It's a huge week for Texas' 2024 draft prospects to answer some remaining questions about their game
With the 2023 college football season in the books and there being just one more professional football game left until the long offseason, football media has turned some attention to two of the notable college all-star games that are tentpole events in the leadup to the NFL draft.
[Join Inside Texas and get ONE MONTH of Longhorn intel for just $1!]
The East-West Shrine Bowl and the Reese’s Senior Bowl are conducting practices, with several Longhorns on the roster for both games. The Shrine Game, which takes place on Thursday, February 1 at the Star in Frisco, Texas, features Ryan Watts. The Reese’s Senior Bowl, scheduled for Saturday, February 3 at noon, has T’Vondre Sweat and Christian Jones in Mobile, Ala. competing in front of NFL scouts and executives.
Jonathon Brooks and Ja’Tavion Sanders were scheduled to play in the Shrine Bowl and Byron Murphy, Jaylan Ford, and Jordan Whittington were supposed to take part in the Senior Bowl. Brooks and Sanders were listed as unable to participate because of injuries on the Shrine Bowl’s website. Ford and Whittington are reportedly not on the most recent Senior Bowl roster despite accepting invites. As far as Murphy…
For the others, this week represents massive opportunities to improve their draft stock and even earn an invite to the 2024 NFL Combine on February 29.
Those opportunities exist because of a few questions remaining about their game. The Shrine Bowl and the Senior Bowl are chances to give at least a preliminary answer before the combine and Texas’ pro day.
But what are those questions? Here are the main ones each player participating has to address.
Ryan Watts
Question: Can you play safety?
Watts played the boundary corner position at a very high level in his two-year Texas career, but his future in the NFL is likely to be in the middle of the field. During practices for the Shrine Bowl in DFW this week, Watts has been working out at safety as opposed to cornerback. In the first practice, Watts was clocked at 20.85 mph. That was faster than everyone else in Frisco.
The physical skills are there, as is the coverage ability. But playing safety is a much different game than playing corner. The visual cues are different, as are the angles, the responsibilities, and the communication, just to name a few aspects.
Watts will have the physical tools teams crave, but they’ll want to know what he can do processing the picture in front of him from a different position.
T’Vondre Sweat
Question: Are you a first-rounder?
Sweat’s senior season was one of the best by a Longhorn defender this century. He was a unanimous first-team All-American, and the first Longhorn defensive tackle to earn that distinction since Kenneth Sims in 1981. He won the Outland Trophy given annually to the nation’s top interior lineman, and even helped score a few touchdowns along the way.
Sweat was a man amongst boys in 2023. While that won’t be the case in the NFL, his 6-foot-4, 360-pound frame will be one opposing offensive lineman think about on the night before gameday.
But that’s not enough to earn a first-round pick. General managers and entire front offices, competent ones at least, leave no stone unturned when trying to figure out whether to spend a first-round pick and a lot of money on a player.
For Sweat, the equation is made somewhat more complex by the fact that he plays defensive tackle. That’s a position where, unless the prospect is a down-to-down difference maker, teams aren’t typically using a first-round pick on that spot. Plus, his teammate in Murphy could be ahead of him on draft boards.
If Sweat can continue his dominance in Mobile, he’ll go a long way toward making one of the 32 GMs think long and hard about picking him on day one. That at this juncture is the biggest question remaining before Sweat’s professional career begins.
Christian Jones
Question: How good are you at guard?
Jones is definitely old for this draft class thanks to his status as a sixth-year senior in 2023, but he played the best football of his career and formed an elite tackle tandem with Kelvin Banks.
Jones undoubtedly improved every year he was at Texas, with his rate of improvement accelerating while working under offensive line coach Kyle Flood.
Yet there’s still room to grow for Jones, who started playing football in high school once he outgrew soccer. Teams love the idea of a lineman who has put quality tape together and who still has potential.
But for Jones, that potential may be at guard. In the modern NFL, teams value pass protection ability from interior lineman and many college tackles move inside to help against the players who muddy interiors like Sweat. Jones has that capability and a move inside would not only protect him from getting beat by quickness, but it’ll also allow for him to showcase his mauling run-blocking ability.
[Subscribe to the brand new Inside Texas YouTube channel!]
Versatility helps when there are only so many roster spots, and if Jones can play guard at a high level then a team will be more inclined to take Jones in the early stages of day three.
