They had tackles and guards and safeties and linebackers.
And the Senior Bowl had two quarterbacks named Josh Allen and Baker Mayfield.
In that order, by the way.
No one has been a bigger supporter of Baker Mayfield than I have. But then I watched Allen throw a howitzer to Penn State receiver DaeSean Hamilton on a deep out pattern Tuesday during the Senior Bowl North team practice at Ladd Peebles Stadium. Allen’s pass exploded out of his hand. It was one of those Andres Galarraga line drives where about halfway on its path, the ball rose to another level and hummed.
Hamilton was pretty well covered on the play, too. The cornerback had no chance.
And then on his next pass, Allen had Hamilton again on a crossing route. Overthrew by a couple yards.
“It went OK,’’ Allen told 9NEWS as he walked off the Ladd Peebles Stadium artificial surface following practice Tuesday. “Could have gone a little better but it was the first day. It’s definitely different, kind of difficult to process the speed of different receivers you’ve never thrown to before. We’ll be better tomorrow.’’
With John Elway and Dan Marino watching practice from the sideline Tuesday, Allen looked like the best quarterback from a Senior Bowl North team that also included Mayfield, Nebraska’s Tanner Lee and Washington State’s Luke Falk.
I talked to one NFL offensive coach who’s had decent success in the league and attended the Senior Bowl practices Tuesday. He said he’d take Allen ahead of Baker in the upcoming draft.
Go with the bigger guy, he said. He speaks for the majority of NFL talent evaluators.
Two of the top quarterbacks, Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen, weren’t eligible for the Senior Bowl because they entered the draft before their senior seasons. Allen may well be the Cleveland Browns No.1 overall pick, anyhow.
“It’s a tough situation to come in as a rookie and expect to be perfect right away,’’ Allen said earlier Tuesday during the Senior Bowl media session. “I know I have a lot of flaws as a quarterback.’’
He has an arm, he’s athletic, he’s big and he has a winning personality and smarts. His biggest flaw his accuracy. He was a two-year starter at Wyoming and completed only 56 percent of his passes each season.
“I’ve been working on that,’’ Allen said. “Obviously, 56 percent is not anywhere close where it needs to be. You can go and look at the tape and I’d say I’ve made a lot of strides from the previous season. I held the ball more, didn’t throw as many interceptions. I held on to the ball, threw the ball away more. Just more careful with the football. There’s always the constant battle with trying to perfect your game.That’s what I’m dealing with right now and making sure my stroke is consistent and clean.’’
He and Darnold are housemates this offseason, working with quarterbacks coach Jordan Palmer.
Allen was plenty accurate in the first quarter of the Potato Bowl last month, throwing three touchdown passes against Central Michigan with Elway and Matt Russell, the Broncos’ director of player personnel, attending the game specifically to scout him.
“It was really cool,’’ Allen said. “You try to not treat it as a distraction when you look over to the sideline and see a guy like John Elway, it’s hard to not get excited. I just went out there and played football with my guys. It was fun.’’
Baker looked small out there. He measured in at 6-foot-1 while standing on his tippy toes – 6 and 3/8 to be more precise. He, too, has a good arm and it wasn’t fair judging him Tuesday. He attended to his mom, who fell ill, and he didn’t fly into Mobile until two hours before practice.
Talk about hitting the ground running.
“Mom’s not doing too great,’’ Mayfield said. “Family first, always.’’
He said he was honored Elway asked Senior Bowl executives to put Mayfield on the Broncos-coached North squad.
“John Elway asks you to be on his team, you don’t say no,’’ Mayfield said, not realizing Brock Osweiler did so two years ago and Kirk Cousins may or may not do the same in six weeks.
Mayfield also downplayed his slight rap that he’s another Johnny Manziel-type.
You know, a hotshot, talented, short quarterback from Texas who gets in trouble.
“Getting better as a player, learning stuff under center,’’ Mayfield. “A lot has been said about throwing the ball and measurables but there’s mental knowledge you can’t test until you’re out there with the system, that’s what I’m hoping to take away.’’
Don’t count him out yet, Broncos fans. Allen is a good guy just like all the current Bronco QBs.
Mayfield has the kind of edginess that was more common with the Denver defense in 2015.
When a team goes from Super Bowl to Senior Bowl in two short years, it needs a change.
“People want to portray the bad boy, the Johnny Manziel stuff,” Mayfield said. “But I love the game of football. There’s no doubt about that. An emotional player. I’ll do anything, whatever it takes to win. I love being around my teammates and I love leading and having responsibility.”
