Category: 2023 scouting combine

4-Down Territory: Risers and fallers from the 2023 scouting combine

With the scouting combine in the rear view, 4 Down Territory’s Luke Easterling and Doug Farrar recap which NFL prospects’ draft stocks rose and fell the most.

Every week in “4-Down Territory,” Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar and Luke Easterling of Bucs Wire and Draft Wire go over the things you need to know about, and the things you need to watch, in the NFL right now. With the 2023 scouting combine wrapped up, it’s all about how the prospects did in the medicals, in the meeting rooms with NFL teams, and of course, on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium.

This week, Doug and Luke discuss:

00:00 – Intro

01:01 – Which offensive draft prospect helped himself with the combine drills?

05:29 – Which defensive draft prospect helped himself with the combine drills?

09:18 – Which offensive prospect failed to capitalize on it when the rubber hit the road?

13:36 – Which defensive prospect didn’t meet expectations at the combine?

You can watch this week’s episode of “4-Down Territory” right here:

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Prospects at 10 positions who saw their stock rise at the 2023 scouting combine

Touchdown Wire’s Laurie Fitzpatrick was in Lucas Oil Stadium for all the scouting combine drills, and here’s who impressed her the most.

Now that all the prospects have all gone through their interviews, measurables and drills at the 2023 scouting combine. It’s time to look at which guys won the days at their positions.

There are a few players that proved that they are valued correctly, and some other prospects who showed that they should be considered a little higher in the draft.

Let’s dive into how some of these prospects were able to show their skills and why it shouldn’t have been a surprise!

Three-round post-combine mock draft: Anthony Richardson’s rise, and Jalen Carter’s fall

With the scouting combine in the rear view, Doug Farrar’s latest mock takes it all in — including Anthony Richardson’s rise, and Jalen Carter’s fall.

It’s amazing how much the scouting combine obscures, and how much it reveals.

For all the lie-bombs and hidden agendas you get when you’re walking around Lucas Oil Stadium and the Indianapolis Convention Center, there are other times when the truth hits you right in the face, from good and bad places.

In the case of Georgia defensive lineman Jalen Carter, there was the story (well, stories) about his involvement in the January 15 auto accident that cost teammate Devin Willock and Georgia staffer Chandler LeCroy their lives.

From our own Barry Werner:

Carter is alleged to have been racing his 2021 Jeep Trackhawk against the 2021 Ford Expedition driven by recruiting staffer Chandler LeCroy, leading to the crash.

“The evidence demonstrated that both vehicles switched between lanes, drove in the centre turn lane, drove in opposite lanes of travel, overtook other motorists, and drove at high rates of speed, in an apparent attempt to outdistance each other,” the Athens-Clarke County Police Department said in a statement.

Adding insult to the situation, ESPN reported that Carter returned to the combine in Indianapolis.

This all broke about 15 minutes before Carter was supposed to take the podium for his combine presser, so that turned into a circus. When we’re talking about the loss of life, how this affects Carter’s draft status means less than nothing in the big picture. But that will still be discussed in every NFL facility.

Then, there was Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson, whose ridiculous (in a very good way) combine workout proved that he is as compelling an athlete at the position as we’ve ever seen.

Which has Richardson going above Carter in this particular mock draft — and had you told me that this would be the case when I published my last mock on February 25, I would have said that a whole lot of weird things would have to happen.

And, here we are.

So, with the 2023 scouting combine in the rear view, here’s how the first three round of the 2023 NFL draft might be affected by a week that was exceptional in all the ways you’d want, and quite a few you never saw coming.

(Note: The Miami Dolphins, who were slotted with the 21st pick in the first round, forfeited that pick as punishment from the NFL for tampering). 

(All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus and Sports Info Solutions unless otherwise indicated). 

Florida QB Anthony Richardson is absolutely dominating the scouting combine

Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson is making the 2023 scouting combine his personal demolition project with record-setting performances.

INDIANAPOLIS — Question the pure passing potential of Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson all you want (though he clearly showed improvement in the second half of his first season as a college starter), but let it be known that this dude is just as freaky an athlete on the track as he is on the field.

During Saturday’s combine drills for quarterbacks, Richardson blew up the 40-yard dash with a 4.44-second time — which, per MockDraftable.com, is the fourth-fastest 40 time for a quarterback since 1999. Richardson finished behind Virginia Tech’s Michael Vick in 2001 (4.33 seconds), Texas A&M’s Reggie McNeal in 2006 (4.4 flat), and Baylor’s Robert Griffin III in 2012 (4.41).

