PurplePTSD: Three NFL Draft Prospects That Won The Senior Bowl

Press release from the PurplePTSD:

Josh Frey

2022-02-07

The Reese’s Senior Bowl has always been a great way to showcase the full array of talents from collegiate seniors one final time before the NFL Draft. This past week, the latest rendition took place in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. As always, it was a fascinating event to watch from the practices all the way through the actual game between the National and American teams on Saturday. Here are my three prospects that won the Senior Bowl by raising their draft stock ahead of the Draft Combine in a few weeks.

QB Malik Willis

The talent is clearly there for Malik Willis. He is a terrific runner, has an outstanding arm, and was a winner throughout his collegiate career at Liberty. There were two things that limited his stock going into this week: consistency and exposure. The consistency aspect was under his control, and he was at his best during Senior Bowl week. He showcased a terrific arm in practices and hit a number of impressive throws.

The actual game didn’t provide a ton of highlights throwing the ball, but he was able to put on a clinic with his legs. Willis showed just how dangerous he can be running the ball, piling up 54 rushing yards on four rushes. That included 27 yards on this ridiculous scramble.

I recently made Willis my QB5 on my latest draft big board, but this type of performance over the course of a week could certainly cause him to rise.

IOL Zion Johnson (Boston College)

Overall, the Senior Bowl was a bad week to be a guard or center. Far too many of the interior defensive linemen owned the line of scrimmage in practices and games. One player that bucked the trend was Boston College IOL Zion Johnson.

Throughout Johnson’s career at Boston College, he’s proven to be a very versatile offensive lineman. That is the main aspect of his game that has propelled his draft stock, especially considering he played left tackle all throughout the 2020 season. This Senior Bowl brought to the surface even more of that versatility as he took reps at the center spot.

Johnson also took this week as an opportunity to put some ridiculous effort on tape. Throughout the week, he was consistently the fiercest competitor on a rep-to-rep basis. Even when he got beat, he made his matchups work for them. Johnson is already looking like an early second round pick, but this type of effort could propel him into the first round. The Vikings should be a team taking note of this past week.

RB Dameon Pierce (Florida)

This is not an RB class that has had anyone truly rise to the top of the class. This has been a surprising development considering both Isaiah Spiller and Breece Hall looked like generational talents in 2020. That said, we may have a new RB1 following the Senior Bowl. Dameon Pierce out of Florida had himself a spectacular week in Tuscaloosa.

Pierce checks all the boxes in terms of what you want to see out of an NFL running back. At 5’9 and 220 pounds, he has terrific burst to get through running lanes, and he jumps lanes effortlessly to avoid tacklers. He also put some great receiving chops on display, running routes and hauling in some great catches. Finally, his wide frame makes him a capable blocker when it’s needed.

Pierce didn’t get a ton of attention through his collegiate career, and that is largely a product of low usage. Over the course of four years and 48 games, he had just 352 touches. Najee Harris had 381 touches just this season with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The beauty of the Senior Bowl is how it brings these players into the light, and no one shined brighter over the course of the week than Pierce.

This press release was produced by the PurplePTSD. The views expressed here are the author’s own.