Tag: 2023 NFL draft

Thomas Brown reveals which QB was atop his 2023 draft board

On Tuesday, Panthers OC Thomas Brown revealed who his No. 1 QB from the 2023 draft class was. His answer was not a surprise.

Thomas Brown’s newfound power had him feeling a bit risky on Tuesday.

The Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator and freshly-anointed play-caller spoke with reporters this afternoon, a day after officially receiving the keys to his unit from head coach Frank Reich. When asked about having the opportunity to grow alongside rookie quarterback Bryce Young in his expanded role, Brown revealed some inside info that he was admittedly reluctant to reveal.

“I’m excited for the opportunity to work with him,” he said. “Like I’ve said from Day One—even in my interview, which hopefully I’m good enough to be able to share this—but one of my last stops was kinda meeting with Scott [Fitterer] and Dan [Morgan] and kinda talk about how I saw the roster and also my evaluation of this draft class of quarterbacks.

“And I told Bryce this yesterday, when we had a sit-down meeting with us one on one and just talk about movin’ forward, my expectations and what to kinda expect from me in this kinda new role as a play-caller. But I mentioned him as being the No. 1 guy on the board then—just thinkin’ about from the standpoint of what I saw from him on tape and kinda just continuin’ to grow from there. And once you had the opportunity to get on the road and meet with him and interview him and, obviously, watchin’ him throw from a pro day standpoint.”

This shouldn’t come as a surprise for a few reasons, one being that Brown had already expressed his desire to have a “point guard” heading his offense well before the draft. And no prospect from the spring fit that bill better than Young.

Unfortunately, the No. 1 overall pick hasn’t had the easiest time running the point in Carolina. So Brown is looking to build on his relationship with Young, who is showing signs of progress heading into the bye week.

“I’m in the quarterback room most times almost every single day,” he later added. “And when we got done with our meetings yesterday, I kinda just had some one-on-one time with him to just talk about what to expect from me to make sure we’re on the same page. But for me, more importantly, to get feedback from him for what he needs from me as far as moving forward, so we can do a really good job of working together and put a good product on the field.”

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Here’s who the Cowboys should’ve drafted in 2023 for immediate help

A look at what would have happened if Dallas knew how rookies would play early in their careers and focused on winning now with their draft haul. A way-too-soon Cowboys 2023 redraft shows who could’ve helped. | From @KDDrummondNFL

While normally it takes multiple seasons to judge a draft class, that isn’t necessarily the case for every situation. One of those is the 2023 Dallas Cowboys, who built themselves to compete for a championship this year.

Dallas’ draft class may have long term potential, but with the club already sitting in the fringe when it comes to the No. 1 seed race, it isn’t tough to see how a quicker impactful class could have been beneficial.

So while Mazi Smith, Luke Schoonmaker, Deuce Vaughn and an injured DeMarvion Overshown can eventually prove their worth, here’s a collection of rookies who were available and are thriving at positions Dallas could use some help.

Here’s a Cowboys-specific 2023 redraft from players who were available at the time Dallas picked, but they passed up on. Dallas had eight picks from their haul, how many of those players made it back to the organization?

Saints safety Jordan Howden among PFF’s highest-graded rookies of Week 5

Jordan Howden has not only been impressive for the Saints, but across the entire 2023 draft class. He was one of PFF’s highest-graded rookies of Week 5:

The New Orleans Saints have had their struggles throughout the start of the season, but one of the bright spots in recent weeks has been rookie defensive back Jordan Howden. Howden was originally selected by the Saints with the 146th overall pick in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL draft out of Minnesota, and Pro Football Focus recognized him as one of their highest-graded rookies coming out of Week 5.

Howden had a solid performance in Week 5’s shutout 34-0 win over the New England Patriots, earning him a place as PFF’s second-highest graded rookie (minimum of 25 snaps) with an overall grade of 86.8.

That put him behind only Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. in the rookies who came away with the highest grades for the week, quite a testament to where Howden stands among NFL players of all positions. The box score has him with a single tackle on the afternoon, but Howden’s biggest play of the game was forcing an interception that played a role in the Saints keeping the momentum through the second half.

