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Maybe this is a strange way to begin a piece on the NFL Combine, but I’ll just say it. The annual event has diminishing significance.
That’s a strange trend during a time when there’s never been higher financial stakes associated with nailing NFL Draft picks, but think about it. There’s more access than ever to watching college players both live (ESPN) and with All-22 availability. That’s why plenty of proven college players like Shedeur Sanders and Ashton Jeanty won’t be competing at the NFL Combine, which kicks off on Wednesday in Indianapolis. That’s the new norm.
At the same time, there’s still significance for some who’d like to showcase their athletic ability instead of letting the film do all the talking.
These are the SEC developments that’ll actually be worth watching:
James Pearce Jr. doing his best Myles Garrett imitation would have a lasting impact
To be clear, I’m not suggesting that the former Tennessee star is going to show up to Indianapolis looking quite like Garrett, who clocked in at 272 pounds. Pearce is listed at 243 pounds, so even if he added some weight to his 6-5 frame, nobody will mistake him for Garrett, who was locked in as the future No. 1 overall pick by the time he left the 2017 NFL Combine. But like Garrett, who had to answer questions about his production dipping in his pre-Draft season, Pearce can show off his explosiveness and quiet any doubt about his next-level traits.
Matching Garrett’s 1.63-second 10-yard split with a 41-inch vertical (!) might not be a fair bar to set, but Pearce has an opportunity to display his athleticism in a deep class of edge-rushers. His first step has always been his unteachable trait, which is exactly what the pre-Draft chatter was about with Garrett. If that can translate into a dominant showing in Indy, perhaps Pearce can turn around his seemingly fading pre-Draft stock and lock in his status as a Round-1 guy.
Shemar Stewart can build off his Senior Bowl dominance and continue to move past his lack of college sacks
It’s rare to be discussing an edge rusher who had 4.5 career sacks as a potential top-15 pick (only 2.0 sacks came vs. SEC competition). Stewart’s knock is an obvious one — he did have 33 hurries in his pre-Draft season at Texas A&M — which means his place to bridge that gap is also clear as day. The best way to move past a lack of college production is to dominate the NFL Combine.
Much like the aforementioned Pearce, Stewart’s focus will be standing out in an elite group of edge rushers. That’s exactly what he did at the Senior Bowl, where he was so dominant in practice early on that he shut it down mid-week. Also working in Stewart’s favor is the fact that Abdul Carter is nursing a shoulder injury and he won’t be competing in Indianapolis. An explosive showing could suddenly put Stewart into the 2022 Travon Walker group of late-rising edge-rushers who moved past unimpressive college stats en route to early-Round 1 status.
Even throwing against air, Jalen Milroe could use a big week
This just in — Milroe has some skeptics at the next level. Even his biggest supporter, Mel Kiper Jr., finally dropped the former Alabama quarterback out of his most recent Mock Draft. As recently as mid-October, Kiper had Milroe ahead of Cam Ward as his QB2. Needless to say, things have changed in the last few months. Milroe recovered after a less-than-stellar start to the Senior Bowl, but on the Combine stage, he’s got an opportunity to look like a more polished player than he was in Mobile. I’m not sure how much Milroe’s testing will matter because even amid his struggles, you’d be hard-pressed to argue against him as the most mobile quarterback in the class. It’s all about his consistency as a passer.
Milroe looking the part while throwing alongside guys like Jaxson Dart and Quinn Ewers (more on him in a minute), who wasn’t at the Senior Bowl, could perhaps have a lasting impression. Even if Milroe’s showing in Indianapolis isn’t going to get him back into the Round-1 conversation, showing improvement and convincing teams that he could have early-Day 2 value is in play … as is the potential question about playing other positions.
Luther Burden III has a prime opportunity in a receiver class that lacks top-end prospects
Burden didn’t have the pre-Draft season that many hoped he would, but the former 5-star recruit still has a first-round market. That’s because he’s ridiculously good after the catch and as someone who played primarily in the slot in his last 2 seasons at Mizzou, he can be the ideal complement for a team that lacks receiver depth. If you don’t include Travis Hunter in the primary receiver department — he’s 1 of 1 as a prospect with his role — this class doesn’t have the top-end talent like last year when Marvin Harrison Jr., Malik Nabers and Rome Odunze all were locks to come off the board in the top 10.
Burden likely won’t be viewed as that type of prospect, but he could be the most physically impressive receiver in Indianapolis. How well will he run as a sub-6 foot receiver? That could be important for how his top-end speed is viewed after he lacked explosive downfield plays in 2024. How much of that was related to Brady Cook’s downfield accuracy regression? That’s debatable. What’s not debatable is that Burden would love to avoid things like a 4.6-second 40-time and a 5-9 measurement.
Does Quinn Ewers look healthy?
Quinn Ewers looked like a different quarterback after returning from his oblique injury, and not necessarily in a good way. As it turned out, that injury, which sidelined him for 2 starts, was more significant than originally believed:
That’s remarkable toughness considering what was at stake for both Ewers and Texas. As that story reported, Ewers’ torn oblique injury was actually suffered during his dazzling performance against Michigan, not the following game against UTSA. That’s significant because Ewers returned from injury and not only didn’t lose his job to Arch Manning, but he did so while leading Texas to its second consecutive semifinal berth. While there were definitely moments in which it was fair to question if Ewers was healthy — 60% of his passes didn’t travel beyond 9 yards and only 18% of his passing yards came via 20-yard throws — it now makes more sense why he felt limited.
At the Combine, Ewers will reportedly throw and show that he’s fully healthy. Will the deep ball flutter? Will his throws outside the hashes be on time? Can he throw off-platform as well as he did earlier in his career? Those questions can all be answered. As I mentioned with Milroe, perhaps it’ll benefit Ewers that he won’t be throwing alongside Sanders (Cam Ward’s status is TBD). Dart certainly benefitted from that at the Senior Bowl, and he might’ve moved into QB3 in this class. Ewers looking healthier than he was at any point post-injury could be massive for his mid-round Draft stock.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
