2024 NFL Draft Big Board: The First Five
It may be July, but we're officially kicking off the 2024 NFL Draft Big Board with a look at five players that figure to be among the top of their position groups next spring.
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Yes…I know this is insane. But, I’m here trying to lay the groundwork for where 2024’s current top prospects sit as we head into the 2023 season. I haven’t even talked to Zach about how exactly we’re going to lay this big board out here on Stacking The Inbox. I just have an impulse to watch tape and write about players. I can’t stop. It’s an addiction. It’s a problem. I own that. We’ll figure the rest out along the way. As for this piece, let’s get into it - the first five players I’ve evaluated for 2024.
1. QB Caleb Williams, USC
Williams is the prototypical modern quarterback. He has the arm talent to throw with drive, touch, and accuracy. More impressive is his knack for throwing off platform from weird angles. He doesn’t have elite straight line speed, but he is a nifty runner in space and can maneuver the pocket in the face of a pass rush to perfection. It’s the combination of his elusiveness and his arm talent that make him such a potentially special quarterback. He plays with a zen-like poise that has to frustrate opposing defenses, and his scrambling ability has to tire them out to boot.
Williams can throw a low ball every once in a while that gets batted down. At times, it felt like he misdiagnosed when to throw with touch vs. when to throw with drive, and his natural play-making ability can lend itself to recklessness and forced throws, seemingly due to overconfidence. As it stands now, it’s fair to call him a blue chip prospect. Games watched: Notre Dame ‘22, Oregon State ‘22, Utah ‘22
2. WR Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State
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Maybe I’m still hung up on the 2023 class of wide receivers, but Harrison feels like a breath of fresh air at the position - at 6’4” and 205 pounds, he feels like a gargantuan after watching this year’s crop of smaller receivers. That size and height shows up in the tape, too - he looks like a bona fide X receiver that can downright dominate if you don’t give your cornerback some help. At times, Georgia had motherfucking THREE dudes in his vicinity to keep tabs on him. Maryland was rolling coverage his way, too. Penn State tried to put Joey Porter Jr. out there with him 1:1, and Harrison proceeded to catch 10 balls for 185 yards. Of course, not every rep was 1:1 with Porter, but the strategy of trusting your guy alone, even with a guy who was considered a first round talent, didn’t work out for the Nittany Lions.
You see the size. You see the polish. You see the deep threat that he is on tape clear as day. But, what impresses me the most about Harrison is the subtle, nuanced way he manipulates defensive backs, sells his routes, and relentless moves around to create separation. He moves with seamless ease, and makes it look effortless, improvising when the play breaks down and constantly working defensive backs to tire them out and work themselves out of position to get open. It’s like watching Thomas Kinkade paint a sunset. He has a lethal inside step when lined up outside. He’s a fantastic ball-tracker and contested catch guy.
There aren’t too many criticisms of his game. I noticed Kelee Ringo had some success when he was able to sustain positioning through Harrison’s first step and stack him up, keeping him from getting to his release and streaking down the field. If I were to nitpick, I’d say that I think he goes down a little easily…it didn’t seem like defenders had a hard time corralling him after first contact, and while I think he blocks with good contact balance, he’s not an overly aggressive blocker. He also rolls his in-breaking routes sometimes and drifts when he could snap them off and create a little more separation.
All in all, if you’re drafting Harrison, you’re drafting him to be the X guy that can stretch a defense vertically, and he does that quite well. Games watched: Penn State ‘22, Maryland ‘22, Georgia ‘22