The NFL Combine is an opportunity for NFL draft prospects to rise every year, but it’s also a chance to simply appreciate the established talent at the top of the board. Among both the risers and the likely first-rounders, who are the top prospects to watch this week?
Top 2023 NFL Draft Prospects To Watch at NFL Combine
WR Quentin Johnston, TCU
In the summer ahead of the 2022 season, The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman forewarned that Quentin Johnston would dominate the Big 12 in Sonny Dykes’ offense with his athletic tools.
“Johnston, at 6-4, 210, is a remarkable athlete,” Feldman said at the time. “He has vertical-jumped 42 inches and broad-jumped 11 feet. He’s clocked a 4.4 40 and back-squatted 575 pounds. Despite missing three games in 2021, he still made first-team All-Big 12. Johnston’s 33 catches went for 634 yards and six touchdowns.”
Johnston would go on to confirm Feldman’s words, amassing 60 catches for 1,069 yards and six touchdowns, despite dealing with injuries at times. And there’s an argument to be made that Max Duggan left yards on the table with Johnston.
MORE: 2023 WR Draft Class — Quentin Johnston, Jordan Addison, Others in Line for WR1
“Quentin is just a physical presence, and he gets a lot of attention because he should,” his head coach Dykes said during the season. “He’s capable of making big plays.” Those words ring true.
As a prospect, Johnston isn’t quite a finished product. He needs to keep refining his route running and improve his catching technique. But he’s an absolutely absurd athlete at 6’4″, 210 pounds. Every quality you can name — speed, explosiveness, twitch, flexibility, length — Johnston has it in elite quantities. The Combine should only reaffirm that.
CB Kelee Ringo, Georgia
You never want to decide a prospect’s stock at the Combine, but Kelee Ringo‘s Combine performance will be more scrutinized than most — because the projection is the true selling point here. He showed growth from a technical standpoint in 2022, but his size-speed combination is what’s truly alluring.
Ringo ran a blazing 10.43 100-meter dash in high school and is rumored to have clocked a 40-yard dash in the 4.3 range. Factor in the fact that he’s cutting weight ahead of the Combine, after playing as heavy as 210-215 at Georgia, and Ringo could truly turn heads with his time.
DT Jalen Carter, Georgia
Last year, the Georgia defenders all put on a show at the NFL Combine. In particular, defensive tackles Jordan Davis and Devonte Wyatt ran 4.78 and 4.77 40-yard dashes, respectively. And yet, Jalen Carter has long been regarded as the most athletic of the 2021 Georgia interior linemen.
Can Carter one-up his teammates’ absurd numbers? He won’t lose any stock if he runs a 4.9 or 5.0, but it’ll be fun to watch and see.
EDGE Tyree Wilson, Texas Tech
Last year, Travon Walker awed onlookers not only with his testing numbers but also with his pure size and reach. Tyree Wilson — standing at 6’6″, 275 pounds, with near-36″ arms — has the same kind of dominating build entering the 2023 NFL Combine. On tape, his flexibility and speed around the arc are, at times, uncanny for his size.
CB Deonte Banks, Maryland
Scouts who are connected have been sneaking Deonte Banks into the bottom half of Round 1 in mock drafts, and at the NFL Combine, we may see why. Banks has room to refine his technique on tape, but there’s no denying the size-speed profile. At a listed 6’2″, 205 pounds, he has the long speed to drape receivers downfield and could run in the 4.3s.
C Joe Tippmann, Wisconsin
You’ve heard whispers, but expect the Joe Tippmann train to hit full speed after the NFL Combine. Tippmann is a massive 6’6″, 320-pound center with insane explosiveness off the line and mobility in space. He was another prospect included in Feldman’s Freaks list this past summer, and Feldman had this to say about Tippmann:
“Tippmann is a terrific combination of strength (635-pound back squat and 455-pound bench) and athleticism, clocking a 4.31 pro agility time and a 1.65 10-yard split, which would’ve been faster than any O-lineman at the NFL combine this year.”
With his size and short-area athleticism, Tippmann could come away with one of the best Relative Athletic Scores we’ve seen at the center position.
TE Luke Musgrave, Oregon State
Luke Musgrave is 6’5 1/2″ and 255 pounds, with arms almost 36″ long. On Feldman’s Freaks in the summer, he was documented as having a 4.51 40-yard dash and a 36.5″ vertical. Enough said. Musgrave’s pure speed and explosiveness at his size is fodder for a surprise Round 1 rise — if he can confirm it at the NFL Combine.
CB Tyrique Stevenson, Miami (FL)
Banks is the cornerback — outside of Ringo — that evaluators are looking at to race the stopwatches in Indianapolis. But if you’re looking for more impressive explosiveness numbers, Tyrique Stevenson might be your guy.
MORE: Top 10 CBs in the 2023 NFL Draft
Stevenson had a vertical over 37″ in high school, and on tape, he’s one of the most explosive closing CBs in the entire 2023 NFL Draft.
RB Israel Abanikanda, Pittsburgh
Speed demon RBs like Devon Achane and Keaton Mitchell will demand your attention at the NFL Combine, but Israel Abanikanda‘s comparative numbers at 5’11”, 215 pounds, will be even more impressive.
Abanikanda has eye-popping home-run ability at his size, blistering through lanes on tape. And as a 100-meter dash gold medalist at the NYC Mayor’s Cup, his speed has history.
WR Tyler Scott, Cincinnati
Tyler Scott was drafted by the New Orleans Breakers in the USFL Rookie Draft. But after he runs in the NFL Combine, it’ll become clear that he’s bound to be drafted in April.
Scott may weigh in at the 170 range, which will sour some teams on him. But per his school site, he’s clocked a 4.29 40-yard dash, and that field-stretching speed shows up on tape.
