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2018 Senior Bowl: Some players to Watch During Saturday's Game

There may be some future Chiefs playing in this game

The practices are over. The work is almost done.

For the 100-plus college prospects who competed this week at the Senior Bowl in front of the NFL's most powerful decision-makers, the only thing left to do is play the game.

The game is set to kickoff at 1:30 p.m. CT and will be carried Live on NFL Network.

It's the North, which is led by Vance Joseph and the Denver Broncos' staff, against the South, which is led by Bill O'Brien and the Houston Texans' staff.

It's the culmination of a week of work that while fun, was also the biggest job interview of these players lives to this point. And while most of the NFL teams' personnel staffs have flown back to their headquarters—they will undoubtedly be watching the game on television.

The majority of the evaluations of these players were done during the practices, which consisted of multiple one-on-one sessions and team work that highlighted best-on-best situations, but that doesn't mean a big-time performance in this game won't add to some of these players' resumes.

It will. It all matters.

And for the Kansas City Chiefs, their most recent drafts have featured multiple Senior Bowl participants, so the game could be Chiefs' fans last chance to see any number of players in pads for the last time who could end up in a Chiefs' uniform later this Spring.

Just last year, the Chiefs had their third-round pick—running back Kareem Hunt, who went on to lead the league in rushing last year as a rookie—in this game, along with their second-round pick in edge rusher Tanoh Kpassagnon.

In the years' prior, the Chiefs had guys like safety Eric Murray, cornerback Steven Nelson, offensive tackle Eric Fisher, outside linebacker Dee Ford, and others, compete at the Senior Bowl.

Overall, the Chiefs seem to value guys who they saw perform in Mobile. It'll be interesting to see if that continues to be the case with new general manager Brett Veach.

This year, there were a handful of players who impressed during the week and could be fun to watch during the game on Saturday.

Specifically, the tight end class was particularly strong, even with a couple of injuries to some of the top guys, like South Dakota State's Dallas Goedert, who has drawn comparisons to the Chiefs' Travis Kelce.

Goedert left the event early with a hamstring injury, but Penn State's Mike Gesicki stepped up and made plays in his absence all week, as did Iowa State receiver Allen Lazard.

The running back class has been praised by almost everyone there, including Chiefs' general manager Brett Veach, who praised the group's depth multiple times during the week.

Up front, a couple of the guys to watch that impressed many this week are Pittsburgh offensive tackle Brian O'Neill, UTEP guard Will Hernandez, and Georgia guard Isiah Wynn, who won the Offensive Lineman of the Week award.

One small school lineman that has a big opportunity on Saturday is Humboldt State tackle Alex Cappa, who had the tall task of facing UTSA edge rusher Marcus Davenport in practice all week as they are both on the South team.

Davenport, who checked in at 6-feet-5 and 259 pounds, was already seen as a Top 15 pick and didn't seem to do anything throughout the week to hurt those chances.

And obviously, there will be a ton of eyes on the quarterbacks—particularly the two on the North team, which is coached by the Broncos, who could be in the market for a quarterback this offseason. The two guys are Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield and Wyoming's Josh Allen, and both are considered first-round picks.

On the defensive side, there were a few defensive backs who were particularly good, including West Virginia safety Kyzir White, Penn State safety Marcus Allen, and Florida cornerback Duke Dawson. All three showed flashes of ability at times during practice.

The game also features a couple of local receivers in K-State's Byron Pringle, and Mizzou's J'Mon Moore.

And finally, another player to keep an eye on that generated a ton of buzz throughout the week is University of Central Florida linebacker Shaquem Griffin, who not only has a story that’s easy to get behind as he's without his left hand, but he was also fantastic during the week of practices.

And because of that, Griffin was named the Alabama Power Practice Player of the Week.

He showed some versatility throughout the week by spending time at linebacker and coming off the edge—as he did in college—earning second-team All-American honors last year, but he also took some reps at safety. He'll be a guy to keep an eye on during the game.

In any case, this is the last time any prospect for the 2018 NFL Draft will play in a game wearing pads. Above all else, that matters.

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