Category: 2023 Player Profiles

STRENGTHS
Michael has the size to be a solid Tight End for the team that selects him. He has a lot of production at the college level and if you make him a part of your passing offense he can be as productive. He is a red-zone target because of his size and bulk. When he is lined up on the outside it becomes a big problem for college defensive backs to match up with him. Michael has been the benefit of an offensive system that at times, lines up in two and sometimes with three TE’s allowing him to come off the line free and get into his routes. He has been an impact player for his college team.

CONCERNS
Michael has a lot of production and has played a lot so it surprises me that he is not a very good blocker in space or lining up on the line. He shows a lack of hand strength and fixability and passion to make blocks which surprises me. For his size he is not a very strong blocker. Michael runs his routes in a rudimentary fashion. He expects the ball to come to him and doesn’t seem to be on the same wavelength or read defenses to cut off routes and help his quarterback in adverse situations. When used in the backfield on passing downs he lines up off the line so that he gets a free release and that helps him to be open. His lack of strong hands is an issue when catching balls and in run-after-the-catch situations and will result in drop passes and fumbles. Michael lacks the speed and quickness off the snap and running his routes, that you would expect, from a player with his production.

BOTTOM LINE: 3.67

I know everyone but me, seems to think that Michael will be an impact player at the next level like he was at the college level. I don’t see anything in his overall game that makes me think that’s possible except for his pass-catching production. Unless an NFL team decides to use the same offense that Notre Dame uses and decides to focus the passing game on its TE’s I don’t see that happening. Michael doesn’t run routes very well, doesn’t have strong hands to catch the ball, lacks speed, and overall is not that good a blocker. I watch the Ohio State game and he’s missing blocks or being overwhelmed most of the game. When he is lined up on the outside he runs his routes but I don’t see any quickness off the line or in his breaks to make me think he will be open at the next level. He is a target in the red zone for sure, but he will be up against more physical play, and holding on to the ball can become a bigger issue because of the lack of strength in his hands. Can Michal become the impact player that he is at the college level at the next level? Absolutely, nevertheless selecting him too early in this draft and expecting that to happen before he builds up his overall strength, runs better routes, blocks better, and holds on to the ball, is a lot to ask of him.

STRENGTHS
Brian is a quick-twitch athlete with the size and speed to play more than one position in your defensive backfield. He has the quick feet, and change of direction skills needed to cover just about any receiver big or small, quick or physical. Brian is smart and understands down and distance situations and anticipates in those situations making plays on the ball or in the backfield, that can turn a game around. Brian’s athletic cover skills, allow him to bait quarterbacks into making mistakes, and running wide on his side of the field is a big mistake because when lined up in the slot, he is as physical as any linebacker at shutting down sweeps and screens to his side of the field. Brian plays a lot in the slot as Alabama’s cover safety but looks to have the athletic talent and football IQ to play more than just the cover safety position at the next level.

CONCERNS
Brian is smart but baiting quarterbacks at the college level is a lot easier than at the NFL level. He relies too much on his athletic talent and not enough on reading receivers. He looks too early into the backfield off the snap trying to read the quarterbacks. Brian shows the burst and change of direction talent needed to be an excellent cover safety/cornerback but at the combine, he will have to show the long speed to stay with receivers down the field. I think he has that long speed but it’s hard to see it on film so the combine will be big for him.

BOTTOM LINE: 1.92
Brian has excellent talent and if he shows the long speed I think he has, there is no telling how impacting he can be at the next level. He plays so close to the line of scrimmage that it does make you wonder about his overall speed and he might be quicker, more than he is fast. At the combine, most teams will expect his 10-yard split to be fast but they will be looking at his 20-yard and overall time to establish his ability to stay down the field with most receivers for the next level. Either way, he has the talent and ability to make plays in front of him, that most cannot, and if all he can be is a slot cover hybrid safety…I would think that is still enough to select him early in this draft. Those types of players that can impact like Brian can on defense, are hard to find no matter what position they play.

