Why I think this offseason in general has been a positive one for the collaboration station, beyond bringing back all their priority free agents on pretty reasonable deals, this draft brought potentially the QB of the future. Also because the other guy’s they drafted, even if there isn’t a “great” talent amongst them… at least they found a lot of “good” talent. And one thing time and results have shown is a merely “good” athlete, if he has football intelligence and drive can make himself into a “great” player… the same way a “great” athlete without these things can fail miserably.
“Draft prospect,” the definition is in the name. Saying someone is a great athlete/prospect is not the same as saying they’re a great NFL player… far from it. But it is saying this person has the athleticism to be great, or at least good depending on intangibles. You can’t predict if a person with the necessary tools to do the job will be able to, but you can predict the failure of those without the tools pretty accurately.
Occasionally a player slips past the evaluation process, often guys who are on the cusp of “good” measurables in many categories but who are just really smart technically sound players… sometimes they slip through, but it’s rare. Past misses by me were Malcolm Butler and Kyle Van Noy, not bad athletes… borderline good at everything, smart and had heart.
Rnd Player Pick Pos College/Univ
Ht. Wt. Frty Vert Bch Brd Cone Shtl
1 Drake Maye 3 QB North Carolina
6-4 223 0.00 00.0 00 000 0.00 0.00
He’s only 21 years old, so he may even grow an inch before it’s all said and done. He’s young, but what I saw in game film was a kid on a bad team, with bad coaching, bad blocking… and one good receiver who missed half of last season. I saw a kid carrying an entire school on his back and making something out of nothing. He’s big, strong, can run and stayed at a school when the transfer portal would have let him play for a national contender but he stuck to his commitment… which counts for something.
2 Ja'Lynn Polk 37 WR Washington
6-1 203 4.52 37.5 129
Similar size and speed to Kendrick Bourne or Devante Adams. Didn’t run agility drills but looked pretty quick on film and was productive in college. It’s hard to judge WR’s with limited work outs, it’s hard to judge them with complete workouts. How do you measure fight, smarts, hands? You can’t. WR’s have the highest offensive failure rate in the draft. If there were a way to measure intangibles this would be easy. Could be Bourne, could be Adams, could be bust.
3 Caedan Wallace 68 OT Penn St.
6-5 313 5.15 31.0 116 7.73 4.96
34 Arms 82 5/8 Wing
The one thing I’ll say about the collaboration station is that all of their rookie O-Linemen and even the UDFA’s I commented on have long arms and wide wingspans… judging from the free agents brought in the past two years, they are clearly obsessed with it. Which is great when paired with athleticism and strength. When you have neither of these things and just long arms, you have Vederian Lowe, a bad athlete who has to reach.
Wallace is pretty fast and explosive for his size, which isn’t big for a 6’5” tackle… it’s light. He didn’t bench at either the combine or pro day, which makes me skeptical. A strong player wants to show it off. His agility drills were crap, which is also a running theme with these offensive tackles they brought in. I guess they think outside zone scheme won’t call for much pulling or kicking out, it will be all staright ahead zone and downfield blocking. I’d prefer to have agile linemen as well as fast ones, weakness anywhere is not ideal and better agility is simply that… better. Maybe he is stronger than I know, maybe he’s an exceptional technician as well and can play above any limitations at left tackle… be a modern day Matt Light… I just doubt it. Maybe right tackle, and he may never be great at either side.
They should have drafted one of the monster LT’s left on the board when they made the Polk pick.
4 Layden Robinson 103 OG Texas A&M
6-4 302 5.09 26.5 111 7.75 4.75
34 5/8 Arms 81 ½ Wing
Also a guy with long arms and wingspan, also a guy who’s fast but at 302 pounds you expect him to be faster than the 330 pound monsters. He also had a good not great shuttle so he has some mobility. He didn’t bench… again why, a strong guy wants to show it off and both of these drafted lineman don’t weigh nearly enough for their respective positions. And again, maybe he’s really really strong and for some reason didn’t want to bench, maybe he’s a really great technician and can be a good undersized guard at this next level… a Josh Kline… I doubt it. Both of these lineman in year’s past were typical athletes they would have taken from the 5th round on… projects.
4 Javon Baker 110 WR Central Florida
6-1 202 4.54 37.0 121
Similar size and speed to Kendrick Bourne or Devante Adams. Didn’t run agility drills but looked pretty quick on film and was productive in college. It’s hard to judge WR’s with limited work outs, it’s hard to judge them with complete workouts. How do you measure fight, smarts, hands? You can’t. WR’s have the highest offensive failure rate in the draft. If there were a way to measure intangibles this would be easy. Could be Bourne, could be Adams, could be bust. This is exactly what I wrote about Polk, look at their measurables… they could be brothers.
