Under Maintenance
We deeply apologize for interrupting your reading but Vendetta is currently undergoing some important maintenance! You may experience some layout shifts, slow loading times and dififculties in navigating.
Sports Media
Sadly, Vendetta Sports Media was unable to send a representative to Mobile this January for the Senior Bowl. I have been each of the past two years and was unable to attend this year. Next year, we start the streak back up. Don’t fret, as Trey has been religiously putting out practice notes, Vendetta got the rights to the videos of practices for film breakdown, so keep an eye out on that, and now we are going to be looking at the winners and losers of the 2025 Senior Bowl.
*The only bit of admin to be had is that we are going to be going over my five biggest winners and losers. This will also be in no particular order.*
We begin our 2025 Senior Bowl winners and losers with someone who has been on my radar for a bit now, and was primed to have a good showing in Mobile and did just so in Miami wide receiver Xavier Restrepo. The former Hurricane showcased very sharp route running this week, winning the majority of matchups he faced with crispy footwork, clean breaks at the top of routes, and finishing his routes with as much speed as he began them. In a weaker wide receiver class, Restrepo did a lot to garner some hype as we enter the NFL draft season.
I’m sorry, but you are on crack if you believe any of the quarterbacks at the Senior Bowl this year looked good whatsoever. I guess Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart had the best week out of the quarterbacks down there but even then, he didn’t have a stellar week. The arm talent is there, but inconsistencies in his accuracy in the middle third of the field terrify me, and they are on full display here. The mechanics aren’t there right now, either.
Alabama’s Jalen Milroe has tanked his NFL Draft stock over the last few months of the year, and I’d argue the most damage was done this week. Milroe was awful all week. When you have a rep where you get sacked, and still manage to throw an interception with no one on your team around, that should sum up how the week went for you. Don’t believe me?
This kind of pocket awareness and decision-making should leave NFL GMs terrified of turning in the card for Milroe any time before day three. He’s going to run fast at the combine and his arm talent will draw some to come back in, but I’m out.
Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel is as accurate as you’d like. But that’s about all he has going for him. That 74mph throw cheese some might believe couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s not noodle-arm territory, but the amount of times balls were underthrown in Mobile has to be concerning.
Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard simply cannot play. He’s not an NFL quarterback. Heart and running ability. Cool, so you’re drafting Taysom Hill. If that gets your rocks off, be my guest. I’ll pass.
Not to bore you, but it’s more of the same for the rest of the guys at the Senior Bowl this year. Lot of hot garbage.
You could argue one of the biggest winners of the 2025 Senior Bowl was offensive tackle Grey Zabel out of North Dakota State. This dude competes his tail off, and we constantly found him winning reps against big-time talent. Dude has an ass on him and knows how to drop anchor with that thing. When he does, he’s a stone wall. His rep against Virginia Tech DT Aeneas Peebles told me everything I need to know. We love the small school guys coming here and making a name for themselves. He should firmly find himself in day-two discussions.
When I began to create this list for my 2025 Senior Bowl winners and losers, I had a harder time narrowing down five winners, but when it came to losers Wyatt Milum immediately came to mind. Struggled this week would be putting it mildly. If you can get inside Milum early, he simply lacks the power necessary to hang in there and battle. Doesn’t have that bar-fight-like punch you look for in an offensive lineman. Falling down boards is a safe assumption here.
Coming into the Senior Bowl, Marshall’s Mike Green garnered a lot of late hype, and he put in WORK in Mobile this week. The nation’s leader in sacks in 2024, Green showcased quality speed and bend to get around his blocker, and a relentlessness you want out of an EDGE rusher. The motor doesn’t seem to turn off, which is huge. Plus, his rep against another candidate for winner, Oregon OT Josh Conerly Jr., basically sealed the deal on his week, as he did not practice on day three after this:
My cousin who currently attends Oklahoma State will hate this one, but running back Ollie Gordon II struggled this week, landing himself on the negative end of my 2025 Senior Bowl winners and losers post. The build is exactly what you want, but there are quite a few gaps in his game. Struggles in pass pro, doesn’t really have the juice to create out of the backfield on passing downs, and doesn’t bring you that bowling ball-like playstyle you’d expect from someone his size. It’s hard to believe we are just one year removed from Gordon rushing for 1,732 yards and 21 touchdowns.
I still don’t think I am totally in on Oregon wide receiver Tez Johnson, I can’t deny he absolutely shined this week at the Senior Bowl. He was nearly ungardable. The speed in which he breaks out of cuts is out of this world. The footwork he displays off the line and when he begins to make his cuts was the best out of anyone this week. The weight is going to be a natural concern for NFL teams, but if he can eat a few more quarter-pounders and continue to develop that route tree, he could be a very promising NFL prospect.
I’d argue there was much more good than there was bad in Mobile this week, and me listing Jack Kiser as a loser isn’t totally an indictment on his play, but one thing was wildly apparent this week, and that he lacks the speed and get up you need to be a quality inside linebacker at the next level. You don’t need to have elite-level, Tyreek Hill speed obviously, but if you need to break out on a running back out in the flat, I have major concerns that Kiser can get three.
All the talk entering the 2025 NFL Draft is centered around Will Campbell when you talk about LSU prospects, but Emery Jones showed in Mobile he deserves some love as well. Jones took snaps at tackle and at guard and looked the part all over. He has the footwork you look for, has a sleeping beast inside of a nasty streak, and hand placement is nice. Found myself with more pluses than minuses when combing through the clips I have seen so far. Well worth a flier later on.
Arguably the biggest loser in my 2025 Senior Bowl winners and losers is Jim Nagy. Did anyone see the tweet he put out, basically slamming those prospects who attended the East-West Shrine practices? Of course, he took it down, but he said to those in the NFL Draft media coming from Dallas it’s time to recalibrate your eyes when coming to Mobile. How about instead of putting down those who you didn’t even bother to invite, you prop up those who were not at your event while also promoting this whole pre-draft process? What a joke.
Subscribe to Vendetta’s Twitch
Subscribe to Vendetta’s YouTube
Click here for Vendetta Fantasy Contests
Click here for more NFL Draft content
Dana White Reveals Potential Retirement Date Dana White claims he’s done with politics but I guess that doesn’t include interviewing…
The most exciting to watch in the Premier League this season For fans of the beautiful game, the Premier League…
Why Drafting Ashton Jeanty Should Be Considered A Non-Starter Okay, I’ll admit the headline is a bit clickbaity but you’re…
Why You Shouldn’t Trust Mainstream NFL Draft “Experts” I just think so many things can be related back to Ted…