Oakland Raiders: 3 Studs and 3 Duds from the Senior Bowl
Duds
Jaylon Ferguson – Edge Rusher, Louisiana Tech
When you finish your career as the all-time sack leader in college football history, there is the assumption that you have elite pass rushing ability. Jaylon Ferguson had a chance to prove his stats were not merely a product of lower competition, but from what I saw he didn’t show elite pass rushing tools. He has the measurables, but in the one-on-one drills, I did not see an ability to bend and turn the corner on the edge which is really important in the NFL. And it didn’t seem like his burst off the ball was that great either.
This is not to say he won’t be a good player in the NFL, but I’ve seen mock drafts that have him in the first round which seems very high to me. And I’m not sure the Raiders should entertain taking him with one of their late 1st rounders.
Isaiah Johnson – Cornerback, Houston
Big corners are always going to be desired in the NFL, and at 6’2 200 lbs, Isaiah Johnson has all the measurables you could want. But when lined up against receivers with quickness and sharp route running, Johnson did not appear to be a fluid enough athlete to keep up.
His lack of fluidity also caused him to be grabby at times in drills. This could have just been a bad week, but from what he showed, he will probably need to go to a cover 3 style defense where these issues won’t be as exposed. This is not the style of defense the Raiders run so he probably shouldn’t be on their board.
Kris Boyd – Cornerback, Texas
I talked about Johnson being grabby during practice, but Kris Boyd was even worse both in practice and the game. Boyd committed three penalties on Saturday and seemed to confirmed what was a rough season at Texas. He came into 2018 as a player that could be a day 1 or 2 pick, but that might not be the case anymore.
Next. Raiders: Two key areas to improve on in 2019. dark
On top of being just overly aggressive, Boyd didn’t appear to have the long speed to keep up with receivers vertically. So he is going to need a huge combine performance if he wants to halt his draft slide.