Here are the NFL draft worst-case scenarios for Ohio State's top 9 prospects
Joey KaufmanMarvin Harrison Jr. is the center of attention in Ohio State’s draft class. He is projected as a top-five pick and would be Buckeyes’ highest-drafted receiver if he lands there.
But this draft’s upper tier is stacked with talented receivers, a group that includes Malik Nabers from LSU and Rome Odunze out of Washington, inviting at least some possibility that Harrison won’t be the first pass catcher to go off the board Thursday night.
Among the worst-case scenarios facing the Buckeyes’ prospects, a slip outside the top-five for Harrison is not improbable. Here’s tight end Cade Stover, linebackers Tommy Eichenberg and others could drop this week.
WR Marvin Harrison Jr. draft projection: Worst-case scenario
Instead of being picked fourth overall by the Arizona Cardinals, a selection that would make Harrison the highest receiver to be taken since Amari Cooper went in that slot nine years ago, he falls outside the top-five.
For all his production at Ohio State, culminating with winning the Biletnikoff Award as the top receiver in college football last fall and finishing fourth in the voting for the Heisman Trophy, Harrison draws scrutiny for not participating in any on-field testing at the league’s scouting combine or the Buckeyes’ pro day, and Malik Nabers, a speedy playmaking wideout from LSU, eclipses Harrison as the top pass catcher in the draft after running the 40-yard dash in 4.35 seconds last month.
TE Cade Stover draft projection: Worst-case scenario
While Stover was among the best pass-catching tight ends in college football in recent seasons and threatened to be the second-best prospect at the position in this draft class following Georgia’s Brock Bowers entering the pre-draft process, he drops to day three and is not grabbed until the fourth round.
For all his athleticism leaping for passes and sure-handedness as a receiving target, inconsistent blocking leaves teams to project Stover into a more situational role despite his upside. With a deep group of tight ends, Texas' Ja'Tavion Sanders, Kansas State's Ben Sinnott and TCU'sJared Wiley all go ahead of him in addition to Bowers.
LB Tommy Eichenberg draft projection: Worst-case scenario
The knock on Eichenberg, though a prodigious tackler with good instincts to swarm ball carries, is his limitation in pass coverage. According to Pro Football Focus, he was targeted 24 times in coverage last fall and surrendered 18 completions, inviting scrutiny over whether he can be a three-down linebacker in the NFL and handle situations when he is isolated.
With teams seeing him as a more situational linebacker, Eichenberg falls past the third round, waiting two days before he is taken in the fourth round and becomes the Buckeyes’ first linebacker to be taken since Baron Browning in 2021.
DT Mike Hall Jr. draft projection: Worst-case scenario
While Hall is seen as one of the better interior pass rushers in this class, projecting as an ideal three-technique lineman in the NFL, his production didn’t always match his potential at Ohio State, and in each of the last two seasons, he faded down the stretch.
In Hall’s last seven games in both 2023 and 2022, he did not record a sack and combined for only half a tackle behind the line of scrimmage. That trend will not allay concerns about him being undersized. As much as it might help with creating leverage, it’s also raised durability questions. Hall is not picked up on day three, falling into the fourth round on Saturday.
LB Steele Chambers draft projection: Worst-case scenario
Chambers is a converted linebacker, having switched from running back in 2021, leaving him less experienced and smaller than others at the position. Among linebackers who measured at the combine, only UCLA’s Darius Muasau weighed lighter, and no one had shorter arms than Chambers. Despite his production with the Buckeyes, leading them in tackles last fall, the measurements, reaise concerns over how Chambers will get past bigger blockers in the NFL and leads him to wait until the seventh round before he hears his name called.
G Matt Jones draft projection: Worst-case scenario
The versatility of Jones, who has experience at center in addition to starting at right guard for the Buckeyes for the last two seasons, allowing him fill multiple positions along the interior of the offensive line, does not sway teams to pick him up in the later rounds. Questions about his athleticism, resulting from lower testing numbers at the combine, along with his age, as he turns 25 in June, results in him going undrafted.
S Josh Proctor draft projection: Worst-case scenario
A playmaker in the secondary, Proctor becomes the Buckeyes’ first safety to be drafted since Jordan Fuller went in the sixth round in 2020, but does not go as high, slipping on day three by dropping to the seventh round. His injury history emerges as a red flag as teams scrutinize prospects. Proctor missed multiple games in each of his last three seasons at Ohio State, including a compound fracture in his right leg that sidelined him for most in 2021.
WR Xavier Johnson draft projection: Worst-case scenario
Johnson’s versatility, having contributed on special teams since he joined the Buckeyes as a walk-on and seeing time a running back and receiver, is not enough to overcome limited production. While stepping up in pivotal situations, most notably catching a go-ahead touchdown in a win over Notre Dame in 2022, he touched the ball only 70 times in five seasons with the Buckeyes — 44 carries and 26 receptions. It’s not enough to prompt a team to take him in the seventh round.
RB Miyan Williams draft projection: Worst-case scenario
The injury history for Williams, who was unavailable for multiple games in each of his last three seasons with the Buckeyes and underwent surgery to treat osteochondritis in his right knee in January, leads teams to pass on taking him as a late-round flier. Williams was sidelined for eight of his last 16 games at Ohio State due to injuries, overshadowing his productive stretch as a redshirt sophomore midway through 2022.
Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch and can be reached at jkaufman@dispatch.com.