Albert Breer’s Players to Watch at the NFL Combine Include Only One QB

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Oregon TE Kenyon Sadiq
Linebackers to watch
Jeremiyah Love
Wide receivers to watch
Offensive tackles to watch
Running backs, defensive backs to watch

CINCINNATI — That dateline … long story. Getting out of a storm that hit my town, bringing with it over three feet of snow, was pretty complicated. Getting a flight to the Midwest was even more challenging. So I didn’t fly to Indy (my 1:15 p.m. ET Tuesday was canceled, the third flight I’ve had canceled this week), but to Northern Kentucky instead, and now I will make the 90-minute drive North.

The good news is I’ll make it to my 18th NFL combine.

And to get our coverage from the ground kicked off, let’s start with some guys who will be the ones to watch this week, once the workouts get going. With one quick caveat: I had one team tell me that more than three-quarters of the players that they did formal interviews with on Monday night said they planned to bow out of the athletic testing. So whether these guys take the field is a moving target until they’re actually out there.

Oregon TE Kenyon Sadiq

Sadiq has a chance, if he goes through the physical testing, to be what Nick Emmanwori was a year ago—the prospect who proves too much of a physical outlier for anyone to ignore. Some expect that Sadiq, at about 6' 3" and 240 pounds, will run in the 4.3s and jump 40", which would be outstanding numbers for a receiver half his size. And the bonus with Sadiq (who did have a little issue with drops) is that, within his Shannon Sharpe-type skill set, there is a real willingness to block as well.

Linebackers to watch

Some view Arvell Reese as the draft’s best prospect, with size, length and freakish range that would be confirmed if he decides to run and jump (his 40 time could be pretty eye-opening, I’ve heard). Similarly, Sonny Styles—a 6' 4", 250-pound converted safety who doesn’t have the pass-rush value that Reese does—is believed to have the potential to test like Tremaine Edmunds in 2018, and show to be the class’s most well-rounded athlete. If you want to have fun with that one, you can Google Styles’s high school hoops highlights.

• Two other linebackers to watch: Alabama’s Justin Jefferson (yes, that’s his name) and Cincinnati’s Jake Golday. Both are expected to tear up the 40.

Jeremiyah Love

The other first-rounder who has a really good shot at crushing everything from a testing standpoint is Love. The Notre Dame standout borders on 220 pounds, and is fully capable of checking all the boxes when it comes to running, jumping and lifting.

Wide receivers to watch

A few receivers should tear up the 40. A record-breaker might be Mississippi State’s bite-sized burner Brennan Thompson. He is expected to land somewhere in the 4.2s, which (obviously) would give him a great shot at being the fastest in this class. Georgia’s Zachariah Branch should land somewhere in the 4.3s, with Kansas’s Emmanuel Henderson Jr. comfortably in that group as well.

Offensive tackles to watch

Among the big guys, Utah’s Caleb Lomu might be the one scouts are most intrigued to see test. The “other” tackle for the Utes, Lomu, is the reason likely top-10 pick Spencer Fano played right tackle—he has the look of a player built in a lab to play left tackle. So teams are anxious to see whether what he showed on tape translates into how he runs, jumps and lifts. He’s raw, and the confirmed numbers will, for sure, give GMs and coaches a little more confidence that the development they’d expect will come for a guy that’s projected to go somewhere in the top 40 or so picks.

• Three other tackles to keep an eye on would be Alabama’s Kadyn Proctor, Georgia’s Monroe Freeling and Arizona State’s Max Iheanachor. Proctor was the bluest of blue-chip recruits and has freakish athleticism that will surface if he works out (though many NFL folks project him to flip to the right side or inside to guard). Freeling, meanwhile, has risen fast through this draft cycle, and a good couple of days in Indy could push him even further up in the first round, as teams continue to get to know more about him. And Iheanachor might be the class’s most interesting man—a Nigerian immigrant who starred in hoops as a high schooler, played soccer before that was convinced to pursue football, and went from community college to ASU and now the draft. He’s raw. He’s also wildly athletic.

• One other big man to watch would be Iowa C Logan Jones, who, with a good performance, would follow in a long line of Hawkeye linemen to show well at the combine. He’s not quite the athlete Ravens C Tyler Linderbaum was coming out of Iowa City, but he’s close. He should run well, jump high and, as many from that program seem to do, crush the shuttles.

Running backs, defensive backs to watch

And, finally, there are two positions that, to me, are more wide open than others: running back and defensive back. On the former, Nebraska’s Emmett Johnson and Arkansas’s Mike Washington Jr. are expected to test really well, and both sit on that Day 2/Day 3 fringe, where a great couple of days might push one or the other into the bottom of the third round. And on the latter, both Purdue S Dillon Thieneman and Tennessee CB Colton Hood can make a move within the top 50 or so.

You’ll notice there isn’t a quarterback in here, and that’s probably indicative of the class. But one, I believe, that has a chance to merit attention is North Dakota State’s Cole Payton, who’s rugged as a runner and can help himself by showing that his game in that area will translate to the pros athletically.

And with that, I’m off for the last leg of my trip to Indy.

I’d say I’ll see all of you from there, but I’m not about to jinx anything.