As a wrap up to the 2024 Combine we wanted to present to you our quick recap. This will be a two article coverage. In this one we will highlight 1-2 of the biggest winners of each position group as well as players whose stock we believe is trending upward. 

Quarterback

Biggest Winner: JJ McCarthy, Michigan

• JJ McCarthy looked good in positional drills, but where he really shined was his interview with Rich Eisen and also being the first person to congratulate Worthy for his 40 run. McCarthy came across as a leader or at the very least a quarterback players would want to play for. We still think he should sit and develop, but his stock is definitely on the rise.

Players Whose Stock is Rising:

• Bo Nix, Oregon
• Michael Penix Jr, Washington
• Kedon Slovis, BYU
  • Who saw that 40 time coming? Even as Slovis fans we did not
• Joe Milton, Tennessee
  • Looked far more accurate than on film, what team will fall for this?
• Devin Leary, Kentucky

Running Back

Biggest Winner: Isaac Guerendo, Louisville

• Guerendos’ film shows a very raw prospect who does not do a ton to make people miss, but what it did not show was a player who would put on one of the greatest athletic testing performances the combine has ever seen for running backs. A crazy good 40 for his size and jumps to match had him up there with some of the all time great combine performances, and definitely with his stock going up.

Players Whose Stock is Rising:

• Trey Benson, Florida State
  • A shocking 40 for Benson, matched with his size and lineage, should have him moving up draft boards.
• Dylan Laube, New Hampshire
• Jaylen Wright, Tennessee
  • Great athletic testing but his athleticism is not what concerns us with him (his vision).

Wide Receiver

Biggest Winner: Brian Thomas Jr, LSU

• In our opinion, Thomas Jr running a 4.33 at his size was the most impressive run of the day. He was already in our top 3 receivers and he is now even faster than we thought.

Players Whose Stock is Rising:

• Xavier Worthy, Texas (We guess)
  • Great athletic testing, but did not do the drills. Up and down day for a player with effort concerns.
• Adonai Mitchell, Texas
• Bub Means, Pitt
  • Means may have worked his way into day 2 consideration with his size/speed combo. If not he could be a day 3 steal
• Rome Odunze, Washington
• Johnny Wilson, Florida State
  • Great time for his size, though we do not know that he plays that fast
• Ricky Pearsall, Florida
• Devontez Walker, UNC
  • Amazing testing, but unfortunately his physical attributes were not in doubt.
• Xavier Legette, South Carolina
  • One of our favorite receivers ran a 4.39 at almost 230 pounds.

Tight End

Biggest Winner: Theo Johnson, Penn State

• Theo Johnson had an insane day for someone his size, and it was hard to see this coming. That may be more on how Penn State utilized him and did not ask him to really run deep routes, but Johnson went from high end TE2 upside to a potential TE1 with his blocking and athletic profile.

Players Whose Stock is Rising:

• Ben Sinnott, Kansas State
  • Did not see Sinnott having the best broad and vert jump, great for him.
• Devin Culp, Washington
• Jaheim Bell, Florida State
• Tip Reimann, Illinois Sort of
  • Great testing, but a ton of drops

Offensive Line

Biggest Winner: Cooper Beebe, Kansas State/Troy Fautanu, Washington

Cooper Beebe came to Indianapolis looking like the polar opposite of the prospect we saw on tape. He looked slimmer, he looked fast and quick, and he could move. Any question or doubt we had about his athleticism was thrown out the window.

Troy Fautanu if not for Beebe looking like a completely different human being would be the biggest winner of the Offensive line group. 

Players Whose Stock is Rising:

• Christian Jones, Texas
  • We were already very high on Jones, but this is more so because Jones stock is trending up in the eyes of the rest of the football community
• Tanor Bortolini, Wisconsin

• Andrew Coker, TCU
• Taliese Fuaga, Oregon State
• Zach Frazier, West Virginia
• C.J. Hampton, Holy Cross
• Christian Haynes, UConn
• Trente Jones, Michigan
• Javion Cohen, Miami
• Matt Jones, Ohio State
• Jarrett Kingston, USC
• Patrick Paul, Houston
  • Everything about Paul’s Combine looked better than what we saw on tape. Big time winner.
• Roger Rosengart, Washington
• Kingsley Suamataia, BYU
• Christian Mahogany, Boston College
• JC Latham, Alabama
  • His ability to move around looked much better at Combine than film shows
• Dylan McMahon, NC State
  • Good 40, good drills, and he looks like he’s bulked a little bit since the season
• Drake Nugent, Michigan
  • Nugent’s day all around was great, his feet look much quicker than on tape 

Defensive Line

Biggest Winner: Braden Fiske

• Maybe the best finish to a 40 yard dash ever with an “Oh Yeah” that would have made the Kool-Aid Man proud…. and we are not talking about McKinstry. Fiske ran a great time for his size and looked incredibly athletic.

