Duke OL Barton runs well at pro day … Duke C Graham Barton was already one of the hottest prospects in the 2024 draft with some legit first-round aspirations and he punctuated that with an outstanding 40 clocking at the Blue Devils’ pro day earlier today. Barton, who did not run at the combine where he weighed 313 pounds, was credited with an unofficial 4.84 40 clocking earlier today which even if it ultimately gets revised upwards is still a very good time for an offensive lineman. Of course, what makes Barton especially intriguing to pro teams is his versatility as he played LT in college, but figures to kick inside to either C or OG at the next level. Barton is currently 1-2 with Oregon’s Jackson Powers-Johnson on the GBN positional ranking for centers and #32 overall on the Big Board.
QBs Maye, Penix hilite second to last full day on pro day sked … Today is the second to last full day on this year’s pro day schedule, but it is a key one nonetheless with two of this year’s top 6 QBs – Drake Maye of North Carolina and Washington’s Michael Penix – slated to go through their passing sessions at their respective school’s pro days later today. Maye, of course, is very much in the mix to be one of the second or third player chosen on April 25th and it is expected that most of the huge crowd that was at LSU yesterday to check out Jayden Daniels will be at the UNC later today. Indeed, both Washington and New England, which have the 2nd and 3rd picks pick overall respectively will both reportedly meet privately with Maye before his workout today. Unfortunately, it does not appear that there will be much national coverage of either workout. The UNC will be carried live on the ACC Network beginning at 3 PM ET, while the NFL Network will have a wrap-up hour similar to that for both Daniels and USC’s Caleb Williams; however, for some reason, at least according to the NFL Net’s published schedule, it won’t be aired until Saturday morning at 8 PM ET.
Meanwhile, other pro days of major significance later today include those at Rutgers (CB Max Melton), Duke (OL Graham Barton and DT Dewayne Carter), Marshall (RB Rasheen Ali and OT Ethan Driskell) and Howard (OT Anim Dankwah).
Other pro day updates … While most of the football world was focused on the LSU pro day where top 5 prospects Jayden Daniels and Malik Nabers were working out among others there were other pro day today. At Tennessee, QB Joe Milton ran what’s been reported as a sub-4.6 40 and then went out and reportedly threw the ball very well including several 75-80 yard bombs that for the most part were right on the hands in stride. TE McCallan Castles, who was a somewhat surprising combine snub, also had a strong day posting a 4.66 40 time that would have been middle of the pack at the combine, but also had a very athletic 37.5 vertical, a 10-6 LJ and a 4.31 shuttle time, each of which would have been top 5 at the position in Indianapolis. On the other hand, CB Kamal Hadden had to be a little disappointed in his day, other than the fact that he was able to work out as he has been coming back from mid-season shoulder surgery that ended what had been up until that point a very good season. Hadden was only able to run in the 4.55 range at the Vols pro, while posting a pedestrian 34.5-inch vertical. At Mississippi, WR Dayton Wade, another combine bubble player who had 55 receptions this past season for over 800 yards, ran a decent 4.45 50 at 5-9, 175 … At Pittsburgh, OT Matt Gonclaves, who did not run at the combine as he was rehabbing a foot injury, ran a solid 5.06 40 with a 30-plus inch vertical running at 6-6, 317. Meanwhile, a couple of under-the-radar Panthers had solid days that likely will have pro scouts going back to the game film for a further look. CB AJ Woods (510, 187), for one, posted a 4.35 40 clocking along with a 37.5-inch vertical and a 6.56 3-cone time that would have been the best at the position at the combine. Same story for MLB Shane Simon (6-1, 230) whose 7-flat 3-cone time would have been the quickest of the true LBs at the combine, while he also had a 4.63 40 time and a 34-inch vertical. And if TE Phil Jurkovic sounds familiar, he is indeed the old Pitt and Boston College QB who has switched positions, although his 4.95 40 clocking is probably more the stuff of an undrafted free agent. And one reasonably noteworthy pro day from Tuesday at Charlotte, QB Jalon Jones worked out as a WR and impressed running a sub-4.4 40 while posting a 38-inch vertical at 6-3, 205 … Lastly, back at LSU, severalTigers not named Daniels, Nabers or Thomas who had not worked out at the combine did participate today in the field testing. DT Jordan Jefferson, for example, posted a decent 5.10 clocking in the 40, while C/G Charles Turner didn’t running a sluggish 5.55 seconds.
