The NFL Scouting Combine is now in full effect as we have interviews going into day three, but now we have finished one day of testing as well. The defensive linemen, pass rushers, and linebackers kicked off the party in Indianapolis, Indiana as they were the first to take the field at Lucas Oil Stadium. We start our stock watch talking about the big boys as Northwestern’s Adetomiwa Adebawore and Baylor’s Siaki Ika caught eyes for different reasons.
Who else saw their stock rise or sink today as the defensive linemen took the field? We dive into a few names here.
Stock up: Northwestern DL Adetomiwa Adebawore
No player has had a better pre-draft process than Northwestern’s Adetomiwa Adebawore, and that continued into the NFL Scouting Combine. He was sharp in his interviews, giving detailed breakdowns of his thought process, then he completely lit up Lucas Oil Stadium as he went through drills.
At 282 pounds, the versatile defensive lineman ran a blazing 4.49 40-yard dash and 1.61-second 10-yard split. These are the best numbers the combine has ever seen from a defensive tackle. He then tested in the 99th percentile in both the vertical and broad jump.
An explosive athlete, it is hard to see Adebawore fall out of the top-64 of the 2023 NFL Draft.
Stock Down: Siaki Ika, Baylor
Baylor’s Siaki Ika may be one of the more overhyped players in the entire draft class and it showed at the combine on Thursday. His tape from 2022 just was not good, and he proved to be a bad athlete on the track.
Ika came in at 335 pounds and tested like one would imagine a guy that size would test. He did not break the 12th percentile historically of any of the tests he participated in except the three-cone, where he landed in the 46th percentile.
He came off the field a ton in 2022 when teams went into 11 personnel and it is hard to see that changing at the NFL level. Ika looks like a two-down player.
Stock Up: Keeanu Benton, Wisconsin
As Young tests as a subpar athlete, Wisconsin’s Keeanu Benton continues to show he is well put together and a great athlete at his size. Benton came in with nearly 34-inch arms and measured in at 6-foot-4 and 309 pounds.
At that size, Benton tested as an agile athlete, including a broad jump that put him in the 90th percentile of defensive tackles. He looks like a top-five lock at the position and may just overtake Young as DT3 in my rankings.
Stock Down: Byron Young, Alabama
This one hurts.
One of my favorite players in this class that I have watched on tape, Alabama’s Byron Young, has tested as a substandard athlete in the drills he has participated in thus far. His vertical jump came in at just the 24th percentile historically, with his broad jump and three-cone coming in at just average marks. These were the only drills he participated in on the day.
Hopefully, Young runs the 40-yard dash and can improve upon his jumps at his pro day, but he came across as just another guy at the combine on Thursday.
Stock Neutral: Calijah Kancey, Pitt
Pitt defensive tackle Calijah Kancey stole the show for the defensive tackles as he ran a verified 4.67 40-yard dash at 281 pounds.
However, the same issues remain with Kancey as his size is still a historic outlier at the defensive tackle position. His height comes in at just the 16th percentile historically at the position, while his arm length came in at just the first percentile historically as they are not even 31 inches long.
That’s not a player I’d take a chance on in the top 50, but it’s beginning to feel like someone will. His stock does not shift based on his run.
