5 NFL Draft prospects you need to know
Now that we’ve gone over the grading scale, let’s dive into more prospects, using the grading scale as a valuable summation tool. I don’t have concrete round ranges for this scale yet. I’m waiting for a larger sample size to derive that information, but I hope to integrate that in at some point. For now, I’ll simply tell you my subjective range for players based on their scores.
Faion Hicks, CB, Wisconsin
Faion Hicks was a player that flashed during the season when I watched him. Then, when Wisconsin’s Pro Day came around, he ran a 4.49 40-yard dash and posted a 37.5″ vertical, a 123″ broad jump, and a 6.90 three-cone. After seeing Hicks’ numbers, I wanted to circle back to his tape and use it as a trial run for the grading scale.
Several games later, I found myself very impressed with Hicks. His size knocks his grade down — he’s only 5’10”, 189 pounds, with a shorter-than-average disruption radius. But outside of that, Hicks graded well in almost every category. As an athlete, he’s explosive, fluid, and agile. He uses his feet first in press and plays larger than his size, and he also has solid ball skills at the catch point.
Hicks scored a 7.34 on the scale, which puts him roughly in the late Day 2 or early Day 3 range based on the currently limited sample size. The full grade is below.
Hicks is likely more of a late Day 3 pick when the NFL Draft comes around, but I’m a big fan of what he offers, and I think he could be a steal in the later rounds. He has great athletic tools, and while his frame limits his play strength, he’s a feisty cornerback with a competitive edge. Most of his experience was on the boundary. However, I think he can translate into the slot with his traits.
Isaiah Weston, WR, Northern Iowa
Wide receiver and cornerback are the two positions I’ve finalized the trait hierarchy for, so I’ve done a lot of recent work on those two. One player that recently intrigued me was Northern Iowa WR Isaiah Weston. Weston is a size/speed freak on the surface. At the NFL Combine, he ran a 4.42. He also had a 40″ vertical and a 135″ broad jump, along with 20 bench reps at 6’3 1/2″, 213 pounds.
After watching Weston’s games against North Dakota State and Southern Illinois, he came out with an intriguing score. Like Hicks, he settled in the middle-round range. His speed checks out on tape. The FCS receiver can explode upfield and stack defensive backs easily. He also has high-level catching instincts. He frequently contorts and adjusts for the ball with little strain.
For Weston, the issues come in other areas. He’s not nearly as physical as I’d like him to be for his size. While he’s shown he can use targeted physicality at his stems, he can be jarred by contact. Additionally, he’s mainly a vertical receiver who doesn’t have great hip sink or lateral agility, and he can expand his route tree.
Another factor to take into account is Weston’s injury history. That injury history is harder to integrate into the scale, but it certainly matters. Weston missed the entire 2018 season with an injury and was never fully healthy in 2021. It’s been a recurring problem for him, and that may affect a team’s willingness to invest in him.
Nevertheless, somewhere on Day 3, Weston’s raw traits are worth banking on. He can be a dynamic vertical threat in the mold of Marquez Valdes-Scantling.
Devin Rockette, CB, South Alabama
I mentioned Devin Rockette as one of the prospects I wanted to watch in last week’s Scouting Notebook. The Jaguars cornerback logged a 4.53 40-yard dash, a 38.5″ vertical, and a 130″ broad jump at the South Alabama Pro Day. A former Ole Miss commit, he clearly has some athleticism. But you always have to see how it translates on tape.
I think it’s important to touch on Rockette’s grade because he came out with a 5.86, which is likely a late-round, PFA (priority free agent) grade on my scale. That’s not a bad thing at all. There’s a certain stigma around UDFA prospects, but there’s plenty of talent in the UDFA pool. In a way, it’s emblematic of how purely talented a player has to be to get selected.
Rockette’s explosiveness was good enough to boost his grade up and get him into that conversation. And overall, Rockette didn’t grade poorly in too many areas. But he was average or below-average in quite a few. And if you want to earn real opportunities at the NFL level, you can’t be average.
