Tag: Jer’Zhan Newton

Top DL prospect will miss the NFL Scouting Combine with a foot injury

Top 2024 DL prospect Johnny Newton will miss the NFL Scouting Combine after having surgery on his foot

One of the top defensive line prospects in the 2024 NFL draft won’t be participating in the upcoming NFL Scouting Combine. Illinois DT Jer’Zhan “Johnny” Newton has an injured foot that will prevent him from being able to work out in Indianapolis.

Newton, a likely first-round pick, had surgery to repair a Jones avulsion fracture in his foot, according to draft analyst Dane Brugler of The Athletic. He had the surgery in January and won’t be recovered in time to work out at the combine. Brugler notes Newton should be able to have a pro day sometime later in the draft process.

What is a Jones fracture? It’s an injury to the base of the pinky toe. From UPMC:

A Jones fracture is a fracture of the bone on the pinky toe side of your foot, the fifth metatarsal bone.

This fracture can happen when you increase your training, increase pressure on your feet from gaining weight, or run on uneven surfaces. You can also fracture this bone during lateral (side-to-side) movements or while dancing en pointe, as in ballet.

A Jones fracture often happens near the end of the bone and usually disrupts blood flow. Because the bone gets less blood, your healing time goes up.

2024 NFL mock draft: Offense dominates in first round

There are quarterbacks, receivers and hog mollies aplenty in our opening first-round mock draft.

Well, let’s take our first shot at this, shall we?

Here are our first set of projections for the first round of the 2024 NFL draft:

Jaguars’ potential 2024 draft targets: Illinois DL Jer’Zhan Newton

Is Jer’Zhan Newton just the player the Jaguars need to shore up their defensive line?

While the Jacksonville Jaguars’ defense had its moments early in the 2023 season, the team is still headed into the offseason with plenty of holes on that side of the ball.

Addressing the secondary has been a popular choice for mock draft creators, but additions to the interior defensive line feel equally as urgent.

Despite getting 27.5 sacks from the combination of Josh Allen and Travon Walker, the Jaguars still finished near the bottom of the league in the stat because very little pressure was generated from the interior.

If Jacksonville decides to beef up its defensive trenches, there may not be a better man for the job than Illinois defensive tackle Jer’Zhan “Johnny” Newton. The senior could’ve been an early pick in last year’s draft, but he went back to college for one more try at working his way into the first round. He accomplished his goal.

Should the Jaguars select him with the No. 17 overall pick? Let’s break it down:

2024 NFL draft: 5 wildcard picks for the Steelers in the 1st round

Here are some alternative first-round picks for the Steelers in the 2024 NFL draft.

At this point, if you make your way around the internet you will see every 2024 mock draft for the Pittsburgh Steelers headlined by either an offensive lineman, cornerback or quarterback.

All three make sense on different levels and if I were a betting man, I’d take those three spots against the field all day to be the pick.

But let’s think a little outside the box. Here are five guys the Steelers could select in the first round outside of those three positional units.

Vikings 2024 7 round mock draft 4.0: What if they only took positions of need?

Tyler Forness takes a look at what a draft would look like only taking positions of need

The Minnesota Vikings have a lot of different ways they can go in the NFL draft. There will be some discussion on what needs are most important but the Vikings can address most of them through both free agency and the NFL draft.

Each week throughout the leadup to the NFL draft, I will be doing different seven round mock drafts for the Vikings as a way to explore different scenarios. You never know who might fall to you and how that could cause a ripple effect and being ready for those situations is paramount come draft weekend.

In the second rendition of our seven round mock draft series, what could a draft look like that has the Vikings took players only at position of need?

Mock Draft 1.0
Mock Draft 2.0
Mock Draft 3.0

Dolphins attack offensive, defensive lines in new ESPN mock draft

ESPN’s Matt Miller predicts Dolphins build through the trenches in two-round mock draft.

The Miami Dolphins, like 29 other teams, have their eyes focused on the start of the new league year, which will begin with free agency and the 2024 NFL draft.

At this point, the Dolphins have a number of key players slated to hit the market in March, and some of their biggest potential losses could be along the offensive and defensive lines.

Chrisitan Wilkins, Raekwon Davis and Da’Shawn Hand (three of Miami’s top four defensive tackles) are all set to hit free agency as Isaiah Wynn, Connor Williams and Robert Hunt (their three starting interior offensive linemen).

With that knowledge, it’s not surprising that ESPN’s Matt Miller predicts that the Dolphins will build through their trenches in his recent two-round mock draft. Miller has Miami selecting Illinois defensive tackle Jer’Zhan Newton with pick No. 21 and Kansas State guard Cooper Beebe with pick No. 55.

Here’s what Miller had to say about those selections:

“Star defensive tackle Christian Wilkins hits free agency this spring, and his replacement could be found at pick No. 21 if Miami doesn’t re-sign him. Newton is a first-step magician who can either slip between blockers or straight-up run over them. The 6-foot-2 295-pounder had 7.5 sacks during the regular season while playing multiple alignments on the Illinois front. Put him at 3-technique in Miami, with a healthy cast of defensive ends such as Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips around him, and Newton has the goods to make a Grady Jarrett-like impact.

Robert Hunt, Connor Williams and Robert Jones all hit free agency this offseason, making it a near-lock that the Dolphins will add a guard or center early in the draft. Beebe played left guard at an expert level for Kansas State, but there has been chatter about his potential at center. His movement ability in the run game just so happens to be a perfect fit for Mike McDaniel’s offense, too.”

It makes a lot of sense to draft young talent for those positions rather than pay top dollar for those on the free agent market, but there’s always a risk that comes with that. We’ve seen Hunt and Wilkins do their jobs before, and we’ve seen them do it well. Expecting a pair of rookies to come in and play like borderline Pro Bowlers right away is a lofty expectation to put on young, developing players.

Still, it would be nice to have some solid pieces locked in at those key pieces for years to come on affordable rookie contracts.

2024 NFL draft: Vikings mock draft roundup 5.0: QBs and EDGEs dominate

Through five weeks, the Minnesota Vikings have been sent 16 different players across 106 mock drafts. See who experts sent the Vikings this week

Mock draft season is upon us and that means our mock draft roundup is back!

What we do every week is track the mainstream outlets mock drafts and aggregate how many times a player gets selected. Last season, we tallied up 545 mock drafts and that included a whopping 54 different players. With the Minnesota Vikings set to pick 11th overall, there will be a lot of discussions surrounding the quarterbacks in this draft along with trading up.

We will track them and try to determine trends and patterns, along with giving my own analysis on how they could fit with the Vikings.

Mock Draft Roundup 4.0

Daniel Jeremiah’s top five 2024 Big Ten NFL draft prospects

Daniel Jeremiah’s top five 2024 Big Ten draft prospects #GoBucks

It is NFL draft season and one of the most notable draft experts is Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.com and the “Move the Sticks” podcast. Jeremiah is no doubt an expert in the field and I certainly consider him a must listen. He recently released his top 50 2024 NFL Draft prospects, but we only care about Ohio State football and the Big Ten here, so I wanted to isolate his top five Big Ten prospects on that list.

The NFL Draft starts on April 25th in Detroit, Michigan, which is almost three months away so it should be noted that these rankings could change the closer we get to showtime.

It should also be highlighted that rankings are not a mock draft and mock drafts include consideration for team slots, needs, and fits and these player rankings are just his top players overall. Now let’s dive into the top five Big Ten prospects that Jeremiah has ranked.

2024 NFL draft: Vikings mock draft roundup 4.0

The Minnesota Vikings were mocked 10 different players across 21 industry mock drafts including UNC QB Drake Maye and LSU QB Jayden Daniels

Mock draft season is upon us and that means our mock draft roundup is back!

What we do every week is track the mainstream outlets mock drafts and aggregate how many times a player gets selected. Last season, we tallied up 545 mock drafts and that included a whopping 54 different players. With the Minnesota Vikings set to pick 11th overall, there will be a lot of discussions surrounding the quarterbacks in this draft along with trading up.

We will track them and try to determine trends and patterns, along with giving my own analysis on how they could fit with the Vikings.

Mock Draft Roundup 3.0

Jaguars mock drafts: 9 prospects experts say could be the pick

There’s no consensus for what the Jaguars should do with the No. 17 pick, but a few prospects are standing out as good options.

The Jacksonville Jaguars will pick 17th in the 2024 NFL draft, but there isn’t much consensus about which direction the team should take.

At nflmockdraftdatabase.com, no one player has been paired with the Jaguars in more than 11 percent of the nearly 500 projections of the draft they’ve surveyed so far.

Still, there are a few needs that jump out as the potential top priority for the Jaguars in the offseason. Namely, the offensive and defensive lines, as well as wide receiver and cornerback.

With the draft now three months away, there are a group of prospects who experts have projected to be the likeliest candidates to be the Jaguars’ pick in April: