Lawless Republic
Fansided

BYU Football: What to expect with NFL hopefuls

By Adam Gibby

HOUSTON, TX - FEBRUARY 01: The NFL shield logo is seen following a press conference held by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell (not pictured) at the George R. Brown Convention Center on February 1, 2017 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Bradbury/Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TX - FEBRUARY 01: The NFL shield logo is seen following a press conference held by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell (not pictured) at the George R. Brown Convention Center on February 1, 2017 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Bradbury/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 3
Next
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

Other Players

Tanner Mangum

Mangum has already received two mini camp invites with the Raiders and the Lions. Both of these teams have older starting quarterbacks that are under contract, Derrick Carr and Matthew Stafford. Both of these QB’s have a few years left to play.

As far as backups go, the Lions currently have Tom Savage and Connor Cooks, both quarterbacks who have jumped around and had problems staying on teams. The Raiders have Mike Glennon, Landry Jones and Nathan Peterman the latter two having 11 TD and 19 INT in their careers and Glennon having his best days behind him. Although Mangum doesn’t have much of a resume or a high chance on making a final team, these two teams appear to be spots where perhaps he could surprise us and beat out the current backup or third stringers.

Brayden El-Bakri

El-Bakri is unique in that he is a true fullback that put up really good numbers at BYU Pro Day. Anyone who watched and looked at the results not only saw that El-Bakri put up good marks compared to his competition against other former Cougars but that he also would have placed in the top ten in most of the events at the NFL Combine.

Fullbacks are an endangered species in the NFL and nearly extinct in college making the potential prospects for El-Bakri only a few teams. Some teams still use them however most teams do not and when they do they normally just use a bigger halfback.

There is one area that El-Bakri really struggled in and that was his 40 which will hurt his chances of making the league as a halfback despite his other good marks. Personally, I believe El-Bakri will get a look from some teams and can be sort of like Tejan Koroma last year who was not on the radar before his Pro Day and then ended up making a team after a mini-camp invite.

Dylan Collie, Matt Hadley, Michael Shelton and Andrew Mikkelsen

These four players are on the outside looking in as far as making NFL teams or even practice squads. Dylan Collie appeared to be getting some looks from the Indianapolis Colts (where his brother made a real name for himself) and probably has the best chance of getting a tryout with that team.  Matt Hadley, Michael Shelton and Andrew Mikkelsen however despite being really good players for BYU didn’t put up the Pro Day numbers and don’t have the college stats that will likely get very many teams interested in giving them a chance.

But who knows? I never thought that Taysom would get an invite either let alone be one of the most exciting players in the NFL.

Home/BYU Football