• UNC's Tez Walker wins down the field: The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Walker has some of the best vertical ability in the class, which is why he could hear his name called in the top-50 picks this April.
• A man without a position: Even though Oregon's Brandon Dorlus is a bit of a tweener, he has all the skill to thrive once he reaches the NFL.
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Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
With the college football season wrapped up, we now turn our attention to solely evaluating these college players as draft prospects. Here at PFF, we have an extensive big board for you to learn about many of the notable draft-eligible guys this year, but in that bunch, there are a handful that I would claim as “my guys” – a term that you’ll hear a lot this draft season for evaluators to identify players who might not be No. 1 on their position list, but someone who we would bang the table for on draft weekend as a fringe first round, mid-round or even late-round draft pick.
Here are eight of “my guys” for the 2024 NFL draft.
WR Tez Walker, UNC
This is a very good wide receiver class. No matter what kind of receiver you are looking for – an “X” type of alpha on the line of scrimmage and in the red zone, a vertical threat on the outside, a shifty separation artist from the slot – the 2024 class has you covered. Walker doesn’t have the best grades or stats, but I think he could be a top-50 pick. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Walker has some of the best vertical ability in the class. He has very fast footwork to get off press coverage and gets into his top speed quickly. When he hits that final gear of speed, it is difference-making. When he was at Kent State in 2022, he played against Oklahoma, Georgia and Washington. In those games, not only did he look like he belonged, but at times, he looked like the best athlete on the field.
LB Marist Liufau, Notre Dame
This linebacker class is light on top-50 players. There might only be one linebacker, if that, that is selected in the top 50 picks of the 2024 class. Most of the off-ball linebacker picks will come somewhere in the second and third rounds, and one player who I think should be selected on the higher end of that range is Notre Dame’s Marist Liufau. He has been a starter for the Fighting Irish for the last two seasons. At a baseline, I like how violent he plays the position. He explodes toward the ball carrier and can hit with some nice power. This year was also his best in terms of PFF grades, particularly in coverage, where he earned an 84.0 overall PFF coverage grade for the year.
CB Calen Carson, Wake Forest
Speaking of players that will come up and hit you, Carson might trail only Iowa’s Cooper DeJean when it comes to desire to help in run defense from the cornerback position. The 6-foot, 195-pound redshirt junior cornerback earned an 84.5 PFF run defense grade this past season. Though his 71.7 PFF coverage grade was a step down from the previous season, coverage grades can often be fickle. What remains is that willingness to be physical and help versus the run. His stop-and-start ability in coverage has flashed at times, which gives me faith that the coverage skills can be even more reliable while the run defense gives him a higher floor.
DL Brandon Dorlus, Oregon
At 6-foot-3, 290 pounds, what is Dorlus? Is he a bigger edge defender? Is he a small interior player? I’ll tell you what he is: a damn good football player.
Cliches and hype speeches aside, you do have to have a home position for guys that present that kind of size versatility. I think Dorlus’ best position is on the inside. In 2022, he was more of a heavy-handed edge player in the Ducks’ odd front defense, but this year, he played more as a left and right defensive tackle. That hand violence and quickness off the snap allowed him to earn very solid grades in pass rush and run defense for the third year in a row. He’s a seasoned veteran with the strength level and quickness to be a rotational piece, at worst, at the next level.
OL Christian Haynes, Connecticut
Haynes feels very underrated in this interior offensive line class. The redshirt senior has started for four straight seasons for the Huskies, and in the last two has earned 91.0 and 83.0 PFF pass-blocking grades. He can explode off the snap to get into defenders with force and leverage. His quickness off the ball could even lend itself to a starting spot at center – he has played at left guard for the past two years. He would be a valued offensive lineman for any zone run scheme.
S Mike Sainristil, Michigan
Call him a safety, call him a nickel cornerback — you can call Sanristil whatever you want, but all 32 NFL teams will want this guy in their secondary room when draft weekend is done. He’s undersized at 5-foot-10 and 180 pounds. However, the former wide receiver turned cornerback is an iron man, logging over 1,300 defensive snaps in the last two years combined. Most of his snaps have come at slot cornerback over the last two seasons, and that niche role is likely where he’ll play in the NFL, but that’s no slight. Every team needs a player who has the athleticism to cover quick players in space with a reliable mentality for run defense. He felt like the heart and soul of that Wolverines' defense.
RB Audric Estime, Notre Dame
This running back class doesn’t have an Ezekiel Elliott, Bijan Robinson or Saquon Barkley that will claim a top-10 spot. In fact, we don’t expect to see any running backs in the first round this April. However, of the guys that make up a decent mid-round group, Estime stands out. First and foremost, the man just looks like an NFL back at 5-foot-11 and 227 pounds. His hulking frame makes you think he’s just a bruiser, but he has surprisingly quick feet for missed tackles and good explosiveness to convert speed-to-power in the form of yards after contact. His 94.0 PFF rushing grade was the best in the FBS this season, and his 0.30 missed tackles forced/attempt is a very high mark for a player of his size.
WR Jacob Cowing, Arizona
Cowing has played a lot of football in his college career with over 3,000 snaps in his five-year college career. He has been a big volume receiver both at UTEP and Arizona. His WR threat rate has not been below 25% for any season, and he had two seasons above 30%, showcasing how much both offenses wanted to get him the ball as much as possible. At just 5-foot-9 and 160 pounds, he will truly be an outlier in his size — likely be below the fifth percentile in both height and weight — but the bottom line is wins at the position. If creating a separation window for your quarterback is the name of the game, simply put — not many, if any, do it better than Cowing. His role in the NFL will be niche in the slot, but there is a world where he can be a very productive player, as he has been his entire college football career.
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