Hayden Hurst

NFL Draft Rumors: Rosen, Dolphins, Hurst

April 11th, 2018 at 10:17am CST by Zachary Links

Is UCLA star Josh Rosen the top quarterback in this year’s draft? Josh Rosen thinks so.

“I’m the best QB in the draft,” Rosen told Sam Alipour of ESPN The Magazine. “A lot of guys are flashier, but I think I’m the most efficient, monotonously consistent QB in this draft. Rodgers has some flair, but if you watch Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, there’s nothing that’s explosive or Johnny Manziel — like. It’s just quarterbacking.”

Rosen has gotten some flack for his willingness to speak on social issues and interests outside of the game of football, but he says that he is focused on winning games and titles at the next level.

Here’s more draft news:

South Carolina tight end Hayden Hurst had dinner with Dolphins brass on Tuesday night and has a top 30 visit with the team on Wednesday, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. The Dolphins are in need of a tight end as Julius Thomas and Anthony Fasano remain unsigned. Hurst, a former pro baseball player who walked on as a tight end for the Gamecocks, may have the most upside of any tight end in this year’s draft.
Key members of the Seahawks brass including GM John Schneider and coach Pete Carroll spent Tuesday at Arizona St. privately working out Texas A&M wide receiver Christian Kirk, Rapoport tweets. The Seahawks lost Paul Richardson to free agency this year and could use an impact player like Kirk to replace him. For now, Seattle projects to start Doug Baldwin and Tyler Lockett and also have offseason pickups Jaron Brown and Marcus Johnson in the mix. With the No. 19 pick in their possession, the Seahawks could be in range for the Aggies star.

NFL Draft Rumors: Jackson, Patriots, Rudolph

April 6th, 2018 at 9:28am CST by Zachary Links

Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson may have erred by opting to go through the NFL draft process without an agent, Joel Corry of CBSSports.com writes. Jackson will avoid paying a portion of his rookie deal to a representative, but in an effort to save some cash, he could be hurting his draft position, which would negate the savings on the standard 1.5% fee.

Reportedly, Jackson struggled in breaking down X’s and O’s on the white board in meetings with teams and his Wonderlic score was poor. Some say the Wonderlic is meaningless, but some execs still use it as part of their evaluation process and an agent would have had him prepped for the test and other aspects of team interviews. An agent would also help to push the narrative that Jackson should be considered above some of this year’s top quarterbacks, including USC’s Sam Darnold, UCLA’s Josh Rosen, Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield, and Wyoming’s Josh Allen.

Ultimately, Jackson’s decision will look like a smart one if he winds up going in the top half of the first round, Corry argues. But, based on what we’ve heard so far, that doesn’t seem likely. It’s notable that the Texans, who are already armed with a star QB in Deshaun Watson and don’t pick until the third round, recently had a private workout with Jackson.

Here’s more NFL draft news:

South Carolina tight end Hayden Hurst will visit the Panthers on Friday Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Carolina owns the No. 24 overall pick and they could use that selection to give themselves a potent tight end with receiving ability. Greg Olsen will start for the Panthers this season, but he is 33 and entering a contract year. In the past, Olsen has fought for a revamped deal, so it’s conceivable that he will look to push the market next March. Even if Olsen is retained beyond 2018, the Panthers need to consider the future of the tight end position.
The Patriots, who now own two first-round picks, recently had a private workout with Oklahoma State quarterback Mason Rudolph, Rapoport tweets. Rudolph hasn’t garnered as much attention as this year’s top four QBs, but he is a potential first-rounder. Rapoport hears that he has been extremely busy with meetings and workouts, a possible sign that his stock is climbing.
Rudolph will also have a top 30 visit with the Bills this weekend, according to Rapoport (on Twitter). The Bills own picks at 12 and 22, so he could be in the mix for one of those spots. Rudolph has also met with or had workouts for the Chargers, Saints, Giants, Steelers, and Bengals.

Draft Rumors: Mayfield, Jets, Vea, TEs, Bears

April 3rd, 2018 at 3:38pm CST by Sam Robinson

A number of NFL insiders anticipate, in the event Sam Darnold is off the board, the Jets will use their No. 3 overall pick on Baker Mayfield, Tony Pauline of DraftAnalyst.com reports. The Jets have already conducted a private workout with the 2017 Heisman Trophy recipient and are scheduled to meet with him next week. And plenty of Mayfield-to-New York buzz has emerged already. They’re among the seven teams that will do so, but Gang Green could have the inside track on Mayfield if the Browns turn to Darnold or Josh Allen. And several league execs and scouts expect the Giants to take Darnold if Allen goes to Cleveland. Pauline adds that if Rosen is on the board and the Jets draft Mayfield, they would be making a “colossal mistake.”