Daniels passes pro day test … The preliminary reviews are in on Jayden Daniels pro day workout earlier today and while it didn’t seem to be a ‘wow’ workout with a few too many misses, the consensus also appears to be that Daniels checked off all the boxes. And while we’ll leave it to those with a higher pay grade to make the final grade, we were really impressed with the arm talent on display. Daniels has a really smooth, easy release and the ball just jumps out of his hand with minimal effort. Is it enough to challenge Caleb Williams for the #1 pick overall? Probably not, but we also felt it was a much more impressive throwing display than that of JJ McCarthy who appears to really need to step into just about every throw. And we’ll see more tomorrow when Drake Maye, who arguably has the strongest arm of this year’s top QB prospects, throws at the North Carolina pro day. It also bears repeating that almost never does a team change their grade on a QB based on their pro day workout; their ultimate evaluations are going to be based on their game film and the pro day is really about crossing the i’s and dotting the t’s.
To QB or not to QB … There appears to be a growing sense around the NFL that QBs could very well go 1-2-3-4 at next month’s draft for the first time ever. There have also been multiple – and sometimes contradictory – rumors as to which team will actually pick which player at which spot. There have been some whispers in the past few days – actually some rather loud whispers – that no one should be surprised if JJ McCarthy of Michigan ultimately is the second player selected overall by Washington. In particular, while McCarthy likely doesn’t have quite the ceiling of LSU’s Jayden Daniels or Drake Maye of North Carolina, he may in fact be the safest pick of the three. Meanwhile, there have been rumblings that New England which picks third doesn’t like this guy or that guy and could conceivably trade the pick if the guy they really liked wasn’t still on the board. However, team owner Robert Kraft made it pretty clear in his annual meeting presser that he views the QB position as the team’s greatest need and while he’s leaving the decision to head coach Jerod Mayo and chief scout Eliot Wolf it would seem the only thing that might actually get the Patriots to move down would be a king’s ransom of picks that could very likely have to include multiple future first rounders. In fact, both Mayo and Wolf, along with 7 other Patriots people were front and center at today’s LSU pro day watching QB Jayden Daniels and they’re all heading over to North Carolina tomorrow for Drake Maye’s workout. At the same time, it is no secret that Minnesota is angling to get up into the top 4 picks in order to get one of those QBs; however, there are also hints that both Denver and Las Vegas, which pick right after the Vikings at #s 12 and 13, are also exploring avenues to move up and get their franchise QB of the future. And while it doesn’t relate to the QBs, there are also whispers that Chicago, which presumably gets their QB with the first overall pick this year, might very well be interested in moving up from the 9th pick to get Notre Dame OT John Alt, which would probably mean leapfrogging Tennessee at #7.
LSU pro day updates; Part Deux … Interesting that neither of LSU top ten prospects Jayden Daniels nor Malik Nabers opted to get measured at the combine. Today, Nabers measured in at 6-3.5, 210, which is a little on the light side, but hardly a deal breaker. Nabers, meanwhile, came in at 6-0, 200. Nabers then went on to put on an athletic show during the physical testing posting a 42-inch vertical and a 10-9 long jump and then punctuated it with what was being reported as a 40 clocking in the 4.35-4.40 range, although the school later credited him with a 4.34 time. Whatever, its plenty fast!
One other quick update: we now have reports of three GMs also being spotted at the LSU pro day including Adam Peters of Washington whose Commanders are the heavy favorite to take Daniels with the 2nd pick, along with Joe Hortiz of the LA Chargers and the Giants Joe Schoen.
LSU pro day update … Still waiting for some actual results from today’s LSU pro day. Needless to say, all 32 teams are represented at the Tigers’ workout including 6 NFL head coaches. That includes the head coaches of the three teams with the first three picks: Chicago’s Matt Eberflus, Dan Quinn of Washington and New England’s Jerod Mayo, along with Brian Dadoll of the Giants, Antonio Pierce of Las Vegas and New Orleans’ Dennis Allen. Not sure who is there from Minnesota, but word is that the Vikings will also be holding a private workout with Daniels as they did with JJ McCarthy. We also know that QB Jayden Daniels will throw but not run while WR Malik Nabers, who did not run at the combine will participate in the 40. Interestingly, Nabers went to dinner last night with the Giants, who almost assuredly will be looking at him if they fail to get a QB with the 6th pick, while he will meet with a number of teams post workout.
