How Senior Bowl can elevate Dez Fitzpatrick’s stock

Dez Fitzpatrick received his Senior Bowl invite. What could the high honor do for him?

On Monday evening, Dez Fitzpatrick received an invite to the prestigious Reese’s Senior Bowl. The acceptance of the invite was announced on the Senior Bowl’s Twitter.

https://twitter.com/seniorbowl/status/1343714351476330497?s=20

This kind of invite only goes to the nation’s best college graduates that are in line to potentially be drafted in to the NFL this coming April.

Fitzpatrick will have that same opportunity the last week in January where he will get to display his game in front of NFL general managers and scouts.

What could such an opportunity do for Fitzpatrick’s draft stock?

Louisville fans were well aware that Dez Fitzpatrick was oozing talent. He has great hands and was a consistent winner of 50-50 balls reeling in some of college football’s best catches over his four years of playing experience.

If you are one of those people who was concerned with the amount of targets that Fitzpatrick was receiving, worry no longer. He will have plenty of opportunities to compete in nationally televised one-on-ones against some of the nation’s best senior defensive backs.

Not only that, but some of the best quarterbacks in the country will be throwing to him giving him earned targets in the practice/game setting that he earns throughout the week.

He could perform very well in this setting and one good week at the Senior Bowl could vault his NFL draft stock to new heights.

Right now, he is not garnering a significant amount of draft buzz, but the Senior Bowl holds a ton of weight where he can showcase his talents in front of those involved in making the draft selections.

Louisville-Senior Bowl alumni

There have been a handful of names from Louisville that performed well enough during the pivotal week to give themselves a big boost in draft stock.

2002 – WR Deion Branch (2nd round pick)

2006 – EDGE Elvis Dumervil (4th round pick)

2008 – WR Harry Douglas (3rd round pick)

2009 – C Eric Wood (1st round pick)

2011 – RB Bilal Powell (4th round pick)

2014 – EDGE Marcus Smith (1st round pick)

2016 – DT Sheldon Rankins (1st round pick)

2017 – LS Colin Holba (6th round pick)

Fitzpatrick would be the first player selected in the draft to participate in the Senior Bowl since 2017. If he can do what he is capable of in this process, he could cement himself a 2021 NFL Scouting Combine invitation that would allow him to show off what he is as an athlete with speed, agility, and jumping tests as well as speaking to even more organizations.

At the Senior Bowl, Fitzpatrick will get to speak with scouts and NFL decision makers in interviews or casual settings. He is likely to succeed in these areas. Louisville fans know how well-spoken and squeaky clean Fitzpatrick is as a person. He will have the chance to make scouts fall in love with him.

On Jan. 30, the week will be topped off with a game between the “North” and “South” squads. However, the practices are where there is money to be made in one-on-one drills and periodical meetings with teams throughout the week.

These next couple of months could make or break Fitzpatrick’s stock as a draft prospect.