While the WR position is the deepest in this draft the Offensive Line is a pretty impressive group and should have as many as six OTs go in the first round.  After the combine Tristan Wirfs, Mekhi Becton, Jedrick Wills and Andrew Thomas are guaranteed to go in round one and they should all be off the board in the top 15-18 picks.  Josh Jones and Austin Jackson look like 1st round guys at this point and while QB is the most over drafted position, offensive tackle is a close second.  Two guys look like worthwhile projects that could end up drafted higher than they should be, Ezra Cleveland and Isaiah Wilson.

Running back has certainly been a devalued position overall the past half decade and a Super Bowl that featured Damian Williams and Raheem Mostert as the starting RBs didn’t help the cause but it’s still a position of need for a number of teams.  Luckily there are some dynamic players in this group, none of whom are seen as top 15 picks but the back half of round one through rounds two and three should provide some serious talent at the position.  Jonathan Taylor, D’Andre Swift and Cam Akers really solidified themselves as top players at the combine.

Offensive Line

• The offensive line drills might as well have been called the Tristan Wirfs show.  I knew he would test well but he exceeded even my expectations.  He set the combine record in the vertical for offensive lineman, tied the record in the broad jump and then ran the fastest forty time of the position group this year at 4.85.  By the way, Wirfs is barely 21 years old and if just scratching the surface of his talent.  Anybody who doesn’t think Wirfs can play OT in the NFL just isn’t paying attention.
• Mekhi Becton ran the forty in 5.10, that’s good for an offensive lineman, that’s exceptional when you consider he’s 6’7 364 lbs.  After doing one position drill he pulled up with a bad hamstring and cut his workout short but he did what he needed to do, he impressed.  Becton might be he first OT off the board, he’s not my top guy but he’s worthy of a top 10 pick.
• Jedrick Wills looked good, he’s plenty athletic and his workout only confirmed what his play on the field already tells you, he’s an immediate starter next season.  The biggest question for Wills is can he flip to the left side or does he stay on the right side in the pros.  The commentators noted that while playing RT at Alabama he protected Tua Tagovailoa’s blind side but that doesn’t mean he’s comfortable flipping to the left side and changing his stance and all the other things that look different from that side.  It’s not as easy as you might think.  Both Becton and Wirfs have played both RT and LT so that might give them an edge.
• Andrew Thomas didn’t do anything to stand out athletically but he looked plenty good and solidied his stock.  Thomas is the type of player that while he might not have the potential ceiling of Becton or Wirfs he has the highest floor of any of the OT prospects.  Is he a hall of famer? Maybe, maybe not but he’s a 10 year starter who won’t get your QB killed.
• Josh Jones and Austin Jackson are kind of the opposite guys in the fact that Jones looks good on tape but doesn’t stand out athletically.  Jackson looked good at the combine, he was overshadowed by he freaks Wirfs and Becton but he’s a very good athlete.  On tape it doesn’t always translate.  He just needs some more work and he’ll be damn good.
• Ezra Cleveland is an early entry guy out of Boise St.  At 6’6 311 lbs. he fits the mold of a starting LT and his 4.93 forty along with 30 reps on the bench press means he has the athleticism and strength to be just that.  He’s still a bit raw and he needs some technique work but he’s a round two pick and probably pretty high in that round.
• Isaiah Wilson is another gigantic athlete at 6’6 350 lbs. and he ran a 5.32 forty.  He has 35.5 inch arms and when he engages the defender it’s over.  He too is pretty raw but he is well worth the investment.  Wilson will likely be a RT only but he has the potential to be the best RT in the NFL in three years with the right coaching (assuming Wirfs ends up at LT for someone).
• The interior linemen aren’t as impressive as the OT class.  With Tyler Biadasz sitting out the drills and Lloyd Cushenberry coming up lame after his forty it left the door open for some other guys to look good but I’m not sure anyone other than Biadasz has a shot of going in the first round, even Cushenberry might only be second round guy.  Michigan C Cesar Ruiz looked good as did Oregon’s Shane Lemieux.  Washington C Nick Harris had a good workout but nothing is going to make up for him being a bit undersized at 6’1.  There are some quality players but the C/G position is going to be 3rd round and lower position.