Here’s the latest from a busy Monday in the draft world. A lot of flights are being scheduled for top prospects.

Arguably the top linebacker in this draft, Roquan Smith has visits scheduled with the Colts and Bears, Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tweets. Hill adds the Cowboys are not tabbed to meet with the Georgia linebacker. The Colts and Bears hold picks 6 and 8, respectively, and Smith has been mocked to teams either in that range or shortly after.
The tight end contingent has begun making key trips recently. Hayden Hurst is visiting the Jaguars on Tuesday, and the Saints have already put the South Carolina pass-catcher through a workout, Nick Underhill of The Advocate tweets. Meanwhile, the Vikings will host South Dakota State’s Dallas Goedert on a visit beginning Tuesday night, per Darren Wolfson of KSTP.com (on Twitter).
Iowa cornerback Josh Jackson will visit the Bears and Dolphins, with the Chicago trip coming first, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. An expected first-round pick, Jackson will meet with the Bears today.
Three more teams intend to visit with Washington defensive tackle Vita Vea. Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (on Twitter) the Packers and Buccaneers will host the mammoth lineman. The Cowboys are already scheduled to meet with Vea, and Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal notes Vea will visit the Browns as well. The four-year Huskies cog rates as the top interior defender in the draft, per Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.com.
The Browns are also meeting with Michigan defensive lineman Maurice Hurst. In line to be a second-generation NFLer, Hurst said during a Sirius XM Radio appearance (via Ulrich) he will meet with the Browns. Hurst was discovered to have a heart condition at the Combine but has since been cleared. The Michigan talent could be an option for the Browns in the second round, with the team holding picks 33 and 35.
San Diego State running back Rashaad Penny is meeting with the Broncos today, Mike Klis of 9News reports (on Twitter). Denver has yet to make a decision on C.J. Anderson, who has a nonguaranteed $4.4MM salary this season. Devontae Booker and De’Angelo Henderson represent depth behind Anderson, although Booker frequently saw action upon returning from injury last season.

Draft Rumors: Browns, Allen, Jets, Giants

April 2nd, 2018 at 8:15pm CST by Sam Robinson

Baker Mayfield will be the first of the big four passers to visit the Browns. The Oklahoma product is flying into Cleveland on Monday night to begin his visit, one that will last through Tuesday as well, Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com reports. Josh Allen‘s meeting at Browns headquarters in Berea, Ohio, will commence on Wednesday, Cabot reports, and Josh Rosen and Sam Darnold are coming in shortly after that. Three of these powwows are expected to be completed by the end of this week, with Cabot reporting one may occur early next week. Hue Jackson said last week he is “very close” to determining which of these QBs will be his preference going into the draft. The Browns are widely expected to select a quarterback at No. 1 overall. John Dorsey said he wants these QBs to visit consecutively to allow for easier comparisons between them.

Mayfield will visit the Giants and Jets next week, and both he and Rosen are meeting with seven teams. The only difference between these prospects’ schedules thus far is the Dolphins have not arranged a Rosen meetup, while the Chargers have, and the Bolts are not known to have set up a Mayfield summit.

Here’s more out of Cleveland and some other NFL cities as draft month begins.

