We are continuing our list of the NFL's best and brightest young players ... who have barely played. Eighty percent of draft-day discussion is about first-round picks, and 10% is about the players who should have been first-round picks but instead went in the second round -- particularly if they are quarterbacks. This ranking is about the other 10%.
It's an educated guess selecting players who may come out of the woodwork and surprise this year. This is a list of players who have a real chance to make an impact in the NFL despite their lack of draft stock and the fact that they weren't immediate NFL starters.
Previous editions of the list have hyped players such as 49ers tight end George Kittle, Rams receiver Cooper Kupp, Ravens tight end Mark Andrews and 49ers safety Talanoa Hufanga before they blew up. It had some solid starters who figured to make a lot of money in the future, and, well, some misses. These lists tend to be high variance because, by the definitions we have created, we're trying to pick out guys who have barely done anything in the NFL to date.
This is the 18th anniversary of the list. We're still relying on the same things: scouting, statistics, measurables, context, ceiling, expected role and what we hear from other sources. The goal is to bring attention to players still developing in their second and third seasons, even after they've been forgotten by draftniks. It's important to note that this list is not strictly about fantasy football (otherwise, there would be no offensive linemen) and career potential matters. It's also not just a list for the 2024 season.
Here's our full criteria:
Drafted in the third round or later, or signed as an undrafted free agent.
Entered the NFL between 2021 and 2023.
Fewer than 500 career offensive or defensive snaps (except running backs, who are allowed only 300 offensive snaps).
Have not signed a contract extension (players who have bounced around the league looking for the right spot, however, still qualify for the list).
Age 26 or younger as of Sept. 1.
Many of these stats, and further stats on these players, can be found in my new book, Aaron Schatz's FTN Football Almanac 2024.
1. De'Von Achane, RB, Miami Dolphins
Age: 22 | Drafted: 2023, Pick 84 | 300 offensive snaps
Achane exactly hits our maximum snap count, but we're not going to miss the chance to put one of the NFL's most exciting young players at the top of our list. Achane broke a 37-year-old record for rushing defense-adjusted value over average (DVOA) by a back with at least 50 carries, finishing with 103 carries for 800 yards and eight touchdowns. The lightning-fast Achane ran a 4.32-second 40-yard dash at the combine a year ago and hit a top speed of 21.9 miles per hour -- the fourth-highest speed in the league last season -- on a 67-yard touchdown late in Miami's Week 3 blowout of the Broncos.
However, Achane wasn't quite as impressive as a receiver. He caught 27 passes for 197 yards and three touchdowns and finished 11th in receiving DVOA among qualifying running backs.
Achane lasted until the third round primarily because of durability concerns, which still exist. He's just 5-foot-9 and 187 pounds, and he missed part of his rookie year with a knee injury. His size also makes him a liability in pass protection despite showing plenty of effort. But when he's on the field, there's always a chance he'll go the distance. He's an important part of one of the best offenses in the NFL, and we'll hopefully see what Achane can do with a full season of snaps in 2024.
2. Tank Dell, WR, Houston Texans
Age: 24 | Drafted: 2023, Pick 69 | 494 offensive snaps
Does the quarterback make the receivers, or do the receivers make the quarterback? It's probably more the former than the latter, but it certainly helped C.J. Stroud to have Dell entering the league alongside him. Dell entered the starting lineup in Week 2 and caught 47 passes for 709 yards and seven touchdowns before a broken leg suffered in a Week 13 win over the Broncos ended his season. Dell even added 11 carries for 51 yards.
He ranked 11th in receiving DVOA among qualifying wide receivers despite taking a hit in opponent adjustments because he faced an easy schedule of defenses. (By getting hurt in early December, Dell missed out on games against the great Browns and Jets secondaries.) ESPN's receiver tracking metrics ranked him ninth overall among all wide receivers and first in his ability to get open.
Dell played for Alabama A&M and Independence Community College before transferring to the University of Houston in 2020. He was a third-team AP All-American in 2022 while catching 109 passes for 1,398 yards and 17 touchdowns before being drafted by the Texans in the third round of last year's draft.
