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The 2022/23 NFL season is officially in the books, with the Kansas City Chiefs beating the Philadelphia Eagles in a tremendous back-and-forth Super Bowl. Now it’s time to progress to offseason content, with free agency and a lengthy pre-draft process.
Some people may have already missed some of that, as we had a full week between the East-West Shrine and Senior Bowl events. We have three/four days of practice and a game each to break down, to see which young prospects have already stood out and helped showcase their talents to NFL scouts.
I watched every practice period and the games (to recap everything we saw in Las Vegas and Mobile respectively) and settled on ten players on each side of the ball, which I wanted to point out as early risers in this process. Plus, I added a few other names at the end, who I thought helped themselves.
We'll start on the offensive side. Make sure to also check out the version on defense.
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#1. Jake Haener, Fresno State (QB)
While Jake Haener was originally a three-star recruit for Washington, he only threw 13 total passes for the Huskies (due to the presence of eventual fourth-round pick Jacob Eason) before transferring to Fresno State.
Across three seasons there, he completed 68.2 of his passes for just over 9,000 yards and 67 touchdowns, compared to 17 interceptions. In a quarterback class with a lot of uncertainty after the top four, this young man showed that he should be in the discussion for the next names up.
Throughout the Senior Bowl (especially from day two onwards) Haener was easily the most consistent quarterback of the week. His second day may have been the most impressive. He was right on point with multiple deep passes during one-on-ones, showed the ability to work through progressions in seven-on-sevens and was very accurate throwing on the move.
Haener continued to stand above the rest on day three and had a tremendous red-zone session. He put the ball perfectly away from trailing defenders for his receivers to make a play on vertical routes, getting the ball out just as the back-foot hit off play-action and pinning it to chest of guys crossing the field.
One ball in particular stood out. He put it high and slightly behind Purdue tight end Payne Durham on a wheel route out of a tight stack (away from the trailing defender) for a touchdown during red-zone drills of day three (although the TE deserves credit as well for holding onto the ball through a big hit).
Obviously, Haener ended up being named the Senior Bowl MVP for his performance in the game Saturday. He went 12-of-19 for 139 yards and a touchdown, including a 44-yard score to Michael Wilson (making him work back and high-point the ball on a post route off play-action) to cap the day.
However, for me it was his command of the offense and how well he acclimated himself with new guys around him. His eyes didn’t drop with bodies around him in the pocket and once he left that space, you saw Haener pointing at guys and making them adjust their routes on the fly on multiple occasions.
#2. Tyjae Spears, Tulane (RB)
You probably at least saw Spears flash across your screen a couple of times this past season. He cracked 1,000 scrimmage yards in 2021 already, before being the driving force Tulane’s Cinderella 12-2 season last year. He exploded for over 1,800 total yards and 21 TDs, making him the AAC Offensive Player of the Year.
Spears was the biggest winner of measurements, weighing in at 202 pounds, despite having the reputation of a change-of-pace/scat back by some who scout off physical dimensions. However, for people watching the tape, this guy breaks way more tackles than you’d expect.
In a setting that favors guys with great explosive traits, this kid was able to on a show. When given a runway, you saw that explosion through the hole and ability to clear the second level in a hurry. He had one that stood out the first day and would’ve been off to the races on several occasions on one-cut schemes the second practice.
More importantly, he showed the ability to effortlessly make cuts that allow him to get around the edge when defenders didn’t take care of their contain assignments. His cat-like quicks in tight areas were on full display.
On day two, he made a crazy 90-degree cut to the outside once during the inside run portion. He somehow was able to keep his balance and it almost looked like a player on Madden, where the replay would make you think “this wouldn’t happen in real life.”
Later on, he caught a swing route for massive yardage during seven-on-seven’s and had a home run call where he wasn’t touched. He sliced around blockers and made the safety miss the first time he touched the ball during full team period.