The silver lining for Rockette is this — he has potential. Circling back to the types of traits, quite a few of his average traits can be built up through development. He has very good explosiveness and enough speed to disrupt in the short and intermediate ranges. He’s also decently physical for his size and has solid ball skills.
The lesson? Being undrafted isn’t the end. As of 2019, 30% of the entire league was made up of undrafted players. I’d sign Rockette to my 90-man roster and give him a chance to work his way up.
Tyrone Broden, WR, Bowling Green (2023)
I didn’t get to watch every prospect I listed last week. I’ll circle back to take a look at guys like Michigan State LB Noah Harvey, Georgia Tech OT Devin Cochran, and Clemson S Nolan Turner. But for now, let me list a couple of 2023 NFL Draft prospects who flashed while watching other players.
While I was watching Rockette against Bowling Green, it was impossible not to notice Tyrone Broden towering over him. Broden is listed at a massive 6’6″ on Bowling Green’s website. He’s probably closer to 6’4″, 185 pounds, but he’s still a long and lanky receiver whose size makes him an immediate mismatch against smaller defensive backs.
Broden caught 36 passes for 596 yards and 5 touchdowns as a sophomore in 2021. Beyond his size, he also showed off flashes of hip sink and throttle control for his size. He made adjustments for the football and displayed a competitive edge after the catch.
Small-school prospects don’t declare early as often as Power Five prospects, so Broden could ultimately be in the 2024 cycle. But I’m writing his name down, nonetheless.
Emmanuel Forbes, CB, Mississippi State (2023)
Let’s work our way back to the Power Five radar with one last prospect to know. He was the cornerback opposite Martin Emerson for Mississippi State in 2020 and 2021. Emerson, by the way, is an underrated prospect with arguable first-round talent. And his teammate Emmanuel Forbes could be a similarly strong prospect in 2023.
Forbes is a bit lighter than Emerson, standing at around 6’0″, 180 pounds. But he’s a legitimate ball hawk who’s already natural in coverage. He took to the SEC as a freshman in 2019 and didn’t look back. And now, over the past two seasons, he has 8 interceptions and 10 pass deflections combined.
With Emerson gone, Forbes will now be the top cornerback for the Bulldogs. It’ll be his chance to fully emerge on the national stage. And with his high-level playmaking ability, he may just be able to deliver.
Prospects I’m watching next
In an attempt to spare my editors from more words and also not become too back-logged with prospects to watch, I’ll roll over Harvey, Cochran, Turner, and Stanford DT Thomas Booker into next week. But a couple of prospects caught my eye with pro day testing numbers. And I’m eager to reevaluate them.
Master Teague, RB, Ohio State
Usually, there’s at least one Ohio State running back in the early-round or middle-round discussion. The Buckeyes have become something of a pipeline at many positions, running back included. Last year, it was Trey Sermon. In past years, it’s been Ezekiel Elliott and Carlos Hyde. And in the future, it will be TreVeyon Henderson.
But right now, it’s Master Teague, and he has next to no hype — something that may change after his pro day showing. Teague came in looking like a tank at 5’11”, 221 pounds. He then ran a 4.44 40-yard dash, put up 27 bench reps, and also registered a 36″ vertical, a 131″ broad jump, and a 6.95 three-cone.
By his numbers alone, Teague has an elite physical combination of strength and dynamic athleticism at running back. Henderson overshadowed him, but I’m going to watch back and see if his skill set could make him a steal in an increased role. There’s no doubting that the physical tools are there.
Drake Jackson, EDGE, USC
This isn’t a case of not knowing a prospect. Everyone knows Drake Jackson. But I’m simply perplexed as to where I’ll rank him in this EDGE class. He’s an explosive athlete on tape with great length and flexibility. And at his pro day, he measured in at 273 pounds and still logged a strong 7.09 three-cone.
If Jackson can retain his rare athleticism at 273 pounds, he has an elite combination of burst, density, and length, with 34 1/4″ arms. There’s still work to do regarding his pass-rush plan, but he’s a young player with uncommon upside.
Jackson’s been forgotten at times in a dominant EDGE class, but he’s still worthy of the early-round hype he got at the beginning of the process. I aim to view more of his tape to get a better idea of where he settles in.