Dell's slender frame (165 pounds) was an issue coming out of college, but players such as Dell and DeVonta Smith are retiring that concern in NFL front offices. Dell is an effective, crisp route-runner who is strong at tracking the ball and dangerous after the catch. His biggest problem going into the 2024 season will be recovering from a gunshot wound to the leg suffered as an innocent bystander at a private event in Sanford, Florida. A full recovery is expected, but Dell may not be ready for Week 1.
3. Dontayvion Wicks, WR, Green Bay Packers
Age: 23 | Drafted: 2023, Pick 159 | 458 offensive snaps
Last season, the Packers had three rookie wide receivers and two rookie tight ends, but fifth-rounder Wicks was the best of the bunch. In conventional stats, Wicks put up 39 catches for 581 yards and four touchdowns. But he also led the Packers in receiving DYAR (defense-adjusted yards above replacement) as well as my new Route DVOA metric that accounts for how often receivers get open and draw targets. (Another Packers rookie, second-round pick Jayden Reed, was second in both metrics.)
Wicks came alive later in the season, following just 10 catches in his first seven games with 29 catches in his next eight. (He missed two games.) Wicks wasn't quite as productive in the postseason, catching just two of four targets, although he did have a 20-yard touchdown against Dallas in Green Bay's wild-card victory.
Wicks is fast with the ability to make sharp cuts in his routes to lose defenders. He was fantastic getting open against man coverage in 2023. He's also strong at gaining yards after the catch. So, why did he drop to the fifth round? The Virginia product had a huge drop in production in his final college season, with just 430 yards in 2022 after he broke Herman Moore's school record with 1,203 yards in 2021. There were questions about his focus and consistency, as well as a tendency to drop passes. Those questions have mostly gone away after his rookie season, as he only had two drops.
Right now, Wicks is fourth on the Packers receiver depth chart, but it's going to be tough for Romeo Doubs to hold him off from a place in the Green Bay starting lineup.
We'll add that several Packers receivers qualified for our top prospects list after showing their talents last season -- we considered Bo Melton, Malik Heath and Samori Toure for this list. All this youth is part of why things look so good for the Packers over the next couple of seasons.
4. Bobby Brown III, DT, Los Angeles Rams
Age: 24 | Drafted: 2021, Pick 117 | 499 defensive snaps
It's easy to predict Brown to have a significant role after what he did in 2023. He started all 13 games that he played for the Rams last season, and only technically qualifies for this list because he's one snap short of the maximum. Even with all those starts, however, Brown played just 36% of snaps when he was active because he is a 324-pound space-eating nose tackle who doesn't play on passing downs. But Brown had a team-best 77% stop rate on run tackles and an average run tackle distance of just 1.7 yards, which would rank in the top 20.
But here's the thing: Brown showed in college that he could rush the passer, too. In his final year at Texas A&M, Brown was eighth among all defensive tackles in sacks. He ranked among the top 30 defensive tackles ever in Kent Lee Platte's RAS (Relative Athletic Score) based on combine performance. Brown can do more to help the Rams if Los Angeles gives him more opportunities. Until then, he'll keep swallowing opposing blockers and taking down opposing running backs on first-and-10.
5. Keaton Mitchell, RB, Baltimore Ravens
Age: 22 | 2023 UDFA | 135 offensive snaps
Mitchell exploded in Week 9 last season, when he took a late-game handoff and sped 40 yards past a group of Seahawks defenders for an easy touchdown, capping an incredible nine-carry, 138-yard performance. But we weren't too surprised. Mitchell was one of the highest-rated running backs in the class of 2023 based on our BackCAST projection system. Perhaps NFL teams let him go undrafted because they were concerned about his size (5-foot-7, 179 pounds).
The Ravens are grateful they did. Mitchell had 59.5% DVOA on 47 carries, setting a new record for a running back with a minimum of 40 carries in a season. Unfortunately, he tore his ACL in Week 15, prematurely ending his rookie season. Coach John Harbaugh said in a May press conference that Mitchell's return was "not around the corner," but the Ravens are optimistic that he will return at some point during the 2024 season to play lightning to Derrick Henry's thunder.
