Our colleague, Charles Robinson, is a pretty positive chap. He showed just that in his “Winners” column from the Senior Bowl that highlighted Alabama TE O.J. Howard and six other players who helped their NFL draft causes with strong weeks of work.
We, on the other hand, can’t be all cheery. It was a solid crop down in Mobile this year, but far less top-heavy in terms of talent than last year’s group. In 2016, there were two top-12 picks and 87 total draft choices at the Senior Bowl, but this year’s group might compare more favorably to the 2015 crop that produced one pick in the top 27 selections and only 76 overall.
[Ditch the paper and pen – play Squares Pick’em for the Big Game!]
Most of the scouts, coaches and executives rolled out of town prior to Saturday’s game, as far more value is placed on the practice sessions Tuesday through Thursday. Here are a few players who failed to stand out above the crowd during practices:
Most of the quarterbacks — As we wrote on Thursday morning, there was little exciting about this group coming into the week and less so coming out of it. You could argue that Pitt’s Nathan Peterman and Tennessee’s Josh Dobbs had the best weeks at the position and might have bumped themselves up a bit on a few teams’ boards. But otherwise, it was also very similar to the 2015 sextet of Sean Mannion, Shane Carden, Bryce Petty, Blake Sims, Garrett Grayson and Bryan Bennett. Yuck. Only Petty has played notable NFL snaps the past two seasons, and it wouldn’t stun us if two years from now we’re looking at this group with similar distaste.
Michigan RB De’Veon Smith — Early in the week, Smith caught our eyes with a few soft-handed catches, despite measuring with small hands. He arrived in town right at the start of the event, having been at the East-West Shrine Game the week prior, where he was viewed as a standout. But there might not be much special in Smith’s game, and he did look to fatigue a bit as this week wore on. We view him as a No. 2 power back with limited value in the passing game. Amid an extremely deep draft group of backs, that doesn’t bode well. And it didn’t help that Smith was teammates this week with Toledo’s Kareem Hunt, who was the clear star at the position in Mobile.
Arkansas TE Jeremy Sprinkle — The week started on a positive note when he looked and measured the part in the weigh-in. But that might have been his finest hour. Sprinkle was drop-prone in college, frustrating to watch at times, and continued that this week with a pair we saw on catchable passes. He’s considered a good blocker and showed some of that ability this week but was not dominant enough to separate himself in what appears to be a very good TE class — perhaps the best we’ve seen in several years even. Sprinkle also must have his character vetted by teams, and he might have slipped down a few rungs with a blah week.
Syracuse WR Amba Etta-Tawo — The one-year wonder was a graduate transfer from Maryland and put up stunning numbers this past season in Dino Babers’ Baylor-style attack for the Orangemen. Frankly, we can’t say coming into the week we were not a little suspicious of that bump in a system known to manufacture inflated statistics. Everything we saw this week, which was not a lot of outstanding from Etta-Tawo, seemed to back that up. Yes, he was fighting the ball a bit while dealing with a finger injury, and that has to be factored in. But he was moving at half-speed through many drills (which earned the ire of the Chicago Bears coaching staff), was plagued by drops and didn’t make a memorable grab all week.
Louisville WR Jamari Staples — Despite the quarterback play, many receivers were able to shine this week. Staples was not one of them, having had his week cut short with a concussion. But when he was out there, Staples looked spindly and too easily rerouted by cornerbacks. By the end of the week of practice, at least half a dozen wideouts — most not as tall or long-armed as Staples — turned in far more memorable performances even with Staples making a few flash plays, including a great TD catch on Wednesday. It just wasn’t consistent enough amid a strong group.
Pitt OT Adam Bisnowaty — Blocky and mechanical, Bisnowaty struggled during the early part of the week at tackle and only looked marginally better when moved inside. Compared to a riser this week such as Western Michigan’s Taylor Moton (who might have made himself into a top-50 selection), Bisnowaty — who turns 24 this year — took a step backward.
Troy OT Tony Garcia — One of our biggest disappointments from this week was Garcia, who was well-regarded in the scouting community and who played a strong bowl game (even going up against fellow Senior Bowler, Ohio DE Tarell Basham, who had a good week in Mobile) on the very field where the practices took place this week. But Garcia got off to a tough start at the weigh-in when he checked in at 293 pounds, which is very light for a tackle, and never found his groove during the week. We saw him beaten more than once badly around the edge in one-on-one pass-rush drills and felt he hurt his draft stock this week.
Clemson DT Carlos Watkins — At one point midweek, I asked a colleague, “Is Watkins even out there?” He was, but we were shocked at how little noise he made. This was a defender who was starting to earn a reputation as perhaps the best senior three-technique, but we are very much backing away from that statement now. Watkins showed little pop off the snap, couldn’t disengage during the tandem-block drills and seldom flashed during the full-team work. Did we miss something? Extremely quiet week from the national champion, although his strong play during the CFB playoffs might offset that. After all, he had a long season, so doing little here might not hurt him immensely.
Tennessee CB Cam Sutton — It’s less that Sutton had a poor week — and perhaps this applies to Iowa’s Desmond King, too — and more than he might not be a starting NFL corner. King has rare ball skills and instincts and will find a home somewhere, most likely as a safety. But Sutton didn’t flip his hips quickly enough and perhaps also is best at safety, too. It’s a very deep group of defensive backs in the 2017 NFL draft, so Sutton could get lost in the shuffle a bit after an ankle injury cost him a big chunk of his final season.
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