An Alabama quarterback in the Reese’s Senior Bowl is almost by default the most-talked-about player during the week, given both the game’s location and the Crimson Tide’s prominence in the college football world.
But Jalen Milroe has been not only the most-discussed player in Mobile this week, but the most-polarizing. After some first-round NFL draft buzz during the early stages of the 2024 regular season, Milroe’s uneven performance late in the year and a by-all-accounts poor showing during Tuesday’s Senior Bowl practice and part of Wednesday’s appeared to cause his stock to drop.
Longtime NFL draft analyst Todd McShay, formerly of ESPN and now of The Ringer, said on his podcast Wednesday that while Milroe’s athleticism and arm strength are unquestionable, the lack of accuracy he showed on short to intermediate passes was “concerning.”
The good news — aside that the draft is still nearly three months away and that the Senior Bowl is only a part of the process — is that Milroe appeared to bounce back during Thursday’s final Senior Bowl practice. During 11-on-11 drills, he showed better command of the huddle, was quicker getting the play called and snapped and was more accurate on shorter throws.
AL.com spoke to a number of NFL draft analysts who watched Milroe in-person all week, and came away with the following impressions.
“I think the light bulb kind of went off for him halfway through the second practice,” said Kyron Samuels, who works for the Sports Illustrated network. “And then today, he came out there, and it was start-to-finish the best day by far. Probably, in my opinion, it was the best quarterback effort from start-to-finish all week.
“So, you got the full Milroe experience. You saw him at his worst, where he was short on the ball. … And then you saw him get better every day. And by the end of the day on the third day, he looked like every bit of the prospect and the player that you would have hoped to see initially.”
Brian Bosarge, a Mobile-based draft analyst who has worked for Deep Fried Draft and Draft Countdown, agreed that Milroe’s practice effort on Thursday might have helped turn the momentum a bit regarding his draft prospects.
“He needed this because if he had come out and laid an egg against today, like he did Tuesday and Wednesday, then every article, everything written about the Senior Bowl would have led with him being as one of the ‘stock down’ guys from the game,” Bosarge said. “Now he’s got a chance to come into the game on Saturday and have a good showing there and kind of reset the narrative a little bit between now and the Combine. … Today he showed better poise in the pocket, showed better accuracy on the intermediate throws, and threw some great deep balls down the field. So today was his best day of practice, easily, this week.”
Still, those first two days of practice counted all the same. Samuels said he’s not sure Milroe did much to change the NFL community’s opinion on him.
Still looming is how much Milroe actually plays on Saturday. In years past, we’ve seen some high-profile quarterbacks take only a handful of snaps on game day (Baker Mayfield and Bo Nix are two prominent examples).
“If you came into the week ‘out’ on Milroe, I think that you could take some positives away, but you probably wouldn’t change your overall status,” said Samuels, a former Jacksonville State offensive lineman. “And if you came into the week big on Milroe with his upside, his potential, then you’re going to leave the week probably a little bit more excited after he appeared to figure it out (Thursday).
“It got better as the week went on. So, I’m very interested to see if he’s going to play in the game, one; and two, what his performance looks like in the actual game. Because I think he has as much to gain or lose as any player right now.”
So in what round might Milroe end up being drafted? Louis Riddick, a former NFL defensive back who is now a draft analyst for ESPN, said on Wednesday’s Paul Finebaum Show on the SEC Network that Milroe could go as “high as the second round” or “drop to the fourth round.”
