Bleeding Green Nation
Hall of Fame sportswriter Ray Didinger may be retired, but it does not mean he is retiring from poring over college film and talking to his numerous NFL sources to find out who can be sleepers in this coming NFL Draft. Last year, the prestigious Francis “Reds” Bagnell Award winner had on his yearly list 5’10½,” 232-pound Cincinnati linebacker Ivan Pace Jr., who went on as an undrafted free agent to have a very productive year for the Minnesota Vikings, 5’10,” 201-pound Tulane tailback Tyjae Spears, who is second on the Tennessee Titans’ depth chart, 6’3,” 284-pound Texas defensive tackle Moro Ojomo, who wound up being drafted in the seventh round by the Eagles, and 5’5,” 180-pound Kansas State tailback Deuce Vaughn, who made the Dallas Cowboys.
No one would ever question Didinger’s meticulous research and he was once again gracious enough recently to speak with Bleeding Green Nation about five sleepers the Eagles and other NFL teams could look at in the upcoming 2024 NFL Draft.
“Elliss comes from a football family. His father Luther played 10 years in the NFL and his sons [including former Eagles linebacker Christian and current Eagles defensive lineman Noah] have played in the NFL. All his older brothers played in the NFL, and he is the youngest. I spoke about Ivan Pace last year, and he made the NFL all-Rookie team as the only undrafted free agent. He was the NFC Defensive Player of the Week one week. What I loved about Pace was his effort. He played with such tremendous effort. It just jumps off the screen. It is the same thing about Elliss. You can’t take your eyes off of Elliss. They play different positions. Pace is a pure linebacker and Jonah Elliss is going to be an edge rusher, but the one thing that they have in common is that they play so hard every single down. Elliss’ size is probably the reason why he will not get drafted real high, but he plays so much bigger than his size. He is a very disruptive player. Even if he is not sacking the quarterback, he is making the quarterback move around the pocket. He makes plays on the edges, stalking guys on the outside. Because he has been around the game so long, he is a step ahead of everyone, because he understands the game so well. Once the ball is snapped, he is a heat-seeking missile going after the quarterback. He probably would not fit in every system, because of his size, but he would certainly fit in team’s subpackages. I like a guy who plays with great energy, plays fast and plays every snap. The fact that he grew up around the game and now has the opportunity to play in the NFL, you will get a high-effort, high-character guy.”
“Washington started his college career at Northwestern and played only one...