6. Trenton Simpson, LB, Baltimore Ravens
Age: 23 | Drafted: 2023, Pick: 86 | 46 defensive snaps
This is entirely projection for a player who didn't play much defense as a rookie. Simpson only played 20 snaps before Week 18, when Baltimore sat a number of starters in preparation for the playoffs. However, the Ravens front office has a good track record of proactively drafting players to eventually take over for departing free agents. They used a third-round pick on Simpson with the knowledge that Patrick Queen's contract would be coming to an end after the 2023 season. Now Simpson will take over for Queen in the middle of the Baltimore defense next to Roquan Smith.
Simpson is fast and bends well. He showed explosiveness when used as a blitzer at Clemson and when he took down Mason Rudolph for his first NFL sack in Week 18. NFL Next Gen Stats gave him an athleticism score that ranked third among linebackers who attended the 2023 combine. Scouting reports dinged him for his inability to get off blocks, especially against offensive linemen, so he'll need to improve that as he seeks to become an NFL star.
7. Jelani Woods, TE, Indianapolis Colts
Age: 25 | Drafted: 2022, Pick 73 | 334 offensive snaps
Woods lost his entire second season to nagging injuries to both hamstrings, but looks to be healthy for 2024. He is one of the tallest tight ends in the league at 6-foot-7 and told reporters before the draft that he patterned his game after Marcedes Lewis. He's the kind of tight end who posts up defenders in the end zone.
Woods played a lot in the slot as a rookie but was in-line plenty in college. He's also an above-average blocker. Woods also runs a lot of downfield routes, as evidenced by a high depth of target of 10 yards in 2022, helping him finish the season with 25 receptions for 312 yards and three touchdowns. Advanced stats gave him minus-7 DYAR, but it was still a promising rookie season.
The Colts have a crowded tight end room with Kylen Granson, Mo Alie-Cox, Drew Ogletree and Will Mallory on the roster. However, Woods played more at the end of his rookie year -- three of the four games where he played over 50% of offensive snaps came in the final three weeks of the season -- and looks like he will be the starter in 2024.
8. Marcus Jones, CB/WR, New England Patriots
Age: 25 | Drafted: 2022, Pick: 85 | 414 defensive snaps
Here's another player who was on last year's list and then lost most of 2023 to an injury -- Jones suffered a torn labrum in Week 2. Jones is an interesting all-around threat who has also played 19 offensive snaps and 173 special teams snaps in his NFL career. Those are where Jones had the most exciting moments of his rookie year, including a late-game punt return touchdown to beat the Jets and a 50-yard slot screen where he outraced a series of Bills defenders for a touchdown.
Jones got most of his defensive playing time in the final weeks of 2023 and his stats were not very good: 8.8 yards per pass and a 41% success rate in coverage. However, cornerback coverage DVOA numbers give a different angle on his performance. Jones had a minus-24.5% coverage DVOA in 2022 because he did a great job of preventing targets in the first place, even after adjusting for the quality of the receivers he covered. He just wasn't as good when opposing quarterbacks decided to throw his way.
His scouting reports out of the University of Houston were solid, praising Jones for his top speed and sudden skill. His 5-foot-8 height will likely limit him to the slot, and he's supposed to be the top nickelback for the Patriots in 2024. Playing offense is not new to him, as Jones won the 2021 Paul Hornung Award as the nation's most versatile college player. Will more playing time on defense limit the Patriots' ability to use him on offense? That remains to be seen, but you can expect Jones to be returning punts and possibly kickoffs this season.
9. K.J. Britt, LB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Age: 25 | Drafted: 2021, Pick: 176 | 233 defensive snaps
It took a while, but Britt finally got his chance when the Buccaneers benched Devin White near the end of last season. Britt barely played in his rookie year and missed half of his second season on injured reserve with an ankle injury. Then he started six of the final eight games in 2023, including both of Tampa Bay's playoff games. Now he's set to take over for White -- who signed with Philadelphia in the offseason -- as the starting inside linebacker next to veteran Lavonte David.
Britt is very aggressive with a downhill, attacking style. He's very strong against the run, which was the clear difference between him and White last season. He needs to improve his pass coverage, which is what dropped him in the 2021 draft. He gave up five completions in coverage in the playoff game against Detroit. "In some coverages I need to slow down," Britt told the press after last season. "I get myself in trouble trying to see too much."
