alt=Jay DrewFormer USC, Pitt and BYU quarterback Kedon Slovis isn’t planning on having a big watch party or anything of the sort at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona, as the NFL draft plays out Thursday, Friday and Saturday in Detroit.
“I am itching to get back into the routine of things and play the game I love, and also just know where I am going to be for the next amount of years. Because right now, I feel like I am in limbo.”
— Former BYU quarterback Kedon Slovis
Why subject friends and family to the kind of stress, anxiety and nervous anticipation he expects to endure this weekend, he asked rhetorically in a pre-draft interview with the Deseret News.
“I am going to be plenty stressed, so I don’t think I need anyone else around,” Slovis said. “It would probably be the worst idea ever to get everybody I like and have them be miserable or be stressed with me, waiting around the TV or something for my name to be called.”
Besides, Slovis readily agrees, it is far from a sure thing that he will be drafted.
“It’s kind of a crapshoot,” he acknowledged. “You hear some things, but you really don’t know what to believe.”
A few of the dozens and dozens of mock drafts out there have Slovis going in the seventh (final) round, while the majority list him as a probable priority free agent. One of only 14 quarterbacks invited to the NFL scouting combine, Slovis upped his stock considerably in Indianapolis by running a 4.55-second time in the 40-yard dash, the fastest among the quarterbacks who did run.
“I tested decent at the combine; I was pretty happy with how that went,” he said.
If nothing else, his stock has risen the past few months due to his play at the East-West Shrine Bowl and performance in the combine after his only season at BYU ended in inglorious fashion.
So the 6-foot-2, 223-pound Slovis will spend Saturday — when rounds 4 through 7 are held and free-agent invitations are extended that night — around close family and, perhaps, at a golf simulation range working on his swing.
“I will just keep my phone on me and have the TV on in the background, keep myself busy. Nothing too crazy,” he said. “If (it goes well) we will celebrate and have a dinner with my family after.”
In a way, he will just be happy to get the process over and get on with his life, having been stuck the past few months in what he calls “a weird mixture between feeling homeless and unemployed” and wondering what the future holds.
“I am itching to get back into the routine of things and play the game I love, and also just know where I am going to be for the next amount of years,” he said. “Because right now, I feel like I am in limbo.”
Slovis didn’t want to go into details regarding which teams have expressed the most interest, or what teams and coaches are telling him and/or his agent, Kyle Strongin of Range Sports. But he’s confident that if he’s not drafted, he will have plenty of free-agent offers from which to choose.
“I have heard some encouraging things from a number of teams. That makes you feel good going into the weekend. There will be some opportunities, so that is good to know,” he said. “I just gotta put my best foot forward and be the best guy I can be and control what I can control. But again, I am feeling pretty good at this point.”
Working out with John Beck, 3DQB
Shortly after BYU’s 2023 season ended with a 40-34 double-overtime loss to Oklahoma State on Nov. 25 that kept the Cougars out of a bowl game that Slovis probably would not have played in, even if he was completely healthy, the quarterback signed with an agent and started the “stressful” process of preparing for the draft.
He headed out to California to train with former BYU quarterback John Beck and Beck’s colleagues at 3DQB. Speed guru Les Spellman and strength coach Tyler Nunn got him stronger and faster and able to turn heads at the combine.
Even before he showed well at the combine, Slovis had planned to skip the Big 12 pro days in Frisco, Texas, and participate in a private workout that weekend. The only QBs who participated in Texas were UCF’s John Rhys Plumlee, Jason Bean of Kansas and Emory Jones of Cincinnati.
“There was no need for me to go to (Big 12 pro day) and keep throwing to a bunch of guys I don’t know unless I can do a (personal) script or something — which unfortunately they wouldn’t allow me to do,” he said. “The private workout, I was able to showcase certain throws I couldn’t do at the combine or at that pro day.”
Slovis’ 40 time at the combine (4.55 seconds) was somewhat surprising considering he wasn’t known as a running threat at USC, Pitt or BYU, although he did rush for a couple touchdowns with the Cougars. He had negative-259 rushing yards in his five-year college career.
He bypassed the bench press, three-cone drill and 20-yard shuttle at the combine, but did post a 30-inch vertical jump and a 9-foot, 10-inch broad jump.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, going to the combine, and being around some of these great players, it is an awesome opportunity and experience,” Slovis said. “But again, it is a lot, too, so I am glad to be done with it and get back to playing football and finding out the new place I will be at.”
Slovis said he was a fan of the hometown Arizona Cardinals growing up in the Valley of the Sun, but since he started playing college football, he dropped that loyalty.
“Now I am just a fan of the game of the football,” he said.
What the experts are saying
Some of the foremost NFL draft experts in the country are torn regarding Slovis’ future, both in the draft and in the NFL as a whole.
Dane Brugler of The Athletic ranked Slovis at No. 291 in his list of the 300 top prospects in the draft, and the 14th best quarterback. Brugler has BYU left tackle Kingsley Suamataia at No. 40 and BYU punter Ryan Rehkow at No. 234.
Mel Kiper Jr. of ESPN ranked Slovis as the 10th best QB, while Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports has Slovis at No. 12 among QBs and Tom Pelissero has him at No. 10.
“Slovis has functional skills to be a productive passer when everything around him is going right, but he didn’t put enough on tape to suggest he can elevate an offense when things fall apart around him,” Brugler wrote in The Athletic. “He is a practice-squad candidate who will have a chance to grow into a backup role in the NFL.”
At BYU this past season, Slovis threw for 1,716 yards and 12 touchdowns in eight games, his season cut short due to an injury suffered against Texas. In five seasons, Slovis threw for 11,689 yards and 80 touchdowns in his college career.
“He has good size and throws with decent timing, but doesn’t have enough arm strength to make pro throws into tight windows on a consistent basis,” wrote Lance Zierlein of NFL.com. “He struggles with deep-ball accuracy and occasionally puts throws up for grabs when he’s under pressure.”
