Wisconsin OL Tanor Bortolini completes 5 Top-30 visits ahead of 2024 NFL Draft

Former Wisconsin lineman Tanor Bortolini is a big riser in the 2024 NFL Draft. He completed five Top-30 visits ahead of the event

The 2024 NFL draft is set to kick off on Thursday, Apr. 25 at 7 PM CT. Soon all the rumors and speculation will be put to rest, and a clear draft landscape will take shape. Heading closer to the event, several prospects rising up draft boards.

That includes former Wisconsin Badgers offensive lineman Tanor Bortolini, who has had a massive rise during the draft process. It began with his performance down at the 2024 Reese’s Senior Bowl, which was a very strong week for the 6-4, 303-pound center. 

Then Bortolini shocked folks at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine, testing on a historical level at the position. That included a 4.94 forty-yard dash (1.69 10-yard split), 32.5” vertical jump, 9 ‘4” in the broad jump, 7.16-second 3-cone drill and 4.28-second short shuttle. 

In a recent interview, Bortolini disclosed what the rest of his draft process has looked like. That includes five Top-30 visits to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Baltimore Ravens, Minnesota Vikings, and Green Bay Packers. Top 30 visits don’t always mean much, with some deception being a part of the interview process, but clearly, the wanting to do deeper research in Bortolini could be big. 

After a strong draft process, Bortolini is a slam dunk to hear his name called during the event. There is some day two (rounds 2-3) buzz but more than likely, Bortolini should come off the board somewhere on day three (rounds 4-7). The physical gifts are clear, Bortolini’s process has been strong and the interest is very high.

Former Wisconsin Badger one of NFL Draft’s ‘under-the-radar day three prospects’

What type of NFL career will Tanor Bortolini have?

Former Wisconsin offensive lineman Tanor Bortolini was named an under-the-radar day-three NFL Draft prospect by ProFootballFocus.

The versatile lineman set social media by storm with his NFL combine performance last month. He had an up-and-down Wisconsin career on the field, but his pure measurables and athleticism are record-breaking.

Related: Evaluating the Big Ten’s next targets for conference expansion

Bortolini’s college career ends after 27 starts over four years — 13 at center, 13 at left or right guard and one at tight end. He started all 12 games at center for the 2023 Badgers under new offensive coordinator Phil Longo, and allowed only one sack in 477 chances according to PFF.

The former Badger made PFF’s list of interesting day three prospects along with Georgia S Tykee Smith, Washington State CB Chau Smith-Wade, Louisville RB Isaac Guerendo, Northern Iowa DL Khristian Boyd, Florida State TE Jaheim Bell, South Dakota State RB Isaiah Davis, Kentucky and QB Devin Leary.

Here’s what PFF had to say about the promising lineman:

Bortolini’s athleticism will allow an NFL offensive coordinator to get creative with any run concept that requires a pulling lineman, much like how Kelce was used with the Eagles…He is a bit undersized at his position, which tends to pop up in his run blocking, where his grade dropped in each of the past three seasons, bottoming out at 61.1 in 2023. On the contrary, his pass blocking improved in every year of his college career, topping out at 80.3. He surrendered just 23 career pressures across 962 pass-blocking snaps. While Bortolini may need to bulk up a bit, his athleticism is extremely rare for his position and would make him a very interesting pick on Day 3.

Bortolini is projected to be a late pick in the draft, but his stock could still rise between now and April 25.

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion. Follow Ben Kenney on X.

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Two Wisconsin Badgers included in ESPN’s latest seven-round NFL Mock Draft

Where will Braelon Allen and Tanor Bortolini be selected?

Two now-former Wisconsin Badgers were included in ESPN’s Matt Miller’s latest seven-round 2024 NFL Mock Draft Wednesday morning.

The two players are no surprise: running back Braelon Allen and offensive lineman Tanor Bortolini.

Related: If Wisconsin decides to move on from Greg Gard, who could it target as its next head coach?

