Tag: D.J. James

Giants hosted several recent draft picks as part of mass workout

The New York Giants hosted 15 players for workouts on Thursday, including five players who were recently draft picks.

The New York Giants had a busy day in East Rutherford on Thursday, complete with the week’s final practice, head coach and player press conferences, and a mass workout that included several recent draft picks.

Among those in attendance were cornerbacks D.J. James, Zech McPhearson, Damarion Williams and Kyu Blu Kelly, and quarterback Chris Oladokun.

James was a sixth-round pick of the Seattle Seahawks in the 2024 NFL draft but was waived after starting his career on the non-football injury (NFI) list. He was named Second-Team All-SEC in 2022 at Auburn.

McPhearson was a fourth-round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2021 NFL draft and has the most experience of any drafted player who worked out. He’s appeared in 33 career games, recording 30 tackles, one QB hit, one sack, and two passes defensed. McPhearson suffered a torn Achilles during the 2023 preseason and missed the whole year.

Williams was a fourth-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens in the 2022 NFL draft and has appeared in 15 career games, recording 24 tackles and two passes defensed.

Kelly was a fifth-round pick of the Ravens in the 2023 NFL draft and has also made brief stops with the Seattle Seahawks, Green Bay Packers, and Washington Commanders. He’s appeared in eight career games and recorded five tackles.

Oladokun was a seventh-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2022 NFL draft but found his way to the Kansas City Chiefs after being released as a rookie. He’s picked up two Super Bowl rings as a member of the Chiefs, serving as the quarterback of their practice squad.

The following players also took part in Thursday’s workout:

  • Safety Al Blades
  • Wide receiver Kaden Davis
  • Wide receiver Alex Erickson
  • Cornerback Eric Garror
  • Defensive back Jason Maitre
  • Linebacker Andrew Parker Jr.
  • Offensive lineman Julian Pearl
  • Linebacker Yvandy Rigby
  • Wide receiver David Wallis
  • Cornerback A.J. Woods

Although Erickson went undrafted in 2016, he’s carved out a solid career for himself as a return specialist. He’s appeared in 107 games and returned 162 punts for 1,303 yards, and 110 kickoffs for 2,729. He led the NFL in kick return yardage (810) as a rookie in 2016.

None of the players who worked out were immediately signed.

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Auburn lands Colorado transfer safety Jahquez Robinson

Robinson saw action in seven games for Colorado last season.

The Auburn Tigers added a few face to their defense on Friday, adding senior defensive back [autotag]Jahquez Robinson[/autotag] to what will be a mostly re-worked secondary in 2024. A former three-star recruit, Robinson spent his first three seasons in Tuscaloosa playing at the University of Alabama before spending last season with Colorado.

Robinson saw action in seven games for the Buffaloes, starting two contests and tallying 8 tackles, a fumble recovery, and an interception. The Jacksonville, Florida native’s lone interception came in his first career start against Oregon, led by former Auburn quarterback [autotag]Bo Nix[/autotag]. Robinson was one of only three players to turnover the Heisman Finalist last season.

While the senior’s direct path to playing time is likely blocked by fellow transfer safety [autotag]Jerrin Thompson[/autotag] and junior [autotag]Caleb Wooden[/autotag], Robinson provides immediate experience and depth to an Auburn secondary that lost key players like [autotag]D.J James[/autotag], [autotag]Nehemiah Pritchett[/autotag], and [autotag]Jaylin Simpson[/autotag] from last season.

Reunited with defensive back coach [autotag]Charles Kelly[/autotag] who recruited him at Colorado, the 6-foot-2 defensive back will have the opportunity to see his first action as a Tiger when Auburn kicks off its season on August 31 against Alabama A&M. He’ll have the chance to work his way up the depth chart as the summer progresses.

Auburn football trending upward for four-star safety Anquon Fegans

Auburn continues to trend upward for the Thompson product ahead of his July commitment.

Auburn football continues gaining momentum in recruiting four-star safety [autotag]Anquon Fegans[/autotag] ahead of his July commitment date. 247Sports’ Tom Loy and Christian Clemente have submitted “crystal ball” predictions in favor of Auburn adding Fegans to its 2025 class.

The 6-foot, 185-pound defensive back is a consensus four-star prospect, consistently profiling as a top 60 prospect in the country and top five safety. High-profile programs such as USC, Georgia, Oregon, Alabama, and Miami have offered Fegans. Still, as a native of Alabaster, Fegans’ proximity to Auburn makes a match with [autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag]’s Tigers a natural fit.

If Auburn were to land his talents, it would help re-build an Auburn secondary that lost key players such as [autotag]Jaylin Simpson[/autotag], [autotag]Nehemiah Pritchett[/autotag], and [autotag]D.J James[/autotag] in the 2024 NFL Draft.

