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.
MOBILE, Ala. — Bo Melton claims he wasn’t nervous to speak with NFL teams.
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After all, these are just the most important job interviews of his life.
“Nah, not at all,” Melton said with a smile this week at the Senior Bowl. “You gotta go in there confident.”
That will certainly help.
So will showing off your stuff on the field.
The good news for Melton is he did both in front of NFL scouts, head coaches and decision-makers this week at the Senior Bowl. The annual event in Mobile, Alabama, is the first step of a long and arduous pre-draft process for over 100 NFL hopefuls.
Melton said most of his conversations with NFL folks this week were just to get to know him as a person. But they also wanted to know his knowledge of the game. He thinks those interviews went well.
The practices after that went well too.
NFL
“First practice was very good,” Melton said on Wednesday. “A lot of drills that we did. I got some return work. A lot of high-flying football. We did 1-on-1, we did 7-on-7s, we did team activities. It was just a fun atmosphere to play in.”
Melton couldn’t wait to get on the field. He arrived in Mobile on Sunday evening around 7 o’clock and the first thing on his agenda: Paperwork. But in the days that followed, he got to learn under the National team coaches from the New York Jets.
And then on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the young receiver got to catch passes from some of the top quarterbacks entering this year’s draft: Kenny Pickett, Carson Strong and Desmond Ridder.
Melton (5-11, 191) made the most of his opportunities. He showed his pure speed and his ability to change direction. He was used in a variety of ways, including on end arounds and quick passes to the flat and he got in some return work.
"I just want to prove that I can do a lot of things here, be versatile and show my game,” he said.
In his final two seasons at Rutgers, Melton was a very productive player. He caught 47 passes for 638 yards and 6 touchdowns in 2020 and caught 55 passes for 618 yards and 3 touchdowns in 2021. He also returned 11 kickoffs for an average of 25.9 yards and 5 punts for an average of 19.2 yards.
Melton is trying to become the first Rutgers player to get drafted since Saquan Hampton and Blessuan Austin went in the 6th round in 2019 and he’s trying to become the first Rutgers receiver to get drafted since Leonte Carroo in the 3rd round back in 2016.
Most pundits think he’ll have to wait until Day 3 if he does get drafted, but if he performs as well at the combine as he did at the Senior Bowl, he’ll be well on his way.
While in Mobile, Melton was already forging bonds with his fellow receivers. He’ll see a lot of them again when he gets to the combine in about a month.
“They all are cool guys, good receivers,” Melton said. “We can all critique each other’s game and help each other. It’s all love at the end of the day so we go out there and we try to help each other and motivate each other.”
After the end of the Senior Bowl on Saturday, Melton plans to head back to Florida, where he’ll continue his combine training at Bommarito Performance Systems, a popular move for draft hopefuls.
Down in Florida, Melton will be working on improving his 40-yard dash time and going through the exact receiver drills he knows he’ll see in Indianapolis in just a few weeks.
Back in New Jersey, he knows he has the support of all his family and friends and that keeps him going through what can, at times, be a draining experience.
“It means everything,” Melton said. “I still live in South Jersey, my family. It means everything to rep Jersey in general. I’ve always wanted to do this all my life. Staying at home for school and repping my state. Stay prayed up, thank God for it.”
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