Jim Nagy, the executive director of the Senior Bowl, is gearing up for the annual event, and spoke to Greg McElroy and Cole Cubelic on Friday morning on WJOX to share some thoughts on the NFL scouting showcase in Mobile, Alabama.

Nagy was asked about Stetson Bennett’s absence, and noted that Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence were 2 quarterbacks in recent memory who chose not to attend the game.

“I think our game makes sense for about 98% of the players,” he said. “I mean, if you’re going to be a top 10 pick, I understand it. But outside of that, and even for a bunch of mid- and late first rounders, if you move up a spot of 2 in the first round by coming here, that’s millions of dollars up there in the draft.”

Nagy then addressed the Bennett news, which surfaced this week as the Georgia quarterback reportedly said he wouldn’t attend.

“I don’t know with Stetson, I’ve talked to everyone around the league, everyone’s got 6th or 7th round grades on him, which is better than when he started, even in November when we were starting to build this roster and send invites out, most of the teams had (preferred free agent) grades on Stetson Bennett.”

This will be the first time in 7 years that the Senior Bowl won’t have a first-round quarterback. Will Levis was a possibility, but he has a broken toe, and Nagy said he doesn’t feel great about playing on it at this point.

“The cool thing about this group is that they’re all bunched in that 4th, 5th round range,” he said.

He referred to Jake Haener from Fresno State, Jaren Hall from BYU, Max Duggan from TCU and Clayton Tune from Houston.

“Someone always elevates,” he said. “Three years ago, Jalen Hurts was coming down to Mobile and everybody had him in the 4th or 5th round, and we saw him elevate to the 2nd and now in hindsight, look what Jalen’s doing. IF we re-drafted the draft from a couple years ago, he’d be a top-5 pick. That’s going to be the exciting part of the week to see which guys take that step forward.”

The workouts begin next week, and the Senior Bowl is set for 2:30 p.m. ET on Feb. 4.