2017 Shrine Game: Stock Watch

The 2017 NFL Draft season is officially underway with the both the East-West Shrine Game and NFLPA Collegiate Bowl being played on Saturday. I’ll be covering them both eventually but will start with the Shrine Game which is the more prestigious of the two.

For a more in-depth look at some of the draft prospect in the Shrine Game, check out my breakdown of offensive players who could be targets for the Bears this year.

This year’s Shrine Game was a defensive battle with both defensive lines dominating and poor quarterback play from both squads. The West won the game by a 10-3 margin with the game’s only touchdown coming from one of my favorite players in the game, Louisiana Tech running back Elijah McGuire.

Here is a breakdown of the players who helped and hurt their draft stock in this year’s Shrine Game.

Stock Up:

DT DeAngelo Brown, Lousiville – Dominated the center of the line of scrimmage whenever he was on the field. Brown was unmovable off the line and often drove the blocker in front of him into the backfield. He was the most impressive player on either defense with three tackles for loss and consistently made an impact against the run.

Brown was a beast on Saturday, flashing good power and violent hands. He was projected to be a mid-to-late day three pick but might have shown enough to sneak into the back end of day two.

CB Fabien Moreau, UCLA – The best corner in the Shrine Game backed up a solid week of practice with a solid showing on Saturday. Moreau has good size (6’0), speed (4.40), and got rave reviews from both the announcers and UCLA’s coaching staff.

Analysts Daniel Jeremiah and Mike Mayock thought Moreau played himself into at least day two if not the bottom of the first round. A loaded cornerback draft just got stronger with the addition of Moreau as another top 100 option. He made a few nice plays in coverage and also added

He made a few nice plays in coverage and also added an impressive special teams tackle for good measure. With the Bears in desperate need of cornerbacks, Moreau is a player to keep an eye on.

WR Karel Hamilton, Samford – I didn’t know much about Hamilton before this week but he got on my radar with a strong week of practice. He stood out in the Shrine game as well with two impressive catches on deep throws. Hamilton made great adjustments on both passes and flashed excellent hands with two tough catches.

He didn’t play against top competition in college, so this was a big week for him, but he has good size (6’1, 199), NFL speed (4.46), and proved he could get open against NFL caliber corners. Hamilton was a long shot to get drafted last week but moved solidly into the day three range.