2023 Senior Bowl Risers and Fallers

My first Senior Bowl was…let’s just say it was an experience I won’t be forgetting any time soon. I was fortunate enough to bring my daughter along for the ride and we both made some very fond memories. Day one was lost for me for the most part, but I watched days two and three in their entirety and loved it. All of these guys are out there to show what they have and improve themselves with the coaching staff that comes out.

There were some big standouts, some that I didn’t expect, as well as a few that disappointed my expectations of them. Let’s start with the fallers:
(These are players I’ve already seen prior to the Senior Bowl)

Fallers:

1. Andre Carter, DE Army
   -Carter’s lack of strength and consistent power is a problem against better competition as he saw this week. He was displaced too often, didn’t appear to have enough power in his legs to drive OT’s back, and wasn’t overly impressive with his other pass rush tools.

2. Jaren Hall, QB BYU
   -The accuracy was all over the place for Hall, which I thought was something more to his strengths coming in. He showed poor pocket presence and the arm strength deficiency was noticeable. Just a rough week.

3. Chase Brown, RB Illinois
   -Brown was disappointing in pass pro, showed inconsistent hands, and really needed lanes to get going. Tough for him to find room to maneuver this week.

4. Andrei Iosivas, WR Princeton
   -Drops drops and more drops for a guy I was really excited to watch. Physicality gave him some issues as well. He has some tools but was really up and down specifically in beating more physical DBs in practice.

5. Byron Young (Tenn), DE
   -I wanted to see Young against the better OTs here at the Senior Bowl and if he could work his pass rush plan, but that didn’t happen in my eyes. A very toolsy, athletic, but older prospect, Young still got stuck and stonewalled by better tackles. The NFL only gets better there.

6. Rashee Rice, WR SMU
   -Rice was a big name coming into this and after watching some tape, I wanted to see what he could do in person. Rice has some good ability with schemed touches I saw this week, but his route movement and footwork were clunky and inconsistent. Struggled to create consistent separation and threw off timing with some of his routes.

Risers:

1. Jake Haener, QB Fresno St
   -Haener was not only the most consistent, from a poor group of QBs, but he also showed off a couple of nice deep balls throughout the week. The timing was good, his arm looked live, moved well in the pocket, and separated himself from the other QBs all week.

2. Riley Moss, CB Iowa
   -There’s a lot of talk that Moss just becomes a Saftey at the next level, after this week I don’t see how that talk dissipates. He was routinely in phase with receivers, and showed off his real speed, and ball skills with ball tracking nearly every day. He impressed me a ton.

3. Adetomiwa Adebawore, DT Northwestern
   -Adebawore was an established run defender of the plug-and-play variety coming into the Senior Bowl. He showed what he could do as a pass rusher in multiple ways. Looked explosive, quick, and had an array of pass-rush moves to go with his natural power. Watch for this guy.

4. Jayden Reed, WR Michigan State
   -Reed was the most consistently impressive WR at the Senior Bowl in my opinion. He came in as a field stretcher but was a smooth route runner with a natural understanding of how to use his head in conjunction with his body to move defenders to get open. Footwork was on point as well. Gonna be a big riser for most.

5. Darius Rush, CB South Carolina
   -Big day three riser for me while he dominated one on ones on Thursday. Rush showed some awesome instinctual-type reads on the receiver’s routes and anticipated where they were going almost in unison. He’s got quick feet and recovery speed to match.

6. Tyjae Spears, RB Tulane
   -This guy might have been the talk of the Senior Bowl with the speed, open-field ability, and between-the-tackles toughness he showed at Tulane. It translated to the field with better competition and he POPPED. The pass protection needs work, but he showed the ‘want to’ which is half the battle.