Senior Bowl Takeaways, Day 3: Final thoughts from the week in Mobile

Final thoughts from the Senior Bowl

Senior Bowl practices are now complete for the week. With the Senior Bowl set to take place on Saturday, these are my biggest takeaways from the final day in Mobile.

The defense owned the week

Throughout all three days of practice, the defenses for both teams stood out above the respective offenses.

In terms of cornerbacks, there was no shortage of talent. Toledo’s Quinyon Mitchell was fantastic, and answered a lot of questions about his ability to play in press-man coverage. Cam Hart of Notre Dame also had a big week, as did DJ James of Auburn, and Johnny Dixon of Penn State.

The edge rushers showed out, as well. Adisa Isaac from Penn State had a big Day Three, in particular, getting pressure on Bo Nix on consecutive plays in team drills.

Jaylen Harrell from Michigan was disruptive, as well, bringing pressure in team drills and looking explosive during one-on-ones and line vs. line drills. Texas defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat may have been the most dominant player of the week. He was a boulder rolling downhill during position drills, and may have raised his stock to the point where he is a late first-round pick.

The defense owned the week in terms of the most standout talent, and it wasn’t particularly close.

Multiple offensive lineman stood out

Obviously, Jackson Powers-Johnson is a physical freak and it was all eyes on the center from Oregon. He was as advertised. Incredibly bulky, but it didn’t deter his lateral movement. The guy is going to be an All-Pro in the NFL, and will likely go in the late stages of the first round or very early in the second. If the Steelers want him, they’ll have to move up in the second round, or take him at 20.

Other notable names include Houston offensive tackle Patrick Paul, who had a tremendous opening and closing day of practice, and Washington offensive tackle Roger Rosengarten. Rosengarten, in particular, looked good on either side of the line. Should the Steelers end up taking him, they have options in terms of where they would line him up, as well as Broderick Jones.

The Steelers will have options in this year’s draft as it pertains to offensive tackles, and could get a franchise center should they go with Powers-Johnson.

The quarterbacks disappointed

It was a disappointing week for the big-name quarterbacks in Mobile. Michael Penix had a fine first day, but was wildly inconsistent with very few splash throws on Wednesday or Thursday.

Bo Nix was bad on Tuesday and Wednesday, the latter being his worst day, as it was filled with underthrows and miscommunications. Thursday was better. He had two throws of note, both to Malachi Corley of Western Kentucky. One came in team drills that resulted in a touchdown and the other was a nice back-shoulder throw during one-on-ones. That said, neither guy made any money this week. If anything, they lost money and didn’t raise their draft stock. The same can be said for Joe Milton, who didn’t do anything overly impressive besides throw the ball fast and hard. Carter Bradley of South Alabama was the best quarterback on Wednesday, and Spencer Rattler of South Carolina was the best quarterback on Thursday. It was a bad week for the big names under center. The Steelers may look to take a mid-round quarterback, but the future of their franchise, or any franchise for that matter, didn’t take the field this week.