2022 Senior Bowl preview: Jim Nagy explains benefits for Detroit Lions, picks sleeper players

We’re less than a week away from the start of the 2022 Senior Bowl, which is really the beginning of draft season. There’s a reason the game’s slogan is “The Draft Starts in Mobile.” It will be the first opportunity for a lot of these players to perform in front of NFL general managers, department heads and coaches.

For the Detroit Lions and New York Jets—the two teams that will coach the Senior Bowl teams—it’s a unique opportunity to get to know them on a personal and professional level that isn’t afforded to the other 30 teams.

So to get more background on the event and some of the players that will be down in Mobile, Alabama next week, we interviewed Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy on Tuesday night.

Nagy provided a ton of insight and put some misconceptions about the event to bed. For example, many think these two rosters are hand picked by the general manager of each of the coaching teams. That’s not how it works. Nagy explained that the team with the worse record (in this case, the Lions) gets handed two different rosters that have already been formed and simply picks which one they want. The two teams are given the opportunity to trade players, but only one (unnamed) player was traded this year.

Nagy also explained the new coaching rules, which will put Dan Campbell in an advisory role, while the rest of the coaching staff has an opportunity to receive temporary promotions. But don’t worry, Campbell will still be there, and Nagy still expects to see him bring some juice to the practices and game.

Finally, we close out the podcast by talking about the players and who Nagy thinks draftniks are overlooking. We also discuss how big of an opportunity this is for a guy like Malik Willis, and run down options at wide receiver that could complement a player like Amon-Ra St. Brown. Nagy also professes why he thinks Derrick Barnes was one of the best picks in the 2021 NFL Draft.

You can listen to our entire conversation below. It’s a good one.

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