‘Let me see Jerry Jeudy go play quarterback.’ NFL likes Lynn Bowden, but how much?
Vince Marrow believes Lynn Bowden should be a first-round selection in this week’s NFL Draft. The University of Kentucky’s director of recruiting knows that isn’t too realistic an outcome, but he’s wary of projections that have Bowden landing anywhere after the third round.
“A GM I trust told me he’d be shocked if Lynn ain’t gone by the third round,” Marrow told the Herald-Leader in a recent phone interview. “I would be totally shocked, too.”
The NFL Draft gets underway Thursday night with the first round. Rounds two and three are Friday night. Rounds four through seven are Saturday.
Most mock drafts leading up to the event have Bowden selected no higher than in the fourth round, and several don’t have him off the board until the fifth round. What we’ll learn as the draft unfolds is whether those projections were the product of educated consensus, mass misinformation or some combination thereof. Smokescreens are as much a part of the NFL’s draft process as the evaluations and selections, so teams can signal for months to anyone that’ll listen that a guy isn’t worth taking high, then turn around and make him one of the first players off the board.
One thing that’s a virtual certainty is that Bowden won’t be a first- or second-round selection. There are too many coveted wide receivers who’ve proven themselves more capable as route-runners, and that position goes deep in this year’s draft; Bryan Edwards finished his time at South Carolina as the program’s all-time leader in receptions and receiving yards, projects as a starting-caliber player in the NFL despite a broken foot keeping him from participating in combine workouts, and is still widely considered a mid-draft prospect (and is universally ranked ahead of Bowden). Talk about a bumper crop.
Bowden’s story is well-known at this point by those in the commonwealth: He arrived at UK looking to become a wide receiver and didn’t get to fully embrace that role in what was seen as a crucial stretch for his draftability. The former high school quarterback had to return to his roots and it was like riding a bike: he amassed a Southeastern Conference-leading 1,468 rushing yards, more than every league quarterback in a single season except Cam Newton (and he was only 5 yards shy of matching the 1,473 yards Newtown ran for in 2010). After Kentucky lost two starting quarterbacks to injury, Bowden orchestrated several record-setting performances along the way to a 6-2 record as UK’s QB-1.
“Everybody’s talking this crap about playing receiver. Let me see Jerry Jeudy go play quarterback,” Marrow said, referencing one of Alabama’s star receivers who’s expected to go in the first round. “Let me some of these other receivers go play quarterback and put a team on their back in the SEC, knowing that you’re getting the ball and still lead the SEC in rushing.”
Versatility is Bowden’s biggest selling point, and whichever team drafts him this week will view him as a jack-of-all-trades rather than a pure receiver. He’s more akin to Deebo Samuel and Taysom Hill than Keenan Allen and Wes Welker, in that regard.
ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. is among those who are highest on Bowden as a prospect. In a statement to the Herald-Leader, Kiper said he thinks Bowden is a “second-round talent” who will probably be picked in the third round because of the depth at receiver, but shouldn’t be available after the fourth round.
“He’s a competitive kid who’s got really great hands and his concentration level improved,” Kiper said. “He’s versatile. He fits today’s NFL.”
Where he finds that fit is still anybody’s guess.
Other UK players
Logan Stenberg is the only former Wildcat other than Bowden who’s expected to be selected during the NFL’s three-day draft. The offensive guard also is projected as a middle-round selection.
The 6-foot-6, 322-pound lineman’s ability to finish against defenders was recently described as “offensive line coach porn” by Pro Football Focus, which ranks him right behind Bowden as an overall prospect (they were 113th and 114th, respectively). Stenberg won’t be a flashy pick for whatever team picks him, but his availability and reliability as a blocker — he started his final 39 games at Kentucky and did not allow a sack as a senior — coupled with an aggressive mindset has him in position to be just the third UK offensive lineman drafted this century.
None of UK’s remaining seniors — Blake Best, T.J. Carter, Kash Daniel, Jordan Griffin, Calvin Taylor, Ahmad Wagner and Mason Wolfe — are likely to be selected during the draft but a few of them could be among the many players who sign non-guaranteed free-agent deals immediately following the draft’s final day.
Taylor, because of his unique physical profile and background, probably is the best bet to be picked from that group. A 6-foot-9, 310-pound defensive end, he didn’t turn his focus to football until later in high school and was under-recruited as a result (he ultimately was two-star prospect whose only FBS offer was from Kentucky). Taylor ended his senior season as the SEC’s runner-up in total sacks, demonstrating enough speed and timing to possibly tempt NFL teams to take a flier late. Another oft-mentioned factor with Taylor to keep in mind is a possible conversion to the offensive line, the unit for which he was originally recruited by UK.
Wagner is another guy whose name should be heard as part of the free-agent mix on Saturday. His ability to impress as a pass-catcher was hindered by UK’s midseason re-tooling of the offense around Bowden, but his size — 6-5, 234 — and intelligence make him intriguing. He too possibly could benefit from a position move, from receiver to tight end; the league has been kind to former college basketball players who made that transition.
Other Kentuckians
The first two players with Kentucky ties will be gone by the end of the first round, and possibly before it’s even halfway finished.
As far as mock drafts go there doesn’t seem to be much consensus about which offensive tackle available in the 2020 draft should be the first off the board, but Mekhi Becton, a Louisville standout, and Jedrick Wills, an Alabama star who played at Lafayette High School in Lexington, are members of a quartet, also consisting of Georgia’s Andrew Thomas and Iowa’s Tristan Wirfs, that will vie for the distinction on Thursday.
Both have been heralded for their athleticism, but Becton stands out because of his gargantuan size: at 6-foot-7 and 364 pounds, he was the largest player measured at the draft combine. Wills is slight in comparison at 6-4, 312 pounds, but his variety of skills and agility impress scouts. He grades out slightly ahead of Becton in NFL.com’s prospect rating — Wills (6.85) is considered the No. 6 overall prospect by that metric while the ex-Card ranks 15th at 6.7 — but both project as year-one starters in the league.
While things start off strong for Kentuckians, after Bowden and Stenberg there’s no guarantee another will get drafted this weekend. Three more who hope to hear their names called are: T.J. McCoy, a center who played a year at Louisville after transferring from Florida; Lucky Jackson, a record-setting receiver at Western Kentucky who was teammates with Wills at Lafayette; and Aaron Patrick, a defensive end out of Eastern Kentucky who was named Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year last season.
NFL Draft
Round 1: Thursday, 8 p.m. (ABC, ESPN, NFL Network)
Rounds 2 and 3: Friday, 7 p.m. (ABC, ESPN, NFL Network)
Rounds 4-7: Saturday, noon (ESPN, NFL Network)
NFL Draft order
FIRST ROUND
1. Cincinnati
2. Washington
3. Detroit
4. N.Y. Giants
5. Miami
6. L.A. Chargers
7. Carolina
8. Arizona
9. Jacksonville
10. Cleveland
11. N.Y. Jets
12. Las Vegas
13. San Francisco (from Indianapolis)
14. Tampa Bay
15. Denver
16. Atlanta
17. Dallas
18. Miami (from Pittsburgh)
19. Las Vegas (from Chicago)
20. Jacksonville (from L.A. Rams)
21. Philadelphia
22. Minnesota (from Buffalo)
23. New England
24. New Orleans
25. Minnesota
26. Miami (from Houston)
27. Seattle
28. Baltimore
29. Tennessee
30. Green Bay
31. San Francisco
32. Kansas City
