NFL Combine Friday notebook: Top Quarterbacks talk meeting with Raiders

Antonio Pierce seems to be making an impression on the next wave of rookie quarterbacks

Indianapolis, IN — Friday’s session at the NFL Combine had the quarterbacks up at the podium speaking to the media while the defensive backs and tight ends hit the field for workouts. Unsurprisingly, the Las Vegas Raiders are doing their homework on this year’s quarterback class in the NFL Draft as most of the biggest prospects said they’ve met with the Raiders.

Below are a few notes and highlights from the day.

Quarterbacks

USC quarterback Caleb Williams is taking a unique approach to his medical evaluation during the draft process. Instead of taking a physical in Indianapolis that every team will have access to, Williams will share his medical information only with the teams he’s meeting with during this process.

“For the medical stuff, I’ll be doing the medical stuff — just not here in Indy. I’ll be doing it at the team interviews,” the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner said. “You know, not 32 teams can draft me. There’s only one of me. And so, the teams that I go to for my visits, those teams will have the medical [information], and that’ll be it.”

According to CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones, Williams is believed to be the first player in the combine’s history to opt out of the medicals. When asked why he is choosing not to participate in so many events during the event, he didn’t provide much of an answer other than that it was a decision made between his team and family.

Williams also spoke about his size, meeting with teams and a few other topics in the clips below.

Jayden Daniels also stepped up to the podium and talked about his meeting with the Silver and Black. As it’s been well-documented, he already has a relationship with Antonio Pierce as those two spent time together at Arizona State. Daniels discussed reconnecting with Pierce and shined some light on his playing style as a running quarterback.

From the sounds of it, the 2023 Heisman Trophy winner would like to work with his old coach again in Las Vegas.

While talking about his meeting with the Raiders, J.J. McCarthy revealed a connection to the team’s coaching staff. New offensive coordinator Luke Getsy worked with Michigan’s current offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell, who was the Wolverines’ quarterbacks coach last season, at Virginia Wesleyan back in 2009. That gave Getsy and McCarthy some common ground and could help with Las Vegas’ evaluation of the quarterback since Campbell has seen him operate on a daily basis.

The National Championship winner also confirmed that he will be throwing during Saturday’s workouts but will sit out of the speed and agility assessments as well as the jumps due to a tight hamstring.

As is the theme of Friday’s notebook, Las Vegas also met with Michael Penix Jr. The Washington quarterback said that he was very impressed Pierce, which a lot of other players have mentioned when asked how their meetings with the club went.

Penix Jr. also confirmed he’ll throw on Saturday but is undecided about participating in the other drills. Additionally, he provided some insights into his mental processing and what it was like to play with a lot of NFL talent these past two seasons.

Las Vegas also sat down with Drake Maye and Maye spoke very highly of Pierce, which Silver and Black Pride’s Marcus Johnson provided more details on in the article below.

The North Carolina product also showed a lot of maturity at the podium, talking about sitting as a rookie or playing for a rebuilding team.

Since McCarthy, Daniels and Bo Nix were speaking at the same time, unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to spend much time at Nix’s press conference. I walked up to his podium right when the last question was asked, but below is a roundup of a few other people’s highlights from the former Duck’s time with the media.

Cornerbacks

On Thursday, I reported that top cornerbacks Kool-Aid McKinstry and Quinyon Mitchell had their press conferences delayed, which comes after players have their medical exams. Per NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, it was revealed that McKinstry has a Jones fracture in his foot. He won’t be participating in the workout Friday night but will test at Alabama’s pro day before getting his foot fixed. Still no word on Mitchell, but he did participate in the workout session at the combine.

For the workouts, Quinyon Mitchell continued to bolster his draft stock after a strong Senior Bowl. He had the second-fastest 40-time among the cornerbacks at 4.33 seconds and looked really smooth in the un-timed drills, showing some impressive hip fluidity and change of direction skills. Time after time, Mitchell made the events look easy and stood out, further cementing his status as one of the top corners in this draft class.

An under-the-radar cornerback who had a really strong workout was Max Melton from Rutgers. He clocked a 4.39 40-time, a top 10 mark at the position, and jumped out of the building with a 40.5-inch vertical and an 11’4” broad. Those figures ranked tied for fourth and first. Melton is a projected third-rounder right now so keep an eye on him throughout this process.

Cam Hart didn’t exactly drop jaws with a 4.50-second 40, but that’s a decent time for a bigger corner. Also, his measurements were elite and he had a couple of good jumps to post a 9.82 RAS score.

To follow up on a couple of guys I’ve profiled recently, Nate Wiggins ran the fastest 40-time of the position group (4.29) but pulled up with an injury and shut it down for the rest of the day. Terrion Arnold wasn’t overly impressive in the measured events but did look good and smooth in the position-specific drills.