As another Senior Bowl week comes to an end in Mobile, Ala., where I was present on behalf of Jets X-Factor, many social media outlets and draftniks will be posting their “winners and losers at the Senior Bowl” posts.
It’s a low-hanging fruit to pick out the big winners with the flashiest names; anyone plugged into draft content has already seen the highlights of prospects like LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier, Texas Tech DT Lee Hunter, or Notre Dame WR Malachi Fields.
What many people fail to realize is that there are over 120 players in Mobile for the Senior Bowl each year. Another 5-10 players are typically added after the start of practice week.
Many talented prospects will fly under the radars of scouts and ultimately become building blocks for successful organizations. With so many players to watch, plenty of standouts will not get the love and attention they deserve, and a lucky NFL team will benefit later on.
Let’s take a deeper dive into a few of the top defensive standouts in Mobile who aren’t getting enough recognition.
Zion Young, EDGE, Missouri
In an EDGE class that is neck-and-neck beyond the consensus top tier, Zion Young took advantage of the Senior Bowl environment to improve his standing on the board.
Measuring in at 6-foot-5 and 262 pounds, Young presents an NFL-caliber physical profile, combining functional length, lower-body power, burst off the snap, and good ankle flexibility to reduce at contact. Those traits translated into consistent backfield disruption throughout the week in Mobile.
Young established himself early with a high-effort play style and a diverse pass-rush approach, sustaining that level of performance across all three practices. Practice film from this week displayed how he can generate displacement with his bull rush and convert speed to power to collapse the pocket. Young also displayed really nice hands and a variety of moves to attack the apex.
Already a plus run defender with violent hands and stack-and-shed abilities to neutralize offensive linemen, the nuance he showed this week as a pass rusher is something that needs to get recognized by more people.
With new DC Brian Duker on board in New York, I think it is paramount for Duker and Aaron Glenn to bring on a power presence at the edge spot, ideally one who is familiar with playing in an even front with his hand in the dirt. Young clearly fits that bill. He may never be a double-digit sack guy in the NFL, but the addition of Young would provide a three-down enforcer who has staying power in the league without having to use your premier capital to acquire.
Hezekiah Masses, CB, Cal
Consensus big board rank: No. 138
Through the first two days of practice, Hezekiah Masses was rather average. It wasn’t that he played poorly; he was just blending in with the masses (pun intended), not standing out too much.
In one-on-one drills on Tuesday, he showed some volatility in coverage. Masses lost some contested catch reps and displayed occasional vulnerability to double-move concepts.
However, his response on Day 3 was decisive, as he delivered a shutdown performance and emerged as one of the most impactful players on the field on either side of the ball.
Masses rebounded effectively on Day 2 and Day 3, displaying disciplined release recognition and sustained leverage through the route stem. He consistently disrupted receivers at the line of scrimmage in press alignments, utilizing quick, controlled footwork, a rapid trigger, and well-timed transitions to undercut targets with his length.
His most impressive rep came during team drills, where he demonstrated strong route anticipation and processing by jumping a late-thrown comeback route for an end-zone PBU.
Cal CB Hezekiah Masses has been one of my biggest risers through 3 weeks
– 6’1″/185
– leads FBS in interceptions (3) & pass breakups (6)
– 48.3% of 2024 snaps in press coverage
– effortless mirroring releases/breaks
– ball skills to win contested targets pic.twitter.com/X5AvIdkm9m
— James Foster (@NoFlagsFilm) September 15, 2025
Measuring 6-foot-0½ and 186 pounds with 33⅛-inch arms, Masses offers an NFL-caliber blend of length, short-area twitch, and fluid change-of-direction skills. He is a tad light in the pants, but his frame looks like it could hold more mass.
From a scheme perspective, Masses profiles as a strong fit for Aaron Glenn’s defensive structure with the New York Jets. Glenn’s system places a premium on corners who can play press-man and match coverage on the perimeter while maintaining the discipline and eye control to handle pattern-matching responsibilities in split-safety looks. Masses’ ability to disrupt timing at the line of scrimmage, stay in phase through the route, and quickly transition out of his pedal aligns well with those demands.
