Five Takeaways From Oregon's 2024 Pro Day

30 NFL Teams showed up for Oregon’s deep draft class

Israel La Rue | Mar 12, 2024

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Oregon Ducks

30 of the 32 NFL teams showed up to Oregon’s Pro Day in Eugene on Tuesday with the Chicago Bears headlining the field as head coach Matt Eberflus and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron along with six other scouts showed up.

Oregon’s early Pro Day benefitted the 15 Ducks that were on scene to showcase their skills and make their final pitch ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft.

Quarterback Bo Nix

Bo Nix and Troy Franklin’s connection shined in their Pro Day as the two displayed why they have first-round draft grades.

Nix’s deep ball was on full display as he warmed up throwing go-routes to Franklin, Bucky Irving, Tez Johnson and Terrance Ferguson.

Once Nix was ready to go, the ball was placed at the 60-yard line while he threw different route combinations to his teammates.

Nix’s first eye-opening throw was a cross-body throw to the other side of the field hitting Ferguson on a five-yard drag route while under pressure. He hit Ferguson in stride as the tight end turned up the field.

Nix threw some bombs to Franklin and Johnson as the two receivers ran a combination of go, stop-and-go, corner, post and seam routes.

Franklin caught 50-yard bombs in stride and caught Nix’s best pass of the day on a 60-yard corner route.

Nix answered the questions about his arm strength, but also showcased his footwork in the pocket on both short and intermediate throws.

He only threw six incompletions with Johnson dropping a perfectly laid out deep ball to his back shoulder and a sail route on the sideline. Nix overthrew two corner routes on the right side of the field, other than that he threw everything else on point.

Troy Franklin

Franklin looked a lot better than he did at the Combine. He said he was sick before going to Indianapolis and that the two days were long so he felt more comfortable today at the Moshofsky center.

He displayed why he’s Oregon’s best receiver in school history running routes for Nix during the offensive individual drills.

Franklin’s foot work looked like he was in mid-season form running crisp routes. He ran perfect go, seam, dig, sail, post and corner routes showcasing his speed as well. His catch radius was on full display catching everything thrown at him, whether the ball was placed behind his shoulder, in front of him, behind him, in between the numbers or right in the hands.

Jackson Powers-Johnson

Jackson Powers-Johnson continued to build on his postseason draft stock with his performance at Pro Day.

The center went against Steven Jones during his one-on-one on the line taking all of his reps from center (unlike what he did at the Senior Bowl) pushing the big tackle back simulating run blocking reps.

His foot work and power after snapping the ball stood out the most, showcasing his 36-reps at bench press he did earlier in the day easily moving Jones during the one-on-ones.

Brandon Dorlus

Brandon Dorlus by far had the best performance among the defensive linemen, making every one of his reps count while leading the pack going first on every rep.

His get-off speed looked great to open up individual drills and he only took it up from there. He showed off his agility and power on a four-bag drill, weaving through the bags and cutting down to the sideline, and then fully showed his strength on a drill where he started from his knees and exploded up three times pushing back a scout with a blocking bag.

Dorlus said he wants to stay around his current weight of 288 pounds to be able to play inside or outside on the defensive line at the next level.

Bucky Irving

Irving proved why he’s a threat from the backfield in the passing game while running routes for Nix during the offensive individual drills.

He caught everything that was thrown to him and displayed his speed and burst up the field every time he caught a ball. His best catch of the day was off a wheel route making Nix look good while catching the deep ball in stride.

The 2024 NFL Draft is a little more than a month away, these five Ducks are all likely to be selected the with Nix, Powers-Johnson and Franklin receiving first-round draft grades.

This could be a historic draft for Oregon with 15 total NFL prospects eligible for the draft, which is scheduled for April 25.

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ISRAEL LA RUE

Israel La Rue is a senior journalism student at the University of Oregon. He's covered the Oregon football and basketball beats for four years as the former executive producer for DuckTV, and interned for NBC Sports Bay Area and TrackTown USA.