Biggest risers and fallers from the 2023 NFL Combine

Edge defenders

Northwestern's Adetomiwa Adebawore

Riser: Adetomiwa Adebawore, Northwestern

Let’s get to the main event now. And there’ll be guys higher up in terms of people throwing out combine risers or whatever, but nobody throughout last week impressed me more than Northwestern’s Adetomiwa Adebawore.

Let me just approach it this way: Last year, people went nuts when Travon Walker killed the combine, and the hype got so much that he ended up going first overall to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Ade ran a 4.49 in the 40, with a 1.61 split, a 37.5-inch vert and a 10-5 broad jump. Those results are all better than Walker's, despite weighing 10 pounds more (!) at 282. He didn’t do the agility drills, but he did put up 27 reps on the bench press with basically 34-inch arms.

The guy was zooming through the bags on the ground and seemed to have no issues changing directions, which was better than just on par with the pure edge rushers, who weigh 30-40 pounds less. That ability to snap his hips as he’s making those 90-degree turns and swiping by the bags, and how glued he was to the dummies on the DL gauntlet, to not get off track at all, was great to see as well.

Even doing off-ball linebacker drills, he looked better than guys who won’t play with their hand in the dirt more often than not. It was just a ridiculous showcase, and after already impressing at the Senior Bowl, I think he has a legit chance of sneaking into the back end of round one.

Iowa’s Lukas Van Ness certainly deserves to be mentioned here – 4.58 in the 40 at 272 pounds, way too smooth than he should be for his size, and there’s some real snap in his hands. He was also behind only Eastern Michigan’s Jose Ramirez among edge defenders in the three-cone (7.02) and short-shuttle (4.32), to showcase his lateral agility, considering he was very much a pure power player at Iowa.

Both Georgia outside linebackers Nolan Smith and Robert Beal were obviously very impressive as well, with Smith’s 4.39 being one of the fastest times ever seen from an edge guy.

Florida A&M's Isaiah Land

Faller: Isaiah Land, Florida A&M

As I mentioned at the top here, I labeled these players based on what they played in college and how they are typically listed on different boards, which has Florida A&M’s Isaiah Land making an appearance for this edge group.

For how much lighter he was than pretty much everybody else listed at defensive end at 236 pounds, I needed him to run a great time. However, he was only about average with a 4.62, and so was his 1.65 10-yard split. I thought there wasn’t much pop in his hands and he got too wide when he should’ve tightly navigated around the bags.

The NFL probably looks at Land as an off-ball linebacker mostly anyway, but even then, the athleticism isn’t anything beyond the standard; it's not enough to make him super appealing. And he was probably even helped a little bit by working out with guys who typically have their hand in the dirt and weren’t quite as clean doing the bag drills, as if he was labeled with the true LBs – which we saw for a bunch of legit edge guys, such as Alabama’s Will Anderson.

The only positive about Land’s performance was the 10-6 broad jump. I guess some of the buzz about him coming out of the Senior Bowl will now vanish mostly.

And, my god, the stock for Army’s Andre Carter just continues to drop. With some of the strength questions I had already – only 11 reps on the bench press? And a 9-1 broad jump? Both were dead last for the group. Plus, not even cracking 34-inch arms at 6-6½ when his calling card was length? That’s just rough.