NFL Draft 2024 Shrine Bowl All-22 Review: Day 1 West Risers
Here's a look at the top performers from the West Team on Day 1 of the Shrine Bowl
Earlier this week, I released my analysis of the Day 1 East Team practices for the 2024 East-West Shrine Bowl. Today, we’re breaking down the top risers from the West Team’s first day of practices. I recognize this article is a few weeks late, especially with the NFL Scouting Combine right around the corner, but I’m hoping to highlight the importance of these All-Star game performances ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft.
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West Offense Risers
Tahj Washington, WR USC
USC wide receiver Brenden Rice is drawing significant attention in the pre-draft process, but he might not be a better NFL rookie than his former teammate. Washington is a natural separator at the short to intermediate levels and showcased terrific body control and ball tracking on deep routes at the Shrine Bowl. He has plug-and-play traits as a slot receiver.
Below is one of Washington’s 1-on-1 reps against Myles Harden. He doesn’t create much vertical separation but makes an awesome adjustment to the back shoulder ball for a difficult catch.
Washington is on the smaller side (5097 and 177 lbs.), so being able to win against tight coverage and at the catch point is a huge value for his draft profile. Here’s another impressive catch on a vertical route. Washington releases to the outside against Beanie Bishop Jr. and tracks the ball over his shoulder for a big time grab.
Washington won numerous other reps. He forced Jarius Monroe to commit defensive pass interference in the 1-on-1s, generated a ton of separation over the middle of the field against Jaylen Key, and flashed his burst to clear Daequan Hardy on a slant. Washington was one of the undisputed best players on the West Team for Day 1.
Joshua Cephus, WR UTSA
Cephus is UTSA’s career leader in receptions and receiving yards. Anytime you’re a career leader at a program based in Texas, it’s usually a good thing. Football is a pretty big deal down there, but I digress. Cephus isn’t a very explosive receiver, but his route running at 6022, 189 lbs. popped on Day 1.
In the rep below, Myles Harden is sitting on top of Cephus’ route until the crafty college veteran breaks out his stutter-go. The move freezes Harden and gives Cephus a step and a half lead on the race to the end zone. However, the quarterback was late releasing the ball and didn’t have the arm strength to hit Cephus in stride. He slowed down, turned to face the ball, and completed the pirouetting catch through contact.
Cephus rarely drops the football. According to Pro Football Focus, he dropped one pass on 121 targets in 2023. Cephus only had nine drops in his five-year college career despite seeing more than 400 targets. His career percentage of dropped passes is below 3%. That’s just ridiculous consistency.
Remember when I mentioned Cephus’ route running? Here’s a play that demonstrates some of the detail he brings to the table. Facing Beanie Bishop Jr., Cephus stems his route vertically with an outside release before decelerating, opening his hips, and working across Bishop’s face. Bishop takes a few extra steps to stop his momentum, and the play is already over by the time he begins to close on Cephus.
Malik Washington, WR Virginia
The West Team’s cornerbacks drew a tough matchup. The East roster had a couple of quality NFL talents, including Michigan standout Cornelius Johnson, but the West had four of the top five receivers at the Shrine Bowl. Cephus, Johnson, the two Washingtons (not related), and Bub Means really helped themselves on Day 1.
Washington is competing with Renardo Green and Gabriel Murphy to be the top true Shrine Bowl player selected in the 2024 NFL Draft. The high-volume slot receiver is surprisingly resilient for a 5081, 192 lb. pass catcher. We didn’t get to see him break many tackles at the Shrine Bowl, but we were treated to his route running.
In the 1-on-1 below, Washington takes a few short steps off the line before exploding on the short slant. Slants are pretty easy to run in 1-on-1s because the middle of the field is completely open, and there are no defensive linemen sticking their hands in throwing lanes. However, I don’t think that takes away from the sharp, sudden cut Washington executed.
In the following rep against Beanie Bishop Jr., Washington fakes his release outside before driving across Bishop’s face and using his explosiveness to gain two yards of separation. Curving his route to the outside here actually lets Bishop get back into the play, but Washington’s ball tracking and body control are so good that he makes the leaping back shoulder catch anyway.
Like Cephus, Washington has tremendous hands. He dropped three passes on nearly 140 targets in 2023 (a drop rate of 2.6%) and has a career 2.5% drop rate with six drops across 321 total targets.
Matt Lee, C Miami
Lee’s mobility popped in the best way possible. He was 20 to 25 yards downfield, leading the way on screens several times. Lee is undersized at 6030, 288 lbs., so that mobility is going to carry his prospect profile. It would be great if he could hit the scales at 305 lbs. when the Combine rolls around.
