get to watch the game. Heard Rattler played well and got MVP. Know nothing else right now. Any ways to watch a replay?

Looks way better than I expected, that’s for sure. Quick as a cat, runs really nice routes.

Rattler had the best week of any QB in my opinion. Another guy I didn’t expect much from, but he looked really good.

He looks like a traditional Belichick slot WR to me... slow as **** in a straight line but super quick in and out of breaks to get separation. I don't see him making 1/10th of the "big plays" he made at Georgia but he'll be a guy you want when it's time to paper-cut teams to death.

I just don't put much of a high value on that type of player in the draft. I think he's a guy you pick up in the 4th or so and be happy as a lark. These rankings of him in the 2nd have me saying no ****ing thank you. If I'm taking a WR in the 1st or 2nd, it's with the goal they can play outside. You can always find slots later on.

I just looked up the schedule for NFL Network, and it is not on again before February 13th anyway. They do have some TBA slots starting on the 13th though. So it could be a while kccrow.

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Thanks Abba-Dabba. Only had time to watch the first series but I seen all I needed from Bailey there. He's been my guy, reminds me of Aaron Jones coming out all those years ago. Don't know if Veach will take him as he tends to go for bigger backs but he's the guy I'd take. He's gonna be a nice player I think. Good speed and vision.

Bradley was impressive there. I didn't get to see the game yesterday either.