There’s no denying that the NFL caters to burst, agility, and route running. However, it’s become increasingly clear that there’s a limit to how lean you can be and still thrive.
It’s also more important than ever for slot players to be able to bring anything as a blocker in the run game — which makes Tez Johnson’s projection a bit muddier.
But, by golly, can he get open? If you don’t catch a piece of him at the line, you’re going to be playing tag with a ghost. Johnson is the quintessential third-down assassin but with the juice to consistently threaten as a slot fade or seam target.
Deone Walker’s game is peculiar. He’s conspicuously tall, and his pad level often swells to display his height during reps. One would expect a player his size to be a brick-wall nose tackle, but Walker’s forte is as an interior pass rusher, not a traditional gap-plugging nose. Walker holds up well to contact even with his pad-level issues despite noticeably missing some sand in his pants. And despite lacking the outrageous burst of the Jordan Davis types, he possesses hands and reckless abandon that make him legitimately dangerous as a pass rusher.
However, there are too many examples of Walker taking reps and even series off defensively, which likely won’t enthuse NFL staffs.
No player has stumbled more in the top 100 rankings. Isaiah Bond dropped 29 spots since November, and anybody who’s watched him since October should understand why. Maybe the nagging ankle injury is more serious than we originally thought. However, it’s not just his athletic performance that suffered. Ewers and head coach Steve Sarkisian made Bond an afterthought, appearing to not trust him as anything more than a decoy. The best way to look at Bond might be as a blend of Alabama’s DeVonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle. He doesn’t have Waddle’s high-end post-catch ability or Smith’s consistent route-running detail, but Bond approaches both, which is something nobody else in this class can claim.
Dorian Strong might have the second-best zone eyes in the class. He connects quickly to match in-breaking routes from Cover 3 leverage while understanding what threats come at different depths. He’s situationally intelligent and boasts impressive freedom to snap off routes to make plays on a different receiver.
Strong’s also not a liability playing at the line of scrimmage, but he’s definitely weaker when his focus is on the receiver and is playing with his back to the ball.
Arguably, no player is more polarizing than Donovan Ezeiruaku. Opinions vary from first-round pick to Day 3 talent, and it’s easy to see why.
The pass rusher is sawed-off but has the sort of density and length to live as a consistent edge setter at the NFL level physically. Ezeiruaku boasts a more diverse pass-rushing arsenal than any player in the country, and his swim move is a devastating go-to as an inside counter and when used as a B-gap blitzer or looper. However, he hasn’t consistently flashed against the better tackles on his schedule. Ezeiruaku’s run game processor and peripheral vision are inconsistent at best, and while he has burst and bend, neither is to the level of Pearce, Carter, or Umanmielen.
If we act like the regular-season game against Oregon doesn’t exist, Denzel Burke might still be a top-50 draft pick in April. But because we don’t have memory-erasing pen-shaped devices, that’s not possible. Burke has consistently flashed impressive play for long stretches only to blow up and forget how to survive on the field for other stretches. The Oregon game was an abject disaster for Burke, who allowed Johnson and Evan Stewart to run by him like he was stuck in the mud.
Barrett Carter has been in the NFL Draft scope for a long time. That longevity brings more eyeballs on a more consistent basis, which in turn brings more opportunity for both praise and scrutiny. The issue is that no player is perfect. New names from nowhere often get highlighted only by their draft-eligible campaign, and draftniks may only watch three games of their entire college career.
Andrew Mukuba left the slot at Clemson for a role on the back end of the Texas Longhorns’ defense, and everyone forgot he existed because nobody watches safeties. Mukuba never stopped being a talented player, though, and his versatile background makes him a valuable player at the next level. Mukuba is darty and detailed as a zone defender with impressive range via physical speed and instinctual prowess. Mukuba’s outrageous thirst for violence after joining the Longhorns has excited scouts most. Although undersized, he’s played like a heat-seeking missile in Texas’ secondary.
Like a painter slapping ink on canvas at a speed the untrained eye can’t even process, Kaleb Johnson’s feet do the same to find the perfect avenue of approach when operating in Iowa’s predominantly wide-zone rushing attack. There’s an uncanny fluidity and effortlessness to Johnson’s footwork as he finds creases, and his flexibility allows him to consistently get his body pointed where his feet are telling him to go. Johnson doesn’t quite have the high-end explosiveness that other backs in the class boast, but his incredible vision and second-level manipulation free him up to create explosive runs at a rate higher than any other back. The only things keeping Johnson grounded in the rankings are his lack of pass-catching opportunities and his somewhat underwhelming pass-protection habits.
Matthew Golden, like Egbuka, is a professional route runner. Golden doesn’t have quite the same frame density and play strength as his Ohio State counterpart, but he might be a tick more explosive overall through the course of his route stem. Golden’s ability to improve his hands at the line of scrimmage will ultimately dictate how consistently he produces at the next level. He’s savvy but must improve his ability to skirt more technically proficient press coverage defenders. Nevertheless, there’s a reason Golden became Quinn Ewers’ preferred target down the stretch. His nuanced route running and consistently impressive ability to finish make him a reliable target for quarterbacks, no matter the situation.