STRENGTHS
Kelee is the type of player a team can use all over your defense backfield because of his athleticism, high football IQ, physical nature, and his sure tackling ability. He has solid cover skills but what he truly brings to the next level is his ability to make big plays and his leadership. Kelee is a unique type of talent in that he plays the game with the passion that is far above his athletic talent and yet his athletic talent is far above the average players. Kelee has excellent straight-line speed and has good length to cover those bigger receivers and pass-catching TE’s. His football intelligence and ability to read the whole field and react to what he see’s quicker than most other defensive backs makes him a potential coach on the field for the team that selects him in this draft.

CONCERNS
Kelee is not the quick-twitch type of athlete that most teams are looking for in a pure cornerback for the next level. That doesn’t mean that he can’t play corner it just means he will struggle against the type of receiver who can out-quick him, and have a better burst than Kelee has. My guess is some teams will be looking at moving Kelee to a safety position at the next level and that will affect his draft status. He can play corner in some defensive systems, just not all.

BOTTOM LINE: 2.14
I think Kelee is the type of defensive back you build your defensive backfield around. He is a playmaker and has the leadership skills and high football IQ to be a coach on the field. Add to that his “Running Back” size, strength, overall speed, and his ability to think like a quarterback as the play is developing in front of him, and you have a playmaking defensive back for your defense. The combine will determine if Kelee will be considered more as a cornerback or as a safety. That being said I would think that Kelee would be considered a building block type of defensive back for the team that selects him.

STRENGTHS
Darnell has the potential to be an outstanding offensive tackle for the team that selects him. He is big and athletic enough to play on either side of the line. He has good feet and solid lateral agility and when he uses the correct techniques he can be dominating when run blocking and pass blocking. Darnell looks to be a good teammate and shows leadership skills with his play on the field. If your team is in a 4th down and short yardage situation, Darnell is the offensive lineman that will make the block and change the line of scrimmage in his favor. When Darnell is pass-blocking and using the correct techniques he is very hard to defeat. He has excellent potential to be a franchise offensive tackle for the team that selects him.

CONCERNS
Darnell struggles with his mental and physical stamina and gets lazy and sloppy and inconsistent when pass-blocking or run-blocking. He will drop his head when run blocking and miss blocks especially going out to the second level. He uses his body instead of getting his hands when pass blocking allowing defenders to slip by him disrupting the rhythm of the offense. He lacks maturity in his overall play trying to make the big hit instead of the right block. Darnell was a starting Left Tackle in his Junior year who was moved to Right Tackle for his Senior year. That in itself, tells a story. How many Left Tackles get switched to the right side after starting on the left side with a right-handed athletic quarterback? In spite of these issues, he has shown during Senior Bowl workouts that when he uses the correct techniques and stays on balance he has the talent to dominate.

BOTTOM LINE: 2.06
There are not many pure offensive tackles with Darnell’s size and talent in this draft. Offensive Tackles have become THE value pick right behind quarterbacks because teams are going to spread offenses with TE’s that can’t block and no fullbacks. If you don’t have a quality Left and Right tackle bad things will happen to your team. Two of those bad things are, you will not get into the playoffs and your quarterback will get hurt and miss games during the season. In spite of Darnell’s lack of maturity and mental stamina, sometimes you have to trust your gut and hope that he will step up to the responsibilities needed to be a franchise left or right tackle. It’s all up to Darnell. He has been coached well and he has the talent. He has shown that at the Senior Bowl practices. So, the big question for a GM and Head Coach is, are you willing to select him in the first round and put your career on the line for this kid? Will the value of the position, his size, athletic talent, and need for the position, make you override the information? That’s the $64 million-dollar question.

STRENGTHS
O’Cyrus is a Right Guard. He is a powerful run blocker with the ability to take the player in front of him down the field when blocking in a straight line. He does an excellent job working with his teammates and is smart and through his consistent play shows some leadership skills. O’Cyrus uses excellent techniques and might be one of the more finished (Techniques Wise) offensive linemen in this draft. He does a good job when run blocking, turning and shielding, and controlling his gap and man, because of his strong hands and high football run-blocking IQ. O’Cyrus looks to be an excellent teammate and the type of dependable offensive lineman many teams should be interested in adding to their offensive line room.

