By Kevin Lonnquist
Publisher
The anticipation for Baylor at the 2022 NFL draft is finally over. One of sports most highly anticipated offseason events begins Thursday in Las Vegas and runs through Saturday.
Baylor’s presence in the draft should be felt. If all goes well, there could be as many as seven selected from the 2021 Big 12 Championship team. That would be quite the recruiting tool.
It likely won’t be felt in Thursday’s first round. However, when the second and third rounds run their course Friday and rounds four-seven are unveiled Saturday, that’s when the names are expected to find destinations.
Mock drafts are merely educated guesses. However, they are a useful tool to understand who could go where. Let’s get into Baylor’s prospects. Scouting reports are presented by NFL.com.
TV Schedule:
Thursday: 7 pm
Jalen Pitre, Safety
Projection: Second or third round
Notable: Depending on which mock draft you want to believe, Pitre could be one of the first names off the board in Friday’s second round or he’s going to slip into the third round. Pitre is likely the only Bear to come off the board on the second day.
Strengths
Terrel Bernard, Linebacker
Projection: Fifth or sixth round
Notable: Bernard’s work ethic can never be questioned. It’s a matter of his health between his shoulder and knee that likely are concerns among NFL franchises.
Strengths
Tyquan Thornton, Wide Receiver
Projection: third or fourth round
Notable: When he ran a 4.28 at the NFL combine in early March in Indianapolis, that caught the league’s attention. What’s he tried to do since then is show he can consistently catch the football.
Strengths
Weaknesses
Kalon Barnes, defensive back
Projection: Seventh round or priority free agent
Notable: He won the headlines at the combine with his 4.23 40. However, it may not be enough for him to get selected. There have been a couple of mock drafts that have him going in the 6th round. But if he’s not taken in the 7th, he would be better served to sign as a free agent.
Strengths
Abram Smith, running back
Projection: Fifth round
Notable: What Smith has shown is that his speed (40 time of 4.48) is doable in the NFL and his strength is a perfect add to his skill set. Could be a late bloomer for wherever he goes.
Strengths
JT Woods, Safety
Projection: Fourth round
Notable: What makes him so attractive is his length. Not many safeties are 6-2 and can run. He struggled at Baylor’s pro day on March 30. But that day didn’t define him.
Strengths
Trestan Ebner, Running back
Projection: Sixth round to priority free agent
Notable: He’s appropriately labeled as a swiss army knife because he is a dual threat with the football in his hands. Ebner is hoping that may his ability to return kicks could help his pro future.
Strengths
Publisher
The anticipation for Baylor at the 2022 NFL draft is finally over. One of sports most highly anticipated offseason events begins Thursday in Las Vegas and runs through Saturday.
Baylor’s presence in the draft should be felt. If all goes well, there could be as many as seven selected from the 2021 Big 12 Championship team. That would be quite the recruiting tool.
It likely won’t be felt in Thursday’s first round. However, when the second and third rounds run their course Friday and rounds four-seven are unveiled Saturday, that’s when the names are expected to find destinations.
Mock drafts are merely educated guesses. However, they are a useful tool to understand who could go where. Let’s get into Baylor’s prospects. Scouting reports are presented by NFL.com.
TV Schedule:
Thursday: 7 pm
Jalen Pitre, Safety
Projection: Second or third round
Notable: Depending on which mock draft you want to believe, Pitre could be one of the first names off the board in Friday’s second round or he’s going to slip into the third round. Pitre is likely the only Bear to come off the board on the second day.
Strengths
- Plays "Star" position, requiring versatility and quick processing.
- Eyes help him play faster than timed speed.
- Instincts to feed on quarterbacks with lingering eyes.
- Highly proactive in run support.
- Uses football IQ to make plays beyond the scheme.
- Hustles in from the back-side and knives in on play-side.
- Good job of adjusting pursuit angles.
- Adequate job of setting an edge against linebackers.
- Hips are sticky and tough to unlock.
- Coverage movement is somewhat rigid.
- Might not have enough pure speed as a safety.
- Restricted stride length dulls his closing burst.
- Will struggle covering NFL receivers in space.
- Comes in too hot and too elevated as tackler.
- Lacks desired frame to puff up to linebacker.
Terrel Bernard, Linebacker
Projection: Fifth or sixth round
Notable: Bernard’s work ethic can never be questioned. It’s a matter of his health between his shoulder and knee that likely are concerns among NFL franchises.
Strengths
- Scouts rave about his leadership and character.
- Never-quit attitude despite adversity.
- Film junkie who rang up 100-plus tackles in 2019 and 2021.
- Rapid read and response against play-action.
- On a continuous quest to go get the football.
- Loose and fluid in pursuit and change of direction.
- Bends and flattens off the corner as a blitzer.
- Speed to cover man targets underneath.
- Slender frame might be maxed out.
- Gets caught up too easily in the clutter.
- Engulfed by size if he's not proactive.
- Struggles to fit and hold a gap.
- Knocked off-balance by redirect blocks.
- Loses pursuit leverage, allowing back to cross his face.
- Angles to runner leave little margin for error as tackler.
