How and why to follow the Senior Bowl as NFL Draft season kicks off with top prospects competing in all-star games

The Senior Bowl is an important event in the NFL Draft process, but it needs to be viewed with context.

Tyler Forness — NFL & College Football News Writer
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Jan 30, 2025; Mobile, AL, USA; American team quarterback Jalen Milroe of Alabama (4) throws long during Senior Bowl practice for the American team at Hancock Whitney Stadium.
Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

One day after the AFC and NFC Championship Games, the Senior Bowl is the first major event on the offseason calendar. It’s an important event for most of the top NFL Draft prospects, including multiple first-round picks, who attend every year.

With the Senior Bowl being an all-star game, it’s a very unique environment. Over the course of the week, players will take to the field in Mobile, Alabama to showcase their skills to both the media and NFL teams that they belong at the next level.

Due to the unique environment down in Mobile, it’s important to understand what to look for throughout the week.

Practice means more than the game

Due to the nature of this being an all-star game, the game is going to look like football, but it’s more the basic nuts and bolts of the sport. You’ll see generic coverage structures and simple concepts like stick, curl/slant flat, and four verticals on offense with generic Cover-2 and Cover-3. It can help you gather some things from the players, but there isn’t a ton you can gather from such a basic game.

Where you get the majority of your information on these players is during practice. You get to see them up close, which allows you to better see their athleticism, and, with some players, against a better level of competition. This is so important for FCS, DII, and DIII players who are often brought in to compete. The Senior Bowl also has tracking data to measure athleticism and arm strength, which gives even more information about the players.

One-on-ones get headlines, but don’t mean a ton

The number one thing that people look forward to during Senior Bowl week is one-on-ones during practice. Whether you like offensive line versus defensive line or wide receivers versus cornerbacks, these drills end up being the best part of these practice sessions. Within the one-on-ones, you get to see some impressive reps.

While these reps are great, they can be deceiving. Tank Dell is a great example of the idea here. He’s a small, shifty wide receiver who can create separation with ease. These drills are made to showcase a player like him, and, in turn, make the cornerbacks look bad. These drills are especially bad for cornerbacks who are predominately zone cornerbacks. It’s always good to see players win in these drills, but understanding the context is important here.

Growth throughout the week is most important

This is a very unique event that these players either somewhat experienced with the Under Armour All-American Game or this is their first time. It’s a very different atmosphere with practice drills designed to showcase talent more than preparing for a game. Due to that, it can take players a practice to acclimate to the unique nature of the event.

Because of that, early poor performance should be looked at with that context. What’s more important is how they grow and improve throughout the week. That tells coaches how adaptable the players are with both situations and their ability to accept coaching.

How to follow the practices

Practices are open to the public at Hancock Whitney Stadium at 1:30 and 4:00 P.M. CT. Jan. 27-29. The practices will also air on NFL Network and NFL +. The game will also air on the same network at 1:30 P.M. CT on Saturday, Jan. 31.

Our team at A to Z Sports will be live in Mobile to cover the entire week, and we will be sharing multiple video clips throughout the week. Make sure you follow the staff on X/Twitter.

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