Additionally, in his game film at Cal this past season, Masses showed comfort in off-man, and his ability to drive on intermediate-breaking routes makes him a viable option in Glenn’s aggressive, disguise-heavy coverage packages, where corners are asked to challenge throws and capitalize on late quarterback decisions. His dominant Day 3 performance serves as a reminder of the upside that once generated significant buzz during his tenure at FIU before he entered the portal.
With a good showing at the combine, proving to NFL teams that his speed is an asset and not a hindrance, Masses can position himself as a potential developmental starter or high-end rotational corner in a Jets secondary built around physicality, versatility, and competitive coverage traits. It also doesn’t hurt that he can take the ball away (5 INT and 2 FF in 2025), a skill that the Jets’ defense clearly lacks.
Gracen Halton, DT, Oklahoma
Consensus big board rank: No. 151
The defensive line group in Mobile was one of the deepest in recent Senior Bowl memory, and Oklahoma DT Gracen Halton consistently stood out as one of the most disruptive interior defenders on the field.
Entering the week without a firm consensus grade, Halton quietly made a name for himself and raised his stock tremendously. His practice-to-practice performance aligned with what the Jets are missing up front in the DT room: someone who can consistently penetrate and compress the pocket.
Measuring in at 6-foot-2½ and 300 pounds, Halton carries a compact, low-centered build with dense mass and sufficient length. That frame allows him to consistently win leverage and maintain gap integrity, a critical trait in the Jets’ even and hybrid fronts.
Halton’s impact is driven by first-step quickness, explosive lower-body mechanics through contact, and the ability to chain together counters — all traits that fit the Jets’ and Glenn’s emphasis on interior linemen, especially in sub-packages or specific down/distance scenarios.
In one-on-one periods, Halton consistently won with sequencing and hand violence, stacking club-rip and arm-over counters while using lateral quickness to create immediate half-man advantages. In team drills, he showed the ability to stress protections as a 3-technique or reduced 4i, generating displacement with power while still flashing the quickness to shoot gaps with rips and swims when working as a penetrator.
From a Jets perspective, Halton projects best as an attacking interior defender who can mesh and play off a true nose tackle (Harrison Phillips), allowing him to maximize his get-off and disruptive traits rather than anchor as a primary space-eater. His motor, play strength, and interior burst would complement the Jets’ existing rotation by adding a high-energy, upfield presence capable of creating interior chaos and forcing quarterbacks off their spot.
Kaleb Elarms-Orr, LB, TCU
Consensus big board rank: No. 198
Standing 6-foot-2 and weighing 235 pounds, Kaleb Elarms-Orr measured in very positively down in Mobile. He stood out as one of the more fundamentally sound LBs at the Senior Bowl all week.
With the lack of tackling and big contact, the Senior Bowl practices aren’t really a place to gauge how well a linebacker plays the run. Elarms-Orr’s TCU film does show he takes on blocks with willingness and leverage, using active hands to stack and shed rather than trying to slip everything laterally. He is a reliable finisher in confined spaces and shows a strong closing mentality when scraping over the top or filling downhill.
Elarms-Orr’s pass-rush nuance, angle IQ, and physicality were all noticeable on his college tape, and that part of his game translated well in Mobile — in particular, his pass-rush nuance, which took center stage. In one-on-ones against RBs, Elarms-Orr had the highlight with a brutal bull-rush, attacking with explosive lower-body load and tight hands, and knocking his man to the turf.
From a schematic standpoint, Elarms-Orr projects as a strong fit for Aaron Glenn’s defensive structure with the New York Jets. Glenn’s system places a premium on linebackers who can process quickly, fit the run with discipline, and execute pattern-matching responsibilities behind aggressive fronts.
Elarms-Orr’s mental processing, toughness, and comfort operating in traffic align well with a MIKE or strong-side rotational role in Glenn’s base and sub packages. His ability to communicate, play downhill, and remain assignment-sound supports the Jets’ emphasis on defensive cohesion and situational reliability, particularly on early downs and in high-leverage red-zone sequences.
Overall, Elarms-Orr profiles as a dependable rotational linebacker with starter viability in the right coaching and structure. His ceiling is tied more to consistency and intelligence than raw athletic upside, but his play style, competitiveness, and schematic fit make him a valuable mid-to-late Day 3 target for a Jets defense built on physicality, discipline, and collective execution.