LSU pro day today with QB Daniels to throw … Over 100 NFL personnel people are expected to be at LSU later today for the Tigers’ pro day which will feature the passing session of star QB Jayden Daniels, this year’s Heisman Trophy winner who is considered to be a likely top 2-3 pick at next month’s draft. And Daniels isn’t LSU’s only top prospect as WRs Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas are also considered to be first-round candidates while DTs Maason Smith and Mekhi Wingo are second-day types. LSU’s pro day gets underway at 11 AM ET and the school will be posting testing results here. Daniels is expected to start his scripted throwing session just before 2 PM ET. It will be streamed live on NFL Network+, while the NFL Network will have a wrap-up of the pro day at 8 PM ET. Meanwhile, other pro days today include those at Tennessee, Mississippi, Washington State, Pittsburgh and Wake Forest, while the Big XII conference combine also begins today and runs through Saturday.
NFL trade deadline pushed back … The NFL has announced that henceforth the league’s trading deadline will be after the 9th week of the schedule. That’s one week later than it had been. That means that this this year’s trade deadline will fall on November 5th.
WR Corley runs well; RB Gore doesn’t in pro day update … While we wait for the much-anticipated throwing sessions of QBs jayden Daniels and Darke Maye later this week, there a couple of noteworthy updates from today’s pro day schedule. On the one hand, all but one NFL team was at the Western Kentucky pro day where WR Malachi Corley, who currently appears to be a legit mid-to-late second round option, was the main draw. In fact, a total of 9 teams had their WR coach at the WKU pro day, including Pittsburgh which also sent their director of college scouting (Dan Colbert) to the workout. Corley, who didn’t workout at the combine because it is believed of Covid symptoms, reportedly ran the 40 in the mid-to-high 4.4 range, while he posted a 36-inch vertical as well as a time of 4.26 seconds in the 3-cone drill. On the other hand, Southern Miss RB Frank Gore had a somewhat disappointing outing. Running at under 200 pounds, Gore clocked a 4.58 40, which isn’t terrible, but his leaps of 29-inches in the vertical and 9-3 in the LJ would have been the lowest of any at the position at the combine.
QB workouts hilite final full week on pro day sched … Just following up on the last story below on the public comments by head coaches Dan Quinn of Washington and New England’s Jerod Mayo on their respective team’s interest in taking a QB with the their first pick at next month’s draft. We kind of know where both guys are going to be this week as the QBs those teams have been most associated with – LSU’s Jayden Daniels and Drake Mayo of North Carolina – will be throwing at their respective team’s pro days later this week. Daniels and LSU, for example, are set to go on Wednesday, while Mayo and the Tar Heels are scheduled for Thursday. Unfortunately, in one of those genius scheduling arrangements too often characteristic of the pro day schedule, Washington’s Michael Penix, the last of this year’s top 6 QBs who also has not thrown yet, will also be doing his pro day passing session on Thursday. Of course, those are not the only pro days these week; others that NFL teams will be especially interested include Western Kentucky (WR Malachi Corley) on Monday; NC State (LB Payton Wilson) on Tuesday; Tennessee (QB Joe Milton and RB Jaylin Wright), Mississippi (DE Cedric Johnson) and Washington State (S Jaden Hicks and DE Brennan Jackson) on Wednesday; and Duke (C Graham Barton and DT Dewayne Carter) and Rutgers (CB Max Melton) on Thursday. There are also several unique events this week starting on Tuesday when Minnesota holds a private work out with Michigan QB JJ McCarthy, while the Big XII will hold a 4-day pro day/combine for all teams in the conference (minus Texas and Oklahoma which are off to the SEC and held their own workouts) in Dallas beginning on Wednesday. And then on Friday, the University of British Columbia in Vancouver will hold a pro day for 6-8 OT Theo Benedet, the top pro prospect in Canadian college football this year, and OG Giovanni Manu.
