Last year, much like every other platform, we at The Gridiron Review vouched for a Winners and Losers of the Combine article. However, we knew we wanted to do something different. This year we will be changing our Combine coverage to a short series we are calling “2024 Combine Scout’s Notebook”. Essentially rather than gather our thoughts and organize them we will give you an inside look at what our notes end up looking like while watching the Combine. You will be able to see our thoughts and reactions, things we were happy with and things we weren’t. Let’s dive into Day 1!

Defensive Linemen/EDGE

• Braden “oh yeah!” Fiske looks very athletic 
• Byron Murphy looks explosive and runs very well
• Kris Jenkins tests well but the film does not match at all
• T’Vondre Sweat runs wild time for 366 pounds
• Chop Robinson tests like a freak and looks very smooth in team drills
• Jared Verse has up and down day with pretty good testing but not smooth drills 
• Mo Kamara looks explosive in testing. Still a project
• Jalyx Hunt teases explosive upside with jumps. Could be day 3 gem
• Brandon Dorlus tests decent for weight. But not as explosive as thought 
• Darius Robinson has great day in drills and weighs in at 285 despite not looking it 
• Bralen trice has rough day. Doesn’t test great and drills were not smooth. Maybe got hurt
• Latu looks very smooth and tests well enough
• Dallas Turner tests insane athleticially. We will reveluate him. While his athleticism was great on film he looks more stiff though upside is clearly there. 

Linebackers

• 4 LBs into the 40… this class seems slow
• Cedric Gray was very stiff in his first 40 attempt
• Maema Njongmeta… Yikesssssssssss
• Edefuan Olufoshio’s 40 feels about right
• Nathaniel Watson in the 40 still looks stiff. That stiffness carrying over from film isn’t a good look
• Payton Wilson’s 40 was MUCH faster than he looks on tape, need to take a look at some more tape
• Gray’s 40 time was slower than we would’ve thought
• Really don’t like listening to Jeremiah talk about how “good” these times are. This collectively has to be one of the slower LB classes in a while.
  • To be fair Hopper and Chambers probably would’ve been top of the class, but they didn’t run
• Bertrand, Eichenberg are two guys we would’ve liked to see run
• Steele Chambers not running is a big disappointment, we had high hopes for him.
• With the exception of the slip, Chambers looked as good in his first drill rep as we would’ve thought
• Great reps by Eich, Gray, and Hopper 
• Cooper is having a day… Need to watch more tape
• Liufau having a strong day in the drills
• Gray looked cleanest in change of direction drill
• Nathaniel Watson not doing drills is unfortunate for his stock in our eyes
• Ulofoshio is more explosive than we originally thought. Best jumper of the class
• Trevin Wallace had himself a good combine all around, going to be one of the first scouts to do post-combine
• Curtis Jacobs and Jordan Magee tested well athletically although wasn’t a super standout in drills. More LBs to take a look at post-combine
• Despite not running, Chambers had about the day we’d expect of him. Jumps maybe could’ve been better, but he showed fluidity in his hips and overall movement. 
• Eich doing the 20 yard shuttle in 4.24, just 0.01 behind Chambers, is crazy…
• Tyrice Knight testing overall was decent, but still going to give a look. 
• Jeremiah Trotter Jr. benching 21, and being T-1st is shocking. We are lower on him than most, so he is already on our list to give another look at post-combine to see if we are missing something