COVID-19 restrictions will prevent Northwestern from hosting players from other area schools at its pro day this year — a feature that made the event popular for NFL talent evaluators in previous years — but a good crowd is expected to attend March 9 anyway.
Rashawn Slater is one of the top offensive line prospects in the country, and because he opted out of this past season and chose not to attend the Senior Bowl this week, teams will want to get a close look at him. With the NFL canceling the traditional scouting combine in Indianapolis, Northwestern’s sparkling lakefront football facility likely will be filled with influential decision makers interested in inspecting Slater.
He is expected to be the first NU player drafted in the first round since the San Diego Chargers selected defensive end Luis Castillo 28th in 2005. Some believe Slater will be selected in the top half of the first round. Since offensive lineman Chris Hinton was selected No. 4 by the Denver Broncos in 1983, the highest an NU player has been picked was linebacker Napoleon Harris at No. 23 by the Oakland Raiders in 2002.
Cornerback Greg Newsome and linebacker Paddy Fisher also are on the radar of NFL teams. Newsome is considered a potential Day 2 selection. The last time Northwestern had three players selected in a draft was 2010, when the Chicago Bears picked defensive end Corey Wootton in the fourth round, the Philadelphia Eagles chose quarterback Mike Kafka in the fourth and the Houston Texans took cornerback Sherrick McManis in the fifth.
“If you watch the tape, there is not much more that he could have done,” a national scout said when asked about Slater bypassing the Senior Bowl. “I don’t think it’s going to matter.”
Slater has been training for the draft in the Dallas area since the end of the summer. He started 26 games at right tackle for the Wildcats in 2017 and 2018 and made 11 starts at left tackle in 2019, when he dominated and began generating serious interest from scouts.
