2020 NFL Draft prospect Denzel Mims had ‘bad experience’ his first time in Philly

The weeks leading up to the NFL Draft are normally full of empty answers and platitudes as players just want to make it to draft night unscathed.

Which is why Baylor wide receiver Denzel Mims' description of his first visit to Philadelphia was so... eye-catching? Head-turning? Just plain unexpected?

Mims, appearing on the Inside The Birds podcast earlier this month, was asked about his experience with Philadelphia, both the Eagles' organization and the city itself.

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I expected Mims to blandly say he had a good time during his visit, but his answer veered into very strange territory:

I've been to Philadelphia one time, and it was last summer, before the season. I went with a couple teammates, and my head coach. We went up there, and we just spent a lot of time together.

The experience I had, I was very scared. I wasn't familiar with the whole city, and it was a lot going on. You see a lot of people that look scary. I'm not a part of that, I don't like that. So I mean, I had a bad experience, you could say, going up there for the first time. But I feel like if I just go there more, and I just get familiar with it, I could have a great time.

I, uh... what?

Look, Mims is from the small town of Daingerfield, Texas, which had a population of 2,413 in 2017. So a trip to Philadelphia, the fifth-largest city in the country, was probably jarring.

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But the "a lot of people that look scary" line threw me for a loop. What does that mean? Where in the world did Matt Rhule, then the Baylor head coach and now the Carolina Panthers head coach, take him?

Mims is expected to be taken in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft this week. The Eagles, a wide receiver-needy team, have been linked to him on more than one occassion, and Mims at least said that his experience with the Eagles was pleasant and rewarding:

As far as the coaching staff, I feel like they're great, they're unbelievable, and I feel like they're kind of the same coaching staff that I had at Baylor. They're very loving, cares about you, and just want the best for you. So I feel like if I go there, it'd be a great fit for me, because I feel like I'm home with them.

That's encouraging.

Mims caught 66 passes for 1,020 yards and 12 touchdowns in his senior year with Baylor, and has earned rave reviews from some draft analysts.

But you can bet that if the Eagles decide to draft Mims, you're going to hear a lot about these comments, especially in a city where we like to remind wide receivers that we're watching.

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