2021 Senior Bowl: 5 players to watch

The Senior Bowl will be headlined by a National title-winning quarterback.

For those teams not heading to Tampa Bay to compete for the Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl LV, attention quickly turns to preparations for what figures to be an extremely strange offseason, with this year’s Senior Bowl playing a particularly important role in a 2021 pre-draft process in which in-person looks at the top prospects will be few.

With the NFL Combine canceled amid the public health crisis, the Senior Bowl presents the only chance for personnel staff and decision-makers to see a large group of prospects from this year’s draft class on the field at the same time.

Of course, as they proved last year, teams have no difficulty coming to decisions on players through the study of their tape and interviews conducted virtually.

However, for so many prospects the chance to get in the same room as NFL teams and produce their best in front of them on the practice field is one they cannot afford to miss as they bid to improve their standing.

Even with a place in the top 10 of the draft likely secure, Alabama star wide receiver DeVonta Smith accepted an invite to Mobile, and he is sure to have a crowded interview schedule after a magnificent season ended with him winning the Heisman Trophy and the Crimson Tide claiming the National Championship.

But, due to a dislocated finger, Smith will not be on the field in Mobile. Yet there is plenty of intrigue among those prospects who will be out there for practices and the game. Here we look at five prospects who merit being closely watched throughout Senior Bowl week.