ESPN projected them to go within 10 picks of each other — Allen No. 101 overall to the Carolina Panthers and Bortolini No. 109 to the Atlanta Falcons. Both were early fourth-round selections, which is in line with most of the current projections.

Also, former Wisconsin and Louisville running back Isaac Guerendo is included as pick No. 157 overall in the fifth round.

Allen, Bortolini and Guerendo were the three former Badgers to receive combine invites and the three who are projected to be selected in the upcoming draft. Inside linebacker Maema Njongmeta, QB Tanner Mordecai and others are likely to be signed as undrafted free agents.

The start of the 2024 NFL Draft is now just 29 days away. It’ll likely be 30 or 31 days until Allen, Bortolini and other former Badgers are selected.

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes, and opinion. Follow Ben Kenney on X.

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These 4 players helped their chances of being drafted by Chargers at NFL Combine

Here are four players who improved their chances of being a Charger this fall.

The NFL Combine is generally regarded as the event that begins to solidify draft boards, as players rise and fall based on their testing and interview sessions during the week in Indianapolis.

Here are four players who improved their chances of being a Charger this fall.

Fiske was already on many people’s radars after a stellar performance at the Senior Bowl in February, but his draft stock had only jumped from Day 3 to…earlier Day 3. Not so after his performance in Indianapolis, as Fiske posted elite numbers in every testing event except the bench press. His 9.88 Relative Athletic Score (RAS) was just outside the top ten for any player present at the Combine.

Fiske is now ranked as the 83rd best player in the draft by Jack Lichtenstein’s consensus big board, which aggregates ranks from 20 of the internet’s most reputable draft coverage sources. That could put him well in play for the Chargers’ third-round pick at 69th overall, especially considering that new defensive coordinator Jesse Minter prefers his interior defenders to be plus athletes.

Wilson blew up the testing portion of the festivities in Indianapolis, leading the linebackers with a 4.43 40 yard dash and testing above the 70th percentile in both the vertical and broad jump. But all of that was expected, to some extent. What was more worth celebrating for Wilson was his medicals, which reportedly came back clean after a college career wrought by shoulder injuries.

If Wilson truly is a green flag on the medical front, the only thing stopping him from being a top 40 pick is the positional value of linebackers. His film is arguably the best of any prospect’s at the position this year. Ranked at #61 on Lichtenstein’s consensus big board, Wilson could slip to 69th overall, but a clean bill of health could also just as well put him in contention at 37th overall.

A Chargers Wire favorite this cycle, Reiman vindicated the staff of this website by testing as the tenth-best tight end ever, per RAS. He ran a 4.64 40-yard dash at 271 pounds and posted elite agility times for the position despite a 97th percentile weight. Reiman also drew notable crowd reactions for his work in blocking drills once the tight ends hit the field.

That last section will be key for the Chargers, who will be searching for tight ends who can bang as in-line blockers under new offensive coordinator Greg Roman. Roman’s offense, because of its run-heavy tendencies, also utilizes tight ends in the pass game fairly often. Reiman showed in Indianapolis that he has a bit more to him than draftniks have given him credit for—he’s ranked on only two of the 20 sites used to form the consensus board.

Breaking records at the Combine is generally pretty good. It’s even more notable when the record you’re breaking is Jason Kelce’s, which is exactly what Bortolini did by throwing down a 7.16 3-cone drill in Indianapolis. The rest of his testing was similarly elite, with his shuttle, jumps, and 40-yard dash all ranking at the 95th percentile or higher.

Bortolini isn’t an exceedingly powerful player—his 21 reps on the bench were around the 25th percentile for centers—which may cloud his fit with the Chargers. But Los Angeles needs a center, and Bortolini’s added versatility at guard could prove useful as a swing lineman early in his career while new strength coach Ben Herbert adds power to his frame. Ranked 176th on the consensus board, Bortolini is a name to watch closely on Day 3.

Panthers 2024 mock draft 4.0: Post-combine edition

How did this year’s edition of the underwear olympics affect our latest mock draft for the Panthers?

So, how’s the landscape looking after this year’s underwear olympics?