Richardson’s 40 was faster than those of Justin Fields, Tyrod Taylor, Vince Young, Daunte Culpepper, Jake Locker, Colin Kaepernick, and Russell Wilson.

Oh, and he also made history in other ways.

Richardson saw no need to run a second 40, and who could blame him?

We’ll see how Richardson fares in the throwing drills — he has a ridiculous deep arm and can feather touch passes a bit better than his detractors think. If he aces that as well, Anthony Richardson could send the 2023 draft class into total chaos.

Watching tape with Tyjae Spears, the most explosive back in the 2023 draft class

Tulane’s Tyjae Spears is the most explosive back in the 2023 draft class, and watching tape with him is just a series of ridiculous plays.

INDIANAPOLIS — Tulane running back Tyjae Spears is cooking, and good luck stopping him. The 5-foot-9, 204-pound back comes to the scouting combine looking to prove his worth as an every-down back (“A four-down back,” as he told me), and if you’re discounting him because of his size, you may want to check that, because Spears’ 2022 tape with the Green Wave is as full of utterly ridiculous plays as you’ll see from any back — perhaps from any player — in this draft class.

The metrics bear this out. In 2022, Spears gained 1,586 yards and scored 19 touchdowns on 231 carries. 1,052 of those yards came after contact, he averaged 4.55 yards per carry after contact, he forced 63 missed tackles, and 21 of his carries went for 15 or more yards for 793 explosive yards. He also caught 22 passes on 28 targets for 251 yards and two touchdowns, and though all of his passes were of the short-to-intermediate variety, he averaged 12.7 yards after the catch per reception.

Then, when he got to the Senior Bowl, Spears continued his penchant for ridiculousness.

I met with Spears in the lower lobby of the Indianapolis Omni Severin Hotel on Wednesday, as he was one of many EXOS clients doing final training for the combine.

2023 NFL Draft: Inside the last-minute prep for the combine’s biggest names

It was the first time I’ve ever watched tape with a player on my phone, but I could not resist the opportunity to go over a few plays with the most explosive back in this class. Spears was eager and able to explain — to a point — how it is that he does what he does, though as he says, you just can’t plan some of this stuff. It either happens, or it doesn’t, and with Spears, it happens all the time.

Without further ado, let’s have the man himself explain some of the silliest tape you’ll see from anyone working out at the scouting combine this year.

Calijah Kancey’s record-setting combine athleticism is all over his game tape

Pitt defensive tackle Calijah Kancey is more than another small DT — his combine performance and game tape should make the NFL take notice.

INDIANAPOLIS — How many smaller defensive tackles will be disregarded due to their size before the NFL figures it out? John Randle was undrafted at 6-foot-1 and 290 pounds in 1990, and he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010. Aaron Donald, the best defensive player of his era in a peak value sense (I will brook no argument) fell to the 13th overall pick in the 2014 draft because of his size (6-foot-1, 280 pounds) and despite the fact that he was demolishing dudes at Pitt before he ever saw an NFL field.

Geno Atkins. Grady Jarrett. As much as we like to say, “Low man wins,” there is an obvious bias against shorter, smaller interior defensive line prospects despite the high hit rate at the position(s).

The next guy who will almost certainly deal with this bias to a greater or lesser degree is Calijah Kancey — a PItt alum like Donald, but whose game reminds me of more of an unholy combination of Jarrett and Atkins. We now have Kancey’s official measurements from the scouting combine: 6-foot-1, 281 pounds, arm length of 30 5/8’,’ hand size of 9 1/8’.”

Oh, by the way, he also ran the fastest 40-yard dash for anybody at his position in quite a few years.

Kancey’s 1.64-second 10-yard split is the fifth-fastest for any defensive tackle since 1999 — Donald had the fastest at 1.59. So, there’s that.

Now, the question is whether any or all of that shows up on tape.

The answer: Decidedly so.

In 2022, Kancey had eight sacks, nine quarterback hits, and 30 quarterback hurries in 275 pass-rushing snaps, and he had 21 stops in 179 run defense reps. Basically, wherever he lined up, anybody in the opposing backfield was in trouble.

That was one of three sacks Kancey put up against Virginia last November 12. He also had two quarterback hits and six quarterback hurries in that game, and one of those pressures resulted in a 39-yard pick-six by cornerback Marquis Williams. A block and a half isn’t going to go well against Kancey — you might want to work the full double-team in cases like this.

Does Kancey’s arm length — among the shortest for interior defensive linemen since 1999 — show up on tape? At times, like in this rep against Louisville. Kancey has to strike proactively with his hands and shoot gaps with authority to make up for the fact that he can get himself enveloped at times.

