SOMEWHERE IN AMERICA – Prospect X tightens his grip on his fork. His hand swallows the fragile utensil. He takes a deep breath and sighs, shaking his head back and forth to reset.
“Come on!” he shouts as he wants to take another giant bite.
The Meat Lover’s Skillet normally comes with two eggs, but X ordered his with four more. He’s a regular at this small-town restaurant, and the waitress jokes that he cleans out their refrigerator by “ordering 25 eggs” every time he comes by.
The pan is the second of three plates of food that he absolutely must put away for lunch. X once made a huge two-patty burger topped with blue cheese, bacon and another egg. He hit a wall halfway through the six-egg pan with bacon, ham and sausage. He always has a Nutella and banana pancake taunting him on plate number 3.
X’s tattooed biceps peek out from a navy short-sleeve shirt emblazoned with the logo of an NFL team he recently visited. He has always been a big eater: when he went to eat with his parents around the age of 8 or 9, he cried at the idea of ordering a children’s menu. “Two chicken fingers?” he says. “What’s that going to do for you?” — but he gained nearly 30 pounds this offseason in his quest to get ready for the league.
This kind of extreme eating is hard work. He weighs up to 306 pounds and while he trains his body to handle this new weight, he must continue to eat. “My mother used to tell me, ‘Buy a takeaway box! “, he said. But giving up is not an option. “I know what my goal is, and 300-plus sounds way prettier than 290.”
Sitting next to him in the restaurant booth is his roommate and best friend, the Australian punter for his college team. X offers him a bite from his pan and he takes a small bite. “That was a little piece of ass, bro,” X said.
He fights through the rest of the pan, sips water, stretches, and cheers himself on again. The sweet crepe goes down relatively easily, and he takes a photo of his three immaculate plates to send to some of the other hopefuls he trained with this winter – they couldn’t believe how much he would eat.
He’s tired of eating like this, but that’s what it takes when you’re a student at a small school in a rundown town and the draft is only a week away.
I’ve spent the last two months researching the most overlooked prospect in the 2024 NFL Draft. After surveying scouts, following the results of professional workouts, watching tape, and strategizing like a general manager, I chose a player who I believe is the best kept secret in the draft: a prospect from a small school with no combine invite and no top three. star game appearance but a good shot to get drafted.
In each of the past five years, readers of this series have made their best guesses as to X’s identity, which will be revealed in a follow-up story after the preview. But for now – to allow him to be honest about the pre-draft process and for the sake of the NFL teams chasing him – he is “Prospect X.”
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Meet Prospect X, the Most Overlooked Player in the 2024 NFL Draft