• RB Israel Abanikanda turns heads: Abanikanda ran a 4.41-second 40 and posted a 41-inch vertical — at 217 pounds, no less. That’s high-end explosiveness with legit NFL size that no one in the draft class can match.
• WR Quentin Johnston might fall from WR1: Johnston managed just a 4.5 in the 40 at his pro day, which may end his bid to be the first wide receiver taken in the class. He’s still explosive — as evidenced by his 41-inch vertical and 11-foot-2 broad jump at the combine — but the top gear may not match.
• Chandler Zavala continues his ascent: Zavala knocked his pro day testing out the park with pretty much every drill. He is a Day 2 guard.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Unfortunately, not everyone gets invited to the NFL scouting combine, which means that pro days hold a good deal of value for those on the fringe of getting drafted.
Here are the winners and losers at every position from the pro days held so far. Click here to see the pro day results for all the top prospects in the 2023 NFL Draft.
Quarterback
They’re all winners!
I won’t advocate for changing one’s opinion on a quarterback based on a pro day. Nope. Not today.
Running back
Winners: Israel Abanikanda, Pittsburgh & Tank Bigsby, Auburn
Abanikanda ran a 4.41-second 40 and posted a 41-inch vertical — at 217 pounds, no less. That’s high-end explosiveness with legit NFL size that no one in the draft class can match.
Bigsby is a winner — albeit to a lesser degree — after shaving a tenth of a second off his 40-yard dash.
Losers: TRAVIS DYE, USC & KENNY MCINTOSH, Georgia
I have no clue what happened to both of these backs. You can see their numbers below:
| Measurement | Kenny McIntosh | Travis Dye |
| Height | 6-foot | 5-foot-10 |
| Weight | 216 | 210 |
| 40-yard dash | 4.70 | 4.82 |
| Bench | – | 16 |
| Vertical | 32.5 | 27 |
| Broad | 9-foot-5 | 8-foot-11 |
| 3-Cone | 7.69 | – |
| Shuttle | 4.69 | – |
My best guess is that both tried to put on weight to get past NFL thresholds, but that backfired in both cases.
Wide receiver
Winners: Ronnie Bell, Michigan & Michael Wilson, Stanford
Bell and Wilson ran only the three-cone and short shuttle but put up elite times. Bell clocked a 6.62-second three-cone (97th percentile) and a 4.04-second short-shuttle (94th).
Wilson was a little further back, posting a 6.81-second cone (80th) and 4.16-second shuttle (75th), but those are made more impressive because he has 22 pounds on Bell.
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