This is NFL Draft Journey:
Over the next few months, we’ll be following receiver Bo Melton’s journey throughout the pre-draft process before he hopes to hear his name called this spring. Melton is a Rutgers product who played high school ball at Cedar Creek in South Jersey. And is now working toward fulfilling his dream of being selected in the NFL Draft.
Part I — Melton impressing at Senior Bowl
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Part II — Gearing up for the combine
Part III — Melton wows at NFL combine
After showing off his ability at the Senior Bowl and at the NFL combine, Bo Melton added an exclamation point to his pre-draft process on Tuesday at Rutgers’ pro day.
Melton has had a good couple months.
NFL
“I think I did really good for myself,” Melton said to NBC Sports Philadelphia on Wednesday. “I wanted to prove a point.”
What did he want to prove?
“I really wanted to prove my speed,” Melton said, “my explosiveness.”
Mission accomplished. Melton participated in the Rutgers pro day on Tuesday but decided to stick with most of his test results from the combine and for good reason. Especially, when you look back at his 4.34 time in the 40-yard dash.
But at his pro day, Melton decided to run the short shuttle for the first time and he wanted another crack at the 3-cone drill. In Indianapolis, Melton’s 3-cone time was 6.98 seconds, which was third among receivers this year.
Not bad, but not what he wanted.
“It kind of bugged me at the combine because I knew I could do better than that,” Melton said. “That’s what I was working on when I came out here, getting that down.”
He did. Melton’s 3-cone time was shaved down to 6.81 seconds and his short-shuttle time of 4.10 would have ranked him second among combine competitors last month, just behind Calvin Austin III (4.07).
In addition to the tests (he also benched 18 reps), Melton took part in field drills, which were led by Bengals receivers coach Troy Walters. Melton looked smooth again in front of personnel members from 30 NFL teams.
After months of training in Florida and after trips to Mobile and Indianapolis, the trip back to New Jersey was a lot of fun for Melton. He and his former teammates got to work out together at Rutgers together for about a week before the pro day.
“It was really cool being back with the guys,” Melton said. “It was cool to see everybody.”
Melton has been especially proud of his teammate running back Isiah Pacheco, who after running a 4.37 in Indy, put up an impressive 27 reps on the bench press at the pro day.
Pacheco, like Melton, is a New Jersey product. Pacheco is from Vineland.
“I love when [Pacheco] gets a lot of shine because he’s a great athlete,” Melton said. “People don’t really see that but when he runs those times and how he is on the field. I knew he was an explosive athlete all along. I knew he was going to put himself in great position, just knowing him and growing up with him, he’s a great athlete. He runs hard as a runner. I knew that he was going to shine.”
In addition to local day workouts coming up, Melton has several more Zoom interviews scheduled with NFL teams. The more he talks to teams, the more comfortable he becomes doing it. It’s really about these coaches getting to know him.
Melton doesn’t wear anything in particular for these Zoom calls but he is becoming a professional at how to handle them. Here are three tips:
1. Make sure the room is bright
2. Be locked in and on point
3. Have a notepad and pen handy
Melton said he’s feeling a bit of relief after making it through the Senior Bowl, combine and pro day, the three biggest tentpole events of the NFL’s pre-draft process.
It’s like a weight off his shoulders, Melton said.
And now as he continues training, he can stop worrying so much about the combine tests. Prospects train hard for events like the 40-yard dash and the 3-cone drills. Now, Melton can put all his effort into improving as a receiver.
“Yeah, it feels better,” Melton said. “Now you get to train for football stuff.”
The draft begins in just over a month. Pretty soon, Melton will find out where this draft journey will take him.
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