According to Zebra Technologies, Lee reached a max speed of 15.9 miles per hour during the practices. For reference, Donovan Jennings was the second-fastest Shrine Bowl offensive lineman at 15.65 miles per hour. Javon Foster (15.69) and Kingsley Eguakun (15.35) were the only Senior Bowl offensive linemen to clock in over 15.1 miles per hour.
Outside of the screen plays, Lee had a nice reach block on Myles Murphy and strung together some well-framed 1-on-1 blocks in pass protection during the team period. His lack of mass didn’t emerge as an issue very often.
Dylan McMahon, C North Carolina State
McMahon is a former guard that North Carolina State began transitioning to center in 2022. This past year was his first season playing the pivot full-time. As expected, it was a pretty mixed bag. Fortunately, McMahon helped his case to be drafted with a strong first day at the Shrine Bowl.
During the rep below in the 9-on-9 period, McMahon delivers the initial hit on Auburn’s Justin Rogers, holding him up long enough for right guard Willis Patrick to arrive. Then, McMahon steps up to move Ohio State’s Steele Chambers out of the hole. The end result is a buss-sized rushing lane for Blake Watson.
Mason McCormick, G South Dakota State
McCormick is getting a good amount of buzz coming off a productive week at the Shrine Bowl. He was the No. 96 ranked prospect on Dane Brugler’s recent big board for The Athletic, and Brugler is one of the leading voices in the draft space. I’m not as high on McCormick, but it’s easy to see why analysts and teams like the tone-setting guard.
The 1-on-1 play below was one of McCormick’s best from the first day. He completely stonewalled SMU’s Jordan Miller thanks to his aggressive approach in this pass set. McCormick immediately established dominance on this play by getting his hands into Miller’s frame early, and his well-placed strikes quickly sapped Miller of his explosiveness.
The play was over when Miller defaulted to grappling with McCormick as he tried to break the veteran’s anchor. Not many defenders will win those types of battles against McCormick.
McCormick is an older prospect (recruiting class of 2018), but age is rarely held against linemen. That just means that he’s one of the most experienced prospects in this year’s class. McCormick amassed a little more than 3,400 offensive snaps across his six college seasons.
West Defense Risers
Gabriel Murphy & Grayson Murphy, Edges UCLA
The Murphy twins took no prisoners at the Shrine Bowl. The two former North Texas transfers dominated on Day 1. Neither brother has ideal length for a pass rusher, but their ferocious hand usage and attacking mentality make them productive sack artists. Gabriel projects as a top 100 pick. Grayson didn’t receive an invite to the Combine, which I believe was a poor decision by the league.
There are three plays included in the following video. The first is Gabriel casually chopping his way past South Dakota State’s Garret Greenfield before bending around the arc’s apex and into the pocket. The second play is Grayson hitting a leaping cross-chop to beat Tylan Grable around the edge. The final play is Gabriel popping the pocket by hitting Greenfield with an inside swim.
The three plays in the video above stood out to me because of how easy the Murphy twins made their moves look. They’re elite competitors, but they looked so calm and dominant on Day 1. I spoke to Laiatu Latu at the Senior Bowl, and he praised them for their approach to the game and football demeanor.
To put it another way, Dan Campbell would love these guys on the Lions. They fit the characteristics and mentality he preaches.
Below are three clips from the 9-on-9 session packaged into one video. On the first play, Gabriel was unblocked as the backside run defender. Big mistake. He was already at the running back’s throat by the time Taulia Tagovailoa handed the ball off. Grayson also made a play on the ball. He hit Tylan Grable on the front side of the play with a nasty long-arm before quickly discarding the block.
On the second play, Grayson took 6061, 264 lb. South Dakota State tight end Zach Heins for a ride. Grayson has excellent outside hand placement to throw Heins off balance and drives him laterally until he reaches Blake Watson for a “tackle” for no gain.
It was Gabriel’s turn with Heins. The tight end attempted to block Gabriel on the front side of the run play, but Gabriel read him the whole way and left Heins stumbling against air with a nasty swim move. The end result was a tackle for loss.
Finally, Gabriel made another run stop thanks to a swim move. Mason McCormick and Doug Nester landed a nice double team on Nathan Pickering, and Tylan Grable got a seal on Curtis Jacobs to open a massive running lane. None of it mattered though because Gabriel beat Isaac Rex with a swim move instantly and made the play.
