Cincinnati Bengals checked out Illinois State Pro Day

NFL teams send personnel and scouts all over the country to check out the various ongoing pro days, and there is no school pro day too small for teams to send members to scope out. For instance, Illinois State received visits from several interested teams at their pro day in the Cincinnati Bengals, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Green Bay Packers, and Chicago Bears.

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Illinois State’s career passing leader is set to his the 2013 NFL Draft, and it will be interesting to see where he ends if. Even if he isn’t drafted, he should be able to latch onto a team’s roster in the hopes that the team can groom him into something (even if it is just a backup). Cincy Jungle (link above) writes that the Bengals are looking to groom a rookie quarterback for the backup role, and it will be interesting to see if the Bengals sign Matt Brown- ISU’s QB- as an undrafted free agent and place him on the practice squad.

The Bucs, Bears, and Packers could all use a backup quarterback hanging at the end of their roster. Brown seems solid, and he had a quality pro day that reflected some good college numbers- including a career 63.7% completion percentage.

The best player on Illinois State is an intriguing inside linebacker prospect in Evan Frierson, who was likely the main attraction for the four teams that scoped him out. Frierson is a quality linebacker prospect and should get selected in the later rounds. He is about 6’1″, 237 pounds and runs a 4.65 forty yard dash.

Brown likely gained some team with his pro day, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a team like the Bengals take a shot at drafting him in one of the later rounds. He has a solid live arm and could be a quality backup at the NFL level if properly invested in.

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter for more NFL updates and analysis @SorianoJoe.