In the era of the 12-team College Football Playoff, securing talented players like Fegans could be the difference between contending for a National Championship and finishing in the middle of the SEC. With National Signing Day not until February 2025, the talented safety has plenty of time to make his decision.

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

Seahawks cornerbacks among NFL’s most-improved position groups

The Seahawks already had a pretty strong cornerback room heading into the 2024 offseason.

The Seahawks already had a pretty strong cornerback room heading into the 2024 offseason. In free agency they chose to retain high-quality backups such as Artie Burns and Mike Jackson and in the draft they added two more corners: Nehemiah Pritchett and D.J. James, both out of Auburn. They join projected starters Devon Witherspoon and Riq Woolen, both of whom have already made a Pro Bowl team.

With the two new rookies in the fold, Seattle now can legitimately claim to have the deepest cornerback group in the league. According to Doug Farrar at Touchdown Wire, this is one of the most-improved units around the NFL.

“There are two cornerbacks from Auburn ready to write their names in something — Nehemiah Pritchett with the 136th overall pick in the fifth round, and D.J. James with the 192nd pick in the sixth. These gentlemen are added to a cornerback group that already includes 2022 rookie Pro Bowler Riq Woolen and 2023 fifth-overall pick Devon Witherspoon… Pritchett and James are already used to working together. With Pritchett and James, it got to the point where they would decide which side of the field they were covering pre-snap.”

The Ravens, Eagles and Packers also made significant investments at cornerback this offseason – and those teams are generally among the best at drafting from year to year. More evidence that smart teams see this as a critical position for the modern game and the Seahawks were right to push more chips in this direction, even though they already seemed to be set.

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ESPN: Seahawks had 4th-round grades on their 2 former Auburn cornerbacks

Adding Pritchett and James ensures the Seahawks have more options.

Everybody agrees the Seahawks got their first two picks in the 2024 NFL draft, including Pro Football Focus. There’s far less agreement about the choices they made on Day 3 of the draft, though. The biggest subject of debate concerns Seattle double-dipping at cornerback, a position where they already had one of the better units in the league going into this year. Critics have suggested they should have drafted a safety instead of another cornerback, or better yet a developmental quarterback.

Of course the front office has a slightly different-looking draft board than the ones fans and bloggers use during the offseason for their PFF mock drafts. According to a report by Jeremy Fowler at ESPN, the Seahawks had fourth-round grades for both Auburn cornerbacks Nehemiah Pritchett and D.J. James, who they landed in the fifth and sixth rounds, respectively. Picking both was evidence they stuck with their board.

“Seattle has a deep cornerback room with Devon Witherspoon, Riq Woolen and Michael Jackson. So why add two corners — Auburn’s Nehemiah Pritchett and D.J. James — in the fifth and sixth rounds? Value and competition. From what we’ve heard, Seattle had fourth-round grades on both corners. The selection of Pritchett and James signified Seattle sticking to its board.”

In an ideal world, Devon Witherspoon and Riq Woolen will be starting for this team for a long time to come. That’s far from a guarantee, though. Either one could suffer a major injury next season, Woolen’s coverage might not ever get back to the 2022 level and Witherspoon may never become a great tackler, making him a liability against the run.

Adding Pritchett and James ensures the Seahawks have more options after this coming season, when it’s likely that veteran backups on one-year deals like Mike Jackson (who just took a paycut) and Artie Burns are out of the picture.

More Seahawks Wire stories

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Watch: Auburn CB D.J. James gets the call from the Seahawks

Watch Auburn cornerback D.J. James get the call from the Seahawks.

Some of the best content you’ll see every year is that of NFL draft prospects getting the call from the teams that pick them, fulfilling a life-long dream.

Watch Auburn cornerback D.J. James get the call from the Seahawks.

James (6-foot-1, 185 pounds) may be the most polarizing pick that Seattle made this year.

While James’ college production was strong (five interceptions, 24 pass breakups, 108 tackles) and his PFF grades superb (his 88.9 coverage grade in 2023 ranked 10th in the nation at his position), there are some concerns about this particular pick.

For one thing, the Seahawks had already used a pick on another cornerback the previous round, taking James’ teammate Nehemiah Pritchett with the first pick in Round 5. Seattle had needs at safety and offensive line and it wouldn’t have been a terrible idea to pick a developmental QB instead of another cornerback, considering how strong that unit already was. That’s hardly James’ fault though, and the team claims they had a fourth-round grade on him.

One legitimate yellow flag is James’ Relative Athletic Score score (5.82), which was the worst of the team’s eight picks in the draft. While he has awesome speed, James posted poor scores in size and agility, which could be problematic at the next level where James may find himself too small to play the boundary and not quick enough for the slot.

Then again, we can think of a couple defensive backs who also had pretty atrocious RAS scores who turned out alright. Quandre Diggs posted a 2.24 score coming out of Texas and was good enough to make three straight Pro Bowls for this team. Tyrann Mathieu had a 3.94 RAS score and has gone on to be a three-time All Pro and win a Super Bowl.