Players Whose Stock is Rising:

• Kris Jenkins, Michigan
• T’Vondre Sweat, Texas
  • Simply put, to run anything close to what he did at 366 pounds was wild.
• Mekhi Wingo, LSU
• Byron Murphy II, Texas

EDGE

Biggest Winner: Dallas Turner

• We sill stand by that Turner is not nearly the athlete that his testing suggested. At least in game speed wise and he is somewhat stiff at times. However, his testing caused us to reevaluate and it cannot be overstated just how impressive his athletic score was. He is still very much boom or bust in our eyes with far more development to go, but the upside got higher in our opinion.

Players Whose Stock is Rising:

• Chop Robinson, Penn State
  • there is a strong possibility he is the first EDGE selected after that impressive combine both with testing and on the field drills.
• Darius Robinson, Missouri
  • Robinson did, in fact, weigh in over 280 pounds even though you would never know it by looking at him. And while his 40 may not be impressive compared to others, he was faster than almost every other prospect that measured in at that height and weight you can find.
• Xavier Thomas, Clemson
  • Thomas has had quite the go, and did get hurt, but showed off athletic upside that should get him drafted
• Jared Verse, Florida State
  • Verse answered some athletic questions that we had, but also struggled in the field drills showing stiffness. It was up and down but mostly positive.
• Jalyx Hunt, Houston Christian
  • Small school standout showed up with impressive testing.
• Marshawn Kneeland, Western Michigan

Linebacker

Biggest Winner: Edefuan Ulofoshio, Washington

Ulofoshio killed the jumps, ran a solid 40, and  looked good in the positional drills. We liked Ulofoshio to begin with, but his stock is even up for us

Players Whose Stock is Rising:

• Payton Wilson, NC State
• Edgerrin Cooper, Texas A&M
• Tommy Eichenberg, Ohio State
  • Eichenberg looked big, but didn’t move like a big man. Despite not running which was a semi-big deal for us he had a great day. 
• Steele Chambers, Ohio State
• Cedric Gray, UNC
• Ty’Ron Hopper, Missouri
• Marist Liufau, Notre Dame
• Kalen DeLoach, Florida State
• Trevin Wallace, Kentucky
• Curtis Jacobs, Penn State

Cornerback

Biggest Winner: Josh Newton, TCU/Cam Hart, Notre Dame

Josh Newton showed immense improvements from the season. His 40 time was definitely better than we thought it’d be from his tape, and his footwork and ability to break looked much, much cleaner.

Cam Hart looked like one of the biggest CBs in working out in Indy, and with great length looked like one of the most fluid and smooth movers in the group.

Players Whose Stock is Rising:

• Max Melton, Rutgers
• Josh Wallace, Michigan
  • Wallace is another prospect we were already probably higher on than most, but he had an awesome day in the positional drills. Not sure the extent to which he’ll rise for us, but we assume he’ll rise a lot for those who weren’t as high on him pre-combine
• Chau Smith-Wade, Washington State
• Jarrian Jones, Florida State
• Renardo Green, Florida State
• Daequan Hardy, Penn State

Safety

Biggest Winner: Cole Bishop, Utah/Jaden Hicks, Washington State

Jaden Hicks was someone we thought may end up in the UFL. He had a moment early in the positional drills where he couldn’t track a deep ball and we thought “and so it begins”, but he was pretty much full standout after that and a prospect we need to give a second look to.

Players Whose Stock is Rising:

• Javon Bullard, Georgia
  • From everything we’ve seen, for whatever reason Bullard seems to be getting mocked in the 3rd round. We have a first round grade on Bullard and we feel his Combine performance only helped solidify our thoughts
• Josh Proctor, Ohio State
  • Proctor, to our surprise, had a really really strong day. After our film review we thought his best course of action could be a switch to LB, but he showed up he has the ability to stick at safety. Probably more as a box safety, but still improved our opinions on him playing in the backend. 
• Sione Vaki, Utah
• Evan Williams, Oregon
• Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, Texas Tech
• Tyler Nubin, Minnesota
• Tykee Smith, Georgia