10. Clark Phillips III, CB, Atlanta Falcons
Age: 22 | Drafted: 2023, Pick: 113 | 414 defensive snaps
Phillips was the 2022 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year at Utah but fell to the fourth round because of size concerns, as he's 5-foot-9 with short arms. However, scouting reports lauded Phillips as a true playmaker with the ability to read the opposing quarterback and play strong in both man and zone coverages.
He plays "larger than his size" and is a film junkie. Phillips didn't take a defensive snap in the first half of his rookie season but moved into the starting lineup in Week 14. He ended up with a good coverage DVOA of minus-6.6%, essentially the same mark as Falcons' star cornerback A.J. Terrell (who was at minus-6.7%), and is in line to start opposite Terrell for the 2024 season.
11. Zach Harrison, DE, Atlanta Falcons
Age: 23 | Drafted: 2023, Pick: 75 | 324 defensive snaps
As a third-round rookie, Harrison saw roughly 30% to 40% of the Falcons' defensive snaps. He lit up at the end of the season, with all three of his sacks coming in Weeks 15 and 16. Harrison is a bit of a tweener at 274 pounds, not a pure edge defender. He played inside some for Ohio State and will likely start at defensive end rather than outside linebacker for the Falcons this season.
If we had judged him as an edge rusher for last year's SackSEER projections, Harrison's projection would have ranked fourth behind Will Anderson Jr., Lukas Van Ness and Myles Murphy. He had a SackSEER rating of 74.1%, meaning his attributes were better than three-fourths of past edge prospects. Harrison has great physical tools, such as his 6-foot-6 size and impressive arm length, although scouts were split on whether Harrison sets up his pass rush moves well.
12. Ji'Ayir Brown, S, San Francisco 49ers
Age: 24 | Drafted: 2023, Pick: 87 | 395 defensive snaps
Brown didn't play much on defense in the first half of last season but entered the lineup to replace Talanoa Hufanga when Hufanga tore his ACL in Week 11. The 49ers' defense didn't miss a beat; in fact, the 49ers defensive DVOA improved from minus-7.2% before Brown entered the lineup to minus-17.1% in the six weeks he played before he sat out in Weeks 17 and 18 due to a knee issue.
Brown makes up for a lack of high-end speed and explosiveness with a high motor and good coverage instincts. He had 10 interceptions in two seasons as a starter at Penn State and two more last year with the 49ers. His charting coverage metrics weren't great, but the sample size was small (just 11 charted targets). Brown is more of a box safety than a center fielder, but he'll need to do more in pass coverage this year because he'll likely be playing a free safety role with Hufanga returning to play strong safety.
13. Zamir White, RB, Las Vegas Raiders
Age: 25 | Drafted: 2022, Pick: 122 | 269 offensive snaps
We're writing about White less because of past performance and more because of opportunity. With Josh Jacobs now in Green Bay, White is first in line to become the Raiders' starter at running back in 2024. But he is likely to cede playing time to Alexander Mattison and/or Ameer Abdullah on third downs, as he's not a strong receiver or pass-blocker. Health is also a question, since White tore his right ACL in 2017 and his left ACL in 2018.
White had 5.4 yards per carry for the Georgia in 2021 with 11 touchdowns on 160 carries. He's a naturally powerful runner, very physical with a strong bottom half. He also has above-average vision coming through the hole, can jump-cut to avoid tackles or run right through them.
So far, White's NFL performance hasn't matched what we saw in college, but the sample size is still small. He started the last four games of the 2023 season and totaled 451 yards on 104 carries with a single touchdown. He had an mid-tier VOA (value over average) but takes a big hit in DVOA and DYAR for opponent adjustments because he faced a lot of easy run defenses. Those four starts all came against teams ranked 21st or lower in run defense DVOA.
