With the college football season complete and the 2024 NFL season down to its final four playoff teams, the pre-NFL draft process is heating up. All-star events kick off this weekend, and I'll be at the East-West Shrine Bowl in Texas before jetting off to Mobile, Alabama, for Senior Bowl practices next week.
That's the appetizer, though. The scouting combine takes place next month in Indianapolis, followed by pro days throughout the country in March and official prospect visits leading up to the first day of the 2025 draft on April 24 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Draft boards are fluid and will be for the next three months.
This dynamic contributes to one of my favorite parts of the pre-draft process -- seeing players come out of nowhere and hear their names called during the draft earlier than we all expected. This happens a variety of ways -- impressive practices at all-star games, excelling in the 40-yard dash and other combine tests, or nailing pro day workouts and interviews with NFL team personnel. But it's an annual occurrence, and we'll see multiple players fly up boards this spring, too.
But who is going to wow scouts, coaches and executives over the next three months? I predicted 10 prospects who are primed to gain momentum and jump up draft boards, and I outlined how they might do it. Let's dive in.