Opening thoughts

I thought it was disappointing that so many players bailed on the Senior Bowl after two days. Mike Green didn’t have anywhere near as good a week as he thought he did to pull that move. The media, predictably, is focusing on one rep where he drove through Josh Conerly Jr. It’s a good rep. But too often in 1v1’s he tried to use a spin move that didn’t work and where was the burst off the edge? Why not stay and finish the week? I thought this was a lousy move.

He wasn’t alone. Deone Walker, TJ Sanders, Kyle Kennard, Bru McCoy, Shemar Stewart, Trey Amos and Donovan Ezeiruaku all decided not to bother today. If you’re committing to the Senior Bowl, respect it and stay. Otherwise don’t bother going and let someone else have the place. Not one single player played well enough this week to go home on Wednesday night. Paired with Armand Membou getting a mysterious “illness” right after Daniel Jeremiah’s first mock draft was published, I thought this was a disappointing attitude from too many players. Good on the likes of Walter Nolen and other big names for sticking it out.

Incidentally, why on earth does the NFL Network get Jeremiah to put out a mock draft before the Senior Bowl? They send a whole crew down to broadcast coverage of the event and yet players are pulling out after their agents read the mock. Don’t they want the best players out there? Put the mock out the day after the Senior Bowl instead. Goodness me.

It was also a bit disappointing that the American team didn’t do any 1v1’s in the trenches today.

I didn’t think we had as many standout performers this year compared to previous years. There was no Braden Fiske from a year ago, or Jermaine Johnson in 2022. For all the talk about the defensive tackles, really only Josh Farmer played at a consistent level. None of the edge rushers performed better than Boye Mafe did during his Senior Bowl, nor any of the linemen as well as Abe Lucas.

Players who flashed the most based on what I saw this week

Darius Alexander (DE, Toledo)
Oluwafemi Oladejo (EDGE, UCLA)
Josh Farmer (DT, Florida State)
Azareye’h Thomas (CB, Florida State)
Shemar Stewart (DE, Texas A&M)
Kyle Williams (WR, Washington State)
Elijah Arroyo (TE, Miami)
Mason Taylor (TE, LSU)

Honourable mention — Keondre Jackson (S, Illinois State) — I want to see more

National team OL vs DL 1v1’s

Wyatt Milum’s first rep was against Utah’s Junior Tafuna, who got into his chest. Milum didn’t sink his hips and was upright. He didn’t readjust and plant the anchor until he’d been shoved backwards five yards. They had a rematch where Tafuna just threw him off the spot and ran to the QB. It was a terrible look for Milum. In a third rep, Yahya Black worked through Milum before disengaging to get to the quarterback. This was a really poor day three from the West Virginia man, finished off by a 1v1 rep at midfield in front of the team where Farmer straight-armed him right back into the quarterback for another easy win. I really expected to see more aggression from Wilum this week and he’s been one of the bigger disappointments. Tafuna, on the other hand, has shown some flashes.

USC center Jonah Monheim tried to get his hands into Darius Alexander’s chest off the snap on his first rep. You can’t blame him for trying — it’s what you want to see, quickly shooting your hands inside. Sadly for Monheim, Alexander brushed him off like he was being blocked by a guy in the stands who’d been offered a go at the 1v1’s. Absolute domination, flashing Alexander’s tremendous upside and exposing Monheim’s limitations. Alexander also had a good tussle with Josh Conerly Jr that ended in a tie — Alexander showing power and mobility to work the edge at 300lbs, while Conerly didn’t cede ground and stood up to the power rush and attempted counter. He then destroyed Jalen Rivers. What a session for Alexander. In redzone drills he also blew up a play to the left edge, leading to teammates hollering towards him and getting hyped up. The Toledo defensive lineman has been a big winner this week and looks like a second round pick.

Joshua Farmer just has this knack of moving forwards. He faced Grey Zabel at right guard. Zabel did a good job initially, moving his feet easily to cut off the cross-face. Palmer tried a spin-move and ended up in front of Zabel, shoving him back into the quarterback. I think this was rep was a draw — a good initial move from Zabel but a good counter and recovery from Farmer. His second rep came against Caleb Rogers. He swam past him and ran to the QB with Rogers clinging on. For the first two days Farmer flashed dominant power. Today, he showed he has some quickness and a repertoire. A great week for the Florida State man.

