ARLINGTON, Texas — NFL Draft season is in full swing with the first draft showcase of the cycle, the East-West Shrine Bowl, wrapping up Thursday night with a 25-0 victory by the East team.
Practices took place at the University of North Texas, and they were well attended by NFL scouts, coaches, media and agents. At least four NFL general managers were in attendance: The Tennessee Titans‘ Mike Borgonzi, the New York Giants‘ Joe Schoen, the Carolina Panthers‘ Dan Morgan and the Green Bay Packers‘ Brian Gutekunst. The practices hold more weight at an event like this because every player receives more action, and teams can view the prospects’ work ethic, motor and deference to coaches and teammates in real time. The game itself is a nice, final opportunity to make an impression for those still hopeful to boost their stock.
Seven of the eight players below stood out to yours truly in some capacity at the practices with one lone exception exclusively from the game Thursday night.
Both Ohio State and quarterback Kyle McCord won in their divorce in 2024. The Buckeyes won the national championship with Kansas State transfer Will Howard at quarterback, and McCord became college football’s leading passer at Syracuse with an FBS-most 4,779 yards passing, the most in a season in ACC history, en route to a 10-3 record. Up close, McCord’s processing and anticipation is much improved as his footwork, both inside and outside of the pocket. McCord told CBS his footwork was a major emphasis for him this past offseason. The football had the most zip coming out of his hands of any quarterback to participate in the week’s practices and games.
No, he won’t be a first-round selection, but he could be the next one off the board on Day 2 of the 2025 NFL Draft following Miami’s Cam Ward and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders.
NFL Draft 2025: Shrine Bowl takeaways and standouts, including a QB who could be taken earlier than expected
Ryan Wilson
Cobee Bryant’s physicality is eye-popping in person. He’s an absolute menace in man coverage, adept at hand fighting off the line to make every yard a battle for the wide receiver across the line from him. His stature is a knock, but if he were roughly an inch taller and about 20 to 25 pounds stronger, Bryant would be in consideration to be a first-round selection. What he lacks in size he more than makes up for in wingspan (31 7/8 inch arms). Bryant also has high-end ball skills with four interceptions in both 2023 and 2024, and he has only one dropped pick across the last two seasons in 2023. His eight picks since 2023 are tied for the seventh-most in college football the last two seasons. Bryant has a shot to be a starting NFL corner.
When one sees a running back weigh around 230 pounds, it would be natural to assume their game would be best described as reminiscent of a bruising bulldozer. However, Tahj Brooks’ agility and balance were two traits that shined brightly in practice in both the run and pass game. His vision and patience in letting runs develop plus his decisiveness and swiftness in hitting the hole with power were an impressive combination to behold. The running back position might be one of the best in the 2025 draft, but Brooks could sneak into the back end of Day 2 or be an early Day 3 pick at the latest.
Elijah Roberts, an edge rusher who has position flex to play on the interior, is like an alien with the agility and tight movements he possesses off the line of scrimmage at his size. Roberts has heavy hands and and light feet, a deadly combo.
He used his speed and power in tandem with handwork to win against offensive tackles over and over again.
He showed cased the whole repertoire in the Shrine Bowl game on Thursday by using his burst plus a simple swim move to close in for a sack. Roberts’ stock soared this week.
“Hustle, effort man,” Roberts said postgame when asked to describe his sack. “I was hauling around the backside, and I was hoping he didn’t throw the ball. I think I beat the tackle right off the line and then chased him down from the backside. Shows a little hustle. A little bit of speed, a little bit of juice. I don’t know if people think I’m slow or not, I’m not. Showed a little speed and versatility for sure.”
Jordan Phillips is undersized for an NFL defensive tackle in the height and length (32 1/4-inch arms), but he’s a compact rusher and is great with leverage. That makes him a load to displace off the line of scrimmage, and Phillips regularly bull-rushed offensive linemen backward in pass protections drills while holding his own in the run-blocking ones.
The type of power on display in this pass-rush rep is exactly what NFL teams are looking for.
Phillips is also quick and decisive with his hands in combination with his power, which gives him multiple ways to win.
I hadn’t seen much from Hollin Pierce prior to the Shrine Bowl, but it was mind-blowing to see him go to work in person. Pierce is physical marvel. He supplements that size with the Shrine Bowl’s longest arms (36 5/8 inches) and wingspan (86 5/8 inches).
That allows Pierce to just engulf defensive linemen in pass protection. Think of the Kraken from the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies.
However, that size doesn’t preclude him from holding up against speed or counter moves by defensive linemen.
If the right offensive line coach gets ahold of him at the NFL level, Pierce could be a team’s diamond in the rough and be a mainstay on a team’s offensive line for years to come.
* From college roster
Like Bryant, Nohl Williams won with regularity with his physicality, and he has prototypical size to be an NFL corner. He also made sure he demoralized opposing wide receiver after racking up wins against them one on one. If he puts up nice athletic testing numbers at the NFL Scouting Combine and/or Cal’s Pro Day, Williams’ stock could rise up the Day 3 boards.
Jacory Croskey-Merritt wasn’t someone I noticed at the practices, but he had the best Shrine Bowl game performance by far on Thursday night. Croskey-Merritt went off for 97 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 11 carries for a robust 8.8 yards-per-carry average. That production earned him Shrine Bowl Offensive MVP accolades.
He chipped away early going for 5 yards on his first two carries before breaking through for 13 yards and then a breakaway 27-yard run.
His first touchdown, a 6-yard run on a shotgun pitch play to the right, involved him beating a defender to the corner of the end zone for the score, showcasing nice burst while working his way toward the sideline.
Croskey-Merritt’s displayed solid vision and nice jump cut to plunge into the end zone for a 1-yard score along the goal line.
He may be buried on many teams’ draft boards in a loaded year at the running back position, but perhaps Thursday’s performance puts him on more NFL radars going forward.
