Four Arizona Football alumni heading to Indianapolis for 2024 NFL Scouting Combine

With Super Bowl LVIII coming to a close and the Kansas City Chiefs securing a second consecutive championship, all eyes turn to draft season. It started in Mobile, Alabama, at the Senior Bowl and in Frisco, Texas at the East-West Shrine Bowl, and will kick into full gear in Indianapolis with the 2024 NFL Draft Scouting Combine. Arizona Football will be well-represented, with offensive tackle Jordan Morgan, wide receiver Jacob Cowing, running back Michael Wiley, and tight end Tanner McLachlan all earning invites.

Arizona's combine history

Arizona took two years off from sending players to the combine, with running back Gary Brightwell, defensive back Lorenzo Burns, defensive lineman Roy Lopez, and linebacker Dante Smith all earning invites to the 2021 edition of the event. Two of them — Brightwell and Lopez — are still in the NFL, while Burns just re-signed with the UFL's Birmingham Stallions alongside fellow former Wildcat Scooby Wright III.

This year's event

The combine, spanning from February 26 to March 4, will feature 321 players this year. Wiley is one of 29 running backs invited, while Cowing is one of 39 wide receivers. The entire group of offensive linemen that Morgan finds himself a part of it is 70 deep, but that includes interior linemen as well. McLachlan finds himself in the smallest positional pool, being one of just 16 tight ends set to make an appearance.

The last Arizona running back to find himself at the combine was Brightwell, who was taken in the sixth round by the New York Giants in the 2021 Draft. He's carved out a niche as an occasional role player and special teamer, and seems to have found himself a home under the shield. Wiley did himself quite a few favors during Senior Bowl practices, where he showed off his ability as a pass-catcher out of the backfield. This trait alone will push him up draft boards, and he should see more usage at the next level than Brightwell.

Cowing is the first Arizona wide receiver to make a combine appearance since Juron Criner in 2012. Criner was taken in the fifth round of the 2012 Draft by the Oakland Raiders, where he spent two seasons before spending a season on the Giants' practice squad. He played in the CFL for three seasons before hanging the cleats up. With the right fit (see: the Chiefs), Cowing could see a longer and more productive career than Criner.

Adam Grant was the last offensive tackle to get a combine invite before Morgan. Grant was invited to the 2011 combine and joined the Denver Broncos as a free agent after the draft. He spent two seasons on the Broncos' practice squad before a one-season stint on the Bills practice squad capped off his NFL career. Morgan is certainly going to find more success than that, and is poised to be a starter at either tackle or guard spot in as soon as his rookie year.

McLachlan easily has the biggest shoes to fill, considering that the last Arizona tight end to make an combine appearance doesn't even need to be referred to by his full name: Gronk in 2010. Nothing needs to be said of Rob Gronkowski's NFL career aside from the fact that he was one of the greatest (if not the best) tight ends to ever hit the field. It's one thing to be the next great Arizona tight end, but being the league's next sensation at the position seems like a stretch for McLachlan. A more reasonable expectation for McLachlan would be as a backup big-bodied pass-catcher and limited work in the running game as a blocker.

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