NFL draft scouting reports: Stephen White’s prospect analysis

Update: Maurice Hurst went to the Raiders in the fifth round, due to some medical concerns.

Maurice Hurst’s talent is undeniable. This guy made some incredible plays in the four games I watched.

No need in beating around the bush, so I will start by saying that I see Harrison Phillips as an early-down defensive lineman in the NFL with not a whole lot of value on passing downs. As such, I wouldn’t take him in the first round.

That’s just my philosophy, but the NFL agreed. Instead he went in the third round to the Buffalo Bills.

Update: The Ravens picked Orlando Brown in the third round.

When a guy has one of the worst workouts in combine history, I think its human nature to try to look at his film for answers. How, Sway?!

Update: The Steelers picked James Washington in the second round.

James Washington runs so smoothly, it looks like he’s floating across the field. One second it looks like he’s jogging, the next — skrrrrrrt — he’s zooming right past a cornerback.

The Bears picked Anthony Miller in the second round. The following is Stephen White’s breakdown.

If I’m being completely honest with you, this year’s crop of receivers are a little ... underwhelming, so far. Calvin Ridley, Courtland Sutton, and James Washington all had really attractive qualities in their own rights, but nobody really jumped off the screen at me and looked like they had that it factor.

The more I watched Connor Williams play, the more he grew on me.

The first time I ran through his tape, I put a little too much weight on some of his “bad” plays, when he was beaten in one-on-one pass rush situations. The more I paid attention, however, the more I realized they were the exceptions.

Harold Landry is all about his speed rushes.

I mean I wouldn’t exactly expect a guy who is 6’3 and 250 pounds to be using a lot of power rushes anyway. With Landry, however, he relied heavily on his ability to run around offensive tackles in the four games that I watched.

The Saints traded up to pick UTSA defensive end Marcus Davenport with the 14th overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft on Thursday. Here’s a scouting report on his game from someone who’d know how to scout him— a retired NFL defensive end:

I happened to have watched some of Marcus Davenport’s tape for the first time the Saturday morning before the combine workouts that day, and came away pretty impressed.

Washington take note: Da’Ron Payne is not a nose tackle.

That may sound weird considering he did indeed play quite a bit of nose tackle, at least in the four games I watched, but as the old saying goes, “Just because you can do something does not mean that you should.”

The 49ers took Mike McGlinchey with the ninth pick in the NFL Draft on Thursday. Here’s a scouting report from a retired NFL defensive end:

In the four games of his that I watched there were plays where Mike McGlinchey looked like an offensive tackle worthy of a top-10 pick.

The whole time I was watching tape I had to constantly keep reminding myself Bradley Chubb, the No. 5 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, is listed at 6’4 and over 270 pounds. I mean that in the most complimentary way possible, Broncos fans.

Like, this dude showed the kind of quickness, bend, and athleticism normally reserved for much smaller guys. He looked so smooth turning the corner, so fast coming off the ball. At times he looked more like a basketball player on the field crossing fools up, rather than the hulking defensive end his height and weight would suggest.

Taven Bryan is big (6’4, 291 pounds), strong (30 bench reps of 225 pounds at the combine), and pretty damn fast for a defensive lineman (4.98 40 at the combine), and you see all of that at various times on his tape. For me the biggest question I have about him is will a team be able to help him harness all of his potential and help turn him into a monster in the NFL.

Florida used Bryan almost exclusively as a three-technique in the four games I watched, and it wasn’t hard to find him on most plays. He was usually one of the first guys out of his stance after the ball was snapped, and most of the time he was shooting upfield through his B gap trying to wreak havoc.

The Raiders drafted Key with the 89th pick in the NFL Draft.

Arden Key is an interesting prospect if for no other reason than I’m not sure whether he will be an edge player or an off-the-ball linebacker in the league. At close to 6’6 and around 240 pounds, he certainly could fit at either position. In the four games I watched, I saw that he is physical enough and athletic enough to do either.

Some of D.J. Moore’s most impressive plays in the four games I watched were catch attempts against Wisconsin that didn’t actually end in catches. Now the receiver drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft will have to turn those near misses into paydirt after upgrading from Maryland’s smorgasbord of awful quarterbacks to Cam Newton.

There were two plays where he jumped up over the defender and snatched the ball out of the air, only to come down just out of bounds.

I will admit that Alabama wide receiver Calvin Ridley remains somewhat of a mystery to me.

And a lot of that isn’t his fault.