Josh Queipo’s 2024 NFL Draft “My Guys” List – Offense

One of the most fun parts of NFL Draft analysis is developing a special list of players who comprise a “my guys” list. There are no specific qualifications for this list, but generally it becomes one of two things that will get a player onto my personal list.

Either I am much higher on the player than the consensus draft board or when I stack the player up against other players with similar grades, this player stands out as the guy I would be fighting for in a draft war room over the others. Call it a gut feeling, but I would be “pounding the table for him” as it were.

As with most people there have been “My Guys” from the past two draft cycles that I have hit on and others who stand out as misses.

Josh Queipo’s “My Guys” NFL Draft Hits

RB Kyren Williams (2022) Williams was my fourth-ranked running back behind Breece Hall, Kenneth Walker and Tyler Allgeier and ahead of guys like James Cook and Rachaad White.

OG Jamaree Salyer (2022) Salyer was second on my board at offensive guard in 2022.

CB Zyon McCollum (2022) I had a second-round grade on McCollum, which might have been a bit too high considering his rookie struggles. But the former Sam Houston State star looks very good now, as he is poised to start in year three with the Bucs.

CB Devon Witherspoon (2023) Witherspoon was fifth on my board overall last year and I am proud to say I was one of the earliest in on him as a game-changing cornerback.

TE Sam LaPorta (2023) LaPorta was my TE2 and a Top 40 pick for me while the consensus board had him as TE5 and 51st overall.

Josh Queipo’s “My Guys” NFL Draft Misses

OG Zion Johnson (2022) Johnson was my number one, positionally agnostic, overall player in the 2022 draft.

WR Treylon Burks (2022) Burks was my top receiver in the 2022 draft, ahead of Garrett Williams, Chris Olave and George Pickens.

Colts DT Adetomiwa Adebawore – USA Today

OG Marcus McKethan (2022) I had a second-round grade on McKethan.

RB Roschon Johnson (2023) After one season Roschon is far from a bust, but he was my RB2 and didn’t show anything special when he got on the field for the Bears last year.

DT Adetomiwa Adeborware (2023) I fell in love with Adeboware’s NFL Scouting Combine workout and ended up with a second-round grade on him. The Northwestern product barely saw the field last year in Indianapolis.

This year I have eight players that I am really excited about. Symmetrically enough, four are on offense and four are on defense. This article will feature the offensive group.

Oregon C Jackson Powers-Johnson

Powers-Johnson was one of my earliest scouting assignments. I was a big fan from the moment I put on his tape. His legend grew in my mind at the Reese’s Senior Bowl where he had hardly a bad rep. Honestly, he dominated just about every one-on-one and 11-on-11 play I viewed and I wasn’t alone in that assessment.

Oregon C Jackson Powers-Johnson – Photo by: USA Today

Powers-Johnson has just about every quality an NFL team would want from an offensive lineman prospect. He has tons of play strength to corkscrew defenders into the ground. Powers-Johnson has great balance and footwork to stay mirrored and his anchor and recovery give him layers to how he can win.

He’s a smart player who finds and erases loopers and can shut down stunts. Powers-Johnson times up his combo blocks well and has active hands that he marries to his lower half extremely well. He’s always looking for work in pass protection, and has said he models his game after former Bucs Pro Bowl center Ryan Jensen.

Powers-Johnson is the top interior lineman on my draft board and 11th overall on my big board.

Washington WR Ja’Lynn Polk

Polk’s comparison to Bucs wide receiver Chris Godwin has been thrown out there by Connor Rogers of the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. And I agree wholeheartedly with that comp. There is so much Godwin to Polk’s game. The Oregon product doesn’t have the speed that Godwin had coming out of college, but the two are both fantastic at working over the middle in tight windows.

Washington WR Ja’Lynn Polk – Photo by: USA Today

They can both play through contact to make tough catches. Like Godwin, Polk has great body control to adjust himself to balls thrown at different angles and to different areas. Polk is a willing and able blocker who seems to enjoy laying defenders out. He is a ball-winner through and through who should endear himself to his future quarterbacks.

Polk did a lot of work to make Michael Penix Jr. look better at Washington. While he doesn’t create a ton of separation against man coverage, Polk has an advanced feel for finding space in zone coverages. He uses late hands and subtle changes at the top of the stem to win late in routes. Polk should be a good winner underneath to intermediate with the occasional highlight reel catch on a deep ball. I admittedly love Godwin’s game, so any player who elicits a true player comp to Godwin will always have a place on my “My Guys” list.

USC RB MarShawn Lloyd

Lloyd is another player I have written about and continues to be firmly entrenched on my “My Guys” list. Playing in a USC offense that featured likely quarterback Caleb Williams, he was not featured as much as other running backs around the nation. Lloyd’s 156 carries were considerably less than other backs like Kentucky’s Ray Davis, Oregon’s Bucky Irving and Texas’ Jonathon Brooks. But Lloyd out-produced all of those backs in efficiency metrics like yards per carry (7.1), yards after contact per carry (3.97 – Irving was slightly higher at 3.99) and missed tackles forced rate (40.87%).

USC RB Marshawn Lloyd – Photo by: USA Today

He has a good blend of vision to find cutback lanes and burst to exploit them. Lloyd pairs those skills with solid contact/balance to keep his feet under him as he runs through contact. Much like current Bucs running back Rachaad White, he rarely takes a negative play, dragging would-be tacklers behind the line of scrimmage forward for small gains. Lloyd has quick feet that can accelerate and decelerate without much need for a runway and can gear up and down across multiple plains.

USC didn’t use him in the passing game much. Neither did South Carolina where he played in 2021 and 2022. All told he has just 50 targets across three years, and his 68% catch rate does give me some pause for concern. But when watching him on tape I thought he displayed soft hands and a good feel for creating after the catch. I have a firm belief he will be a better receiving back in the NFL than he showed in college.

Penn State C Hunter Nourzad

Many, myself included are hoping Oregon’s Jackson Powers-Johnson is still on the board when the Bucs pick at No. 26 overall in the first round. But if he isn’t, or if Tampa Bay goes in a different direction with their first-round pick, I would be a big fan of them coming back to the center position late on day two or even early on day three of the draft with Nourzad.

His skillset is not nearly as robust as JPJ’s, but he maximizes what he has. He is a smart, heady player who picks up on late blitzers and loopers quickly, redirecting them away from the quarterback.

Nourzad walking through him handling a twist with a penetrator crossing his face from depth before spinning off to take a hit off of the QB. The movement skills impressed me on film so it was fun having him break it down. pic.twitter.com/IcV0e9e20S

— Brandon Thorn (@BrandonThornNFL) April 14, 2024

He also is extremely adept at timing up double teams in the run game. If there was one thing the Bucs struggled in last year more than anything else, it was double-team timing. Nourzad plays with great leverage and displays good footwork. Despite his current draft projection painting him as a late mid-round player I think he could be the heir-apparent to Robert Hainsey who is entering the last year of his rookie deal. That puts him firmly on my “My Guys” list.