Still, Spears will have to play a major role on passing downs to maximize his skill-set. Even though it didn’t count because the coaches said triple-breaks weren’t allowed, he kind of went viral with a clip from the competition period that kicked off day three.
He ran this pivot route vs. Pitt LB SirVocea Dennis Dennis, where he went on an out initially, before sticking his outside foot in the ground to pirouette back inside. He did that while ducking underneath the defender and his quicks and ankle flexibility looked unreal there.
He got run over by Jackson State LB Aubrey Miller Jr. once during pass-pro drills of day two. But on the second one he stood his ground and was able to get enough of him, to guide him off track. NFL executives voted him the overall Player of the Week.
#3. Jordan Mims, Fresno State (RB)
Now combining the running back position with the school we started with in Fresno State, there’s another former Bulldog who turned some heads in Las Vegas.
Despite sharing the backfield with Ronnie Rivers in 2021, Jordan Mims racked up over 1,000 yards and ten touchdowns from scrimmage. Last season, he came just two yards shy of 1,500 total and was one score away from doubling his TDs from the season prior, earning himself first-team All-Mountain West accolades.
While his receiving production dipped a little bit this past year, it didn’t take long for Mims to showcase that he can still be a valuable asset in that area of the game. His suddenness and ability to manipulate linebackers with his eyes to create separation as a route-runner came up regularly.
Mims looked comfortable when flexed out wide. He once ran a great curl route, where he really dropped those hips, attacked back towards the quarterback and snatched the ball over his head, away from his frame.
After the catch during full plays, he consistently looked to make the first man miss. On blitz pick-up day, Mims stepped up and brought his punch, before guiding linebackers off track. Considering he had already impressed as a pass-catcher, he stood his ground much better than I expected. He was almost a little overaggressive in his approach at times, but I liked his attitude in that regard and he simply didn’t lose many reps.
In team drills, Mims’ burst to the corner stood out on multiple occasions. That included some nice moments pressing a crease and then bouncing around traffic before getting back downhill. You saw him cut down his stride length, kind of hide behind blockers and force linebackers to commit.
The show didn’t stop in the actual game, being involved as a receiver in the flats and creating easy yardage. Mims displayed his burst through the line and delivered the longest run of the day (30 yards) early on (where he cut a zone run all the way back and broke the ankles of a DB on like a cross-over move, to get out to the sideline). That’s after already being voted the East RB of the Week.
#4. Demario Douglas, Liberty (WR)
A two-star recruit in 2019, Demario Douglas increased his production every single year with the Liberty Flames. He went for 1,100 yards and seven touchdowns on 84 touches this past season, which earned him first-team All-Independent accolades.
Liberty’s season saw a disappointing finish, losing their final four games after an 8-1 start, but their top receiver excelled throughout the year (and nearly had as many yards through the air as the next four players combined).
The first line I wrote about Douglas, when I started watching the practice was: “This guy is explosive for sure." When he sticks his foot in the ground after hesitating off the line, he can leave people behind in the dust. He showed that on some out routes, where he got two or three yards on them on multiple occasions, at the moment he caught the ball.
On the first day, you see him make some dramatic cuts and separate from defensive backs as he re-accelerated out of those. You saw DBs starting to just sit back on him from the second day on, because they’d rather gave up a completion underneath than get burnt over the top. If they did try to put hands on him, Douglas threw a little chicken-wing once on a deep out route and created enough of a window for the ball to arrive.
Douglas made a great over-the-shoulder grab to the outside on a slot fade route in one-on-one’s of day two, quickly bringing it in and not allowing the raking hands of the corner to knock it loose. The moment of the period, however, was the former Flames standout completely shaking another poor guy. He made him trip over his own feet as he pushed upfield before bending it to the post later.
Douglas also had a great grab high-pointing a ball thrown behind him on a deep crosser during team portion. You saw Douglas’ speed show up big-time on a reverse during the team portion of the first practice, beating everybody to the opposite sideline.
With a potential first-rounder in Boston College’s Zay Flowers only taking part in one practice, the receiver group for the West side was lacking some star power. But Douglas more than just filled that void and was voted the WR of the Week for that side.
