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The Senior Bowl might be the only place where the practices should carry more weight than the actual game.
Think about it. A week’s worth of reps against accomplished NFL Draft prospects can be a better barometer for success than what happens during an often random exhibition game with base packages. That’s not to say that the game is insignificant, but there’s a reason why you’ll see guys have a promising start to the week and then opt out of the game itself.
OK, this isn’t the place where we dig into the opt-out discourse. Let’s save that for bowl season.
Instead, let’s dig into some SEC takeaways from the week at the Senior Bowl:
Jaxson Dart could be the one who benefits most from a thin QB class
After Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward, there’s been a lot of discussion about who QB3 is in this class and whether he’ll be a first-round pick, especially with how many teams in the top 10 need a franchise signal-caller. Dart could slip into that coveted spot after his performance at the Senior Bowl, which earned him top QB honors from the American squad. The downfield accuracy was on display after Dart led FBS with 17 touchdown passes on throws that traveled 20-plus yards (via PFF). That’s where 1,517 of his passing yards came from, which was 244 more than anybody else in the sport.
Dart had a ton to be gained from the Senior Bowl because many wondered about how he looked away from the Lane Kiffin scheme. Can he operate without tempo? Can he fit balls into tight windows? Can he operate from under center? Dart got a chance to do all of those things, and while he didn’t have the best showing operating under center, he still proved to be one of the big winners of the week.
Don’t be surprised if Dart starts making the occasional appearance late in Mock Drafts.
Jalen Milroe has more limitations than the optimists realized
It’s true that in the modern NFL, the quarterback run game is being prioritized more than ever. Milroe, who had 20 rushing touchdowns during his pre-Draft season, is the best running quarterback in the class. That’s a positive. Unfortunately for the former Alabama quarterback, his limitations were also on display at the Senior Bowl. He had a rough first 2 days of practice with accuracy and sensing pressure (he bounced back with a beautiful deep ball to Jack Bech on Day 3) and his measurements raised some alarms.
Make of it what you will that Milroe measured with sub-9 inch hands — that’s considered to be below the NFL threshold — but it didn’t exactly help him move past a shaky finish to his college career, wherein he turned the ball over 3 times in each of his final 3 games. He’s already become a polarizing prospect because of how wide-ranging his good and bad were during his 2 seasons as a starter. Milroe’s week in Mobile only added to that.
Mason Taylor made himself some money in a deep tight end class
Mason Taylor is a 3-year SEC standout from an NFL family. That alone was already going to serve him well in the NFL Draft process. But Taylor was one of the winners of the week. His route-running, his hands, his ability to high-point the football … it was all evident in Mobile.
To be fair, those skills were also evident during Taylor’s prolific career at LSU. He dropped just 7 of 181 targets (5.1%) and he was 8th among FBS tight ends with 55 catches in 2024. He’s a sure-handed, receiving-focused tight end who could take advantage of plenty of mismatches inline or out of the slot.
There’s a ton to like in a tight end class that has a pair of obvious first-rounders in Tyler Warren and Coleston Loveland. Much like the aforementioned Dart, Taylor might’ve moved himself into the No. 3 spot in his position with potential for a Round 2 market.
Shemar Stewart will be the ultimate “traits vs. production” prospect to consider in Round 1
There’s no denying that Stewart was a valuable piece of A&M’s defensive line throughout his career, especially in Year 1 of the Mike Elko era. There’s also no denying that it would’ve been nice to see him finish his pre-Draft season with more than 1.5 sacks (he only had 0.5 sack vs. SEC competition). Hence, why he had a lot riding on his Senior Bowl performance.
Fortunately for Stewart, he turned some heads in Mobile:
Stewart performed well enough that he exited early after showing off his freakish athleticism. It’ll be interesting to see how he continues to handle the pre-Draft process after a career that included just 4.5 sacks and 11 tackles for loss. PFF also credited Stewart with 33 hurries, which ranked No. 5 among SEC edge-rushers.
It won’t quite be the level of debate that Travon Walker created as the eventual-No. 1 overall pick in 2022 — he’s since answered concerns about his production at Georgia with consecutive seasons of double-digit sacks — but Stewart will garner plenty of Round 1 discussion after his Senior Bowl showing.
The biggest SEC-on-SEC crime rep belonged to … TJ Sanders
One of the clips that made the rounds this early week was what the South Carolina defensive tackle did in practice:
Yeah, that’s Garrett Dellinger, AKA LSU’s versatile guard who started 30 games in his college career, on the receiving end of that. Not too shabby by Sanders.
It was easy to forget about Sanders because he played on the same defensive line as Nagurski Award winner Kyle Kennard and freshman All-American Dylan Stewart. But Sanders was No. 2 among SEC interior defensive linemen with 33 pressures, and he was tied for the conference lead (among DTs) with 9 quarterback hits.
Sanders was a major reason why South Carolina was one of the best teams in the sport during the latter half of the season. His destruction of Dellinger was a continuation of what we saw during an impressive 2024 campaign.
If there’s an SEC defensive player I’d bet on playing a decade in the NFL, it’s … Landon Jackson
Jackson had all the makings of a one-and-done transfer at Arkansas in 2023 after he turned himself into an All-SEC player and a potential early-round pick. But the LSU transfer ran it back for his senior season in Fayetteville, and dare I say, his Senior Bowl performance might’ve just solidified why he needs to be a Round-1 guy.
Jackson had an excellent week of practice, and he built off that with strip sack of the aforementioned Dart (another SEC-on-SEC crime situation). Fittingly, Daniel Jeremiah said “make yourself some money” as that play happened.
That was an ideal sight 2 months removed from when Jackson suffered a scary neck injury in the regular-season finale at Mizzou. After he was tended to for 10 minutes, he was carried off the field on a stretcher, which looked like it would put his pre-Draft process in doubt.
Needless to say, Jackson looked fully recovered and ready to begin a long, prolific NFL career.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.