More often than not, though, Kancey’s adaptive strategies pay off with defensive win after defensive win.

“Grady Jarrett, Javon Hargrave, Quinnen Williams and Aaron Donald,” Kancey said Wednesday from the combine about the players who have inspired his play. “Those types of guys. They paved the way for smaller defensive tackles and showed we could play at the next level. Lots of quickness, speed, technique, block shedding and aggressiveness.”

Kancey has all those attributes in total, and whether he’s downgraded or not due to the NFL’s overall size bias for players at his position, he’s put up more than enough on tape — and on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium — to transcend all of that when it’s time to disrupt at the next level.

All-22 from the scouting combine: Defensive backs detail their favorite plays

Christian Gonzalez, Clark Phillips III, Jaylon Jones, and Jammie Robinson detail their most notable college plays from the scouting combine.

INDIANAPOLIS — What’s your one defining moment?

Every prospect at the scouting combine has that one play which defines them to a degree — the highlight shot they think about over and over when it’s time to think about their collegiate careers.

As the defensive backs took the podiums in Indianapolis on Thursday, I thought it would be interesting to ask them which plays they thought best defined them as players. So, here’s Oregon cornerback Christian Gonzalez, Utah cornerback Clark Phillips III, Texas A&M cornerback Jaylon Jones, and Florida State safety Jammie Robinson on that very subject.

2023 NFL Draft: Inside the last-minute prep for the combine’s biggest names

Draft prospects have been training for weeks to ace the combine. Here’s how it looks as the clock ticks down to the on-field drills.

INDIANAPOLIS — The scene is several rooms of the lower lobby of the Omni Severin Hotel in downtown Indy. TCU receiver Quentin Johnston and Tennessee receiver Cedric Tillman are running alternating practice 40-yard dashes in a makeshift training center. Purdue quarterback Aidan O’Connell is stretching on the floor next to a television replaying a Steelers-Ravens game. Down the hall, a staff of nutritionists are putting together food plans for 99 scouting combine participants in which the amount of meat is measured in actual cows.

There’s a hot tub and a cold tub in a small fitness center, and in that same 40-yard dash place, there are massage tables and exercise bikes and treadmills aplenty. Tulane running back Tyjae Spears is leaping and hopping when he’s not running his own practice dashes, and guys are burning up those treadmills in frantic shifts as everybody gets ready for the biggest set of job interviews of their young lives.

The pressure isn’t just on the prospects. It’s also on EXOS, the multi-state performance center charged with making these prospects the best they can possibly be for everything from positional drills to interviews with teams. Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Mark Dominik has been hired as a consultant to prepare everyone for the latter, and there’s a very large staff of professionals working frantically to get those last few reps in before things get very real on the Lucas Oil Stadium turf Thursday through Sunday.

EXOS’s list of combine participants reads like a lot of the first round of any mock draft when you filter it up top: There’s Johnston, Alabama edge-rusher Will Anderson Jr., Oregon cornerback Christian Gonzalez, Illinois cornerback Devon Witherspoon, LSU edge-rusher BJ Ojulari, Alabama safety Brian Branch, Tennessee receiver Jalin Hyatt, Ohio State receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Florida guard O’Cyrus Torrence, Ohio State offensive tackle Paris Johnson Jr., and on and on.

EXOS’s efforts are just as (probably more) important for the prospects on the fringe, though — the guys who are hoping to perhaps move from the third day of the draft to the second, or from an undrafted free agent future to any part of the draft at all.

Georgia Tech DL Keion White is great on the field, and better at the microphone

Georgia Tech pass-rusher Keion White is a total one-off — both on and off the field. He’s looking to blow up the combine drills, as well.

INDIANPOLIS — Not that Georgia Tech defensive lineman Keion White had too much to prove at the 2023 scouting combine — the 6-foot-5, 286-pound Old Dominion transfer and former tight end put up seven sacks, four quarterback hits, and 30 quarterback hurries in his 2022 season, and was blowing offensive linemen up at Senior Bowl week — but when he took the podium on Wednesday, it was quite an event.

On the field, White reminds me of Michael Bennett, the former Seahawks star pass-rusher who could nuke blockers from anywhere in the formation. Bennett has always marched to his own drumbeat and has a unique mind. It was nice to experience that White is definitely an original when he’s talking, as well.

White had been in college since his freshman year at Old Dominion in 2018, which is a long time, as he noted.

“Six years in college is long as [expletive],” he said. “I don’t know if I can say ‘[expletive]’ up here but it’s long.”

