MOBILE, Ala. -- Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. took a moment, gave a slight nod to the question and summed up what a week at the Senior Bowl could mean for him and the rest of the 2024 NFL draft prospects in attendance.
"Here? This is where you can show them what you can do,'' Penix said. "Best of the best here. I've said, every drill, every rep matters, and you want to get the most out of every single one of them. Because everybody here is one of the best at their position. ... So, all [the NFL scouts and personnel executives] get to see you against that and with that."
Penix and Oregon's Bo Nix were the headliners among the seven quarterbacks in the annual invite-only Senior Bowl practices last week. ESPN polled just more than two dozen scouts and personnel executives in attendance at Hancock Whitney Stadium about the draft status of each of the seven passers they saw on the field and what it might mean in April's draft.
While none of the quarterbacks unquestionably rose above the others, those surveyed offered the caveat that there is a significant time left until the draft, including the NFL combine, which begins later this month in Indianapolis, and on-campus pro days.
Here are the takeaways from evaluators at the Senior Bowl, with predicted draft ranges for Penix, Nix and the other five signal-callers, along with where each ranks in Mel Kiper Jr.'s Big Board:
Bo Nix, Oregon
Kiper's position ranking: QB6
Earliest predicted draft range: Bottom third of Round 1
Talent evaluators were in agreement that Nix found another level to his game at Oregon, where he threw 74 touchdown passes and just 10 interceptions over two seasons. The Nix they saw at Auburn wasn't nearly as refined in meshing his physical tools and mobility into consistent, high-level production in the passing game.