Before getting into the practise notes I wanted to share some general thoughts…
An alpha emerges
Florida defensive tackle Caleb Banks could and should be a top-20 pick. If there was a bit of ring-rust on day one, it was gone by the second practise. Banks dominated in an incredible show of power and quickness. He was constantly jawing with the O-liners too, making it clear who the top dog was.
That he did all of this at 6-6 and 335lbs is all the more special. He also has incredible 35 inch arms and near 11-inch hands. Simply put, there are not many humans on planet earth like Banks. He needed to show up and perform after an injury-hit 2025 season and he’s delivering.
I was hoping there was a chance he might slip through the cracks and last into range for the Seahawks — but I’d say there’s next to no chance. If he gets a clean bill of health he might go in the top-15. He is a truly exceptional talent with major upside.
Come on, TJ
Clemson’s TJ Parker had a really poor 2025 season. To his credit, he’s turned up at the Senior Bowl to try and boost his stock. Although, I’ve not seen him take many 1v1 reps. I fear that the one win he had with a straight-arm on Tuesday has had his agent telling him ‘job done’ instead of ‘keep going’.
After practise he was interviewed by the NFL Network and they asked why his production dipped last season. His explanation was that Clemson had brought in Will Heldt the Purdue transfer and he’d taken up a lot of the production instead.
Really? That’s your best answer?
Take ownership. Explain you were disappointing and you’ve come to Mobile to prove a point. The excuse of another player out-producing you doesn’t work. Mainly because if Heldt was so disruptive, why didn’t that create opportunities for you? It’s not even like he claimed he was getting extra attention. He just said Heldt got the sacks.
Agents really need to do a better job here — to encourage their players to compete to the max in Mobile (it didn’t hurt Grey Zabel a year ago) and to have the right answers to inevitable questions.
Some Seahawks thoughts
It’s really quite simple, I think, when it comes to Seattle’s off-season. Now that we know they’ll pick 31st or 32nd overall, they have to scour the trade market to start with. If no attractive deal emerges and they end up keeping their top pick, they should obviously take whoever grades highest on their board.
I hope that would be a lineman of some kind. I think continuing to spend resources up front is the key. Look at the D-line. You have three older players — DeMarcus Lawrence, Leonard Williams and Jarran Reed. Uchenna Nwosu also turns 30 this year. Ideally you keep adding to your group now, rather than waiting to fill holes when the players move on.
There’s also nothing wrong with looking to continue to improve the offensive line — with some extra competition at right guard not unattractive.
This is why I would like to say with confidence that players like Caleb Banks or Gennings Dunker will last. I don’t think there’s any chance of that. Ditto Kayden McDonald, who isn’t at the Senior Bowl. They are players you feel will be high-end starters within a down draft.
They are going to have to replace Boye Mafe and could do with more quick wins off the edge. That’s why I would like to see one bold trade in particular to make that a reality. If it isn’t possible, I’m not sure if this draft will provide the solution. Most of the defensive ends are power based. Zion Young has had a good Senior Bowl but he has a quirky personality, recently was arrested for a DWI and he’s more likely to run through blockers than around them.
There are quite a few ‘big name’ edge rushers in this class but I’m not sure they fit the bill for Seattle’s needs.
It might mean expanding beyond a preference for the trenches, although I think that would be the best area to keep adding. Particularly I want to see the Seahawks target hyper-aggressive, alpha types. That’s the spirit of this defense. Players with a look in their eye. Try and find the next generation of front-seven ‘Dark Side’ personalities, not shrinking violets.
A note on Klint Kubiak’s future
Increasingly I think we’re seeing a lot of hopium on behalf of Seahawks fans in relation to the Raiders’ interest in their offensive coordinator.
Sure, it’s not an ideal job. The Raiders have been a perennial struggler. They play in a tough division. They need a big rebuild.
However, these things need to be considered:
— It’s very easy to say ‘wait until the next cycle’. There’s no guarantee 2026 goes according to plan and you get an offer. Look at Kliff Kingsbury. A year ago he was a candidate for jobs after helping Jaden Daniels to a great rookie year, with the Commanders reaching the NFC Championship game. Twelve months later he was fired and he hasn’t got a new job. You can’t assume opportunities will be there next year and if you want to be a Head Coach, you always have to consider the prospect that it could be now or never.