CONCERNS
What you see is what you get with O’Cyrus. He will struggle when asked to pass block especially on third and long if he doesn’t get help. If you get O’Cyrus to turn his shoulders off the snap he will get beat but if he can anticipate the pass rush and get his hands on his opponent off the snap he does a solid job and shows the physical and mental toughness to fight his way out of trouble.

BOTTOM LINE: 2.33
I have learned over the years not to take the frustration of poor “media hype” about a player and incorporate that frustration into a player’s profile. I can tell you it’s hard sometimes. The media and the “experts” will go on and on about a player and you turn on the film and you can’t believe what you are seeing compared to that hype. O’Cyrus is a solid Right Guard who will need help in obvious passing-down situations. It’s that simple. He could be selected in the first round but that depends on how teams value the Right Guard position and if he can play center in a pinch and to my knowledge, playing center is not in the cards for the next level. My guess is that most teams will consider O’Cyrus as an offensive lineman who will struggle unless he is with the right coach and in the right offensive line blocking scheme. Nevertheless, good, solid, technically sound, big, strong, offensive linemen like O’Cyrus are in need and teams will be over-drafting them for sure in this draft. If teams feel that O’Cyrus is a plug-and-play guy at any position on the offensive line he could be selected earlier than I have rated. That being said, if I’m an owner, selecting a solid right guard in the first round would be very hard for me to swallow. Remember this is a business if my scouts, GM, and Head Coach wanted to draft offensive linemen they better play tackle or a center or at least a guard who can play center but that’s just me.

STRENGTHS
Tyree reminds me a lot of Vikings Danielle Hunter. He is a quick twitch athlete with the foot speed to run players down from behind. Tyree can play multiple positions in the front seven of a defense line, inside or outside or off the line at any one of the linebacker positions. He is stout against the run and as a pass rusher, with his long strides and wing span, has to be accounted for and game planned for on third and long downs. Tyree has the ability to shut down sweeps and screens to his side and either string the play out or makes the tackle for a loss. He has unique size and athleticism, which usually means an impact football player is about to be discovered.

CONCERNS
Tyree is a bit raw and needs some good coaching to bring all of his talents out. He will take some time as a pass rusher learning the tricks of the trade before you will see double digits sacks. He has to learn better hand usage when rushing the passer and how to make secondary moves to finish. Nevertheless, he will be disrupting and make plays because of his size, strength, and overall athleticism.

BOTTOM LINE: 1.47
Tyree is a potential defensive-impact playmaker. As I stated before, he can make plays coming off the line of scrimmage or playing on the line of scrimmage. There are not many in this draft with his size and overall athleticism and by the time we get to this draft and after his workouts and interviews, Tyree could be in the running for the 1st pick of this draft. I suspect he will be on most team’s boards as a top 5 or 10 pick, but you never know. His selection might rely on how teams view the QB’s in this draft and how many teams need QB’s. After all, he does need better coaching and he did not play in the SEC, so who knows what teams might think about him. All I can tell you is on my board he’s one of the top players in this draft with monster-like potential to have a bigger impact at the NFL level than he did at the college level.

STRENGTHS
Anton is one of the more athletic offensive linemen in this draft. He shows very good lateral agility to mirror his opponent. He is very smart and easily picks up stunts and passes them off with excellent timing. Anton has good overall size to play either tackle position at a high level. He is an efficient Offensive Tackle and doesn’t make many mistakes when pass blocking, and that’s important if you are thinking of him as a left tackle. Anton can be used on sweeps to his side and has good overall movement skills.

CONCERNS
Anton is strange in that his lateral agility is better and quicker than his foot speed. He is slow to go out to the second level and slow to go out for screens almost like he is thinking too much trying to identify who he is supposed to block. He also is not a good run blocker although he does a good job shielding players off. He lacks upper body strength and comes off the ball too high to move his opponent. Don’t look for him to move anybody off the line of scrimmage if you’re in a short-yardage situation.