14. Wanya Morris, OT, Kansas City Chiefs
Age: 23 | Drafted: 2023, Pick: 92 | 339 offensive snaps
Morris was primarily a right tackle in college but took over as the Chiefs' left tackle after Donovan Smith got injured in Week 13 and held onto the job through a Super Bowl title. Morris' positives include good footwork, a quick inside hand and the ability to pull effectively. He struggled with rushers going inside on him, however, and allowed a 9.2% pressure rate during the regular season. That would have ranked him third from the bottom among left tackles if he had enough snaps to qualify for our rankings.
Morris played a few decent games but was demolished by Maxx Crosby in Kansas City's surprise Christmas Day loss. He's going to have to solve the consistency questions that came up when he was in college. There were thoughts that the Chiefs might try to replace Morris this offseason, and he'll have to compete for the starting job with second-round rookie Kingsley Suamataia.
15. Nick Cross, S, Indianapolis Colts
Age: 23 | Drafted: 2022, Pick: 96 | 414 defensive snaps
Cross began his rookie season as a starter but was quickly benched for veteran Rodney McLeod Jr. At the time, he was the youngest player in the NFL. After spending most of two seasons as a core special teamer, he finally re-entered the starting lineup late in 2023 when Julian Blackmon went to injured reserve. Cross had 18 combined tackles in the final three games of the season. Cross is now penciled in as the starting free safety next to Blackmon, although last season's starter, Rodney Thomas II, will also be competing for the role.
Cross has the versatility to play all over the defense, with imposing tackling power. He impressed when forced to cover tight ends and had the fastest 40 among safeties at the 2022 combine. Criticism when he came out of Maryland included that he sometimes moves tightly and can get a late impulse in run support.
16. Brock Hoffman, C, Dallas Cowboys
Age: 25 | 2022 UDFA | 221 offensive snaps
Say hello to your new starting center, Cowboys fans! The good news is that Hoffman's two starts in 2023 were two of the best games all year for the Dallas offense. Hoffman is violent at the point of attack and can move well in space. He also has smallish arms and is not an elite athlete. The Cowboys speeded up quarterback Dak Prescott's time to throw during the weeks that Hoffman and fellow undrafted free agent T.J. Bass were in the lineup.
The expectations for an undrafted free agent must be low until that player establishes himself in the NFL, but Hoffman is already part of the way there, and we're optimistic about what he can do for the Cowboys in 2024. We also considered Bass for this list, but the decision to draft Tyler Guyton likely cost him a spot in the starting lineup by knocking Tyler Smith back to left guard.
17. DeMario Douglas, WR, New England Patriots
Age: 23 | Drafted: 2023, Pick: 210 | 481 offensive snaps
The Patriots sure do love their diminutive slot receivers, so say hello to the modern successor to Wes Welker and Julian Edelman. Small size (5-foot-8) and inconsistent route running might have dropped Douglas to the sixth round, but he began to shine immediately in last year's minicamps. When Douglas is on, he's on, with moves to outsmart opposing cornerbacks at the line of scrimmage and strong yards after catch ability.
He was in the starting lineup by Week 7 of his rookie year but qualifies for our list because the Patriots' receiver rotation kept him under 500 snaps. Douglas' advanced metrics from last season improve significantly when we go from standard receiving DVOA (75th) to Route DVOA (45th), which accounts for his ability to get open and his high target rate when he was on the field.
18. Garrett Williams, CB, Arizona Cardinals
Age: 23 | Drafted: 2023, Pick: 72 | 360 defensive snaps
The Cardinals had several rookie cornerbacks last season, but Williams is the one with the most future promise. He missed the first half of his rookie season while he recovered from a torn ACL suffered at Syracuse, then started six games from Week 8 onwards before suffering an ankle injury at the end of the year.
When he did make it onto the field, Williams put up minus-17.3% coverage DVOA on 22 targets, allowing just 6.3 yards per pass. Scouting reports last year lauded Williams for his footwork matching routes as well as his tackling skills. He was more of an outside cornerback in college but may be called upon as the Arizona nickelback this year with rookie Max Melton and veteran Sean Murphy-Bunting on the outside.
19. Hendon Hooker, QB, Detroit Lions
Age: 26 | Drafted: 2023, Pick: 68 | 0 offensive snaps
At one point during the 2022 season, there was discussion of Hooker as a possible first-round pick in 2023. Then he tore his ACL and tumbled down draft boards. The Lions took him with the No. 68 overall pick, stashing him on injured reserve for a year as he prepared to take over as Jared Goff's backup.