— The difference in salary for an OC and a HC is enormous. Aaron Glenn is getting somewhere between $10-12m from the Jets. Kellen Moore was considered to be the top-paid offensive coordinator in 2024 on $2.5m. Sure, Chip Kelly managed to convince the Raiders to give him $6m but that was an outlier. You could be talking about an annual raise of $10m a year for Kubiak. That’s hard to turn down.
— I don’t think Fernando Mendoza is a great prospect. However, he’s an ideal fit for the Shanahan system which requires timing and the quarterback basically reading his keys and doing what each play tells him to do. Mendoza’s super power is a relentless pursuit of mastering his offense, as we saw at Indiana, then executing the system at a very high level. Pairing him with Kubiak is a great plan and I’m sure Kubiak will be aware that this feels like a good scheme/QB fit.
If he departs, I really hope the Seahawks have a great plan. The offensive coordinator pool is incredibly thin. They are likely to lose a number of key coaches who will travel with Kubiak. When the Eagles lost Moore a year ago, they failed to adequately replace him and it has caused major problems in Philly to the point they had to fire his replacement.
The Seahawks would not only need a good, preferably experienced play-caller — they’d also need someone with a deep contacts book of available coaches, at a time when a lot of people will already be employed.
Don’t underestimate Kubiak and his staff and the impact they’ve had on the O-line, Sam Darnold, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and others. That play-calling performance against the Rams was a masterclass too.
If there’s any chance to pay big money to keep him in Seattle, I would take it.
Practise notes for day two
Highlighted players of the day
Caleb Banks (DT, Florida)
James Brockermeyer (C, Miami)
Max Iheanachor (T, Arizona State)
American team OL/DL 1v1’s
Gabe Jacas went up against Markel Bell and had no counter once Bell locked on. He came back and had a win against Jude Bowry at tackle. Bowry retained contact and Jacas couldn’t disengage but he was able to push the tackle back into the quarterback.
He just seems to lack the needed twitch and quickness to dodge initial contact, even if his power move can produce at times. It’s indicative of the EDGE/DE players we’ve seen in Mobile — nobody is winning with electric speed.
LT Overton doesn’t offer much twitch as a defensive end but when he moved inside he gave the interior linemen problems, including Ethan Onianwa during their first rep of day two. A permanent switch to 5-tech or passing-down interior rusher could be his role at the next level.
Miami center James Brockermeyer had another good day and has shown a lot of potential in Movile. He had four rounds against Alabama nose tackle Tim Keenan. In the first rep he wasn’t overpowered by the size difference and kept his feet moving to seal off the path to the QB. In the rematch, Brockermeyer won again — running Keenan out of the play. They lined up for a third battle and again Brockermeyer was terrific. He absorbed a big club move from Keenan, managed to keep his balance and anchor and matched his feet to wall Keenan off. It was a really impressive rep. Then he won round four two. I think the big Alabama DT would’ve been having nightmares about him on Wednesday when his head hit the pillow. Brockermyer also had an easy win against Nick Barrett.
I’ve put a big ring around Brockermeyer’s name for further tape study. If you’re wondering, his zone blocking grade is average (66.7). He’s far more of a pass-pro specialist (86.4 pass-pro grade) than a road-grader type, despite Miami’s playing style.
Keenan faired better against Logan Taylor, beating him far too easily with a basic arm/over move. He’s a good player — which speaks well to Brockermyers’ performance against him. He did have a lost rep against Gracen Halton (more on that in a moment).
Missouri’s Chris McClellan failed to beat Logan Taylor. He was bending at the waist and not driving through his feet. Taylor just had to hold his ground. By the time McClellan countered the job was done. He recovered and won his next two reps. He is intriguing with long arms and nearly 11-inch hands but his consistency needs work
Max Iheanachor didn’t have a stand-out rep on day one but he was excellent on day two — completely stoning the UCF pass rusher who isn’t on the team list. He took off from there, dominating most of his reps — including showing really light feet to mirror Derrick Moore and lock him down. He did so well on the rep, both teams came together and had a minor scuffle after. His footwork was so nimble for a 325lber.