- Average coverage recognition.
- Has had foot, shoulder and knee injuries at Baylor.
Tyquan Thornton, Wide Receiver
Projection: third or fourth round
Notable: When he ran a 4.28 at the NFL combine in early March in Indianapolis, that caught the league’s attention. What’s he tried to do since then is show he can consistently catch the football.
Strengths
- Accomplished sprinting background.
- Good productivity in healthy 2019 and 2021 campaigns.
- Play speed sets up easy slants and hitch throws.
- Short-area foot quickness for a taller receiver.
- Tape is full of route separation.
- Poised and ready on 50/50 deep-sideline shots.
- Tougher than his frame might have you believe.
- Sticky hands with plus catch radius.
- Instinctive in space with feel for zone bodies.
- Above-average feel for footwork near boundaries.
Weaknesses
- Bone thin and likely to stay that way.
- Strong press coverage could eliminate him for the game.
- Hands are extremely small for the position.
- Linear release gets redirected and slowed.
- The entire route tree will not be available to him.
- Slow to sink, break and change direction in his patterns.
- Needs to stack defenders when he gets them beat.
- Could struggle to hang on through contact.
Kalon Barnes, defensive back
Projection: Seventh round or priority free agent
Notable: He won the headlines at the combine with his 4.23 40. However, it may not be enough for him to get selected. There have been a couple of mock drafts that have him going in the 6th round. But if he’s not taken in the 7th, he would be better served to sign as a free agent.
Strengths
- Chiseled physique with good arm length.
- Texas high school sprint champ.
- Flashes his ball skills from trail technique.
- Has juice to recover whenever it is needed.
- Able to close distance and squeeze deep target when the ball goes up.
- Length to reach in and time the high point.
- Closing burst to bait quarterbacks into bad throws.
- Has necessary footwork to improve his pattern matching.
- Plays very loose with his technique.
- Can be nonchalant and too reliant upon make-up speed.
- Gives early ground with sluggish opening.
- Can do a better job of locating deep throw sooner.
- Beat up downfield by BYU targets.
- Grab-and-ride tackler who is not built for run support.
- Missed five games over the last two seasons due to injury.
Abram Smith, running back
Projection: Fifth round
Notable: What Smith has shown is that his speed (40 time of 4.48) is doable in the NFL and his strength is a perfect add to his skill set. Could be a late bloomer for wherever he goes.
Strengths
- Started playing faster and more instinctively starting around the Oklahoma game in mid-November.
- Understands how to press the line and set up blocks.
- Patient for crease development.
- Above-average feel for cutback timing on inside zone.
- Keeps the track tight off the blocker's hip.
- Runs with linebacker's mentality to finish.
- Plays the role of hammer into contact.
- Size and toughness to work with in pass protection.
- Proved his value as a special-teams cover demon in 2019.
- Runs with upright posture and a narrow base.
- Struggles to fade early penetration that forces him to brake.
- Much less decisive when early cutback lanes fail to develop.
- Tends to be a one-speed runner with average burst.
- Slight deceleration into open-field cuts.
- Tight-hipped with limited lateral elusiveness in tight quarters.
- Needs better foot slide to mirror the rush in protection.
- Has knee injuries in his background.
JT Woods, Safety
Projection: Fourth round
Notable: What makes him so attractive is his length. Not many safeties are 6-2 and can run. He struggled at Baylor’s pro day on March 30. But that day didn’t define him.
Strengths
- Former track star with sprinter's speed.
- Has experience playing in all safety alignments at Baylor.
- Sticky hands grabbed nine interceptions in last two seasons.
- Speed and length do their job in recovery mode.
- Transitions fluidly from his backpedal.
- Charges hard to close out crossing routes in his face.
- Bounces from route to route to make a play.
- Searches for punishing blows on pass-catchers.
- Burst to swoop down and find tackle tries near the line.
- Loses track of deep-ball duties.
- Too much freestyle in his coverage and movements.
- Can be a step behind to challenge throws due to indecisiveness.
- Below average as a tackle finisher.
- Hurried angles create small margin for tackle error.
Trestan Ebner, Running back
Projection: Sixth round to priority free agent
Notable: He’s appropriately labeled as a swiss army knife because he is a dual threat with the football in his hands. Ebner is hoping that may his ability to return kicks could help his pro future.
Strengths
- Enticing blend of size and versatility.
- Runs, catches and returns both kicks and punts.
- Size to be a load for tacklers when he's amped up.
- Dangerous weapon to mismatch linebackers out of backfield.
- Posted 11 receiving touchdowns during Baylor career.
- Legitimate route runner with good quickness out of breaks.
- Top-end speed can take him to the house after the catch.
- Three career kick-return touchdowns.
- Open-field vision creates opportunities in return game.
- Indecisive without a clear point of entry.
- Hip tightness slows cuts and turns.
- Needs additional steps to hit his zone cut downhill.
- Unable to make sudden lateral slides to elude.
- Gets what is blocked and lacks creativity.
- Pace and burst are a little bit listless.
- Tends to be a passive finisher between the tackles.
- Needs technique upgrade to block on third downs in the NFL.