Zabel’s second rep was against Yahya Black. He was early off the snap (false start) and Black just beat him — working the A-gap with better quickness then barging through a rather desperate attempt by Zabel to cling on. Black still just waltzed through to the QB. He then moved over to right guard to go against Jamaree Caldwell. The big Oregon defender got to the POA quicker and turned Zabel, getting the blocker into a bad position where all he could do was get Caldwell in a head-lock. It would’ve been a clear holding penalty but Caldwell still finished and got to the quarterback. A very ugly rep. Farmer then had another go at Zabel and drove through his chest deep into the backfield. This was not a good 1v1 session for Zabel at all. In fairness, he was a lot better in 11 on 11. This is where he’s sealing off, walling off, reaching to the second level. He looks so much better during scrimmages. The 1v1 stuff the internet has gone crazy about has been way overrated — and I say that as someone who has been talking up Zabel for weeks pre-Senior Bowl. It’d be more convenient for me to join the group-think on his performance but I don’t think it’s accurate.

David Walker doesn’t have lightning quicks but he still managed to get around Ozzy Trapilo with a dip and straighten for a sack. He then beat Anthony Belton at left tackle by driving through his chest. Maybe if he’d pushed Belton over he could’ve rushed to the airport and caught the same plane as Mike Green? Walker then moved over to right tackle and easily beat Belton with a speed rush. This was a good day for Walker with only one losing rep against Aireontae Ersery. He also looked good working in and out of the bags in warmups — showing some good bend. He has really short arms (31 3/4 inches) and he’s only 6-0 — limiting his potential. But he’s worked well this week.

Jalen Rivers had a good day one, a rough second day and today he blocked like this was his first go at the sport of gridiron. His first rep on day three was to allow Aeneas Peebles to run right by him into the backfield. Turnstile level play. He was then beasted by Darius Alexander. Then Ty Robinson ran by him like he wasn’t there. Absolutely dreadful. They gave him another rep to try and get him going. He lost it to Junior Tafuna. They gave him another rep. He put up more resistance against Jaramee Caldwell but still lost in the end. This was a rare occasion in Mobile of someone starting strong and fading as the week progressed.

Ty Robinson dominated Caleb Rogers in their first 1v1 rep. He engaged contact, swam over Rogers’ left shoulder and exploded to the quarterback. A tremendous play by the Nebraska lineman. Robinson had a great session, with his win against Rivers and then easily dismissing Rogers for a second time.

Oluwafemi Oladejo had a good battle with Marcus Mbow at right tackle. He used an initial punch which Mbow absorbed but Oladejo just kept churning his legs then span away to reach the quarterback. He then kicked inside and ran around Jared Monheim to sprint to the QB. He cheated, using the right guard to basically block off the center. It still showed his quickness. They re-did the rep and Oladejo still won, juking from the right to the left and just being too quick and powerful for the undersized USC blocker. He also had a win off against Aireontae Ersery using long strides to get to the edge quicker. His straighten isn’t great off the bend but he can get home. The UCLA pass-rusher continues to impress. He also carries a bit of an alpha energy — he was yelling and shouting after big plays by team mates in 11 on 11. He’s absolutely jacked too and looks like a beast in his frame.

Landon Jackson used an inside counter to easily beat Ozzy Trapilo. It’s the first flash of quickness and agility we’ve seen from Jackson in 1v1’s. He didn’t do much work in the session. Collin Oliver the Oklahoma State edge rusher drove Josh Conerly Jr back into the QB. It was another rep this week where the Oregon man’s base and power came into question. I think, overall, Conerly’s stock has taken a hit this week.

Other notes

With no 1v1’s for the American team they stuck to a heavy dose of 11v11, 7v7 and red zone work. Princely Umanmielen beat Carson Vinson to the edge easily. Then on a run play, Umanmielen bullied him into the backfield to get to the RB. On a third battle between the pair, Umanmielen again drove the left tackle into the backfield. Vinson shone on day one but hasn’t been able to follow it up.