Well, too late for that. The non-recruited White transferred to Georgia Tech following the COVID year of 2020, and he firmly established himself as a premier pass-rusher and run defender in the one season he was able to show out at that level. He had just 36 snaps in his first season with the Yellow Jackets, but when he was given opportunities to shine, he showed all kinds of first-round talent.

The journey made his combine experience a bit out of this world.

“I was not recruited at all coming out of high school,” he said. “When I got to go to college, I just planned on working in the workforce and being like one of y’all, just a normal person. Coming here and being part of this is just a surreal experience.”

The tape is far from ordinary, though.

Power moves are White’s forte. and he has a lot of confidence in what he does best.

“At the beginning of the season, I was trying to be a speed rusher because everybody was like, ‘You need to add more moves; you need to showcase your talent, that you can do other things.’ And that wasn’t me. So I wasn’t being productive. Once I got back to being a powerful rusher and being dominant again, that’s when my sack production picked up.”

And what did he learn from that experience?

“Don’t listen to what everybody said you need to do or the scouts wanna see. Scouts see what they’re gonna see. I’m going to be me and let them evaluate it from there.”

As far as where he’ll best fit in the NFL, White, who played 80% of his spans outside the guards, 17% inside, and 2% at nose tackle, is perfectly fine with wherever his next team wants to put him.

Of course, he does have some opinions about that.

“That’s cool with me,” he said of a main 5-tech role. “I’ve shown throughout my career that I can go wherever I need to go. Personally, I like playing the 5. Anywhere from 3 to 9 I think it’s reasonable for me to play. And I like being able to play anywhere from 3 to 9, and that versatility. That only makes you more valuable as a player.”

White is also quite sure that he won’t need to add weight to transcend any “tweener” concerns.

“No. I’m 285 pounds, reasonably strong. I’ve been playing end, and I’m reasonably quick enough to play the outside as well. I like the weight I’m at. If teams need me to, obviously they’re paying money, I’ll go anywhere if they give me money for it. That’s how I feel about it.”

Of course, some people are going to misinterpret White’s opinionated nature as making him hard to coach… or that old combine chestnut, “Do you love football?” Which really means, are you going to keep your mouth shut and do what you’re told?

If that’s what you want, White isn’t your guy.

“That’s a tough question because I could tell you any bull[bleep] answer and you’ll be like, ‘Yeah, okay.’ It’s more something you have to show. That’s not just something you can evaluate from the tape because anybody can go out there and play, it’s just about how hard you play and the dedication you put into it. It’s just like if I asked you, ‘Do you love media?’ How am I supposed to know if you love media? No, it’s what you do. It’s just a personal thing. I enjoy doing this every day.”

Perhaps White’s independent nature is tied to the fact that he has serious business plans in his future. Budding real estate magnate, in fact.

“Probably property acquisitions and real estate, things like that,” he said, when asked what he would do were he force to work an “ordinary” job. “I worked for a couple companies when I was in Atlanta doing certified finishes and at McKenney’s, I was doing [work in] the accounting department and the estimating side. From there, I realized office life sucks, so [corporate] life is trash, and football is definitely the career path I need to be on.”

Once White gets his NFL contract (he missed out on the NIL boom, to his chagrin), he plans to get that ball rolling.

“Numbers have always come easily to me, and I’ve always been knowledgeable in seeing the information. I’ve realized a lot of the millionaires outside of sports that you see have ventures in real estate and that’s how they develop their portfolios and build up their network. I was like — if it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for me.”

So, Keion White is a one-off, both on and off the field. He’s already proven it on tape and at the mic, and he’s eager to reinforce that when the defensive linemen run through their drills at Lucas Oil Stadium on Thursday.

All-22 from the scouting combine: Defensive linemen detail their favorite plays

Defensive linemen Bryan Bresee, Keeanu Benton, Keondre Coburn, Gervon Dexter, and Zacch Pickens describe their best college plays.

INDIANAPOLIS — What’s your one defining moment?

Every prospect at the scouting combine has that one play which defines them to a degree — the highlight shot they think about over and over when it’s time to think about their collegiate careers.

As the defensive linemen took the podiums in Indianapolis on Wednesday, I thought it would be interesting to ask a bunch of them for the one play they would show anybody if asked for the real highlight shot. Here are Clemson’s Bryan Bresee, Wisconsin’s Keeanu Benton, Texas’ Keondre Coburn, Florida’s Gervon Dexter, and South Carolina’s Zacch Pickens describing the plays they most remember, with tape examples and further descriptions.