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The Senior Bowl gives teams a chance to get an initial feel for a prospect. How they stack up against competition that is their equal. Teams will talk with a lot of prospects, but a lot of teams with key in on a few specific players they are trying to get a dossier of information on. Either they have questions they want answered or they want to build as strong a case as possible when presenting their recommendation to the general manager and head coach.
You can never read too much into the Senior Bowl, but having spoken to scouts, there is some significance in who the team spends a lot of time with. According to a report by Ben Bolton who covers high school sports in Auburn and Alabama, the Jets took the time to have a good sit down with QB prospect Bryce Petty:
Former Baylor QB Bryce Petty interviewing with the Jets team media. Potential draft pick? #SeniorBowl pic.twitter.com/wcbgbge42a
— Ben Bolton (@BoltonSports) January 21, 2015
The former Baylor star ended the 2014 season with 3855 yards, 29 touchdowns to 7 interceptions. It was his second year starting after impressing in 2013 to the tune of 4200 yards 32 touchdowns to 3 interceptions.
The scouting report on Petty? He's smaller than you'd like and his release is low, that's worrying. He takes his snaps from the shotgun and technically he'll need to do a lot to get ready for the next level. His feet and mechanics are inconsistent and his accuracy can suffer, especially when throwing downfield. However if he gets into a tempo he can really move an offense, he has good pocket awareness and does work through reads when his pre-snap option isn't available.
He has been a little disappointing so far at the senior bowl, reportedly suffering with accuracy issues and timing. However don't be too down on him, a lot of players have struggled at the Senior Bowl, including a recent Superbowl winner in Russell Wilson.