Washcoms, Pats confirm leaning QB, other options still on table … Maybe one of the worst kept secrets toward the 2024 draft – which for the record is a month Monday – is that Washington and New England, which have the 2nd and 3rd picks respectively in this year’s opening round, have QB as a priority. And the head coaches of both teams pretty much confirmed during interviews over the weekend, but both also left the door sightly ajar for other options. Washington’s Dan Quinn, for example, said “it’d be fair to envision we’d be taking a QB” at this year’s draft, but was a little more coy on which round saying that would be up to GM Adam Peters. At the same time, Quinn also confirmed that the Commanders had taken several calls about the pick and were at least prepared to listen, but that any offer “better be good.” Meanwhile, New England’s Jerod Mayo said the Patriots’ “priority” is to take a quarterback with their opening round pick. Mayo added though that “you have to really be in love with the guy to take him at #3. So really all the options are still open for us.” Translated, it sounds like both this close to taking a QB with those early picks, but just might be willing to trade if someone made them an offer that literally knocked their socks off.
New UGA RB charged with DUI … Sometimes one wonders whether getting charged with a driving offence is becoming a requirement to play at Georgia. All joking aside, RB Travis Etienne, one of the top backs in the 2025 draft class, was arrested early Sunday on charges of driving under the influence, reckless driving and two other misdemeanors. Etienne, the younger brother of Jacksonville RB Travis Etienne, transferred to Georgia this off-season after two years at Florida where he rushed for almost 1,500 yards.
Chiefs to send CB Sneed to Titans for future #3 … Kansas City has reportedly agreed in principle to send franchised CB L’Jarius Sneed to Tennessee in exchange for a 3rd round pick in 2025, while the teams will swap 7th rounders this year. The trade has apparently been in place for awhile, but was held up while the Titans tried to work a new deal with Sneed who now becomes one of the highest paid corners in the league.
Bolts, Titans hint at willingness to move at 2024 draft … With the draft now just 33 days away, the LA Chargers have become the 2nd team with a top 5 pick to suggest that they would be open to trading down from the area on or before April 25th. Earlier, it was reported that Arizona proclaimed themselves ‘open for business. At the same time, there had been speculation that after losing both of veteran receivers Mike Williams and Keenan Allen within a couple of days of each other earlier this month as the Chargers struggled to get under the cap that they might be very content just to stay at #5 and select one of the this year’s top receivers, especially if Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison was still available at their pick. However, in comments to the press late last week, new GM Joe Hortiz said that in fact all options are on the table for the Chargers and the feeling is that with a new, big-time coach now in town in Jim Harbaugh, the Chargers might like to add more picks to begin a full rebuild. Meanwhile, the buzz is that Tennessee, which currently has the 7th pick overall, is also reportedly letting teams are around the league know that they’d also be willing to trade down for the right price. And while its almost a given now that the top 4 QBs will be off the board at that time, any team that was specifically targeting a player like Notre Dame OT John Alt, Washington WR Rome Odunze or Alabama ER Dallas Turner might in fact be tempted to move up. And while Tennessee’s primary need at the 2024 draft appears to be OT such that Alt would be a great fit with the Titans, this is a deep OT class this year and they would certainly have a chance to address the position literally right through the first round. Stay tuned!
Pro day notes … By all accounts, Michigan QB JJ McCarthy had a very solid pro day day earlier today in Ann Arbor. For those that haven’t seen it here is video of some of his throws. For the record, McCarthy reportedly threw for about 25 minutes with only a couple of passes hitting the ground. Interesting in the video, not all of his short and medium passes that were caught were on the numbers in stride, whereas the several deep passes were, although we note that the throws on the video were only a small sample of his total passes. Its also important to note that nobody gets drafted because of their pro day workout; its mostly about a final check and it may very well be that the most important element is how the player relates to the team’s in attendance rather than how they perform on the field. That said, base on what we have seen and heard, McCarthy certainly didn’t appear to do anything to hurt his grade.
