Day three of the NFL Draft is a slog. Three rounds, upwards of 100 picks, and prospects that most casual observers have never heard about or know very little about is what day three is to most. It was a travel day for me. I watched the action at the airport and on my flight home from Kansas City. Still, it has its moments. This year, the Dallas Cowboys selected Kansas State running back Deuce Vaughn with the 212th pick in the NFL Draft.
Vaughn was eighth in the nation in rushing yards (1,552) and No. 1 in scrimmage yards (1,936) for the Kansas State Wildcats. However, Vaughn is five-foot-five, and his measurables don’t stack up with the elite prospects in this draft. That could explain why he was available for the Cowboys at No. 212 on Saturday.
Chris Vaughn joined the Dallas Cowboys in 2017 as a scout after spending 18 years as a coach at the collegiate level. On Saturday, Chris helped his son Deuce realize his dream when he called him to tell him that the Cowboys were selecting him.
Now that the feel-good moment is in the books, it’s time for Vaughn to show what he can do on the field. He’ll arrive in Dallas as an undersized back with plenty of numbers to show why his size might not be a concern. Since 2020, no running back in college football has as many scrimmage yards as Deuce Vaughn:
The deadline for NFL teams to exercise fifth-year options on players taken in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft is tomorrow. We saw a few players have their options picked up last week, and one notable one not (Chase Young), but we’ll see many of them today and tomorrow.
According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the Cleveland Browns have picked up the fifth-year option on LT Jedrick Wills. Wills was the No. 10 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft and will make $14.1 million in 2024.
Sources: #Browns are picking up the fifth-year option on LT Jedrick Wills. This guarantees a salary of $14.175 million for 2024 for the former No. 10 overall pick pic.twitter.com/deNrcmiY8t— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) May 1, 2023
The Carolina Panthers picked up the fifth-year option on DT Derrick Brown, per Ian Rapoport. However, Carolina also declined the fifth-year option on CB C.J. Henderson. Henderson came to Carolina in a trade with the Jaguars.
The #Panthers picked up the fifth-year option for DT Derrick Brown, but declined the option for CB CJ Henderson (who they acquired in a trade with the #Jaguars).— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 1, 2023
Three of the four quarterbacks eligible to exercise their fifth-year option have already done so. Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, and Tua Tagovailoa have all had their extra year picked up by their teams. So packers QB Jordan Love is the only remaining decision to be made, and Packers GM Brian Gutekunst offered up some thoughts on the decision over the weekend:
“Yeah, I’ve got to figure that out by Tuesday, I guess, yeah,” Gutekunst said. “We’re kind of still working through that. We’ve been so focused on the draft. We’ve had some preliminary conversations, but we’ll get to that before Tuesday.”
“Again, I’ve got to get through that,” Gutekunst said. “It’s a lot of money for a guy who hasn’t played. But at the same time, obviously, we’re moving forward with him. So, we’ll figure that out by Tuesday.”
The Broncos also exercised the fifth-year option on wide receiver Jerry Jeudy this morning.
The #Broncos are picking up the fifth-year option on WR Jerry Jeudy, sources say, locking him in for 2024. No surprise, they had plenty of interest from teams wanting to trade for him, but Jeudy is a big part of their future.— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 1, 2023
I will have a complete breakdown of fifth-year option decisions up shortly after these bullets today, so check back for more.
So, this is a wild picture. Much has been made of Bryce Young’s size in the pre-draft process. It might matter, it might not, who knows. But this picture shows the huge difference between Young and modern-day pass rushers:
Patrick grew up in Chicago's Bridgeport and Garfield Ridge neighborhoods before moving to the Western Suburbs of Chicago before eventually relocating to the Las Vegas area with his family in 2023. He started with Bleacher Nation in 2021 and has spent time as a Staff Writer and on the Chicago Blackhawks beat. He is currently a writer and editor at Bleacher Nation covering the Chicago Bears and the NFL at large and the author of the Bleacher Nation Newsletter. Patrick is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA).
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NEWSLETTER
