MOBILE, ALA. — Because the Philadelphia Eagles are projected to have 8 picks in this year’s draft, including two second-round picks and four fifth-round picks, this year’s Senior Bowl is of particular interest. Let’s get to the notes.
• Usually there are around two to four guys who participate at the Senior Bowl who get picked in the first round. This year there should be at least a half dozen, and probably more. On Tuesday, Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network released his first top-50 prospect list of draft season. 14 of those guys are competing here in Mobile.
- Taliese Fuaga, OT, Oregon State
- Tyler Guyton, OT, Oklahoma
- Quinyon Mitchell, CB, Toledo
- Laiatu Latu, ED, UCLA
- Bo Nix, QB, Oregon
- Jordan Morgan, OT, Arizona
- Jackson Powers-Johnson, iOL, Oregon
- Zach Frazier, iOL, West Virginia
- Michael Penix Jr., QB, Washington
- Ladd McConkey, WR, Georgia
- Chris Braswell, ED, Alabama
- Payton Wilson, LB, North Carolina State
- Marshawn Kneeland, ED, Western Michigan
- Malachi Corley, WR, Western Kentucky
I was surprised that BYU OT Kingsley Suamataia didn’t make Jeremiah’s top 50, but he’s here, too.
• My focus today was on the offensive tackles. I think it’s a near lock that the Eagles will take an offensive tackle early this year, and very possibly in the first round. Why?
- Lane Johnson turns 34 in May, he has had injuries, and while he was still an elite player in 2023 there was some decline, in my opinion. To be clear, by “decline,” I should note that I have thought of Johnson as a top 20 type of player, league-wide, over the last half decade. He was still an All-Pro this season, and deservedly so, but I did not think he was a top 20 type of player.
- The Eagles, as you should all be well aware by now, like to have succession plans in place along the offensive line early, and in some cases, extra early.
- This draft is loaded with offensive tackle talent. You can conceivably get an OT at or near pick 22 that normally wouldn’t still be available, or perhaps in the second round when they might not otherwise fall that far. In other words, there should value at that position relative to draft position.
Suamataia’s measurements came in a little disappointing. BYU listed him at 6’6, 325. He’s actually 6’4 3/8 with 34″ arms. Oklahoma’s Tyler Guyton, conversely, measured in at 6’7, 328, while Houston’s Patrick Paul, another guy who some consider a top 50 prospect, is 6’7 with 36″ arms.
Suamataia got work both at LT and RT, which is tough to do. He was up and down, and faced the best edge rushers here. Here he is against UCLA’s Laiatu Latu:
And here he is against Western Michigan’s Marshawn Kneeland in 11-on-11’s.
(We’ll have more on Kneeland momentarily.)
Suamataia otherwise locked down the other edge defenders, but I came away a little disappointed with his first day.
The offensive tackles who did not disappoint were Guyton and Oregon State’s Taliese Fuaga. Here’s Latu vs. Fuaga:
Latu had 23.5 sacks and 5 forced fumbles the last two seasons at UCLA, and he is thought of as a very technically sound rusher, and Fuaga just dumped him.
Guyton competed hard, and played well:
That second rep was against Alabama star edge rusher Chris Braswell.
• The corners should also be of interest to the Eagles. The top rated corner in Mobile is Toledo’s Quinyon Mitchell, who finished second in the nation both in 2022 and 2023 with 19 pass breakups each season. Mitchell didn’t get to play against top-tier talent at Toledo, so he has something to prove here, and on Day 1 he got his hands on a lot of passes and looked like the best corner here.
• I also tried to pay attention to the linebackers. When I published a list of 15 defensive players I’d be watching at the Senior Bowl, a bunch of people asked why NC State’s Payton Wilson wasn’t on it. (Seriously… there were tweets, DMs, and even an email.)
He’s a good player who racked up 138 tackles, 6.5 sacks, 3 INTs, and 6 pass breakups in 2023. There’s a lot to like. However, he has a serious injury history. He has torn his right ACL twice, he dislocated both shoulders in the same game in 2021 (necessitating surgery), and he’ll be 24 by the time he’s drafted.
He’s older than every player the Eagles drafted last year, except Sydney Brown, who is older by a month. He’s two years older than Kelee Ringo and Moro Ojomo.
So he’ll be a polarizing prospect. He had a good day, as he was in on a number of tackles for loss.
The linebacker who impressed me was Nathaniel Watson of Mississippi State. He had a big final season, with 137 tackles, 10 sacks, and 2 forced fumbles. He showed off good speed running sideline-to-sideline. Howie Roseman mentioned during his end of season press conference that the Eagles were looking for a WILL LB who could run and hit, and that they found that in Zach Cunningham. Watson can run and hit.
I’ll also note here that James Williams, who was a big, enforcer-style safety for Miami, is playing linebacker here. He measured in here at 6’4, 230.
• The Eagles need a slot receiver, and there are a lot of them here, in different flavors. There are three that I really like:
- Malachi Corley, Western Michigan: Run after catch beast.
- Ladd McConkey, Georgia: Ankle breaker.
- Roman Wilson: Speed.
Nobody could cover McConkey on Tuesday.
There were a few other slot receivers who did some nice things, but I’ll get to them in another notes post soon.
• I noted that we would come back to Western Michigan’s Marshawn Kneeland, who made Jeremiah’s top 50 list. He is explosive:
Kneeland’s production isn’t super impressive (12.5 career sacks), but he has decent enough size (6’3, 268) and obvious athletic traits. I’m curious to see how he tests at the Combine. Maxx Crosby was a traits-based prospect from a smaller school who has become an elite pro.
• At running back, a guy who escaped my radar this season who had a good day was USC’s Marshawn Lloyd. He had a nice day catching the football and running inside the tackles:
I also liked what I saw from Kentucky’s Ray Davis as a receiver. He made a really nice play on a back shoulder throw. Davis is a power runner, but he can also stay on the field on obvious passing downs because he’s a competent receiver.
• We’ll have more notes on Thursday morning, and maybe a list of players on Friday who stood out who we didn’t already profile this season in our prospects series.
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