6 Marcellas Dial 180 DB South Carolina
6-0 190 4.46 40.5 16 129 7.29 4.42
If Dial had exceptional agility drills, I’d say he was a lock to make the roster and will be a solid NFL contributor. He doesn’t, but he only ran them once at his pro day so you have to leave room for the possibility with another shot and more time to prepare he could improve on those mobility drills. I’ve seen often in the past players workout at the combine, put up an average measurable, then go to their pro day and substantially improve upon it. He’s got everything else, good size, speed, explosion and strength… he also put up some great passes defended at S. Carolina and that’s in the SEC. Film on this guy makes him look like a really solid edge defender who uses his inline speed and the sideline well, if he has agility weaknesses, he works around it. I’m at least intrigued by his tools.
6 Joe Milton 193 QB Tennessee
6-5 235 4.63 35.0 00 121 0.00 0.00
Big, strong, good speed, Milton's last two seasons as a passer in college reminds me of Jacoby Brissett. Brissett is also a big guy, he ran a clean operation, safe, he didn't turn the ball over very often... which is what 24 year old Milton looked like by the end of his college career. Solid, but not overly explosive downfield. Milton lost reps at Michigan to Cade McNamara and lost his job at Tennessee to a lesser athlete in Hendon Hooker, who was a better passer. He has some tools, and I liked the pick late in the draft, but I'd pump the brakes on those suggesting he's a better prospect than Maye. Last season people heralded 6 foot tall Malik Cunningham's arrival as the next coming of Lamar Jackson... shiny new toy syndrome.
7 Jaheim Bell 231 FB Florida St.
6-2 241 4.61 35.0 00 124 0.00 0.00
Looks like an interesting H-Back/Fullback type prospect, has good not great speed for his size, has good production in college both rushing and catching the ball. You don’t see a lot of players play his position in college, my only real questions about him are strength, can he block well and is he agile… can he create separation? If they want to use him like the 49ers use Kyle Juszczyk he has to block well and get open in the flat… that guy has gone to 8 Pro Bowls. We’ll see… it’s hard to tell from a partial workout.
Here are the UDFA prospects:
UDFA Azizi Hearn -- CB UCLA
6-1 206 4.48 37.5 18 127 6.92 4.23
The first UDFA in the group is the closest thing I have to an UDFA binkie. Why Hearn? First the guy is big and has good length, every single one of his measurables is good and his three cone is great for his size… at 206 pounds he has great mobility. Just judging from his college career, he moved around a lot before finally settling for his hometown UCLA team. Even though he didn’t light the world on fire stat-wise he did shine last season in passes defensed. He’s a guy who could have a better pro career than a college career.
UDFA Zuri Henry -- T Texas
6-6 310 5.15 24.5 26 8.27 4.93
33 ¾ Arms 83 ¼ Wings
He’s a lot like Caedan Wallace in that he has the wide wingspan, is pretty fast for an almost too light tackle, but he benched at his pro day and did pretty good. His agility drills also suck though, again maybe they don’t see the benefit in it… which is silly IMO but may work. The Rams have gotten by with not overly athletic offensive lineman who play better as a zone blocking unit, the 49ers are also doing this recently. He has just as good a chance to start at left tackle as Wallace does… and that’s not really a good thing to say about an UDFA in relation to a 3rd rounder.
UDFA Charles Turner -- C LSU
6-4 303 31.0 22 109 7.88 4.62
34 Arms 83 1/4 Wing
Reminds me a lot of Layden Robinson but wasn’t afraid to show how weak he was at his pro day, but has some good traits, especially long arms like all these other guys, great explosion and good agility. The thing that bothers me most about the two UDFA offensive lineman and two guys they drafted… they’re not all that different. None of them are overly large or athletic, they’re kind of small and only have good athleticism. They seem like a couple of them might emerge next year with another year in the strength and conditioning program. I question now whether any of these guys will be good enough to start this season, or if one or two might by default because of injury or because the unit just sucks and they’re all they have. You want great, we got four “good,” pray they are exceptional technicians.
UDFA Dell Pettus -- S Troy
5-11 200 4.51 33.5 18 120 7.00 4.36
Entirely average at every measurable except two, strength and cone, he’s got decent strength and mobility. If he’s a better football player than prospect he might be a special team’s contributor somewhere, even if not here.
UDFA Kaleb Ford-Demont -- CB Texas State-San Marcos
5-11 178 4.50 39.5 15 124 6.80 4.12
Similar to Pettus above has good explosion and actually has great agility for a not overly fast corner. Could become Myles Bryant type if he maximizes his strengths.
UDFA Jett Bush -- LB Texas
6-1 240 4.66 33.0 122 7.15 4.35
Decent speed and mobility, if he is strong he might be a dark horse special teams contributor.
The rest of these UDFA’s are jags, they lack athleticism and I couldn’t be bothered to break them down any further than that.
Jontrey Hunter -- LB Georgia State
DeShaun Fenwick -- RB Oregon State
John Morgan -- DL Arkansas
Jacob Warren -- TE Tennessee
Mikey Victor -- CB Alabama State
Jay Person -- LB Tenn-Chattanooga
In summation, I left annoyed they hadn’t filled the left tackle position in the draft or in free agency. This was a massive failure on the part of the collaboration station IMO, even if they fill the position with a bandaid like Okorafor or a guy who just get’s by in some rookie. But outside of that, I like this 2023 team and think they could win if they stay healthy, execute well and some of these rookies contribute.
