For a draft analyst, the preseason is a different viewing experience. Can't say I'm pacing back and forth in my living room preparing for exhibition games to kick off, but the preseason provides opportunities for so many players I vividly remember scouting, most of these outings are legitimately fun.
Because you've read plenty about the 2024 rookie class from me, let's go another route with this article.
By title, this article identifies the non-rookies I'm most looking forward to watching this preseason. Beyond my actual excitement for the players listed below, I also considered those who are likely to get a reasonable amount of action this preseason, essentially players not totally cemented into starting/full-time roles just yet.
Williams has the giddy-up required for a linebacker to become a household name today. As a rookie a season ago, Bills head coach Sean McDermott hinted at Williams not having a full grasp of all the responsibilities needed to thrive in Buffalo's defense. But when he got opportunities to play because of a rash of injuries at what started as a deep position for McDermott, Williams' movement to the football was different than everyone else at linebacker.
At Tulane, Williams was the heart and soul of the Green Wave defense. And he demonstrated his uniqueness early, registering 98 tackles with 16.5 tackles for loss, as a 19-year-old sophomore in 2021. After an injury halted momentum in 2021, Williams was a magnet to the football in his final season in green -- 132 tackles, 8.5 for loss, five sacks, two interceptions and seven pass breakups.
In the epic Cotton Bowl win over Caleb Williams and USC, Williams was easily the best defensive player on the field in the wild 46-45 victory, totaling 17 tackles, making his final collegiate game the eighth of the season with double-digit takedowns.
He ran 4.49 at a hair under 6-foot-1 and 228 pounds at the 2023 combine, and his range and thudding capabilities were crystal clear during his first season in Buffalo playing on roughly 20% of the defensive snaps. Everything with Williams seems to hinge on his ability to understand the intricacies of the Bills defense. In the preseason we'll get our first look at how much quicker he processes now after an entire offseason to learn Buffalo's scheme and his role in it.
Fehoko didn't play a defensive snap in his rookie season before a knee injury in November prematurely ended his debut year in the NFL. We don't know exactly why he got a full redshirt season in Year 1, but the immense depth along Dallas' defensive front in 2023 -- a group that boasted an NFL-best 45% pressure-creation rate -- made it a significant challenge to the fourth-round pick to see the field.
I'm not ready to give up on Fehoko just yet, and the Cowboys simply cannot do so with Sam Williams already lost for the year with an ACL tear.
In his final season at San Jose State, Fehoko generated a pressure on 20% of his 305 pass-rush opportunities. To fully grasp how effective that is, T.J. Watt disrupted the quarterback on 20.8% of his rushes in his final season at Wisconsin in 2016. Fehoko isn't a tremendously bendy or sudden athlete, so how was he that effective in college?
Pass-rush moves and balance. He can effortlessly absorb jolts from offensive tackles and use his hands to win the leverage battle en route to the quarterback. Plus, Fehoko should be plenty strong enough now given his redshirt year. And he wasn't an undersized, powerless rusher to begin with at nearly 6-foot-4 and 276 pounds with 33-inch arms.
All Mason has done in the NFL after going undrafted out of Georgia Tech is tote the rock 86 times and accumulate 464 yards with four touchdowns. That equates to a seismic 5.6 yards per carry.
But Mason doesn't appear to be yet another example of the run-game brilliance of Kyle Shanahan. Mason's advanced stats are off the charts, too. He's averaged 3.69 yards after contact per rush through two seasons. For perspective there, among qualifying running backs in 2023, that yards after contact figure would have ranked second in the NFL.
He's forced 18 missed tackles on his 83 attempts, too, good for a 21% forced missed tackle rate. With Christian McCaffrey currently injured, the 49ers very well may have to lean on the depth of their backfield during the regular season, and Elijah Mitchell is San Francisco's RB2. But Mason has serious talent at a stocky 5-foot-11 and 223 pounds and should get some burn in the preseason. Last August, he carried the ball 22 times for 100 yards. I love a good undrafted free-agent story as much as the next guy, and Mason, in Shanahan's ingenious scheme, can emerge as a serious weapon for the 49ers in 2024.
Hall was one of the steadiest three-year rushers you'll see from the SEC -- three consecutive years with at least a 14% pressure-creation rate, and he had a total of 28.5 tackles for loss in his sophomore, junior and senior years.
His explosiveness jumped off the film right into his performance in Indianapolis. Hall's 4.55 in the 40-yard dash ranks in the 94th percentile at his position. The 10-foot-7 broad jump ranks in the 92nd percentile to this day.
While his efficiency dipped slightly as he got more reps, Hall did have a pressure-creation rate of 17.9% as a situational 19-year-old sophomore in 2020. His first NFL season was disappointing in Seattle, no question. Hall played 308 snaps, and on about a third of those coming as a pass rusher he only moved the quarterback off his spot 8.0% of the time.
I'm excited about his potential to make that Year 2 leap because of his chiseled frame that should provide even more power after a year in the Seahawks strength and conditioning program coupled with his natural burst, bend and well-conceived counter moves at the point of attack.
Let's have the Steelers remove the harnesses from Washington's enormous, nearly 6-7, 255-plus-pound frame.