BOTTOM LINE: 2.06
Offensive linemen are hard to find with this type of overall athletic talent. Although Anton has some issues that need improving most of it is just in his strength and lack of leverage when run blocking. The truth is you don’t select Left Tackles to be proficient when run blocking, you pay them the big bucks because they are excellent pass blockers. Anton given the time to gain more strength, projects to be an excellent pass blocker because of his quick lateral agility. If Anton has good workouts and interviews look for him to be selected earlier than I have him rated. Nevertheless, he still will need some added strength to compete at the level or he will get beat a lot on inside moves and that will get his quarterback lying flat on his back and becoming familiar with a stretcher.

STRENGTHS
Myles has the size, strength, foot speed, and overall athletic talent to be a potential franchise Defensive End for the team that selects him. He is what I call a power rusher with the same body type and athletic talent as former Giants Michael Strahan. Myles has the natural strength in his lower and upper body that most players wish for. He has good quick feet that allow him the needed explosion to close faster than most others when rushing the passer. Myles is smart and is not fooled very much on sweeps and screens to his side of the field. I believe if you looked in a dictionary (they still have those don’t they?) for the definition of a power rusher you would see Myles smiling face. If you look at his highlight film, Myles is very impressive but I don’t do profiles by highlight film…I do them by game film.

CONCERNS
Myles does struggle at times getting off blocks at the line of scrimmage to make a tackle. He does hold his ground and is stout against the run, he just doesn’t make the tackle that you would expect him to make. Of course, I am nitpicking but then again it is an issue he needs to improve or teams will run at him on third down. Also, until he comes off the line with more consistency and develops moves after he is engaged when pass-rushing it will be hard for him to be a double-sack type of pass rusher.

BOTTOM LINE: 2.22
Myles is a sold Defensive End who can be moved inside on passing downs to create mismatches against less athletic offensive linemen. If Myles keeps improving his pass-rushing skills and techniques, he can become an excellent power rusher and easily rack up the sacks but right now he looks to be a solid Defensive lineman who will need to be moved around for him to gain double-digit sacks and that is not a bad thing. Sometimes on film, I don’t see the passion to be a dangerous or impacting player that teams will need to game plan for. I’m not suggesting he won’t be in the discussion but I am suggesting that he can be handled and offensive linemen will have to account for him. Account for him yes, but not on every play like TJ Watt or Myles Garrett, or Nick Bosa. Myles does have the athletic talent and foot speed and explosiveness, and if he wants it bad enough he can develop into a player like those I just mentioned but, for the purposes of this draft, he is more of a solid player and a safe pick who should produce and become a core player for your defense.

STRENGTHS
Broderick has the athletic talent and size to play offensive tackle at the next level. He moves well and can be used as a pulling offensive lineman, and on sweeps and screens. Broderick has the potential to be an excellent pass-blocking offensive tackle and a solid run-blocking offensive lineman. He shows on film the needed lateral agility and foot quickness to play more than one position on the offensive line. Broderick does a solid job using his hands and doesn’t get many penalties for holding calls, against him. At the college level and for his experience playing left tackle, Broderick has done an excellent job defending the blind side of his QB this season.

CONCERNS
Broderick struggles with being consistent in all phases of his game but that would be expected because of a lack of repetitions. Nevertheless, he has been in college for three years as a backup so the lack of consistency in all phases of his game is a red flag for me. His lack of physical and mental stamina and the fact that he seems to get frustrated, tired, lazy, or maybe bored in some games and becomes sloppy, is disturbing.

BOTTOM LINE: 2.14
Broderick might be better off staying in for one more year to hone his skills so to speak. He has excellent talent that should have been on the field before this year but he wasn’t. I know. You’re now going to bombard me with all the talent on that team and that’s why Broderick was sitting and not starting. Then I’m coming back with, Ok, then tell me why he lacks consistency in his overall play, and why wasn’t he ready (with his talent) to be considered as the first offensive lineman off the board in this draft? The fact is Broderick will be over-drafted because there are just not many offensive tackles in this draft and his potential outways his lack of consistency on the field. I like his potential and late in the first round I too would struggle to pass on him. So, Broderick’s interviews and workouts, all through the draft process will be important for him to convince team’s that if they give him a million dollars he has the work ethic to improve quickly to become a starter. I’ll be very surprised if Broderick is not selected at some point in the first round and I hope he reaches his potential to become a starting pro bowl left tackle in the NFL. I would overdraft him too but truthfully, he scares the crap out of me. On my board, he’s a boom or bust 1st round pick, a better 2nd round pick where most teams will have more patient expectations.