Running Backs

• Jonathan Taylor owned the combine.  He was the only RB to run the forty in under 4.4 as his official time was 4.39, and he did that weighing 226 lbs.  While I understand that D’Andre Swift, JK Dobbins and even Cam Akers are talented prospects Taylor isn’t getting the respect he deserves.  He ran well, caught the ball well and generally looks like a stud RB.  Someone is going to get a huge steal with him in the draft.  You can’t convince me he won’t be the most productive RB out of this class in the NFL.
• D’Andre Swift looked good.  I like his skill set. He was fast enough and he looks really smooth running the drills.  Swift isn’t the tallest guy but he’s built like a bowling ball and can do everything you need a RB to do.
• Cam Akers is almost the forgotten man because the last couple of years at Florida St. have been pretty rough.  Akers is an exceptional talent and he displayed all his playmaking ability at the combine.  This is one of the guys that can really benefit from the combine because since his team wasn’t very good he wasn’t always able to show off his skills on the field.  He’s a great back for today’s game because he excels in the screen game.
• One guy that you can throw out the combine stuff and just go with the game tape on is Clyde Edwards-Helaire out of LSU.  He’s short and he only ran a 4.6 forty but he clearly plays faster than that and he brings a modern day skill set to the position.  He’s never going to be your go-to goalline/short yardage back because he lacks size and power but he has so many skills otherwise he’s incredibly valuable as an offensive weapon.
• The NFL has seen a lot of teams go to the multiple back system where you use different players with different skill sets depending on your need.  This draft has guys who fit as backs who work well in space and can catch the ball; Eno Benjamin, Darrynton Evans, and Anthony McFarland.  As well as bigger, power backs like AJ Dillon, Zack Moss, and Mike Warren.
• One guy I like better than most is Vanderbilt’s Ke’Shawn Vaughn.  He isn’t dynamic in any one particular thing but he ran 4.51, he has excellent size at 5’10 214 lbs. and even though he played on a less-than-stellar Vanderbilt team he was still a productive back.  Even when his SEC opponents knew he was Vandy’s best offensive weapon.  He can be a productive NFL back.
• One guy that didn’t participate is Ohio St.’s JK Dobbins.  Dobbins is small, fast and shifty.  Not participating won’t affect his draft stock overall but there is a bit of a jumble at the top of the position.  Swift, Taylor, Dobbins, Akers and Edwards-Helaire are generally considered the top five, all of them should somewhere from the 20th overall pick in round one to somewhere through the second round.

Defensive Linemen and Linebackers go on Saturday.  I guess we will see if AJ Epenesa can impress as much as his teammate Wirfs did in the physical testing.  Chase Young isn’t working out so Epenesa has a chance to make himself the star of the defensive line drills.

The NFL Draft Combine is upon us and we started off on Thursday with QBs, WRs and TEs.  The QB group was missing the two headliners of the class in Joe Burrow (skipping the workouts because he’s the presumptive #1 overall pick) and Tua Tagovailoa (because he’s not cleared from his hip injury).  That left us to sort out the next tier of guys and see who could separate themselves.  The WR group is thought to be the best WR draft class ever and they didn’t disappoint.  All of the top guys worked out with the exception of Tee Higgins from Clemson.  It usually doesn’t hurt a great player to not work out at the combine but in this case Higgins didn’t help himself as being out of sight means your out of mind and so many players looked incredibly good.  TE is one of the more underwhelming position groups this year and while a few guys looked good I wouldn’t be surprised if there are no TEs in round one this year and I would be absolutely shocked if there was more than one.  Here’s a Hott Read on each position.

