STILLWATER – We are getting closer to the NFL Draft, which will be held in Green Bay and at Lambeau Field on Thursday, April 24 through Saturday, April 26. The NFL Combine is over, so is the Big 12 Pro Day in Frisco, Texas and now it is down to individual meetings and trips to see clubs and for NFL teams to come and visit you. In other words, all that is left is posturing and the conversations that go on and sometimes change minds inside NFL franchise offices and meeting rooms. The three prominent Oklahoma State Cowboys that are draft candidates are seeing their names being discussed and being thrown around by the hundreds, even thousands of NFL Draft experts.
Let’s start with Ollie Gordon II. The 2023 Doak Walker Award winner was a Walker repeat and a Heisman preseason candidate before his senior season. I know you may not think it is fair, but I really believe offseason issue make for in-season problems. Gordon’s arrest on I-35 near Norman, Okla. not only happened in a bad spot but I believe it led to a rough beginning to the 2024 season. Don’t blame the incident for Gordon’s rough season (compared to 2023) or for Oklahoma State’s 3-9 finish. That gets chalked up to a lot of other issues.
The prevailing opinion on Gordon that I get from scouts and friends in the league is that he is going to be a fabulous late second day or early third day pick for some team. NFL scouts believe he is still capable of the same performance he had in 2023. Right now, he is the kind of draft prospects when it comes to being beat up in meeting rooms across the league.
Here is an example of Gordon verbal recovery in the ESPN NFL Draft material:
“Gordon is big -- tied for third in weight for this year's class at 226 pounds -- but also has strong receiving skills. His best season was in 2023, when he led the nation with 1,732 yards and 21 rushing touchdowns. The team that drafts Gordon will have to figure out what happened to him last season, when he fell from 6.1 to 4.6 yards per carry. But nonetheless, he still had 13 touchdowns.”
The folks at PFF were not as forgving as ESPN.
“NFL teams will take a good, hard look at Gordon’s scouting report due to his size and 2023 production. However, his 2024 tape lacked the violence, decisiveness, and agility needed to succeed at the pro level. He must retool his approach as a big back to carve out a role in the league.”
I read somewhere that he is a willing pass protector, but he has woeful technique. Tell that to some of the blitzers that he picked up and knocked silly. Some of the NFL rhetoric is nonsense and it often costs teams a good player.
Some NFL scout or personnel executive will be a fan and Gordon will be there draft prize.
The best sleeper in the opinion of some for the NFL Draft is Oklahoma State linebacker Nick Martin. Small at 5-11 plus and 224 pounds, Martin plays big.
This is the opinion of one NFL Draft service:
“Nick Martin is an electric athlete at the linebacker position who projects as a versatile chess piece in the heart of an NFL defense.”
Every scout, and I mean every scout that I’ve spoken with on Martin believes is a stone-cold player and that he has all the tools to play. The only question is can he hold up at that size or can he get bigger. I know this, his strength numbers are good and I’ve never seen him hurt because of a size situation. It has always been a soft tissue issue.
Martin’s strengths are his explosive athletic ability, that ability translates to being able to cover, his is quick twitch, the NFL believes he could become a hybrid pass rusher if he has to resort to situational duty.
The concerns with Martin include his impatience to attack plays (that is also a strength in the opinion of some), ability to get off big linemen that get to him head-on, and his sometimes lack of aggressiveness in coverage. I must admit that last one I have never seen.
The guy that teams are sleeping on almost completely is Collin Oliver. Oklahoma State tried Oliver as a defensive end, the Leo, in their old-style defense. Then he became a linebacker in the 3-3-5 of Bryan Nardo. Oliver is not a full-time linebacker. He is exactly what he was when he earned Freshman All-American honors. Oliver is a very explosive and highly skilled pass rusher.
He was recently on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football and he shared with the GMFB crew his favorite pass rush technique.
“My favorite move is the chop rip,” Oliver said of a move where you use the rip to get by the blocker and then you turn the edge as the quarterback is getting set to thrown and you chop at the arm he is holding the ball in. “being the guy with speed coming around the edge is a really great feeling and when you are on the backside of the quarterback and you see that ball hanging out then you chop that ball out and get that strip sack.”
Oliver had the whole GMFB crew going especially Kyle Brandt and Jamie Ehrdahl with his music knowledge and taste. He’ll have to have convinced an NFL team of more than his musical tastes. It will take a team that sees him as a pure pass rusher.