#5. Michael Wilson, Stanford (WR)
This guy was almost forgotten by the general draft media. Michael Wilson is a former four-star recruit who put up nearly 700 yards and five touchdowns as a true sophomore. Wilson only played in 14 combined games over the past three seasons (64-864-5) due to multiple injuries that knocked him out for the year. Ultimately, he got to show his skills again big-time during Senior Bowl week.
There were reports earlier in the week that Wilson trains with former Pro Bowl WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh and it was on display with his route-running. Right off the bat, he showed that he’s a name to track all week when he cooked his former Stanford teammate Kyu Blu Kelly off the line on a slant route during the first one-on-one session.
Wilson continued to make guys look foolish off the line, with slow-playing the get-off and his body language, to get corners leaning the wrong way. On several occasions, he made the job easy for the quarterback, as he got a couple of steps on his man with diamond releases on slant routes.
On day three he also ran a beautiful curl route against USC’s Mekhi Blackmon. He had like a walk-up approach before threatening vertically with that burst down the sideline and then sticking his foot in the ground to come back to the QB.
Along the way, he was able to play with guys off the ball. He also showed the ability to reduce his size and not have any delay breaking out to the sideline, after threatening vertically. Further down the field, I really liked how he would tilt and lean into defenders, before breaking guys off and shaking them off.
Wilson showed great focus when guys were able to re-enter the catch window due to imperfect throws and he pinned the ball against his chest right away. He did so once on a post route versus Iowa’s Riley Moss, where the had to slow down for the throw.
When the ball was lofted over his head a couple of times, Wilson showed that he does have that extra gear when the ball is in the air, to run underneath it. He once got past Maryland’s Jakorian Bennett on an awesome stutter-go. He really turned his body and snapped his head around for a split-second before taking off, and then couldn’t quite hold onto the ball in the end-zone (as he was just able to get his fingertips on it).
Then, of course, Wilson ended the week with an exclamation mark, when he caught a 44-yard touchdown late in the game on Saturday (on an intentionally underthrown post route off play-action), where Jake Haener allowed him to work back and high-point the ball.
#6. Daniel Barker, Michigan State (TE)
These All-Star events are always a great opportunity for players who were underutilized in college to prove they can take on a more extensive role at the next level, and that’s true for tight ends in particular.
Daniel Barker’s production over the last four years (three with Illinois and one with the MSU) was very consistent, but never really up to where you want to see it (catching between 18 and 21 passes for 200 to 300 yards in each of them).
Day one, this guy kind of looked different to the rest of the TE group, as he had a few very impressive routes versus the safeties in one-on-ones. Barker's ability to attack the blind spots of those guys, stay disciplined without tilting in his stem, and get a step on them with his burst out of the break was on display (on corner and out routes, particularly early on).
Yet, he continued to excel on day two, where I thought he manipulated guys with his eyes, some hesitation and body language, before sticking his foot in the ground and getting away from them. Just watching the release drills, I thought Barker looked more like a receiver at times against true square press, throwing out a split release and blowing by DBs untouched basically.
During team drills, he showcased the speed to quickly clear the second level on seam/streak routes and then got his head around right away (where those Shrine quarterbacks passed on multiple opportunities to feed him the ball, I thought).
When tangled up with DBs further down the field, Barker packed a pretty strong rip, to fight through the reach of defenders trying to grab him. And then off that ability to push vertically, he features a quick turn to the outside on hitches and hooks, to make the safety flying down on him miss.
You typically saw him pluck the ball out of the air and rip it into his frame, especially when going over the middle. Finally, while Barker probably isn’t a major asset in pass-pro, he did enough versus the linebackers to guide them off track, usually during those drills.
#7. Luke Musgrave, Oregon State (TW)
Now, on nearly the complete opposite side of the country, we watched a much more highly-touted college tight-end more than live up to his status in Mobile. Luke Musgrave did crack the 300-yard mark in 2021, although he only he reached the end-zone once on 22 grabs.
