This is 2024 Senior Bowl Risers and Fallers – Day 1!
National Team
Risers
Roman Wilson
Wilson was open the entire practice session, and it didn’t matter who was covering him. His speed, route running, and hands were too good to stop. Wilson won on several different routes. Over the middle was too easy, but he also hauled in multiple deep balls throughout the practice.
Currently, the Michigan wide receiver is ranked No. 13 for me, but he has set the groundwork to shoot up. My working comparison for Wilson is Diontae Johnson, but that speed may force me to rethink that. Daniel Jeremiah from the NFL Network compared Wilson’s day to what he saw from Jayden Reed a year ago.
Rasheen Ali
Ali was a strong producer at Marshall, and he showed why in the first session of the 2024 Senior Bowl. He had not one, but multiple impressive runs in the team drill portion. Whenever he was on the field, he looked like he was big enough to have an intriguing role in the NFL. Ali is my RB 12 as of now, but he makes his case in the first day of the Senior Bowl.
Fallers
Jacob Cowing
Red flags were raised on Monday when Cowing measurables were significantly lower than he posted on the Arizona football team page. Day 1 was not the kind of showing that a player like Cowing was hoping for. Last year, Tank Dell made it known immediately that he was here to impress.
The Wildcat did not have that kind of day. In no way does this mean that his draft stock is tanked or that we should collectively cool on him, but the “L’s” cannot continue to pile up.
Kamani Vidal
Since Vidal hails from a smaller football program, he needed to wow from the jump. Multiple times he was stopped at the line of scrimmage during team drills. Vidal did, however, have a couple solid reps in the passing game. After one day, it looks like the National Team will have a better offense, so Vidal will have a shot to impress in Mobile. He will have to have better days ahead.
American Team
Risers
Ladd McConkey
The 1 vs 1 drill were made for guys like Ladd McConkey. He absolutely dominated every rep. Routes to the inside, routes to the outside, the Bulldog made it look easy. Jim Nagy compared him to Cooper Kupp, and it was tough to not see that archetype while he played. I hope the quarterbacks on the American Team look his way more in team drills because they could use his route running ability. McConkey is just outside my top 10 wide receivers, but he possesses the profile that will have helium throughout the process.
Jaheim Bell
Folks are familiar with Jaheim Bell, but he hasn’t been the force that many thought. He is a bit undersized at tight end, so he needed to have a great week to pop up on the top TE lists. After one day of practice, I think he did a good job boosting his stock. Bell looked athletic and wasn’t as small for the position as I had thought. He made some impressive catches throughout the American Team’s practice. This was a nice showing from a player with the talent to slide into the Top 3 TE conversation for rookies in fantasy.
Fallers
Johnny Wilson
It was obvious that the wide out from Florida State would benefit from a move to tight end. Johnny Wilson dropped two passes in individual drills and fell during his route in 1 v 1’s.
Where he did have success was running routes that a tight end may run. Given his size and projected athleticism, he could have a future at tight end, but I don’t see it at wide out.
Xavier Legette
Legette has been one of the most difficult players to evaluate so far in Mobile. First, he measured in at 6’1” which leaves him two inches shorter than DK Metcalf. Why does that matter? Because if Metcalf is the hope, then being smaller is not a good thing. That leads us to Day 1 of practices, and Legette did NOT standout. He showed some solid skills trying to get open deep, but he didn’t come down with any of them, and it looked like he was easy to cover. That might be mainly due to the lack of QB skill on the American Team, but it is certainly not great for a guy trying to fight into the first round of NFL Draft boards.
