Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
See for yourself what makes Boston College’s Zay Flowers one of the top wide receiver prospects in the 2023 NFL draft class
It’s officially NFL draft season, so it’s time to get to know the best players at every positions in the 2023 class.
What makes Boston College’s Zay Flowers one of this year’s top wide receiver prospects?
Watch the tape and see for yourself:
Who could the Browns target to stretch the field next season?
The offense of the Cleveland Browns has continued to be limited by the inability to stretch the field vertically. The plan was for Anthony Schwartz to fill that role but two years in there hasn’t been much success as the Browns need to improve their wide receiver room. A few players are available in free agency, but the best route may be through the 2023 NFL Draft.
This class isn’t as good as last year’s, but there are still some nice receiver prospects in this year’s draft. Let’s take a look at five potential draft targets for the Browns to take the offense to the next level with a home run threat that you must respect deep down the field.
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The Browns get more impact players on both sides of the ball.
The 2023 NFL Draft cycle is starting to heat up with the Senior Bowl in Mobile right around the corner. The Browns’ defensive line needs a maker over at both positions, especially with the arrival of Jim Schwartz. Schwartz is known for his ability to manipulate offensive lines to get favorable matchups.
The team needs to utilize the draft and free agency to re-make this defensive line for more success next season. The defense isn’t the only side of the ball that needs additions as the offense must figure out how to get more explosive.
This mock draft looks at a way to get playmakers in several different areas to improve the team.
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The Titans address two major needs in Draft Wire’s latest mock.
The two biggest positions of need for the Tennessee Titans going into the 2023 offseason are at left tackle and wide receiver, two areas the team struggled at mightily in 2022.
In his most recent mock, Draft Wire’s Luke Easterling has the Titans addressing both of those needs with their first two picks.
Easterling has the Titans drafting Ohio State offensive tackle Paris Johnson Jr. at No. 11 overall. Here’s what he had to say about the pick.
With Johnston off the board, the Titans shift their focus to the offensive line, which desperately needs help both inside and out. In this scenario, they take the first blocker off the board, landing a battle-tested prospect who has played both tackle spots as well as guard, all with a track record of success against top competition.
As Easterling notes, Johnson can play either tackle spot, or at guard, but the Titans will no doubt hope he can fill their massive void at left tackle, where Dennis Daley was the worst in the NFL last season.
For more on 6-foot-6, 315-pound lineman’s strengths and weaknesses, we turn to The Draft Network’s Joe Marino:
Top Reasons to Buy In:
Size and athleticism
Coordination, recoverability, and controlled aggression
High ceiling with an excellent baseline
Top Reasons For Concern:
Need for improved functional strength
Developing hand technique
Only one season at left tackle
In the second round, Easterling tabs Boston College wide receiver Zay Flowers to Tennessee. Here’s more on 5-foot-10, 172-pound prospect, courtesy of Sports Illustrated’s The NFL Draft Bible.
X, Z, Y alignment. Lots of usage in jet, fast, and return motion. Smooth releases off the line, variety of skips, head movements, and fluidity. Easy speed to separate on overs, posts, and fades. Also points to his route running variety, with a tree that works through the vertical plane, intermediate areas, and underneath. Electric with the ball in his hands. Obvious burst to get up the field, with functional agility and quickness to allocate yards after the catch. Smaller frame, shorter, and slighter than your traditional boundary X or flanker. Shows up in his catch radius and when facing bigger corners. Questionable ability to elevate and highpoint the ball. Rounds off too many in-breaking routes. Not always sharp on his slants or in-breakers. Flowers may not be prototypical in terms of size, but neither is his athleticism. A rare blend of make-you-miss, with the speed to win vertically, Flowers carries an athletic profile that is noteworthy. Pairing this with an unlimited route tree and utility as a gadget guy, and we have a well-rounded skillset. The size element affects multiple portions of his game, but he can continue to elevate his draft stock come the All-star circuit and pre-draft testing.
