Senior Bowl Day One Observations

Don’t worry, guys: you don’t have to watch five hours of Senior Bowl coverage on the tele every day; I’m a big enough nerd that I’ll handle it for you.  My quick-hitter observations of what I saw today after this colon:

• Baker Mayfield measured at 6003 and 216 pounds.  We may now rest easy in Camp Baker.  Over six feet was all we needed.  He also threw the ball well today and had a kickass visor on his helmet.
• One of the guys people love the most out there is UTSA DE Marcus Davenport.  He looks great physically, he moves well, he’s powerful, has lots of tools.  His lack of polish and coaching showed up.  He got pushed around by Alex Cappa from little ol’ Humboldt State in the team stuff and was stoned in pass rush drills by Alabama center Bradley Bozeman. He played too high.  The top 10 pick talk about Davenport is strange to me.  He has the natural gifts, but he’s a ways off from being a good NFL player.  Has to learn to use his body and add a couple of pass rush moves.
• Shaquem Griffin is a linebacker from UCF and he doesn’t have a left hand.  Literally.  Since he was four years old he hasn’t had a left hand, but he was a monster all year for UCF and showed up in coverage and as a pass rusher all day long.  He’s going to be drafted; he needs to be invited to the combine and I loved loved loved his quote when interviewed on NFL Network about what he would say to anyone who still doubts he can succeed in the NFL.  “Make sure you stay tuned, I got a surprise for you.”  I believe him.
• Oklahoma State wideout James Washington measured in at 5’11” with arms that were over 33 inches long.  He can make up for some height with that reach.  He flashed the same thing he did on tape out on the field today.  Toughness, and the fact that if the ball gets near his hands, they’re vice grips that will make the catch.  Strongest hands out there.
• My guy Michael Gallup (the WR from Colorado State) was getting open nicely in one-on-one drills, but his QBs threw terrible passes.  I don’t appreciate those QBs sabotaging my guy.  He got open on a fly with a nice hesitation move and then on a stop route, he won at the line of scrimmage and at the top of the route with physicality.
• OG Will Hernandez from UTEP looks like he might not even make it to the Cowboys 2nd round pick where I want him. He just physically dominates guys out there.  He went against Jalyn Holmes from Ohio State and Chad Thomas from Miami in the pass rush drills and stoned them.  340-pound guys aren’t supposed to be able to mirror quicker guys like he did today.
• Names that jumped to the top of my watch list to get them on our draft board were Daeshon Hamilton (WR Penn State), Darius Leonard (LB South Carolina State) and Trey Williams (LB Auburn).
• Wyoming QB Josh Allen is the most fascinating case study of the draft this year.  He had awful college numbers at a small school but NFL scouts LOVE him because he’s 6’5″, 237 pounds, athletic and has a huge arm.  Mike Mayock on the broadcast talked about how he overthrew a ten yard in route by ten yards.  He said it as a positive.  It’s astonishing. A guy who has never played well is being projected to be a top five pick.
• Stanford DT Harrison Phillips wasn’t asked to do a lot of pass rushing this year, but showed the ability in the one on one portion of practice.  Couple of nice wins with quickness.

That’s all and that’s it.  Enjoy not watching five hours of Senior Bowl practice tomorrow. Let me know in the comments what you’re going to do instead.  I love getting mad at all the cool stuff other people do.