Jaxson Dart didn’t flash special qualities in the reps I saw. He was a little hesitant and reminded me a fair bit of Jarrett Stidham. Riley Leonard had a level of awkwardness to him and again I don’t think we saw special qualities. Jalen Milroe has at times been all over the place. It’s been a week to forget for him and he’ll probably need to take a bunch of snaps on Saturday, run around a bunch and remind people what he can do in a game. Seth Henigan is light and I’m afraid didn’t look like a NFL starter in this environment.

Tyler Shough’s ball-placement at times wasn’t great. He pulled off a brilliant play-fake in 11 on 11. and had one bad/good moment in red zone play. For some reason he turned down an open Kyle Williams on a bootleg, ran to the right sideline and then threw across his body. However, as dangerous as that is, he nailed the pass to Elijah Arroyo — who punted the ball into the stands in celebration. Shough has a better arm than the other quarterbacks in Mobile but that’s kind of like saying the Colts were the second best team in the AFC South. It doesn’t really mean much. I can’t say I thought he looked like a NFL starter here.

Dillon Gabriel was way too hesitant. It was painful to watch rep after rep where he’d just sit looking at open receivers and not pull the trigger. His accuracy was off too. He did have one excellent throw to Xavier Restrepo in the redzone, fitting the ball into a very tight window in thick coverage. That was after he sat in the pocket for ages though and in a real game he likely would’ve been sacked. When he did try and get it out quickly he was off — such as one-hopping a red-zone throw to Tez Johnson. On a bootleg in the redzone he found it really difficult to throw to the right side as he’s left handed. He completely overshot the pass to Gavin Bartholomew, leading to an interception for Tommi Hill. I think if you were hoping a quarterback would emerge from this group to be a possible solution for the Seahawks, you better hope one of them is saving something special for Saturday’s game.

The more I’ve watched of Florida State cornerback Azareye’h Thomas the more impressed I’ve been. You expect with his frame he’ll be stiffer than he is in transition but he sticks in coverage, can flip his hips and he finds the football. It’ll be interesting to see how he tests because the league needs cornerbacks and I get the sense he will be a big riser after this week. He had a really good interception on a 1v1 in the end zone, plus he broke up a Tyler Shough pass nicely on a different rep. He just looks the part.

UCLA’s Maliki Matavao is a player I want to watch more of. He’s looks quite mobile for a tight end and he’s well sized. He sealed well in the running game in 11 on 11.

Western Michigan’s Bilhal Kone — who definitely has the talent to be an interesting mid-round pick — had a good rep in the red zone vs Jayden Higgins. It was nice, tight coverage and he got a pat on the back from the coaches. Kone plays with a calmness and doesn’t panic. He’s supposedly a good tester so he’s a cornerback to watch at the combine.

Miami’s Elijah Arroyo is a beast. Even when he’s covered he’s not. He also has strong hands and a powerful frame. It’s difficult to gain position against him and he could be a redzone monster. Along with LSU’s Mason Taylor, he’s one of the big winners this week. Frankly, they both look like top-45 picks.

Washington State’s Kyle Williams absolutely destroyed Nebraska’s Tommi Hill on a red-zone rep. Then he beat him again for good measure, changing direction back to the opposite direction. Williams is completely underrated. He’s so sudden and quick. Half of the receivers in Mobile needed 20 minutes to pull off four different moves to get open. Williams wins immediately. He’s going to look great playing in LA for the Rams.

Illinois State’s Keondre Jackson really caught my eye today. He’s a big safety but didn’t look out of place in coverage. Perhaps he could be worked into some corner situations? He looks like a physical, versatile chess piece. He’s out here bringing it after being at the Hula Bowl. I like him. He might be worth a look early on day three and I can’t wait to see how he tests. His interview with the NFL Network was really good too. I’m going to spend some time tomorrow trying to dig out the rest of his Senior Bowl reps.

Tomorrow I will publish a post-Senior Bowl mock draft. On Saturday I will provide notes from the game.