Jets representatives will fly to Wyoming to work out Allen this week, per Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News (Twitter link), before the 6-foot-5 signal-caller visits their Florham Park, N.J., facility shortly after. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports the Jets meeting will take place early this week as well. The Jets have been connected to Allen for months and were rumored to be planning a workout soon.
The Allen/Browns connection should not be dismissed, Rapoport notes (video link). Citing a source who’s known Dorsey for a long time, the new Cleveland GM has long preferred big-armed passers. Patrick Mahomes qualifies as the latest such investment, and although the former NFL linebacker was not a high-ranking Packers exec when they traded for Brett Favre in 1992, Dorsey was a scout for Green Bay at the time. He was with the Packers as their director of college scouting when the team made the Aaron Rodgers pick in 2005. Alex Smith is the outlier, but the Chiefs held the No. 1 pick in a 2013 draft that was not flush with quarterback upside. Allen is viewed as the top arm talent in this draft.
Should the Browns make this decision and bring Allen to northeast Ohio, the expectation is the Giants will draft Darnold. Surveying various executives and scouts, Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller tweets every one of them said the Giants would take Darnold if Allen goes to the Browns. Dave Gettleman has not been as direct as Dorsey and Jackson have about the position his team is targeting in Round 1, and it’s not certain the Giants are going to draft a quarterback despite theirs having recently turned 37.
Lamar Jackson will not count toward one of the Dolphins‘ 30 visits since he went to high school in the Miami area, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald notes. The Dolphins have not been linked to a Jackson meeting just yet, but they were on hand at the Louisville phenom’s pro day. And since a meeting will be fairly easy to set up, it’s likely the Fins will host the dual-threat passer.
Hayden Hurst will visit the Jaguars on Tuesday, Rapoport tweets. Rated by many as the top tight end in this year’s class, the South Carolina product will meet with a team that just released one of its cornerstone players in Marcedes Lewis. Jacksonville has been busy at this position this offseason, agreeing to deals with Austin Seferian-Jenkins and Niles Paul. But the team looks to be exploring the notion of further investing at tight end with the No. 29 overall pick.

Draft Rumors: Patriots, Jets, Darnold, TEs

April 1st, 2018 at 9:14pm CST by Sam Robinson

Despite using second- and third-round draft choices on quarterbacks in recent years, the Patriots are still reaping the benefits of their 2000 sixth-round investment. But with Tom Brady going into his age-41 season, Robert Kraft knows quarterback plans have to be front and center now that Jimmy Garoppolo is out of the picture. The owner said the team has to think about drafting another passer this year.

“I’m going to put my fan hat on, and obviously at some point we have to,” Kraft said (via Mike Reiss of ESPN.com) regarding how high of a priority finding a quarterback in this draft is. “Not just that, but think what happened in the ’08 season when in the first quarter against Kansas City, Tom goes out. How many people would have said that Matt Cassel would have led us to an 11-5 season?

“I put my faith and confidence in Bill (Belichick). He knows his responsibilities. Anything can happen, even if Tom comes in (and is in) tip-top shape.”

Brian Hoyer is under contract for two more seasons on a three-year, $4.82MM deal. Both he and Brady’s contracts run through 2019.

Here’s the latest from the draft world as we begin draft month.

Expected to select a quarterback at No. 3 overall, the Jets are going to be spending some key hours with prospects this month. They’ve already worked out Josh Rosen and Baker Mayfield, and Mike Maccagnan has plans to arrange some for-Jets-eyes-only throwing for Josh Allen, Calvin Watkins of Newsday reports. However, the Jets GM does not plan to schedule a private workout for Sam Darnold. Maccagnan watched Darnold play in person at USC, when the Trojans faced Rosen’s UCLA Bruins in November, and attended his pro day. Nevertheless, it’s interesting the Jets won’t use every avenue they have to evaluate Darnold, even if he’s been the quarterback most closely connected to the Browns at No. 1. The Jets have been closely tied to Allen for months.
Longtime Browns reporter Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer does not anticipate any Jets/Darnold prep work mattering, expecting the Browns to take the USC product at No. 1. She notes the team is close to settling on a consensus for what to do with that seminal selection. Hue Jackson said that process is winding down as well.
It’s looking like South Carolina’s Hayden Hurst will be the first tight end selected in this year’s draft, NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein notes. One NFL personnel man said it “wasn’t even close” between Hurst and the field, which also includes Penn State’s Mike Gesicki and South Dakota State’s Dallas Goedert. Zierlein writes Gesicki still has a chance to be a first-round pick after a take-notice Combine but adds it’s becoming clear TE-needy teams will gravitate toward Hurst, who is a top prospect despite catching just three touchdown passes with the Gamecocks in three seasons.
It’s not outside the realm of possibility that four quarterbacks could go in the top four, should a team trade with the Browns and move into the No. 4 slot, but NFL.com’s Chad Reuter sees one of the passers being available by the time the Bears pick at No. 8. Reuter suggests the Saints as being the team that trades into that draft slot and selects Mayfield, nearly mirroring the move the Chiefs made (from No. 27 to No. 10) last year to take Patrick Mahomes. Mayfield’s 6-foot frame being similar to Drew Brees and his profile as a player who could use some developmental time would line up with the Saints, who would have to almost certainly surrender their 2019 first-rounder and then some to move from 27 to 8.