While the Michigan pro day which reported attracted anywhere from 150-200 NFL personnel people, the Missouri pro day was able to attract a pretty decent crowd which included reps from all 32 teams including at least one GM (Brian Gutehurst of Green Bay) as well as what appeared to be a small army of positional scouts including two from the NY Giants (LB and DB) along with their Assistant director of player personnel Dennis Hickey. And while most of the Tigers’ top prospects – and they have a bunch including DT Darius Robinson, CBs Ennis Rakestraw and Kris Abrams-Draine, RB Cody Schrader, and OT Javon Foster – stood on their combine numbers, LB Ty’ron Hopper, who did not work out in Indinapolis posted some decent numbers including a 4.65 40 clocking and a 36-inch vertical. One other note from the Tigers’ workout was the fact that more than one team reportedly asked 6-2, 227-pound safety Jaylon Carlies to do some LB drills.
Who’s who at UM pro day … Jim Nagy of the Senior Bowl is reporting that there are 9 GMs on hand at Michigan’s pro day, along with 7 head coaches, and 7 offensive line coaches. Not surprising, though for a national champion college team with a rising top 5 QB and a record 18 players that had been to the combine. For the record, 6 teams – Chicago, Dallas, Miami. New England, Pittsburgh and Washington have both their GM and head coach in Ann Arbor this morning while the GMs for Denver, San Francisco and NY Giants are also in attendance along with new LA Chargers head coach jim Harbaugh, who of course coached the Wolverines to their national title this past season before bolting for the NFL. Its interesting to note that Minnesota is not on that list, although the Vikings do have other senior personnel people at the UM pro day; however, the Vikings do have a private workout scheduled with JJ McCarthy next week where one would expect their coach and GM to be front and center.
McCarthy to throw at UM pro day … One of the more anticipated pro days of the year goes today when national champion Michigan holds its work out for pro teams. Of course, QB JJ McCarthy, who is now being talked about as a very possible top 5 pick next month will be the headliner as he will go through the usual 50-60 scripted passing session. And a horde of NFL personnel people including as many as 10 GMs are expected to be in Ann Arbor for the event. Unfortunately though it does not appear at this time as if there will be any national TV coverage, but we’ll keep looking. Meanwhile, while the Michigan pro day is the day’s highlight, NFL teams will not be sleeping on Missouri’s pro day as the Tigers have at least a couple of very interesting first-day prospects in DT Darius Robinson and CB Ennis Rakestraw, along with OT Javon Foster. They’ll also be working out today, as will Auburn, Kentucky and Boston College.
Interesting turnout at Irish pro day … In many ways, there was almost more to chew as to who came to the Notre Dame pro day earlier today as to what they saw on the field. For the record, both Dallas and Washington sent fairly large contingents to South Bend with head coach Mike McCarthy and VP of player personnel Will McClay heading the Cowboys contingent, while both Commanders GM Adam Peters and head coach Dan Quinn were also there. We assume that the Washington people may have just stopped by on their way to see JJ McCarthy throw at the Michigan pro day on Friday. However, there was a little buzz as to who the Cowboys were looking at, although we can report that there have been some rumblings that Dallas could possibly be thinking of a trade up to try and acquire star Notre Dame OT John Alt to replace long-time incumbent LT starter Tyron Smith who just signed with the Jets. In fact, Alt appears to have been the main draw at the Irish workout with as many as 8 teams including Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle, Jacksonville, Denver, New England as well as both the Jets and Giants sending their offensive line coaches. What is surprising a little bit is that Tennessee does not appear to have anyone of particular significance at the Notre Dame pro day; for the record, the Titans are routinely projected to select Alt with the 7th pick overall in a lot of recent mocks. The one note from the actual workout was that RB Audric Estime ran somewhat better at his pro day posting a 4.58 40 clocking, an improvement of over a tenth from his rather dismal 4.71 time at the combine.
‘What if’ mock posted … We noted earlier in the week that we were reluctant to post an updated mock because of the uncertainty surrounding likely trades. However, while we still don’t know who is trading where, but certainly at this point the most likely big trade to shake up the early going of the draft would be Minnesota acquiring the 4th pick from Arizona for a package including the 11th and 23rd picks. So we did a mock – here -including that trade, not with the objective of predicting either a specific trade or which teams were going to select which players, but just to give some idea how that particular trade would do to the various options teams might have as a result.
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