 

“I guess, the way the ball was place, it was wither I have to just make a tackle or I was just gonna a have to put my shoulder into his rib,” Howden told reporters after the game. “And then the next (thing) you know, I come out and the ball is out and we’re all celebrating on the sidelines.”

Howden and the Saints will look to keep the momentum rolling as they face the Houston Texans on the road in NRG Stadium at noon CT.

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PFF continues ranking Commanders Emmanuel Forbes lowly

Another tough week for Forbes.

Commanders cornerback Emmanuel Forbes, along with all other 2023 first-round selections, are being graded each week by Pro Football Focus.

This week marked the quarter of the 2023 season having been completed. Pro Football Focus pointed out in particular that Bears right tackle Darnell Wright and the Steelers Broderick Jones had fine games in their Week 5 contests.

Washington fans will recall that both of those offensive tackles were selected before the Commanders were on the clock at the No. 16 position. There is little doubt that had a top offensive tackle still been available at the 16th position, the Commanders would have selected an offensive tackle.

Here is the link for the entire story, where you can read how they grade each of the 31 first-round choices that were selected in the 2023 draft. You may recall Miami was forced to forfeit its selection, and that is why there were only 31 instead of 32 first-round choices.

In particular interest for the Commanders fans, here I supply what PFF had to say regarding the No. 16 selection by the Commanders: Cornerback Emmanuel Forbes out of Mississippi State.

Overall Rookie Grade: 37.0 (Rank: 17/17)
Principal Opponent: D.J. Moore
Week 5 Snaps: 24
Week 5 Grade: 32.0

The struggles continued for Forbes this week. He was the biggest victim of D.J. Moore’s historic night, allowing three catches for 76 yards. He took poor angles on two curl routes, which allowed Moore to streak down the sideline for big gains. His 37.0 season grade is the third-lowest mark among all qualified cornerbacks.

Bryan Bresee is already putting opposing offenses on notice

New Orleans Saints rookie Bryan Bresee is already putting opposing offenses on notice. He’s seen more double team blocks than most NFL defensive tackles this season:

New Orleans Saints rookie Bryan Bresee is already putting offenses on notice. He’s seen more double-team blocks than most NFL defensive tackles this season, per research from ESPN Analytics and NFL Next Gen Stats shared by ESPN’s Seth Walder. Bresee is being double-teamed about 68% of the time on passing downs, which would rank inside the top-15 for defensive tackles around the league.

Bresee is only five games into his career but he’s drawing more double teams than veterans like Arik Armstead, Kenny Clark, Leonard Williams, Larry Ogunjobi, his predecessor David Onyemata and superstar defenders Aaron Donald, Jeffery Simmons, Javon Hargrave, and Fletcher Cox — among many others. He’s being given just as much attention as guys like Christian Wilkins, Quinnen Williams, and Vita Vea.

The young defensive tackle is drawing a lot of attention from opposing defensive lines. Bresee’s blend of size and agility have been on display early and often this season. Watch any game and you’ll see him pushing the pocket and winning his battles at the line of scrimmage. The box score doesn’t tell the full story but 1.5 sacks and a batted pass with 3 tackles for loss is a fine start through five weeks. Only Philadelphia Eagles star Jalen Carter has more quarterback pressures (23) than Bresee (12) among rookie defensive tackles, and nobody else has broken double-digits per, per Pro Football Focus charting.

It’s a long season. Durability was the concern with Bresee coming out of college, not his level of play. So far he’s been doing a great of staying healthy and available (his 154 defensive snaps are second on the team among defensive tackles) and making the most of his opportunities. He hasn’t been perfect, but no rookie would be expected to be. Once Bresee is more consistently anchoring against the run and holding up at the line of scrimmage, he’ll be a threat to wreck a play on every down.

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Jalen McLeod’s draft stock is on the rise

McLeod has had a strong start to his senior season and the NFL has noticed.

[autotag]Jalen McLeod[/autotag] came to Auburn from App State for his senior season looking to prove he could compete with the best players in the country and through five weeks of the season he has done just that.

He quickly emerged as Auburn’s top pass rusher and despite being banged up, has made 12 tackles, two quarterback hurries, broken up a pass and forced a fumble.

Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy believes he has been even better than his box score indicated and named him one of nine seniors who generated draft buzz in Week 5, in his weekly interview with On3’s Matt Zenitz.

“Showed up more in live exposure against Georgia than what his stat line might suggest,” Nagy said. “Consistently around the ball. Has the ability to bend the edge on pass rush. Athletic and instinctive enough to be solid special teams contributor at the next level. NFL scouts we spoke with in the press box also like him as draftable level player.”

McLeod was one of 14 Auburn players to make the Senior Bowl watch list ahead of the season.

Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow JD on Twitter @jdmccarthy15

Pete Carroll comments on Devon Witherspoon’s breakout game

In last night’s road win over the Giants Witherspoon was the singular best player on the field.

The Seattle Seahawks took a lot of flak for passing on Jalen Carter with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft. While it’s going to be tough for any rookie in this class to match Carter’s value, it appears that Devon Witherspoon is up to the challenge.

In last night’s road win over the Giants Witherspoon was the singular best player on the field, racking up seven tackles – some of the punishing variety – three quarterback hits, two sacks and a 97-yard pick six. Afterwards, head coach Pete Carroll shared his thoughts on Spoon’s big breakout game.

More Seahawks Wire stories

Ranking all 32 starting QBs by CPOE

NFL Power Rankings going into Week 5

Injury updates on Jamal Adams, Geno Smith

Colts QB Anthony Richardson is quickly erasing his pre-draft narrative

Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson has been as impressive as any rookie this year and shows he is much more than he was made out to be

It wasn’t that long ago during the draft process when some in the media were evaluating the top quarterbacks and when current Colts starter Anthony Richardson’s name came up, some negative taglines went with it. The narrative behind Richardson that he was “too raw” or “more of an athlete than quarterback” which as we see now, was not based in reality.

Richardson has looked every bit the part of a franchise quarterback for Indianapolis, who have to be ecstatic with the production and potential he flashes each week. Richardson has shown some elite level processing skills and has picked up the professional game incredibly fast for only starting thirteen games in college. This however should not be a surprise for those who watched him on Saturdays. Richardson has always been a quick learned who showed immense growth at the college level, and though his stats didn’t always reflect it, was a gifted passer who could spin it with the rest of his class.

In just three starts, Richardson already has seven touchdowns, and he is coming off of his most impressive game yet, leading the Colts from twenty points down against Matthew Stafford and the Rams to force overtime. One can only guess how far Richardson will go with the level of talent he possesses both mentally and physically. One thing is for sure, Anthony Richardson is a NFL-level passer and is here to stay.

Rookie QBs Aidan O’Connell, Dorian Thompson-Robinson get 1st career starts

Day 3 rookie QBs Aidan O’Connell, Dorian Thompson-Robinson got their 1st career starts in Week 4

Two of the preseason standouts from the rookie class saw their first NFL starting action on Sunday. Day 3 selection quarterbacks Aidan O’Connell and Dorian Thompson-Robinson were thrust into the starting lineups due to injuries.

O’Connell, a fourth-round pick by the Las Vegas Raiders, filled in for Jimmy Garoppolo, who was out with a brain injury. The rookie from Purdue had an up-and-down day, completing 24-of-39 passes for 238 yards. He impressively led a Raiders comeback late, shaking off a spotty first half where he lost two fumbles. He avoided mistakes throwing until the final drive, when a red zone INT effectively ended Las Vegas’ 24-17 loss to the Chargers.

In Cleveland, Thompson-Robinson was a surprise starter for an injured Deshaun Watson. A fifth-rounder from UCLA who tore it up in the preseason, “DTR” did not have a good go of it against Baltimore.

The rookie threw for just 121 net yards, completing 19 of his 36 pass attempts in a 28-3 loss to the visiting Ravens. Thompson-Robinson struggled badly to handle the pass rush and tossed three interceptions, though one of those came on the game’s final play.

Day 3 rookies aren’t typically expected to play at quarterback, let alone start in emergency duty. For O’Connell and Thompson-Robinson, the debuts were inauspicious learning experiences.