2016 NFL Draft: Updated Prospect Radar Post-Week 14

If you were trying to catch up on 2016 NFL draft prospects this past Saturday, you were out of luck. You were able to catch the Army-Navy game, one of the greatest traditions of college football, and some non-FBS postseason games, but this last week was the weakest schedule on the NFL radar since major college football kicked off.

For over three months now, we've been providing week-to-week updates on who was trending up or down in the NFL draft world, based on the previous week's results. Before the bowl season kicks off, I want to cover some of the less talked-about players: the outgoing seniors.

Often, the draft community revolves around underclassmen, as we are now conditioned to expect 100 of them to declare each class. That winds up with seniors, who deserve their fair share of acknowledgement, being overlooked.

There's no better place to start with senior draft prospects than the Senior Bowl, the postseason all-star game that draws every NFL franchise to Mobile, Alabama, for a week of practices. There are four players who stand above the rest as rising prospects who can make an even bigger splash over the course of a week, while one player had a major lapse of judgement.

Stock Up: Charles Tapper, EDGE/DL, Oklahoma

Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press

My thoughts about Charles Tapper have changed as his career has progressed. At one point, he was a player who many thought could have been a first-round pick. He was a defensive lineman who was chasing down Amari Cooper in the Sugar Bowl, a real freak athlete.

Unfortunately for Tapper, Oklahoma's defensive scheme changed, and it hurt him. Instead of developing into a jumbo pass-rusher, he instead was asked to play a 5-technique role out of a frog stance. He was making tackle reads rather than ball reads, which basically means he doesn't get the queue to move until a bookend does, which really plays the opposite to his positive burst off the ball as a younger defensive lineman.

At the Senior Bowl, expect Tapper to be a riser. Those one-on-one drills in pass protection favor the defensive side of the ball, especially a larger pass-rusher. In 2013, Eric Fisher was essentially drafted first overall after a very strong week in Mobile, Alabama. There was one defensive lineman who was consistently beating him, though: Datone Jones.

The Green Bay Packers ended up drafting Jones 26th overall. Both Jones and Tapper have about the same frame and similar traits. The Senior Bowl really only helps out one-gap defensive linemen, but the 6'4", 283-pound Tapper is a one-gap big man who was forced into a two-gap scheme. He's in a similar spot as Anthony Chickillo was last season, when he blew up in the draft cycle to prove to the film-grinding community that he shouldn't be judged by his poor scheme fit.

Current draft projection: Third-round pick

Stock Up: Carson Wentz, QB, North Dakota State

Bruce Crummy/Associated Press

One of the best FCS prospects, if not the best, plays for North Dakota State. There's a case for the former Ohio State pass-rusher Noah Spence, the Eastern Kentucky edge defender, but Carson Wentz, the Bison quarterback, is in the top two.

Wentz has all of the raw tools that you'd ask for. He's 6'5" and 220 pounds with a heater and mobility skills. Everything seems to be a little slow for him, as his feet look like they're stuck in the mud while going through progressions, but that's something that you can coach out of a quarterback, not something he's born with.

Unfortunately for Wentz, a wrist injury led him to miss the end of North Dakota State's season. Still, that's not going to stop the quarterback thirst that the offseason thrives off. Get ready for the Joe Flacco comparisons, because they're going to come fast.

I'm not the only who thinks this, either. Lance Zierlein of NFL media has gone on record co-signing Wentz as a top-32 draft choice (via NFL.com's Chase Goodbread):

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He checks a lot of boxes. He plays in a pro-style passing attack that allows him to read the entire field. He has great size, a good enough arm, and is very courageous in the pocket. He has fantastic touch and accuracy down the field. You have to project him a little because he's an FCS guy, and there are still signs that he has work to do with his decision-making.

He probably needs to sit and learn for a year or two. I think if you take a guy inside the top six (or) eight picks, you're pressured to play him right away. Later in the (first round), those are better teams making those picks that don't have that kind of pressure.

"

It's rare for top passers to throw at the Senior Bowl anymore, because they either declare as underclassmen or elect to preserve their draft stock and punt the opportunity. Expect Wentz to be the talk of Mobile that week, as he's the best quarterback to attend since Derek Carr was attempting to rise in a loaded class two years ago.

Current draft projection: Second-round pick

Stock Down: Adolphus Washington, DL, Ohio State

BRADLEY LEEB/Associated Press

When former general managers go on television and tell the world that the easiest way to go undrafted is by getting yourself into off-the-field trouble, they aren't lying. Every once in a while, you end up with a player who can turn it around such as Vontaze Burfict, but the majority of the time, college stars such as Cliff Harris just end up flaming out.

