Tag: Caelen Carson

2024 Scouting Combine: Seven cornerbacks detail their favorite college plays

At the 2024 scouting combine, we asked seven different cornerbacks for their favorite NCAA plays, and got some great answers.

INDIANAPOLIS — Unless you are somehow able to gain access to one of the rooms in which NFL teams meet with draft prospects during the week of the scouting combine, there’s no way to know what’s really discussed. One thing that is almost always happens is a tape-watching expedition in which the NFL people will have play examples dialed up that hopefully show what the prospects can do.

Here at Touchdown Wire, we do not possess the required juice to crash those rooms, but we are able to ask these prospects during their combine media sessions which plays from their college careers best typify their potential.

On Thursday, we asked seven different cornerback prospects — Iowa’s Cooper DeJean, Kentucky’s Andru Phillips, Wake Forest’s Caelen Carson, Pitt’s M.J. Devonshire, Oregon’s Khyree Jackson, and Ole Miss’s Deantre Prince — for their favorite collegiate plays. These are the ones they’d like to show to NFL teams this week as indicators of their finest work.

9 early contenders for Cowboys 2nd-round pick at LB, RB, CB

Dallas has had its issues with their second-round picks, here are several early options they hope could be success stories from the round. | From @cdpiglet

Minus the occasional home runs of Demarcus Lawrence and Trevon Diggs, the second-round picks of the Dallas Cowboys haven’t been ideal. Since Lawrence in 2014, the Cowboys have drafted Randy Gregory, Jaylon Smith, Chidobe Awuzie, Connor Williams, Trysten Hill, Trevon Diggs, Kelvin Joseph, Sam Williams, and Luke Schoonmaker. There were a few contributors, but only Diggs stands out as a true game-changer.

Williams and Schoonmaker are too early to call, but none of the others were selections the team would make in a redraft. This team has plenty of talent, but the 2023 draft class had nearly zero impact and the Cowboys need this draft to be different. More often than not Dallas nails their first rounder, but they need more out of the other Top 60 pick.

Even if Jerry Jones sincerely meant it when he said the team was all in and the team added free agents at defensive tackle, running back, linebacker, and cornerback, the team would still need significant contributors behind them for depth in 2024.

3-round mock draft: 49ers win Super Bowl, restock roster at key spots

The #49ers hit most top needs after winning Super Bowl in 3-round mock draft:

The priority of the 49ers’ needs in the 2024 NFL draft could quickly change depending on how things go in Super Bowl LVIII against the Chiefs.

However, a three-round mock draft from Sports Illustrated’s Luke Easterling offers a look at how San Francisco might attack the draft out of the No. 32 spot after winning the Super Bowl.

The result of the 49ers’ four selections in the top three rounds is a crop of players that hit a slew of needs that San Francisco will surely need to address regardless of the Super Bowl outcome.

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Here’s a look at those picks:

Wake Forest CB Caelen Carson, Duke QB Riley Leonard to face off on the scouting spot

Carson and Leonard have both struggled some lately, making their Thursday night matchup some must-watch scouting

College football’s Week 10 is already underway thanks to some welcome midweek MACtion, but it really kicks into gear on Thursday night. An ACC battle between Duke and Wake Forest will feature two 2024 NFL draft prospects who are trending in the wrong direction lately.

It’s an important night in Durham for Wake Forest CB Caelen Carson and Duke QB Riley Leonard. Recent games have not been kind to their draft evaluations.

Carson has not had a great college season. He’s been inconsistent in his coverage and his tackling — specifically, his tackling after the catch. For a player generally labeled as a “man coverage only” corner, that’s a bad problem to have. Diving at feet like he did against Georgia Tech QB Haynes King won’t get it done either.

Florida State went after Carson without worry. He gave up two touchdowns in coverage. The inability to locate the ball in the air on one of them was surprising; Carson has shown really nice ball skills in his Demon Deacons career, but the awareness and reading of the receiver cues were poor. The same was true a week earlier against Pittsburgh. The flashes were still evident though, including one very nice PBU against high-flying Keon Coleman.

At Duke, Carson doesn’t face off against dynamic wide receivers. The Blue Devils move the ball around a lot to various targets and extend pass plays well, which means attention to detail and technique are going to be very important for Carson.

Riley Leonard is a savvy quarterback for Duke, but he’s also looking to get back on track after a rough game in the Blue Devils’ shutout loss to Louisville. Leonard has not looked like a pro prospect since returning from the leg injury he suffered against Notre Dame.

One of the appealing qualities for Leonard pre-injury was his ability to handle pressure and still try to challenge down the field. That has not been there in the Florida State and Louisville losses. Both those defenses are good at generating pressure, something Wake Forest doesn’t do so well. EDGE Jasheen Davis is capable of making trouble for Leonard, but this is a game where the Duke QB should have more time to do his thing in the pocket or on controlled avoidance.

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49ers address offensive line and secondary in new NFL mock draft

In the latest NFL mock from Draft Wire, the San Francisco 49ers addressed the interior offensive line and secondary with their first two picks.

While the start of the NFL season is still a few days away, the college football season closed its opening week of action with a flurry of entertaining contests over the weekend. With college football back, NFL draft chatter is already in the air.

Following week one of the new college football campaign, Curt Popejoy of USA Today’s Draft Wire dropped a new two-round mock draft featuring two picks from the San Francisco 49ers.

With the No. 29 overall pick in the first round, Popejoy inked Kansas State’s Cooper Beebe to the 49ers. According to Popejoy, Beebe is a “powerful drive blocker.”

Via Draft Wire:

Niners get a powerful drive blocker who can pull and operate at the second level.

During the 2022 season, Beebe was named a first-team All-American along with earning the title of Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year. Beebe earned back-to-back First-Team All-Big 12 honors in 2021 and 2022. With the Wildcats, Beebe helped lead the way for now-Cowboys running back Deuce Mason.

This post originally appeared on Niners Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!