The Syracuse Orange will have two players at this year’s NFL Scouting Combine prior to the draft. Seniors Jamal Custis and Chris Slayton both received invites this time around after wrapping up two quality careers in orange.
After spending much of his first four years on campus battling injuries, Custis put it all together in 2018, with 51 catches for 906 yards and six scores. His size (6-foot-5, 213 pounds) combined with his speed (4.5-secondish 40-yard dash) make him a potential high-upside pick for a team wiling to work with him a bit. You can teach better route-running and catching if needed. You can’t really teach being a physical freak.
Slayton, as you know, was a stalwart in the middle of the Orange defensive line and the main reason why SU was able to stop the run at various points these past few years. He had 24 tackles and eight tackles for loss in 2018 — 3.5 of those were sacks. Slayton also had six QB hurries on the year, with a forced fumble. As a junior, Slayton had 28 tackles and 8.5 TFLs (one sack). the slight downturn in numbers this past season is easily attributable to double-teams, which he dealt with pretty consistently.
Both players suited up in the East-West Shrine Game in January. Custis caught four passes for 55 yards, and Slayton tallied a tackle and a QB hurry.
The NFL Network will be televising most of the Scouting Combine, which runs from February 26-March 4 in Indianapolis. Custis will arrive on February 27 and stay through March 2. Slayton will be there from February 28-March 3.
This year’s NFL Draft takes places from April 25-27 In Nashville. Last year, Zaire Franklin was the lone Orange player selected, going in the seventh round to the Indianapolis Colts. He made the roster and wound up with 29 tackles and a defended pass. Franklin tallied a season-high 11 stops against the Patriots in early October.
Congrats to Jamal and Chris on getting invites, and just because other players like Koda Martin, Cody Conway and Eric Dungey didn’t receive invites, it doesn’t mean they’re automatically going undrafted. Franklin wasn’t invited last year and that worked out pretty well for him.