For Adolphus Washington's sake, I hope he's able to get over the speed bump he created for himself. The Ohio State defensive end-turned-defensive tackle was arrested this week for solicitation. Lisa Rantala of ABC6 broke the story, stating that he offered an undercover cop $100 in the transaction.

Washington is suspended for the bowl game but is still slated to attend the Senior Bowl. Those personal interviews that he's going to have with scouts and how he handles himself around the media will make or break his draft stock.

Solicitation seems to be a growing issue in the sports world, as former athletes-turned-TV analysts such as Warren Sapp and Greg Anthony have been in the news lately for the same reason.

Washington is an undersized 3-technique prospect, but considering the fact that he only has played the position for a season, it's easy to project that he'll grow into his frame (6'4", 290 lbs) at the professional level, should he get the chance to prove himself. At this point, everything is in the air.

Current draft projection: Day 2 talent, undrafted possibility

Stock Up: Cody Whitehair, IOL, Kansas State

Charlie Riedel/Associated Press

Interior offensive linemen aren't sexy, but they're much more important than the amount of limelight they're given. If you're a Seattle Seahawks or Philadelphia Eagles fan, you know exactly just how liabilities in that unit can hurt an offense.

One of my first exposures to Cody Whitehair, Kansas State's left tackle, was when he went head-to-head with Oklahoma State's Emmanuel Ogbah. Ogbah, an underclassman, has a chance to be a first-round selection as a power pass-rusher. He's not refined, but the Cowboy has all the tools you can ask of a defensive end, much like Kentucky's Bud Dupree last season, whom the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted 22nd.

The reason I explain Ogbah to you is because Whitehair is basically the opposite, and their matchup, in my opinion, was Whitehair's most important of the season.

He held up for about three quarters, but when Oklahoma State was in pass-rushing situations late in the game, Whitehair's raw talent was exposed a bit. He is very well-coached and has nearly perfect technique, but if a bull rush from a raw college prospect blows him off the ball, his future at offensive tackle at the next level isn't very promising.

Whitehair looks like a 6'4", 300-pounder from an aesthetic standpoint, so by NFL standards, he's on the threshold, but that size, speed and technique could be a huge positive if he kicks inside to guard as an NFL player. Luckily for him, the Senior Bowl believes so, too. He's currently listed as a guard on the list of accepted invites. 

Remember, last year Cameron Erving went from a downward-trending offensive tackle to an elite interior offensive line prospect during the draft process, landing him as a the 19th overall pick in the 2015 draft. It's not out of the question to think that Whitehair could have a similar rise, as the only senior guard I would currently rank over him is Stanford's Joshua Garnett.

Current draft projection: Second-round pick

Stock Up: Jeff Driskel, QB, Louisiana Tech

Jim Lytle/Associated Press

At the beginning of the year, I thought the Jeff Driskel experiment at Louisiana Tech was a joke. He was a former top recruit, looked at as the future savior of Florida under Will Muschamp, but he never manifested into anything more than a Vine or two. After years of struggling, he decided to leave the program.

He stands at 6'4" and 231 pounds and has all of the looks of a quarterback. Imagine him as someone like Christian Hackenberg but without the freshman-year success. As a graduate transfer, he joined the Bulldogs. After being drafted by the Boston Red Sox—though he was a late selection—I thought he had a better chance going professional in baseball than football.

I have been proved 100 percent wrong, though. He isn't great, but it seems like leaving Gainesville was the best thing the quarterback could have done. Sure, the offense he ran in 2015 wasn't exactly going against the best of competition at times, but he never had a horrid slip-up like when he faced Alabama and Tennessee back-to-back in 2014, when he completed 20 passes in 51 attempts for one touchdown and five interceptions combined.

He's never lacked talent. The issue was that he was constantly in chaos with the Gators. Looking comfortable and calm, even when the Bulldogs went toe-to-toe with an SEC opponent in Mississippi State, is the biggest difference between his final year in school and his resume heading out of Power Five competition.

If he's able to continue this momentum, I'm not sure he wouldn't be the riser in practices. Controlled environments seem to be where he thrives, and he's a lock to do well in interviews, too. The Senior Bowl is essentially what he's been preparing for since he was in high school, a camp similar to those that made him a 5-star recruit, per 247Sports.

Current draft projection: Sixth-round pick