Keenan Reynolds was underwhelming during East-West Shrine Game practices
The 2016 East-West Shrine Game is the first opportunity for NFL Draft prospects to showcase their skills following the 2015-16 college football season. Here’s a full roster (East–West) for the upcoming game, which will be aired on NFL Network Saturday, Jan. 23, at 4 pm EST in St. Petersberg, FL.
The players wrapped up their week of practice on Thursday before getting the day off Friday to prepare for Saturday’s game. The East-West Shrine Game doesn’t necessarily have the top talent from the current NFL Draft class, but it does have more than a few players that will hear their names called in April with an opportunity to impact the NFL.
Here’s a recap of this week’s practices, including who helped and hurt their cause and highlights surrounding those preparing for the 2016 East-West Shrine Game.
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Keenan Reynolds underwhelms
Considered by many as the most known, and thus hyped, player on the East-West Shrine Game roster, Reynolds had a quiet week in St. Pete. He got the media’s attention earlier in the week when he began returning kicks, working with former Patriots star return man Troy Brown. However, he made few other headlines beyond the fact that he was the top autograph request of the week. There’s even question if he’ll be able to suit up for Saturday’s game after he missed Thursday’s practice session due to injury.
While Reynolds didn’t necessarily help his stock through the week of practice, expectations haven’t necessarily changed. He entered the week listed as an RB after spending four years as Navy’s top signal caller. He was used all over the field, and the fact that he’s taking on the return game, something he didn’t do as a Midshipmen, shows that he’s willing to shed the QB role in order to land on a professional roster. We’ve seen several college-level QBs make the transition to the NFL, including Julian Edelman and Antwaan Randle El, so it will be interesting to watch Reynolds’ journey this spring.
Wide receivers impress
Despite battling with a solid group of defensive backs, several wide receivers impressed scouts and analysts. UMass WR Tajae Sharpe was one of the wide outs touted the most, but others also provided impressive showings, including Illinois’ Geronimo Allison and Stanfords’ Devon Cajuste. Utah receiver Hunter Sharp entered the week with high expectations, and while he wowed onlookers Wednesday he was inconsistent overall.
Entering the week, none of these WRs were expected to come off the board before the fourth round of the upcoming NFL Draft. While other WRs will receive more attention as the Draft approaches, it’s important to remember there’s still potential value in late-round rookie WRs, even immediately in some cases. You have to look no further than Martavis Bryant (fourth round, 2014 NFL Draft) or Stefon Diggs (fifth round, 2015 NFL Draft) to see this.
QBs unable to improve already low expectations
Entering the week, little expectations surrounded the QB class of the 2016 East-West Shrine Game. While they could still change this during Saturday’s game, they didn’t move the needle during their week of practice. None of the QBs on the roster are locks to be drafted, and they all may very well go unselected in April. Some are likely to find a roster spot eventually via free agency, but none are viewed as impact players this season.
Those that did have a shot at opening a few eyes, including Vernon Adams, Jr. of Oregon and Indiana’s Nate Sudfeld, failed to do so. Again, the actual game remains, but it doesn’t appear this group of QBs did themselves any favors this week.
TE sleeper to monitor?
Tight end is expected to be one of the weaker positions in the upcoming NFL Draft. As such, if there is an impact player to be found it could happen in the later rounds or even free agency. Entering the week, Arkansas State TE Darion Griswold was not viewed as someone that would necessarily make an NFL roster at all via the Draft or free agency. Griswold did what he could to change that opinion, turning in a solid week of practice.
Griswold did enter the week as a player to watch with the opportunity to improve his stock. Despite his intriguing size (6-foot-5 and 264 pounds) Griswold had several factors working against him, including a lackluster 2015 stat line (13/187/2) from a small school. However, Griswold was consistently mentioned through the week and was considered one of NFL.com’s five standout players through Thursday’s final practice session.
While a lot of the NFL’s top TEs are drafted in the first few rounds, there are others that found success after being selected in the second half of picks and beyond, including Jordan Cameron (fourth round), Julius Thomas (fourth round), Delanie Walker (sixth round), Charles Clay (sixth round) and Antonio Gates (undrafted).