Point being, it doesn’t hurt to score well but it’s not a prerequisite for success in the NFL. Each draft pick is a gamble and time will tell which way James will go. Intangibles like coaching and exactly how much dog he has in him will be far greater factors than whatever his athletic testing says about his game.

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Former Auburn defensive back Colton Hood transfers to Colorado

Former four-star recruit Colton Hood transferred from Auburn to Colorado on Sunday.

Former four-star recruit Colton Hood transferred from Auburn to Colorado on Sunday. The sophomore cornerback played just one season on the Plains, appearing in three games and recording 3 total tackles.

Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders has been active all offseason in the portal, securing one of the country’s best incoming transfer classes. While Hood may not become a starting player right away, it is feasible to see a path where the Conyers, GA native earns a significant amount of playing time.

Hood’s talents will certainly be missed for an Auburn team that will have an almost completely overhauled secondary in 2024 after losing key contributors like [autotag]D.J. James[/autotag], [autotag]Nehemiah Pritchett[/autotag], and [autotag]Jaylin Simpson[/autotag] to the NFL Draft. The 19-year-old’s departure does open up a chance for Alabama transfer [autotag]Antonio Kite[/autotag] to earn more reps in the secondary.

Hood’s brother, 2024 three-star running back Brandon Hood, will reportedly also join him on the Buffaloes roster next season.

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

 

Seahawks pick Auburn CB D.J. James at No. 192 overall

Apparently the Seattle Seahawks believe you can never have too many cornerbacks.

Apparently the Seattle Seahawks believe you can never have too many cornerbacks.

With the No. 192 overall pick in the sixth round of the 2024 NFL draft, they have selected Auburn cornerback D.J. James, just two rounds after picking his teammate, fellow corner Nehemiah Pritchett.

James (6-foot-0, 185 pounds) played his first three years of college ball at Oregon, where he appeared in 25 games. He transferred to Auburn in 2022 and broke out, posting three interceptions and 18 pass breakups over the next two seasons.

For now James should project as a backup behind Riq Woolen at the right boundary spot, but he may need to out-compete a few other corners before he sees any playing time outside special teams.

The Seahawks have just one more pick to go.

More Seahawks Wire stories

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Five Tigers receive invites to NFL Combine

Four Auburn seniors and one junior defensive lineman have been invited to compete in the upcoming NFL Combine.

Five Auburn Tigers have received an invitation to the upcoming NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Defensive backs [autotag]D.J. James[/autotag], [autotag]Nehemiah Pritchett[/autotag] and [autotag]Jaylin Simpson[/autotag] along with defensive linemen [autotag]Marcus Harris[/autotag] and [autotag]Justin Rogers[/autotag] will perform in front of NFL scouts and coaches during the final week of February.

The senior Harris and junior Rogers will compete with other defensive linemen and linebackers in individual drills on Thursday, February 29, while the trio of senior defensive backs will take the field a day later on Friday, March 1.

Harris and Simpson were the clear stars of a solid Auburn defense last season and could play their way into the early Day 2 conversation, while DJ James seems like a lock to be drafted sometime between the third and fourth rounds.

Senior [autotag]Nehemiah Pritchett[/autotag] should be a lock for the third or fourth round as well, although his injury history could sway some teams in other directions.

Auburn’s most intriguing prospect is junior Justin Rogers. The Kentucky transfer collected 17 tackles and 1 sack in his lone year on the Plains but profiles as a late 5th-round pick because of his large 6-foot-3, 346-pound frame and quickness from the interior line.

If all five Tigers competing in the combine get drafted, it would tie the 2023s class as the most Auburn alumni picked in the draft since 2020.

There is a possibility that non-combine invitees [autotag]Jayson Jones[/autotag] and [autotag]Zykeivous Walker[/autotag] hear their names called on Day three as well. If that were the case, Auburn’s seven draft day selections would be the most since 1989.

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

7-round mock draft 1.0 as we kick off the Ravens 2024 NFL offseason

The Baltimore Ravens are retooling and we’ve unveiled are first 2024 NFL Mock draft of the offseason and after the Senior Bowl

The Ravens are looking to regroup after exiting the playoffs via a disastrous 17-10 loss to the Chiefs in the AFC title game.

Baltimore is currently 20th in the NFL in cap space, with $7.3 million available, and there will be critical decisions regarding several vital contributors and two All-Pros. And they’re spending about $120+ million plus on the offensive side of the football.

Baltimore also has 29 players scheduled to hit free agency, and some tough decisions will be made regarding who returns to Baltimore.

With the Reese’s Senior Bowl complete and draft coverage set to begin, we’re looking at the Ravens Wire’s first seven-round mock draft of the offseason via PFF.Â