STRENGTHS
Jonathan Mingo is a beast of a receiver. He is big and fast and can make acrobatic and contested catches easily because of his quick twitch athletic talent. He runs his routes physically and with different gears to gain separation in his routes. Because of his bulk and size Jonathan will physically wear down defenders and that makes him even more of a target in the 4th quarter of a tight game. He has a large catch radius and goes and gets the ball when it is in the air. In the open field, I pity the poor cornerback who tries to tackle Jonathan all by his little-itty-bitty self. It’s a miss match to say the least. If you need a deep ball Jonathan is your man. If you need to move the chains…Jonathan is your man. If you need a play to be made on just about any down and distance once again, Jonathan is your man. He is big, strong, fast, catches anything thrown to him, blocks, and runs the ball like a big old fullback, gaining the needed yardage after the catch.

CONCERNS
There may be medical concerns from a previous broken foot that some teams might use as an excuse with the media to get Jonathan to fall in this draft. As far as I can tell the broken foot should be a non-issue. Some will also suggest that he drops the ball and has bad hands or that he is inconsistent in catching the ball. Once again, he drops balls because he is leaving to go early before the ball gets to him. It’s not an issue. He’s not perfect but then again, who is?

BOTTOM LINE: 1.44
Jonathan is a unique talent. He’s a potential franchise receiver very much like Mike Williams, A J Brown, Mike Evans, Michael Thomas, and for you old draftniks like me…Michael Irving. Jonathan has the same potential as those players. If he goes to the Senior Bowl and interviews well and shows them that he knows how to run the whole route tree you will see Jonathan fly up every team’s draft board. Why do you ask? Because Jonathan is a beast, it’s really just that simple. Jonathan can outrun defensive backs and break the tackles of defensive backs. Add to that, his ability to make contested catches, and acrobatic catches and I believe you get my drift. Nit pick all you want but don’t doubt me, this kid has “big-time talent” written all over him.

STRENGTHS
Cedric is a long-striding receiver who shows on film the size, strength, and overall athletic talent to be a top receiver for the team that selects him. He is a good blocker and shows strong hands and body to catch the contested pass in any situation. Cedric has the body type that can be a big benefit when he is lined up in the Red Zone. He also has those long strides that make it easy for him to get separation off his cuts before a defensive back can recover to catch up to him. His size, long strides, and strong hands makes Cedric a weapon in the Red Zone for smart strong-armed quarterbacks. Cedric has the talent and size teams look for in the top receivers for the next level. He also does a good job blocking and has proven to have the type of work ethic needed to be more than just a receiver at the next level.

CONCERNS
Cedric has a lot of work to do learning to run better routes but I believe he has the work ethic to complete that task rather quickly. He will also need to improve his mental toughness and add some bulk. Cedric will have to learn to use his body more to gain separation on some routes against single coverages. Although Cedric is athletic he struggles to adjust to the ball in the air and make that acrobatic catch that will bail out his QB. Of course, realize that I am, nitpicking here.

BOTTOM LINE: 2.17
Cedric can go deep, and because of his long strides the deeper he goes the more separation he gets but going deep will require from him, improvement in his route running in general. He is not a quick-twitch athlete and he lacks the fluidness to run all the routes on the route tree. That being said, he shows the athletic talent to run better routes when you see him blocking. Blocking in the open field requires the fluid hips needed to run routes. (That’s a little Cliff Clavin information) Cedric is a pretty good overall receiver right now but if he works hard and wants it bad enough he could turn into a franchise receiver. He could be the kind of receiver that makes the touchdown or moves the chains when everyone in the stadium knows the ball has to go to him. If that never happens you still will have a pretty good complementary receiver.