Hooker had phenomenal numbers in 2022, winning SEC Offensive Player of the Year. That included an FBS-best 9.53 yards per pass attempt. He completed 70% of his passes with 27 touchdown passes and just two interceptions. Hooker is also a dual threat, with 430 rushing yards and five touchdowns on the ground that season.
The problem with Hooker is that nobody knows what we're getting out of him without the Tennessee offensive scheme. The Vols didn't use NFL-style progressions and checks. Hooker frequently only had to read half of the field and a lot of the offense was based on just chucking the ball deep to open speed receivers Jalin Hyatt and Ramel Keyton. Hooker is also old for a prospect; already 26, there's not much room for development here, at least not physically.
The good news for Hooker is that he's going to play for coordinator Ben Johnson, one of the NFL's best playcallers and offensive designers. If Johnson can help Goff become a top five quarterback by DVOA, he can also probably tailor the offense to Hooker's strengths should a Goff injury force Hooker into the lineup.
20. DeMarvion Overshown, LB, Dallas Cowboys
Age: 24 | Drafted: 2023, Pick: 90 | 0 defensive snaps
Overshown is 100% Texas. He was born in Tyler, went to high school in Arp and finished up five seasons with the Longhorns by getting voted All-Big 12. He was destined to play linebacker for the Cowboys. Well, that might be an exaggeration, given that Overshown was originally a safety at Texas. But Overshown was destined to play something for the Cowboys.
Unfortunately, he was not destined to do anything for the Cowboys in 2023 because he tore his ACL against Seattle in the second preseason game. Now he's healthy and ready to return to the field, currently third on the depth chart behind third-year linebacker Damone Clark, who wasn't particularly effective last season, and 32-year-old veteran Eric Kendricks. "More hungry" is what Overshown said to NFL.com when they asked him about his rehab from the torn ACL. "It's ready to be unleashed on people. The glimpse that y'all got last year, you should expect 10 times more than that."
Overshown is a patient linebacker who can diagnose the play in front of him, then hustles to get to the ball carrier. He has excellent awareness in coverage, as you would expect from a former safety. And he has elite speed for an off-ball linebacker, with a 4.56-second 40. Tackling has been a problem, so that's something he'll need to improve if he wants to move into the Cowboys' starting lineup.
21. Henry To'oTo'o, LB, Houston Texans
Age: 23 | Drafted: 2023, Pick: 167 | 436 defensive snaps
The NFL has a long history of undersized instincts-and-intelligence linebackers who outperform their draft position. Instead, To'oTo'o is a regular-sized instincts-and-intelligence linebacker at 6-foot-1, 228 pounds. He's a stronger run defender than a pass defender, with a poor coverage DVOA last season (76th among linebackers) but an average run tackle at just 3.4 yards. Before last year's draft, the words that kept coming up in his scouting reports were "steady" and "hustle." To'oTo'o should work on the strong side for the Texans when they need a third linebacker next to Azeez Al-Shaair and Christian Harris in base personnel.
22. Jarrett Patterson, C, Houston Texans
Age: 25 | Drafted: 2023, Pick: 201 | 463 offensive snaps
A year ago, the Texans used a second-round pick on center Juice Scruggs. But the plans to put Scruggs directly into the Week 1 starting lineup hit a speed bump when he went down with a hamstring injury during Houston's preseason finale. The Texans' starting center was still going to be another rookie, sixth-round selection Patterson.
Patterson was considered a real leader on the field as a Notre Dame team captain who worked well with other offensive linemen and played through injuries. He was panned in pre-draft scouting reports for short arms, below-average bend and mediocre lateral movement. Was Patterson going to be a problem for the Texans?
He turned out not to be a problem at all. Patterson started seven games and was charted with just three pressures allowed by FTN Data, ranking him third in pressure rate allowed among qualifying centers. Runs were a bigger problem, with 11 blown blocks on running plays, but Patterson held things down until midseason. Patterson broke his leg against Carolina in Week 8 and was done for the season, making veteran Michael Deiter the starting center for most of the rest of 2023.