His redshirt junior campaign was cut short one-and-a-half weeks in, but he was able to haul in 11 passes for 169 and a TD up to that point. The scouts liked what they saw enough to give him the confidence to declare for the draft.
When you say in an interview on day one that you felt you were like 60% on your first time on the field since September and you look the way you did, you’re going to make some headlines.
We saw Musgrave glide across the field more like a big wide receiver and he was used further down the field quite a bit. When he was allowed to run down the post and take linebackers vertical, he was leaving them behind in the dust. On several occasions, he would lean into defenders with outside leverage, then step into their space and head-fake towards their leverage (in order to create separation bending it to the post).
Day three on early competition one-on-ones, Musgrave did so going up against LSU’s Jay Ward on a seam/skinny post route. He hit an effective double-hand swipe to work around the press attempt and then got a couple of steps on the DB.
However, he’d also present himself underneath on some hook and stick routes, where he used his frame to protect the ball and wrapped it up tightly in traffic. Musgrave also ran some beautiful corner routes throughout the week, where he adjusted the angle of the break accordingly (depending on the coverage and once caught one of the safeties badly), trying to undercut the out-break.
The former Beaver made some impressive-looking catches through the first two days, really swallowing the ball with those large paws (extending, plucking and also quickly pulling the ball into his frame). While he may not have stood out in that fashion as a run-blocker, the balance and effort were a plus to note.
I think he made an impression on some people when he talked about how he started to find joy in that area of the game, as the OSU coaches got him to buy into it. Musgrave also cracked 20 mph on the GPS-tracker, making him the 16th-fastest player at the entire event despite being 255 pounds (the next-closest guy who was faster, weighed 24 pounds less).
#8. Jaelyn Duncan, Maryland (OT)
I had a tough time settling on a tackle because the great competition those guys at East-West Shrine week faced made it tough for guys to put quality reps on tape. Looking at the Senior Bowl, Ohio State’s Dawand Jones looked awesome on day one, but decided to shut it down after that. I did mention a couple of other names I was thinking about here, but ultimately the Maryland tackle was my choice.
A former four-star recruit, Jaelyn Duncan initially took a redshirt before taking over the starting gig on the blindside year two and starting all but three of his final 42 games.
Athleticism was never really a question for Duncan. Watching him go up against the best competition in the country, he displayed the type of movement skills he brings to the table. Routinely, he would show off the foot quickness to cut off the angle for edge rushers and force them on a wider loop as he guided them past the quarterback.
His smooth lateral movement and loose hips when he did have to turn with guys were equally impressive on the left and right – where he never lined up at Maryland.
With that being said, Duncan’s ability to deal with power as a pass-protector on top of it, was what really convinced me. He consistently kept his elbows in tight and was able to anchor against bull-rush attempts. He had some great moments against Notre Dame’s Isaiah Foskey in particular, once stoning in him during full team plays on day two, which popped off the screen.
On day three, he was able to handle Foskey’s long-arm on back-to-back reps during one-on-ones. He probably forced the edge rusher to go for it again a second time by the way he Duncan was able to square that guy up. For a guy whose calling card was that athletic skill-set in protection, I thought the former Terp did a nice job of rolling his hips through contact and driving his feet, in order to create movement in the run game on top of that.
#9. Atonio Mafi, UCLA (Interior OL)
I had a really tough time deciding on which interior O-lineman I wanted to talk about here, because there were three names that stood above the rest during East-West Shrine week. These were Penn State’s Juice Scruggs, N.C. State’s Chandler Zavala and the guy I settled on in Atonio Mafi.
Mafi actually started his career on the defensive line with the Bruins before transitioning back to offense. He started all 13 games at left guard last season, earning second-team All-Pac-12 accolades from league coaches.
We had a lot of powerful interior D-linemen in Vegas who tried to test Mafi during one-on-one’s, and basically, they all failed. Throughout the week, the former UCLA guard kept his hands in tight and was able to stymie those guys from a strong group on the other side trying to go through him.
When opposing rushers tried to lift him up on rip moves and get underneath him, Mafi rode those guys up the field, away from the quarterback. Day three, he completely stone-walled Boise State’s big D-tackle Scott Matlock on a bull-rush attempt, along with not allowing Penn State’s P.J. Mustipher to get to the outside edge on him, trying to swipe away the hands.
Even when it looked momentarily like Mafi got his weight shifted the wrong way against somebody on a hesitation move to the outside, he was able to ride that guy past the QB.
I don’t think he truly lost a single rep during one-on-ones either of the first two days and maybe one on day three. Yet, on top of his individual efforts, he also proved his value as a run-blocker during team drills. Mafi provided a solid bump on the angular block of combos to open up lanes right up the gut.
On the second day's first snap of inside run installs, Mafi did a great job of caving in P.J. Mustipher, slanting across his face as a three-technique. Two plays later, he and the left tackle drove that guy right into the lap of the linebacker behind it, allowing Minnesota running back Mohamed Ibrahim to cut behind them for an untouched TD.
For a guy who weighed in at just under 340 pounds, I thought Mafi’s ability to beat linebackers to the spot when climbing up and his burst as a puller really popped as well. For that, he was named the West IOL of the Week.
#10. John Michael Schmitz, Minnesota (Interior OL)
It’s not like John Michael Schmitz really needed to prove a whole lot during Senior Bowl, as he was already regarded as one of the top interior offensive linemen in this class coming in. However, with that showcase, he fortified himself as OC1 and a first-rounder most likely.
Schmitz would have most likely been a top-100 pick last year already, with 19 starter at the pivot and being a second-team All-Big Ten performer. Yet, he improved to first-team all-conference and played as well as any center in the country this past season.
Everything this guy does is solid. His ability to frame rushers and control reps with vice grip hands made him nearly impossible to get by during one-on-one pass-protection drills.
He completely shut down Alabama’s D.J. Dale and Oklahoma’s Will Redmond on a couple of occasions, trying to power through him in pass-pro on day two. They couldn’t find any counter on the second of back-to-back tries against him.
The only rep I can remember him losing theoretically was probably once against South Carolina’s Zacch Pickens on day three. Pickens sold out for just getting upfield to one side and made the dummy quarterback move, but he didn’t actually get a hand on that trainer. When the defense ran some two-on-two games to close that session, Schmitz perfectly timed up his upward strike to shut down the Alabama IDL Byron Young once looping around towards the center.
During team drills, Schmitz’s ability to execute more diverse assignments than that zone-heavy rushing attack he was part of Minnesota was on display. He did utilize his upper-body strength to torque shade-nose tackles and allow the back to press the front-side on numerous occasions on outside zone, but he also created good vertical movement on combos and climbed off those under good control.
The most fun for me were a couple of highly impressive moments, full 11-on-11 plays, where he set the key block in front of Tulane’s explosive RB Tyjae Spears and Okahoma’s Eric Gray respectively (who both ripped off chunk plays each). Schmitz sent one of the biggest standouts across those first two days (Sacramento State LB Marte Mapu) flying a couple of yards on one of them.
Other winners who are interesting NFL draft prospects
RBs – Eric Gray (Oklahoma), Evan Hull (Northwestern) & Xazavian Valladay (Arizona State)
WRs – Jayden Reed (Michigan State), Nathaniel “Tank” Dell (Houston), A.T. Perry (Wake Forest) & Jalen Cropper (Fresno State)
TEs – Davis Allen (Clemson) & Payne Durham (Purdue)
OTs – Darnell Wright (Tennessee) & Matthew Bergeron (Syracuse)
IOL – Chandler Zavala (N.C. State) & Juice Scruggs (Penn State)
If you enjoyed this analysis, please consider checking out the original piece, and feel free to check out my Youtube channel for more detailed content like this.