Quarterback

• With no Tua and no Joe Burrow working out it left Oregon’s Justin Herbert as the headliner.  Herbert looked good throwing the ball and looked very athletic in the workouts.  He solidified himself as the third guy in the group but as long as Tua’s health checks out next month being third is the best Herbert is going to do.  Herbert aims his throws too much and he has to learn to trust himself more and just let it go especially on deep throws.
• Utah St.’s Jordan Love looks like the next guy behind Herbert and he basically confirmed that by being good and by having no one else step up to compete with him for that spot.  Love is an impressive athlete with a top-notch arm.  He wasn’t great last season compared to the year before but that was more about circumstances at Utah St. (new coaches and losing almost his entire offense around him).  He’s probably a top 15 pick.
• Washington’s Jacob Eason was supposed to be the competition to Jordan Love and while Eason has a canon for an arm he didn’t put on the kind of show people were expecting. Also, reports are that his interviews with teams were less than impressive.  Words and phrases like immature, laid-back and lacking swagger are used to describe Eason.  In the hyper competitive environment of the NFL, front offices don’t want their QBs to lack fire and competitiveness.  Eason has the potential to be a big, strong-armed QB with a long career like Ben Roethlisberger or he could be the next Kyle Boller, that’s the problem with him as a prospect.
• Jake Fromm is another big name at the combine and while he didn’t do anything to hurt himself he basically confirmed what everyone knows.  Fromm is a good player who lacks elite arm strength and isn’t going to wow anyone physically.  In an NFL that is being taken over by guys with athleticism like Lamar Jackson and Deshaun Watson and arm talent like Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen it’s hard for anyone to get excited by a QB who compares more to Andy Dalton.
• Oklahoma/former Alabama QB Jalen Hurts looked good throwing the ball.  Everyone knew he would look good in the athletic portion of the combine it was how he performed in the throwing drills that impressed.  The one thing I will say is that while he has certainly improved as a passer it is his ability to read a defense and move through progressions that will limit him early in his career.  While he may not want to be “the next Taysom Hill” it is probably the best path forward for him early on.
• When it comes to the rest of the QB group there wasn’t much of note.  If I were a team looking for a developmental QB in the mid to late rounds two guys looked worth taking a chance on.  Colorado QB Steven Montez and Iowa’s Nate Stanley (that’s not even a homer pick).  Montez showed really good athleticism and a great deep arm.  He lacks touch on intermediate routes but that’s why he’s a developmental guy.  Stanley looked far more fluid and athletic than expected and for a guy his size that was impressive.  His biggest issue is consistency but all the tools are there.  Stanley came into the combine as a 6th or 7th round guy, I could see him as a late 4th or 5th rounder now.
• One last note.  While there were a lot of people thinking Jalen Hurts might be the “next Taysom Hill” the guy who should consider trying to be that is Michigan’s Shea Patterson.  After watching him for the past several years at Michigan I’ve never been overly impressed with him as a QB but he tested fairly well as an athlete.  One thing it is going to take for someone to follow Hill’s path to the NFL is a commitment to being that type of player, Hurts seems quite reluctant to do so, Patterson should embrace it.

Wide Receivers

• There has never been a WR class like this one and there are legitimately eight WRs who could go in round one.  CeeDee Lamb, Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs III, Tee Higgins, Justin Jefferson and Laviska Shenault are almost assuredly going in round one.  Jalen Reagor and Brandon Aiyuk have the potential to sneak into the first round.
• I’m not sure the race to be the top WR got any clearer after the combine.  CeeDee Lamb is a favorite of many but he didn’t break 4.5 in the forty which was a little disappointing, but then he went out and looked fantastic in the on field drills.  Jerry Jeudy was always going to look good running routes but it was him running 4.45 that caught people’s attention.  No one thought he would be faster than Lamb.  Henry Ruggs III was disappointed he didn’t break John Ross’ forty record but he ran 4.27 which is crazy fast.  Unfortunately, after running so fast he hurt his quad and didn’t do the on field drills.  Like I said, it didn’t clear much up.  These three still look like the top tier of the position but who’s first, second and third is anyone’s guess.
• Tee Higgins didn’t workout at the combine preferring to wait until his pro day at Clemson.  In this case, it may have hurt him a little.  There were some guys chasing him for the top spot in the second tier of WRs after the top three and certainly Justin Jefferson made up some ground.  Jefferson ran a 4.43 which was a pleasant surprise to many.  The other thing that might hurt Higgins is that while he fills the profile of the big, physical and fast WR there were a couple of guys that emerged as alternatives to him meaning teams may not value him as much if they can get a similar profile guy later on.  Denzel Mims of Baylor is 6’3 207 and ran 4.38 while Chase Claypool of Notre Dame is 6’4 238 and ran 4.42.  If Higgins had been there and run in the 4.4 range at 6’4 216 lbs. he would have solidified his status with the top tier guys.  Now he has to hope his pro day goes well.
• A couple of guys who helped themselves by running under 4.4 were Texas’ Devin Duvernay and Memphis’ Antonio Gibson, both clocking in at 4.39.  Not surprising Duvernay was fast, he’s a track guy but at only 5’10 he needed to show his speed.  He was very productive at Texas and he helped himself.  Gibson is 6’0 but he’s not purely a WR, as a matter of fact he might be a better RB prospect.  His speed got him noticed by many, that’s never a bad thing.
• I mentioned Mims and Claypool before as big WRs who ran very fast.  That’s a great combination.  Claypool came into the draft as a guy some thought might move to TE due to his size, well he would be a damn fast TE if he does.  I think he stays at WR for now.  Mims gets a little lost among the impressive group of WRs but he was very productive at Baylor and he checks all the boxes.  He and Claypool may go higher than people think, like second round.
• Another bigger WR who had a good day is Liberty’s Antonio Gandy-Golden.  The small-school prospect looked good at the Senior Bowl and teams took notice.  At 6’4 223 lbs. he was dominant at Liberty and he held his own during Senior Bowl week.  At the combine he ran 4.6 in the forty which isn’t anything special but then he looked very smooth and agile in the receiver drills and in the rest of the testing.
• One guy that isn’t getting enough attention is Michael Pittman Jr out of USC.  He’s 6’4 223 lbs., he ran 4.52 and he was unbelievably productive at USC.  This is a guy that is going to end up going at the end of round two or in round three and then starts for whatever team drafts him next season and he catches 75 balls as a rookie.  Everyone should stop sleeping on Pittman.
• One guy emerging as a ridiculous athlete that makes everyone go back to the tape and ask why he wasn’t more productive is Michigan’s Donovan Peoples-Jones.  He’s 6’2 212 lbs. ran a 4.48 and has a 44.5 inch vertical.  Crazy stat about Peoples-Jones, he never had a 100-yard receiving game in 3 years at Michigan.  The reasons, some of it was on Michigan’s inconsistent offense, some of it is on Peoples-Jones lacking innate WR skills.  He’s a great athlete who lacks burst of the line to separate from DBs (weird considering his vertical which usually translates to athletic burst) and he’s not a great route runner.  His athletic skills might trick some team into drafting him too high on the assumption they can make him a better WR,  In a draft with so many good WRs I would advise any team against drafting him higher than the fifth round, I’m not kidding I don’t care how athletic he looked.
• Jalen Reagor had an interesting combine.  He came in at 5’11 206 lbs. which was a bit heavier than he played at TCU.  It seemed to affect his speed because his forty time was 4.47 and he’s faster than that.  He needs to take a little of the bulk off and get back to being the speed demon he was in college.  The slower speed is going to hurt him a little until him improves it at his pro day.  It might knock him into the second round which would make him a steal.
• Laviska Shenault Jr. didn’t exactly help himself on Thursday.  He went out and ran a 4.58 forty and while no one expected him to run fast that was slightly disappointing.  The bigger disappointment was that he only ran once and then pulled out and didn’t do any of the on field drills or any of the other testing.  Shenault is a jack-of-all trades type of WR but he may have lost ground to a guy like Justin Jefferson and that will hurt his stock.
• Every year there are underclassmen that comes out and end up regretting it.  I think Quintez Cephus may end up one of those guys.  He’s a special case because while he had a year of eligibility left he was a fourth-year player due to sitting out the 2018 season with legal issues.  Cephus isn’t particularly big at 6’1 202 lbs. and he ran the slowest forty of all the WRs that ran at 4.73.  He isn’t a great route runner and he doesn’t do any one thing particularly well.  In a draft class like this one he is the definition of pedestrian.  He may really regret not going back to Wisconsin and being in next year’s draft where the competition should be considerably lighter.

