The Road to the NFL Draft, Part 1

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January 14, 2020

By Noonefromtampa

There are two key parts to offseason roster management in which player acquisition is the focus: one is free agency for veteran players and the other is the annual draft of eligible college players.

Three major events are part of the road to the draft, which this year will be held in Las Vegas (technically Paradise, Nevada just outside Vegas) on April 23-25, 2020. The three events are:

  • The East-West Shrine Game, to be held January 18, 2020 in St. Petersburg, FL
  • The Senior Bowl, to be held January 25, 2020 in Mobile, AL
  • NFL Scouting Combine, to be held February 23 to March 2, 2020 in Indianapolis, IN

In this column I will take a more in depth look at the East-West Shrine Game.

The Shrine Game has evolved over time and today features players who are generally considered Day 3 picks in the draft. It is broadcast on the NFL Network at 3 p.m. ET in case you want to watch or record the game. If you live in the greater Tampa Bay area, consider going to the game as a family outing because the game is played for a good cause. Information is available at https://www.shrinegame.com/.

The Shrine Game is a charity game which benefits Shriners Hospitals for Children (there are 22 across the US), whose mission is to provide advanced care for children with orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate, regardless of the families’ ability to pay for services.

Redskins legends who have played in the game include Charley Taylor, Dave Butz and Doug Williams. More recently, San Francisco quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo was the MVP in 2014.

Positions that the Redskins should focus on later in the draft to develop roster depth are running back, offensive line, tight end, cornerback and linebacker.  Towards that end, players to watch who are competing in this year’s Shrine Game in whom the Redskins might have some interest include:

RB Tavien Feaster, South Carolina, East #22

RB Patrick Taylor Jr, Memphis, West #26

C/G Darryl Williams, Mississippi State, East #53

G Steven Gonzalez, Penn State, East #74

G Calvin Throckmorton, Oregon, West #54

T Jon Runyan Jr, Michigan, East #75

T Yasir Durant, Missouri, West #70

TE Mitchell Wilcox, South Florida, East, #89

TE Ben Ellefson, North Dakota State, West #81

CB Nevelle Clarke, Central Florida, East #41

CB Jace Whittaker, Arizona, West #37

LB Shaquille Quarterman, Miami, East #55

LB Casey Toohill, Stanford, West #51

Two of the more interesting players in the draft are Ben Ellefson, a tight end from Division I FCS powerhouse North Dakota State, and quarterback Malcom Perry of Navy. Scouts will be watching Ellefson to see how he handles himself against the talent from the FBS schools. Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert also came from an FCS school, South Dakota State. Perry (East #10) will be moving to wide receiver from quarterback, as NFL teams view him as a slot receiver at the next level. Perry has to fulfill a five year military service commitment before starting his NFL career; however, the Department of Defense has a process through which Perry can request a waiver of his active duty commitment, so it’s not impossible to think that he could play as early as next year.

Another feature of the game is that the NFL supplies the coaching staffs and uses it as an opportunity to showcase up and coming coaching talent in the league. It gives the selected coaches visibility to the media and other NFL teams they might not get otherwise.

As a first for The Hog Sty, I will be covering the game as a credentialed media member, and I will have several more columns about the game over the next couple of weeks.