Oklahoma’s blog favourite Gracen Halton had a good win against Brockermeyer, attacking with a good angle to the outside shoulder and ripping through contact. He showed good speed to penetrate and celebrated his win with gusto after. I really like Halton’s intensity and quickness but the simple fact is he’s 6-3, 296lbs and has sub-32 inch arms.
Today was the day of Caleb Banks as I mentioned earlier. He had an awesome rep against Logan Taylor. Like Halton on the previous snap, he attacked the outside shoulder. Taylor desperately tried to recover but Banks just swatted him away to work back inside to the quarterback. Halton, who was amped up, rushed over to celebrate with Banks. This was a grown man rep — showing off power, quickness and class.
He also won against Gators team-mate Jake Slaughter with a pull-push move. Slaughter did recover to avoid a clean route to the quarterback but this was more disruption from Banks.
Then he beat Fernando Carmona using his length to drive him back into the pocket before executing another pull-push move to win and leave Carmona lying on his chest. In the rematch, he bull-rushed him into next week.
Make no mistake — Banks was the alpha during this session. He was constantly jawing and then backing it up on the field. This was a top-20 pick performance.
Jake Slaughter had an interesting battle against Tim Keenan. The Florida center engaged contact and initially seemed to keep his hands inside, controlling Keenan. However, as the rep developed, it looked more like he was hanging on for dear life and he might’ve held his opponent.
Markell Bell held his own against Derrick Moore, who has become a bit overrated as the week has gone on. He’s not threatening the edge with much speed and in this 1v1, Bell was able to lock-out and turn Moore away from the quarterback. Moore is threatening to be the ‘social media’ winner of the week — where you have one good rep on day one, everyone overreacts and shares the clip and the reality is, he hasn’t done much apart from that.
Arkansas’ Cameron Ball easily beat Ohio State’s Ethan Onianwa with a swim/rip move. Onianwa looked like a turnstile.
Zion Young flattened JC Davis running right through his chest and sending him to the turf. That got the D-line pumped up again with Caleb Banks rushing over to celebrate with Young.
However, Young was easily handled by Austin Barber later on. He didn’t show much bend or quickness — only really power.
Nick Barrett of South Carolina had an awesome win against Jeremiah Wright — easily gliding by him with initial contact then an arm over. However, later on he was easily guided onto the turf by Brockermyer.
National team OL/DL 1v1’s
There was a real shortage of linemen for the National team it seemed with guards having to fill in at tackle and center. We also didn’t see many of the bigger names taking reps on both sides of the ball. This is continuing a worrying trend where the idea seems to be to turn up, make one big play that gets a lot of social media traction and then pack up for the week.
Iowa’s Beau Stephens had a decent rep against Penn State’s Zane Durant, just cutting off the outside shoulder and riding his opponent up and away from the QB. It was a rare loss for Durant who has looked quick and active all week. He might be undersized but he has caused bigger linemen problems — such as Kentucky’s 322lbs Jalen Farmer. He side-stepped him to find a route to the quarterback and Farmer wasn’t athletic enough to mirror or recover.
They hung Stephens out to dry by putting him at center later on, with Florida State’s call-up from the Shrine Bowl Darrell Jackson dumping him on his arse. I saw social media going nuts over this play but come on. Stephens isn’t a center and isn’t used to snapping then blocking. It’s a red herring rep and even the coaches insisted on a do-over with Stephens winning the rematch.
Lee Hunter struggled in 1v1’s yesterday. His first rep came against Delby Lemieux here. Lemieux held his ground. They called it a draw on the NFL Network but a draw is a win for Lemieux who is learning a new position. Hunter has received too much unwarranted hype this week. He’s been way too upright on contact and he’s hardly been the dominating force social media has been suggesting.
The NFL Network showed a clip of Keylan Rutledge dunking a basketball today. In his first rep he stalled Jeffrey M’Ba although I would’ve liked to see better hand placement and less of a struggle at the end to finish.
Rutledge then had a big win against Minnesota’s Deven Eastern — staying square, controlling with his hand placement and finishing the block through to the whistle with no ground given.
Demetrius Crownover easily dealt with Nadame Tucker. The pass rusher tried to counter inside and Crownover just stepped across to his right and shut down the B-gap. An easy win that had team mates on the O-line hollering and going over to celebrate with Crownover. The Texas A&M blocker has shown something through two days but he can be a bit flat-footed against speed. He’ll need to master inside-out technique and even then will be challenged off the edge at tackle.
Max Llewelyn and Gennings Dunker matched up in an all-Iowa affair. You won’t be surprised to know Dunker just kicked to seal the edge, worked his hands to control the block and easily handled the pass rusher.
Dunker didn’t have as much fortune against Logan Fano — he was bull-rushed right back into the QB. It was the first time Dunker looked off this week and it was a poor rep.
Sam Hecht had a really good 1v1 against Darrell Jackson but was then bullied by Bryson Eason of Tennessee. I will watch more of Hecht in the coming days.
Dani Dennis-Sutton was comfortably handled off the edge by Alan Herron. He’s not had the big impact I think he needed to really push his stock upwards.
Notes from the other positions
— I’ve been talking up Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green all season. I appreciate people look at his turnovers, many of which are ugly, and feel put off. However, his situation at Arkansas was dreadful in 2025. It’s a part excuse.
The simple fact is he’s massive (6-6, 225lbs) with 10-inch hands and the ability to run like a gazelle. He has a rocket arm and did have some really good moments at Arkansas too. Is he the finished article? Far from it. But every single day of the week am I using a day two pick to try and develop this physical talent.
On day two he made some really good throws and when he took off during scrimmages he looked electric. He also made a bonehead throw on the run for a lousy interception. I get it, the tape shows that too. But Josh Allen made mistakes like that at Wyoming. There aren’t many players with Green’s upside. Take a shot.
— Mike Washington the Arkansas running back just looks the business. A blog favourite during the season — he’s big, powerful and quick. He looked outstanding during scrimmages. When he was running the ball you noticed a difference. He played like a player who could find a home in round two.
— Will Kacmarek the Ohio State tight end did a good job getting open during 1v1 drills against the DB’s. He easily beat Jalon Kilgore early on and then had another victory against Michael Taaffe.
— Malik Muhammad has not quite had the Senior Bowl he expected. He face-planted on a 1v1 against LSU’s Barion Brown, who was left wide open to complete the catch.
— I came into the Senior Bowl thinking Georgia cornerback Daylen Everette was underrated. Watching him get beat on a long-winded double move by Cyrus Allen of Cincinnati has me second-guessing that thought. At least he doesn’t look as bad as Ohio State’s Davison Igbinosun.
— Bud Clark the TCU safety had the play of the day with a remarkable, improbable interception. He has a nose for the ball with 11 career interceptions. He’s also said to be a big-time team player. He’s someone I need to study closely because he gives off a Seahawks vibe.
— Malachi Fields made a great downfield grab on a 55-yard bomb from Taylen Green, doing ever so well to track the ball in the air. He also had a 1v1 win against Malik Muhammad (plus one that was probably a score-draw). According to Zebra he’s the seventh fastest receiver in Mobile (19.43 mph). Long speed is going to be the question here. You need to be able to separate consistently at the next level. I think some of the top-45 talk on the NFL Network is premature. If he can sneak into the late 4.4’s at the combine, that changes things. He’s mature in terms of personality and he certainly looks the part but there aren’t many Courtland Sutton types out there who succeed being bigger and running in the 4.5’s.
— Xavian Sorey the linebacker from Arkansas was levelling anything that moved during scrimmages. He also had a deflected pass interception. However, he couldn’t beat running back Jaydn Ott in a blocking drill to end the day. It was a bad way to end his session.
— Garrett Nussmeier is the most naturally talented passer at practise and it really isn’t close. That isn’t a surprise.
— In the 1v1 reps I’ve seen, Washington cornerback Ephesians Prysock has performed well.
— Reggie Virgil the Texas Tech receiver looked electric running routes. He was separating so easily with a suddenness that is very interesting.
