Losers
Matt Pryor
Unfortunately, last night was a penalty-plagued mess for the big dancing bear. Pryor is as versatile as they come having played every spot along the TCU offensive front, but after essentially redshirting his rookie year, there was some anticipation surrounding his development. That appears to have turned into concern after a struggle with discipline last night.
Jordan Mailata
Mailata didn’t have Pryor’s problems, but he had issues of his own. He’d often overset, couldn’t get his hands into the chest of opposing pass-rushers and was essentially just shoving them around him. It was a wake-up call after such a fairytale start for a player who had never played the sport before last year. Mailata played in 58% of snaps which was a nice chunk of time and one that should be echoed in the coming weeks. But we’re going to need to see more from the Aussie if he’s going to make the final roster as he did one year ago. Being an athletic monster just won’t be enough this time round.
Charles Johnson
You couldn’t help but feel sorry for the 30-year-old wideout who was suffering with drops all night long. Ending his night with 0 catches on 3 targets, it was an evening of frustration for the former AAF standout. Johnson has to do more if he is to push for a spot on the back end of a depth chart where both Mack Hollins and Shelton Gibson are huge question marks.
Josh Sweat
I don’t think Sweat played badly, but he was a victim of overhype. He looked huge out there, but was also slow getting off the line and other than the occasional pressure, was grossly outperformed by Daeshon Hall and Shareef Miller. Everyone seems to be bought into the Josh Sweat breakout, and it may well happen, but we need to see more than what was being displayed.
Clayton Thorson
I’m going to try and keep this professional. Thorson’s play was ugly. Going 2/9, throwing balls into the dirt and having others sail higher than Snoop Dogg on a Friday night, it was frankly worrying. Sudfeld’s injury should keep him out up to 6 weeks, but exposing Thorson to a lot of preseason play is either going to be a blessing for his development or a curse for everyone else on the offense. Thorson struggled in OTA’s, he struggled in camp and he’s struggling now. The definition of a project quarterback, this puzzle needs a little more TLC than most.
Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