Below is one more clip of Gabriel. He beat Mason Fairchild with an inside swim as the play action was still occurring in the backfield. Fortunately for the offense, that means Carson Steele can pick up the pressure and stay in to protect John Rhys Plumlee. Murphy didn’t get the sack, but he threw up a hand and knocked the pass down.
M.J. Devonshire, CB Pittsburgh
Devonshire is one of several prospects that I’m significantly higher on than the NFL. There are some flaws in his technique, but he has the physical tools to be so much more than a late Day 3 prospect. Let’s take a look at two of his plays.
Joshua Cephus gets the inside release on Devonshire, who misses the initial punch with his outside hand, but the Pitt cornerback flips his hips and starts running vertically before Cephus passes him. Devonshire gets in phase on Cephus’ outside hip, and that makes the corner route impossible to complete. Devonshire had the superior leverage for that route, and his speed was too much for Cephus to challenge.
Holy Cross receiver Jalen Coker generated some buzz at the Shrine Bowl, but he didn’t stand a chance against Devonshire during the 1-on-1 competition period to end the practice. It’s a simple curl route, and Coker generates no separation from Devonshire’s sticky coverage. The two players ended up facing chest-to-chest at the top of the stem, and Devonshire’s sometimes problematic footwork didn’t hurt him.
A couple of other defensive backs from the West Team had big days, but I didn’t create individual sections for them. Dwight McGlothern from Arkansas, who I’m personally higher on than most, dominated Jadon Janke on a comeback route.
Texas Tech’s Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, another one of my favorite Day 3 prospects in this class, broke up multiple passes. In the 1-on-1s, he stuck with Malik Washington on a slant route and caught up to Bub Means to force an incompletion at the catch point after losing initially at the line of scrimmage.
Tulane’s Jarius Monroe also had a few key plays. He stuck with Jadon Janke on a 9-route, preventing a long completion in the 1-on-1s.
Trajan Jeffcoat, Edge Arkansas
Jeffcoat had a few nice moments in the 1-on-1s. He beat Josiah Ezirim across his face into the B-gap (and likely drew a holding call in the process) to collapse the pocket. However, Jeffcoat’s best plays came during the team period and 9-on-9 session.
His plays included working with Justin Rogers to blow up a run play on which he beat Zach Heins’ block. Jeffcoat also took advantage of an Andrew Coker missed assignment to “tackle” Carson Steele for a loss.
In the play below, Jeffcoat lines up over the right tackle, and the offense sends a double team at him. The veteran pass rusher survives the first contact thanks to a stiff right leg, and he shucks Ezirim, who already has his eyes on working to the linebacker anyway. This allows Jeffcoat to slip in behind Ezirim and tackle Jabari Small for a limited gain.
Solomon Byrd, Edge USC
Byrd made himself some money during the Shrine Bowl. He had a very strong Day 1. Only the Murphy twins popped more along the defensive front throughout the day for the West Team. In the rep below, Byrd punished right tackle Anim Dankwah for making the B-gap so wide with a spin move that gave him a direct path to the quarterback.
While Dankwah started his pass set a little wide of the line, I don’t think he overset. He really only took two shuffles (about a yard and a half) toward Byrd before the two prospects made contact. Dankwah lined his angle up pretty well, but Byrd’s spin was masterfully timed to take advantage of Dankwah’s low inside hand and shuffle timing.
I also want to note how well Byrd sold the move. You can see he's starting to bend low to the ground right before contact, giving Dankwah the feeling that he’s going to continue up the arc in an attempt to win around the edge. Instead, Byrd’s balance and use of Dankwah as a natural support allowed the pass rusher to exit his spin upright and facing the quarterback.
Justin Rogers, IDL Auburn
Rogers had some significant buzz entering his final season at Kentucky, but when a breakout campaign didn’t materialize, he transferred to Auburn. He projects as a quality, Day 3 role player. Nothing at the Shrine Bowl changed that, but I was impressed by his power moving forward as a pass rusher and plugging the running game.
Below is my favorite Rogers rep from the 1-on-1s. It’s not a dominant win, but the hand placement and consistent leg drive gradually overwhelmed C.J. Hanson. In a game scenario, that translates to flushing the quarterback out of the pocket and into the rush angles of defensive ends/outside linebackers.
Rogers also made some good plays in the 9-on-9 period. He beat Willis Patrick to help Trajan Jeffcoat blow up a run play and clogged the middle of the field with his stout anchor on a couple of reps.