Patterson was good enough in half a season that we would have placed him higher on this list if he had a clearer path to playing time. The Texans have a deep offensive line. Scruggs played primarily at left guard when he returned from his hamstring injury in Week 12, but he's penciled in as the starting center again this upcoming season. If rookie Blake Fisher bumps Tytus Howard from right tackle to left guard, it will leave Houston with a backup interior line consisting of Patterson, 2022 first-round pick Kenyon Green and ex-Steelers veteran Kendrick Green. That's a group that could start for some teams. Patterson certainly could.
23. Adetomiwa Adebawore, DT, Indianapolis Colts
Age: 23 | Drafted: 2023, Pick: 110 | 132 defensive snaps
Adebawore came out of Northwestern as a tweener, but we did run a SackSEER projection on him in case he played edge in the NFL. Most of the time, tweeners have poor SackSEER ratings because they don't play as pure edge rushers in college and don't often do as well in drills. (Darius Robinson, chosen No. 27 overall by Arizona, is a good example from the 2024 draft.) But Adebawore had a rating of 93.3%, the best of any player in the SackSEER data set for 2023.
At the combine, he excelled at the broad jump and vertical jump along with the 40. NFL Next Gen Stats gave him their top athleticism score among 2023 defensive tackles. And while Adebawore had just five sacks in his senior season, he had six passes defensed and an interception during his college career, good indicators of future pass rush success.
The Colts played Adebawore at defensive tackle in 2023. He played about 25% of snaps for about four weeks at midseason before playing fewer in the final few weeks of the season. He was inconsistent as a pass-rusher with problems against the run; the latter was a bit of a surprise since he was lauded for his run defense in pre-draft scouting reports. Adebawore was seen as a developmental prospect coming into the league and still has that label. But the coaches assigned to Adebawore sure have a lot of raw clay to work with.
24. Chamarri Conner, S, Kansas City Chiefs
Age: 24 | Drafted: 2023, Pick: 119 | 304 defensive snaps
Chiefs' defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo loves players that can play multiple roles in the defense. Conner played a significantly larger role down the stretch due to an injury to Bryan Cook, and he lined up everywhere from deep safety to slot coverage to down in the box. He has good, although not elite, talent and flies around the field. As Chiefs analyst Seth Keysor told us, you could see Conner getting calmer with his reads and not being so quick to jump on fakes as his rookie season went along. Right now there's no place for him in the Chiefs' starting lineup, but he's there for depth and if they ever want to go with a dime package.
25. Jaleel McLaughlin, RB, Denver Broncos
Age: 24 | 2023 UDFA | 193 offensive snaps
Ranking McLaughlin on our list is a battle between opportunity on one hand and advanced metrics with a small sample size on the other. He is the NCAA's all-time leading rusher across all levels, with 8,166 career yards (6.5 yards per carry) playing for Division II Notre Dame College (Ohio) and FCS Youngstown State.
He found a place on the Broncos roster from the start of the season, scoring his first touchdown in Week 2 and getting at least five carries in nine different games. McLaughlin finished the year with 5.4 yards per carry and 31.0% rushing DVOA. He had a negative receiving DVOA but caught 31 out of 36 targets for 160 yards and two touchdowns. McLaughlin has speed and burst but struggles to pick up blitzers or break tackles because of his small size (5-foot-7, 187 pounds). His biggest issue will be competition on the Broncos roster, as he's on the depth chart behind Javonte Williams, Samaje Perine and probably fifth-round rookie Audric Estime as well.
Honorable Mentions
Sydney Brown, SS, Philadelphia Eagles
Kei'Trel Clark, CB, Arizona Cardinals
DJ Johnson, OLB,Carolina Panthers
Marte Mapu, LB/S, New England Patriots
Bo Melton, WR, Green Bay Packers
Riley Moss, CB, Denver Broncos
Sean Rhyan, OL, Green Bay Packers
Terell Smith, CB, Chicago Bears
Deuce Vaughn, RB, Dallas Cowboys
Dorian Williams, OLB, Buffalo Bills