He played 511 snaps as a rookie, essentially as a sixth offensive linemen for the Steelers. The former No. 2 athlete recruit in the country only ran 139 routes as a receiver, just targeted a mere 10 times and caught seven passes for 61 yards.
Even Washington would probably tell you he wasn't a high-volume receiver at Georgia, yet incredibly efficient when the ball was thrown in his general direction. In three seasons, with his final being the only one as a full-time player, Washington amassed 663 receiving yards on a mere 37 receptions. And the kicker? He forced 11 missed tackles on those grabs.
Now, Washington isn't a new-age tight end by the evolved definition. He's not going to separate with ease and rapidly find soft spots in zones. But I'm wondering if he's any more sleek in Year 2. If he is, and the Steelers show more trust in him as a receiver, he can emerge as one of the best TE2s in football this season. I really believe that. Washington's catch radius is mammoth at his height with nearly 35-inch arms.
Landers is a big-size, straight-line speed specimen. At over 6-4 and 200 pounds, the Georgia-turned-Toledo-turned-Arkansas vertical weapon ran 4.37 with a broad jump in the 91st percentile at the receiver spot at the 2023 combine. And that came after a four-year collegiate career in which he caught 79 passes at nearly 20 yards per grab in the MAC and SEC.
Then, inexplicably, Landers went undrafted.
With that frame, and that speed, Landers isn't a super-flexible, intricate route runner. But he has the goods to seriously threaten deep. The Browns' receiver room is top-heavy, featuring Amari Cooper and the newly acquired Jerry Jeudy. Elijah Moore begins the season as the WR3, but the rest of the receiver pecking order is up in the air.
And no one on the roster has Landers' size-speed profile. He should be a fixture of the downfield passing game in Cleveland's exhibition outings. If he produces, he can make the team and contribute in a niche -- but needed -- role for the Browns.
Skinner was the most impactful player on Boise State's defense during his time with the Broncos. He had six interceptions, 12 pass breakups and two forced fumbles in his final three collegiate campaigns, and did it in a unique, 6-4, 209-pound frame.
An injury stopped him from working out pre-draft, and he played one single defensive snap as a rookie.
But now, with Kareem Jackson gone, Justin Simmons potentially signing elsewhere and Caden Sterns waived, the Broncos have decided to prioritize youth at the safety position, and Skinner has experience all over the field. In 2022, he played 115 snaps in the slot, 128 at free safety and 346 in the box as a box defender.
It's been a while since we've seen Skinner gliding around a football field. We'll get a chance to watch him again this August. He's a gamer.
Butler is another former draft crush I simply cannot get over. Actually, let me rephrase that. I've been prepared to chalk up him up as a clear-cut miss, but he keeps resurfacing. If he's not giving up on the dream, I'm not either. And, heck, Butler isn't delusional. The NFL thinks he can still ball, too, as it's the second summer in a row he's spent in an NFL camp.
This is the first time I'm going to cite XFL and UFL statistics, but I'm compelled to, because Butler made the most of the experimental leagues. In 2022, he had 51 catches for 599 yards with eight touchdowns. In 2023, in what had been rebranded as the UFL, Butler was even more explosive with 652 yards on 45 receptions with five more scores.
He spent last summer in Pittsburgh with the Steelers, and after an impressive camp an injury derailed his comeback chances. He's now in Cincinnati with the Bengals, and again, he's reportedly holding his own.
Plus, this is a nearly 6-6 and 230-pounder with 4.48 speed and 10-8 broad-jump explosiveness traits we're talking about here. Butler's final season at Iowa State was special -- 1,318 yards on 60 snags with nine touchdowns. Let's see if he can parlay a strong preseason to a true return to the NFL after flaming out with the Cardinals to begin his professional career.
Woods looked like one of the most promising young tight ends in football during his rookie season. In the Colts' run-heavy offense, he caught 25 passes for 312 yards with three scores on a mere 29% of the offensive snaps then missed the entire 2023 season with serious hamstring injuries.
Hopefully, Woods is fully healthy now because at over 6-7 and 253 pounds, he scooted to a 4.61 time in the 40-yard dash at the 2022 combine. And he had blossomed at Virginia with 44 catches for 598 yards, and eight touchdowns in 2021 after a transfer from Oklahoma State, where he mostly operated as a blocking H-back.
In the preseason, we should see whether or not Woods has his juice back after spending a year off the field. At a legitimate 6-7 with that speed and 34.5-inch arms, he has immense promise as a field-stretching, back-shoulder seam-stretcher.
Green is one of those classic surprising finds on film. Everyone scurried to North Carolina's film in 2021 and 2022 to watch Drake Maye and his nimble slot option, Josh Downs. In doing that, it was impossible to miss Green. Because in those seasons, he cemented himself as one of college football's most effective downfield specialists.
In those years, the nearly 6-2, 200-pound Green caught 74 passes for 1,410 yards -- that's a colossal 19.0 yards per snag -- with 12 touchdowns.
Nothing overly popped on his combine performance, which likely sunk his draft stock to the seventh round. Last preseason, Green was spectacular with seven grabs and 161 yards with a long touchdown. Sure, Jameson Williams is the deep threat the Lions want to emerge in 2024. But Green has plenty of athletic prowess himself as a sleek downfield weapon. I'm pumped to see if he can again produce like he did last August.