And we’re off in Indianapolis! Last night, the first group of prospects participated in drills at the NFL Combine and lit #DraftTwitter ablaze in the process. Can you believe we have three more days of this thing?!

Inevitably, there are a bunch of “Winners and Losers” recap pieces from Day 1 of the Combine across the Internet. This isn’t a totally different format, but I want to call increased attention to prospects at EDGE who might have experienced a real change in their projections following their runs, jumps, etc. Like, I’m not including Will Anderson or Lukas Van Ness here. I don’t intend to downplay their freakish performances, but they went out and did just about what we were told they were going to do. Instead, we are going for the “…whoa” performances here that we — and possibly front offices — didn’t know these prospects had in them.

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Arrow Up: Nolan Smith (Georgia)

I mean…how can we not start with Smith? In what is becoming tradition from Georgia defenders, Smith went out and had a truly legendary Combine. He posted the top vertical jump (41.5 inches), 40-yard dash (4.39 seconds), and 10-yard split (1.52 seconds); that 10-yard split is a record-breaker for the EDGE position, where burst certainly matters! Smith is undersized at 238 pounds, but we did just witness Haason Reddick unleash terror on right tackles across the league at that weight. But seriously, do we even care about comparisons in Smith’s case? He’s going in Round 1 now.

Arrow Up: Tuli Tuipulotu (USC)

The EDGE group showed out as a whole, so it was difficult to leave some dudes out here: Will McDonald (Iowa State) and Derick Hall (Auburn) are atop that list. With tree trunks for arms (34 7/8″) and a 98th-percentile broad jump (11 feet), McDonald might be nearing lock status for Round 1 now following his impressive Senior Bowl performance. Hall had an all-around awesome night and should now be in the conversation for one of the later picks in Round 1.

But I want to give some love to Tuipulotu, which might seem odd considering he didn’t even participate in measurement-based drills. Tuipulotu, who led the nation with 13.5 sacks in 2022, carried mixed opinions around the Draft community due to his “tweener” status at a listed weight of 290 pounds. Then he showed up in Indy and weighed in all the way down at 266 pounds (!!) and still looked plenty spry on the field. Just listen to Rich Eisen’s reaction when Tuipulotu hits the first bag! He can consider his “tweener” label officially shredded and should feel confident in being drafted by the end of Round 2 now.

Arrow Down: Keion White (Georgia Tech)

White showed up at No. 8 in Daniel Jeremiah’s initial Top 50 rankings, and we’ve been hearing from insiders for weeks now about how White is going to put on a clinic at the Combine. Then he went out and mostly didn’t participate in drills, and the two results that he posted — 34″ in vertical jump and 9’9″ in broad jump — were both solid but not necessarily outstanding. I also didn’t think he looked particularly smooth in the live drills. I’d advise against coming to any final conclusions on White until Georgia Tech’s Pro Day, but today felt disappointing for the 24-year-old converted tight end — especially with so many players at his position crushing it around him. I’d say he’s a fringe first-rounder at best right now.

Arrow Down: Isaiah Foskey (Notre Dame)

People might disagree with this one; Foskey does have a 9.54 out of 10 Relative Athletic Score at the moment. In a loaded EDGE group though, I think it’s fair to single out Foskey’s ordinary times in the agility drills. The 3-cone for EDGE is possibly the most bulletproof position-specific projection metric at the entire Combine, and Foskey’s time of 7.28 seconds is now nearly in the lower third of historical percentiles at the position. Within the last five Draft classes, only 16 EDGEs who participated in the Combine clocked a 3-cone worse than 7.28 seconds while weighing less than or equal to 264 pounds. Only one of those 16 was drafted prior to Round 5, and that was with a Round 3 comp pick. Granted, that player was Alex Highsmith, who logged 14.5 sacks for the Steelers last season. Still, the odds are stacked against Foskey.

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