While the Johnson pick is a home run, I’d prefer the Titans go with a bigger, more prototypical outside receiver, but Flowers no doubt has the potential to make a big impact on an offense that knows how to use him.
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After watching 14 wide receivers in the 2023 NFL draft class, this is how @TheRealForno has them ranked
The top wide receivers in the NFL draft are going to be a major topic of discussion. In fact, how I have my receivers ranked will be one that gets discussed significantly in the process.
I have one of the top receivers in this class by consensus down much lower than most will have him and that is something I am comfortable with due to how I saw his film.
So far, I have watched 14 wide receivers in the 2023 NFL draft class and this is how I have them stacked up.
The Boston College project could help the offense evolve.
It is no secret that the Cleveland Browns’ offenses have been limited the last couple of seasons under Kevin Stefanski. They haven’t had a consistent speed threat that has opened the playbook and made defenses respect their ability to beat them deep. Drafting Zay Flowers from Boston College would start to fix this problem and he plays predominantly in the slot where the team needs someone to step up.
When you turn on the tape of Flowers the first thing that stands out is that he is an explosive and dynamic playmaker. He doesn’t just have elite-level speed but he knows how to use it. He has great body control and can throttle up and throttle down with his elite speed to create a ton of separation.
Flowers isn’t just a slot wide receiver as he has shown the ability to win out wide as well. He has reliable hands and when he has the ball in the open field his ability to create is top-notch. With his physical talent and measurables of Flowers, he is a player that could force defenses to respect his speed and truly open the team’s playbook.
With a player like this added to the lineup, it would also pay dividends in opening things up for the running game as well.
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Our first mock draft roundup of the season has the Vikings selecting 12 different players
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 173 mock drafts and only 10 of them were on offense. This season could end up being much of the same.
We will track them and try to determine trends and patterns, along with giving my own analysis on how they could fit with the Minnesota Vikings
Full 7-round Saints 2023 mock draft: Which prospects are on your wish list? It’s tough without a first round pick, but we still found a nice haul:
The 2022 New Orleans Saints season hasn’t gone as many expected — certainly not as the decision-makers on Airline Drive anticipated. While there have been some exciting performances from young players like Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, Juwan Johnson, Pete Werner, Kaden Elliss, and Alontae Taylor, as a team the Saints haven’t met expectations. A couple of wins have improved their record to 6-9, but that’s unlikely to be enough to get them to the playoffs.
Which means the Saints probably won’t make their first pick in the 2023 NFL draft until midway through the second round, unless Sean Payton accepts an offer from another team and brings back a first rounder to New Orleans through a trade (which is not guaranteed). So what could we expect the Saints to do on draft day?
To get an idea of their options, we gave the Pro Football Focus mock draft simulator a spin and put together this seven-round mock draft. Here’s our holiday wish list of draft prospects for 2023:
Flowers earned my second first-round grade of the cycle. How does he stack up?
Welcome to SKOL Search!
This series will be your guide to the 2023 draft class. From scouting reports to mock drafts and exploring different scenarios, we will be covering the NFL draft and the future of the Minnesota Vikings from all angles.
The focus of the draft class in this space will be on the Vikings’ major needs at wide receiver, running back, cornerback and both interior and edge pass rusher.
The Vikings are slated to have four picks before compensatory selections are awarded and they need to make the most out of them.
The Vikings could use players at both spots
Draft season is never too early to be a focus. The future is always right in front of you and needs to be looked at as such.
For the Minnesota Vikings, they are currently in a situation where they have 10 wins in just 13 games utilizing what the organization is calling a competitive rebuild. They have taken mostly the same team from last season and made it one win away from a division champion.
As we continue to look forward, we at Vikings Wire will be keeping track of who the media mocks to the Vikings. That tally will start on January 1st, but there are some good mock drafts coming during the season.
We found three of them that we want to shine a light on and they all went to the boundary to give the Vikings an upgrade.