With the 2024 combine now in the books, here’s our latest mock draft for the Carolina Panthers:

Former Wisconsin OL Tanor Bortolini broke one of Jason Kelce’s NFL combine records

Former Wisconsin OL Tanor Bortolini broke one of Jason Kelce’s NFL combine records

Former Wisconsin offensive lineman Tanor Bortolini set X ablaze Sunday with a stellar NFL combine performance.

The versatile offensive lineman led his position with a 4.94 40-yard dash, plus added a 32.5-inch vertical jump, 9’4″ broad jump, 4.28-second shuttle and 7.16-second three-cone drill. Then add his impressive drill work, and Bortolini became one of the standouts from the entire combine.

Related: Pre-spring bold predictions for the 2024 Big Ten football season

He emerged from the combine with the No. 6 Raw Athletic Score of all offensive guards from 1987 to 2024. That’s No. 6 out of 1434 total players.

One note puts into context Bortolini’s terrific day yesterday: he broke future Hall of Fame center Jason Kelce’s record three-cone time. The former Badger registered 7.16 seconds Sunday, besting Kelce’s 7.22 from 2011.

Any follower of football knows the all-time player Kelce has become after being selected in the sixth round out of Cincinnati. Bortolini likely won’t reach the same heights, but it is still terrific company to be in.

The 2024 NFL draft will take place from April 25 through April 27 in Detroit, Michigan. Bortolini’s name will be selected, it’s just a question of how high his stock rises before that point.

 

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5 takeaways from Day 4 of the NFL Combine

Takeaways from the final day of the NFL Scouting Combine.

The NFL Scouting Combine concluded with the offensive linemen taking the field in Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday.

The importance of the combine is more for the medicals and team interviews but the testing does help confirm what you see on tape or it may force you to go back to take a look because a prospect performed better than expected or fell short of expectations.

The Indianapolis Colts have their starting five offensive linemen but can use depth across the board and keep an eye on center prospects with Ryan Kelly entering the final year of his contract.

Here, we are looking at the five biggest takeaways from Day 4 of the NFL combine. You can check out our takeaways from the previous days below:

Colts get explosive in 7-round mock draft post-NFL combine

Check out our latest 7-round mock draft following the NFL combine!

With the NFL Scouting Combine officially behind us, the Indianapolis Colts will continue to work on their big board ahead of the 2024 NFL draft.

Even with all this new information from the combine, it’s still a mystery which direction the Colts will go when April 25 arrives. One thing is clear, however. Explosiveness will be the key trait the Colts are looking for on both sides of the ball.

Though it wouldn’t be a Chris Ballard draft without trading back one or five times, we opted against doing so in this iteration. We’ll have plenty of mock drafts that feature trades coming up but until the compensatory picks are set, we’re going with a straight-up prediction.

Without further ado, here’s our post-NFL combine mock draft for the Colts:

8 potential Panthers draft targets who (really) improved their stock at the 2024 combine

There were plenty of dawgs out in Indianapolis this weekend.

Which potential draft targets for the Carolina Panthers showed up and showed out in Indianapolis this week?

Here are eight players, all of which may be of interest to Dan Morgan and Dave Canales, who really improved their stock at the 2024 combine:

Social media reacts to former Wisconsin OL Tanor Bortolini’s stellar NFL combine performance

What kind of NFL career will Tanor Bortolini have?

Former Wisconsin offensive lineman Tanor Bortolini went through his NFL combine testing and positional drills on Sunday.

The former Badger is one of the more versatile offensive lineman in the draft, having started games at left guard, right guard and center during his college career.

Related: Social media reacts to former Wisconsin RB Braelon Allen’s NFL combine performance

Believe it or not, as is the case with many standout Wisconsin offensive lineman this time of the year, Bortolini is rising up draft boards by the day.

First, he impressed scouts in early February with his Reese’s Senior Bowl performance.

Now, Bortolini recently wrapped up his NFL combine testing with one of the more impressive showings from any at his position.

NFL draft pundits along with Wisconsin and NFL fans took to social media to react to his stellar performance: