Alabama DT Byron Young - Young possesses heavy and active hands as he works toward the quarterback, can anchor in and two-gap at a high level against the run, and is an explosive mover off the snap of the football. He racked up four sacks and 5.5 tackles for loss in 2022 for the Crimson Tide.
Wisconsin EDGE Nick Herbig - While Wisconsin pass rusher Nick Herbig is undersized, listed at just 6-foot-2 and 227 pounds, he plays a big game. Some believe he will have to transition to off-ball linebacker at the next level, but coming on the field as a SAM and as a pass rush specialist in obvious throwing situations gives Herbig the chance to be a star.
Highly productive, Herbig [racked up 15.5 tackles for loss and 11 sacks] for the Badgers in 2022. Undersized or not, there is a role at the next level for Herbig that will allow him to capitalize on his strengths.
LSU EDGE B.J. Ojulari - He is long, athletic, and bendy as they come off the edge. The younger brother of Azeez, Ojulari has an NFL pedigree and put his talents on full display for the Tigers this season. He finished the last season of his collegiate career [with 8.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks]
Cincinnati WR Tyler Scott - Scott possesses linear explosiveness, but also has a tremendous throttle to change speeds and get in and out of his breaks with lossless change of direction. It helps that he is going to run in the low-4.3s at the combine as well. Scott is an extraordinary talent.
From the Senior Bowl…
DAIYAN HENLEY LB Washington State 6’007″/230 9 1/4″ Hands 33″ Arms 78 3/8″ Wing
The best LB prospect in Mobile, in the true sense the word LB. His numbers at the Combine should be explosive. In today’s NFL his biggest asset is his skill in pass coverage. He has a high FBI, natural instincts and great field vision. Henley recorded 8 tackles on Saturday, in addition to his pass coverage. My NFL comp for this young man is the multi-talented MATT MILANO of the BILLS. He is likely a tad more athletic than Milano.
He has been one of my favorites since I watched a few games last season. The kid was always around the ball, impressive considering the little bit of time at the position.
Last season at this time I was pounding the table for a lot of later round picks, some of whom like Jalani Woods who did move up and some that didn’t like Pierre Strong although he went in the 4th. Some were close to all time highs in RAS, like Isaiah Weston WR from Northern Iowa,(9.98 RAS), but in his case went undrafted. Henley is going to lose points on size but he’s going to kill it everywhere else. Henley is likely to be there when we pick 5th and maybe 6th. A deep draft at CB may push some guys into some who I would grab. Riley Moss CB, and Kaevon Merriweather at S are both IOWA guys who will rise with combine/RAS scores but may still be there in the 5th/6th. Even if I took DB’s early I would still consider grabbing some late because these 2 esp will be NFL players. Our early picks should really almost pick themselves, these later ones are gifts if they are there. Use the first 3 on CB,DT and OL and we can fix some serious problems, the back half of the draft there will be great chances at depth and future starters.
Yeah @CuriousHusker has been all over Henley since September and it looks like he’s right, the guy looks great and would be a great fit in our defense. I think like Woods though he’s gonna rise and rise, maybe all the way to the late 1st after he tests. I’d be really surprised if he lasts past the 2nd unless he bombs his testing.
Here’s one thing I love about him. His ethos is take the ball away.
He was on The Detroit Lions Podcast with Sandman and Chris and spoke specifically about that. That some defenders are just going for the ball. In his opinion that’s elementary foltball. He’s going for the tackle AND the ball.
He will be 24 next season. I give him a bit of a pass there bc he was two years at WR and one at safety before moving over to LB in 2020. Do I don think he can still develop a bit at the position.
Rodrigo and Henley out there with Jerrod Clark helping to keep them clean sounds lovely.
If the last two years has taught us anything, it should be that you never have enough receivers.
Leaf and Kennedy were the only receivers available for every game.
IOWA St moved their QB to LB for his senior year, Joel Lanning. He had never played the position before and was First Team Big 12 and First Team All American in 2017, the only season he played LB at any level. I think having played O at some point is actually a positive for knowing where the play could be going. For a guy who never played D, he proved he could make the transition, man did he. Vs Texas he had 20 tackles, not bad for a QB.
I’m still advocating for Dwayne McBride at RB but I saw yesterday PFF mock has moved him from late round up to the 3rd.
I think he’s the 3rd best RB in the draft and he will continue to climb after the combine. He’s a grinder not a burner. He has insane work ethic and is big effort, high motor guy.
Bryce Young is a steal if he doesn’t go 1st overall. And I’ll laugh at the Bears to boot for neither taking him or trading him.
Based on current mock drafts Kelee Ringo could be a steal. This guy plays on the best defense in the country and if he was as bad as people are saying they wouldn’t be the best defense in the country.
If you’re talking about traditional steals like small school players and HBCU players (ie James Houston). I can’t say that I’m the right person to ask because I mainly watch power 5 football.
Sydney Brown and Perry might not get out of the 2nd.
Brown
“In 2022 as a fifth year senior Brown saw action in 12 games while playing 742 snaps. He logged decent 56 tackles, 15 assists, and made 25 stops. In coverage Brown had 5 pass breakups, an impressive 6 interceptions, and surrendered an outstanding QB rating when targeted of 47.8.”
While I agree the draft community is probably over-correcting on Ringo and he’ll bounce back once he tests, I can’t get behind this logic for evaluating him.
If you look through the list of best defenses, their rosters are littered with plenty of average-below average players. Just look at all the Patriots players we took… Trey Flowers, Jamie Collins, etc… those guys played on great defenses in New England but sucked when they left. Sometimes it’s the scheme and the surrounding talent. And given how much talent surrounded Ringo at Georgia, that could easily be the case. He was a straight-up liability against Ohio State.
It’s hard to hide a bad corner though. He’s a man on an island. There are a bunch of peole in the trenches, just that 1 guy on an island, sure there is probably safety support but that doesn’t prevent a completion and big gain it just prevents a bigger play.
True, but right now we have st brown, jamo, Reynolds, Raymond and Cephus. If we happen to resign chark there really isn’t room. Unless they cut Cephus because he can’t seem to stay healthy. If anything I think they’d draft a replacement for Cephus skill set. A physical blocker that can also be a gunner on special teams.
They can roll coverages, or have a badass DL that doesn’t give the QB any time to throw, etc… Again look at some of the corners on those great Pats teams. They were gash once they left.
And it doesn’t really matter anyway cause there’s lots of tape of Ringo playing coverage, just evaluate him based on that. There’s a legit reason he’s falling.