Tight Ends

• It’s a good thing the WR class is so stacked because the TE class is really weak.  If you’re looking for playmakers in the passing game you might as well draft a big WR and line him up as TE because this class isn’t going to help much.
• The top TE is Cole Kmet out of Notre Dame and he looks the part at 6’6 262 lbs. and he ran a 4.7 forty.  There is a physical comparison to Rob Gronkowski but it ends there.  He doesn’t have the functional strength of Gronk either getting off the line into his routes and certainly not as a blocker.  Kmet has potential to get there but it’s going to take work.  He is a potential first-rounder but he looked as good as he did at the combine due to a lack of real competition.
• Albert Okwuegbunam out of Missouri probably had the one number from the TE position that will get some notice, he ran 4.49 in the forty at 6’5 258 lbs., that’s impressive.  While he’s a big man that can move he’s pretty stiff and not very smooth.  He isn’t a physical blocker and has a ways to go to get better at it.  He is fast and there are some good traits to work with but he’s still a project.
• One of the more frustrating TE prospects is Purdue’s Brycen Hopkins.  There are times he looks like a future All-Pro because he’s a great athlete and runs like a deer, then he drops the easiest pass ever thrown to him.  Hopkins looked great at the combine running around in shorts and t-shirt but he didn’t have to block anyone so that helps.  In this draft class he looks good but overall he’s a very inconsistent player.
• One TE of note that didn’t participate in the combine was LSU’s Thaddeus Moss, the son of Randy Moss (yes, that makes me feel old).  Moss was found to have a foot fracture during the medical examination at the combine so he couldn’t compete.  He will miss several months with rehab so his draft stock might take a hit.  He may have been the second best prospect behind Kmet but now we won’t know.  He wasn’t an exceptional prospect before the foot issue and that injury isn’t going to help him.

That’s all I’ve got from Thursday.  Offensive linemen and running backs are up on Friday.  Looking forward to watching Tristan Wirfs show off.