Senior Bowl Day 3 recap: Milroe finishes strong

Wrapping up the practices for the week

Mobile, Ala. — Thursday marked the third and final practice for the Senior Bowl and the day featured some much-improved quarterback play. That’s good news for the Las Vegas Raiders as the position is the team’s top need heading into the 2025 NFL Draft and the Raiders could use as many options as possible to fill the void.

Also, several defensive linemen who could help improve Las Vegas’ defense in the trenches stood out on Thursday. So, let’s dive into a few names to keep tabs on from now until late April.

Quarterback

Alabama’s Jalen Milroe struggled during Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s sessions as the coaching staff was working with his footwork under center and he was working to improve as a pocket passer. It looked like he was swimming trying to absorb all of the information, but he let it loose during the final practice and delivered several impressive deep balls that Milroe was known for in college. That could help salvage some of his draft stock and it will be interesting to see how the Alabama product performs in the game on Saturday to help show that he’s starting to be on the right end of the learning curve.

Marcus Johnson will cover Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart’s performance in more detail. Dart also had a solid showing on Thursday and displayed growth throughout the week. Of the “big three” quarterbacks in Mobile—Milroe, Dart and Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel—the former Rebel had the best overall performance when combining all three practices.

As for Gabriel, he continues to be solid but leaves something to be desired. The Oregon product made a handful of accurate throws in the red zone, but his arm strength and physical limitations are apparent compared to other quarterbacks.

Defensive Line

Princely Umanmielen out of Ole Miss didn’t have a great first couple of days but finished strong on Thursday. The pass-rusher had a handful of wins in the pass-rush drills, beating offensive tackles around the edge and working inside on a few line games. That translated to the full-team period where he continued to get pressure on the quarterback. Also, Umamnielen had several good reps against the run and showed more strength at the point of attack. He’d be a good Day 2 target in the draft, especially if the Raiders don’t re-sign Malcolm Koonce.

Jaden Ivey is another former Rebel to keep an eye on. He has impressive size—6-foot-5.5, 283 pounds and 33.75-inch arms—and is a physical run defender. That gives Ivey some position/alignment versatility and he showed some impressive pass-rush moves on Thursday in addition to being a strong run defender. Also, this marks the second day in a row that Ivey stood out.

With Adam Butler expected to hit the free-agent market this offseason, Toledo’s Darius Alexander could be a good interior defensive line option to replace Butler. Alexander measured in at about 6-foot-3.5 and 304 pounds with 34-inch arms, and he caught my eye during the one-on-one pass-rush drills all week. The former Rocket showed the ability to win from several alignments, including out on the edge which is pretty impressive for his size.

Cornerbacks

Kentucky’s Maxwell Harriston was one of the highest-profile cornerbacks in Mobile and did not disappoint. Harriston has been impressive during the one-on-ones, showing some stickiness in coverage. However, he doesn’t meet Pete Carroll’s typical size requirements for cornerbacks, measuring in under six feet and with 31.5-inch arms.

One corner who does surpass Carroll’s typical thresholds is Azareye’h Thomas from Florida State. He has good length at 6-foot-1.5 and 32.5-inch arms and stood out as one of the best players at the position all week. Thomas managed to come down with a couple of interceptions on Thursday and is a name to keep tabs on.

At nearly 6-foot-2.5 with 33.25-inch arms, Iowa States’ Darien Porter also has the requisite length and had a notable Senior Bowl performance. Porter pairs his impressive size with speed as Zebra Sports (h/t Dan Viens of the Seahawks Forever Podcast) had him as the fastest defensive back on Day 2 at 22.17 MPH, almost 1.5 MPH faster than any other DB. Those numbers alone are worth taking a deeper dive into the former Cyclone’s game, so look for a Film Room piece on him between now and the draft.

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I’m heading home Friday morning and will be watching the game on Saturday, which airs at 11:30 a.m. on NFL Network, to wrap up the Senior Bowl coverage. A Winners and Losers article for the entire week of practice and the game will be published early next week.