Northwest’s Bevins keeping a cool head as NFL draft nears

DAILY FORUM FILE PHOTO
Northwest’s Collin Bevins rushes at Nebraska-Kearney quarterback Justin Roberts during the Bearcats’ 52-14 win over the Lopers during the 2016 season. Bevins was wearing No. 52 that game in honor of teammate Nicholas Turner, who passed away prior to the season.

Former Northwest Missouri State University football defensive lineman Collin Bevins finds himself counting down the days.

“I’ve been pretty nervous and anxious,” said the Creston, Iowa, native. “I guess it just comes with the territory.”

The NFL draft starts Thursday and Bevins has had recent workouts with the Arizona Cardinals and the Los Angeles Chargers leading up to it.

Bevins traveled to Arizona to meet with Cardinals officials and workout for them while the Chargers representatives ran Bevins through a private workout in Maryville earlier this month.

While Bevins received high praise from both teams, he knows he has to keep his head down and just keep working. He can’t let the praise go to his head.

“Both teams said they really like what I can do and what I can bring to the table,” he said. “the reality is the probably tell everybody that who they give a workout too. They don’t want to have anyone leave with a bad taste in their mouths. It’s hard sometimes to not buy into that too much.”

Rich Wright, who will lead the Bearcats onto the field for the first time as head coach in 2017, spent the past six seasons as the defensive coordinator, and he said Bevins is ready for the NFL.

“He fits the cookie cutter,” Wright said. “It’s just a matter of where people want him to play. Some people have him projected as a 3-4 defensive end and other people have him inside. The flexibility he gives you is different than any defensive lineman we’ve had come out of here. He’s big enough to play inside or outside.”

According to Bevins’ NFL draft profile on nfl.com, which Lance Zierlein put together, Bevins’ strengths are in his long arms and larger-than-average hand size. Zierlein also said that Bevins knows how to get beneath an opponents’ pads and is powerful and efficient. Zierlein noticed that Bevins doesn’t stop working until the whistle blows.

On the downside, he also said Bevins’ lacks power coming out of his stance and less-than average burst to the ball.

Zierlein projects Bevins to end up in free agency, but implied that it wouldn’t surprise him if Bevins, at the very least, ends up on a practice squad somewhere.

While Wright largely agrees with Zierlein on Bevins’ strengths, he said the weaknesses portion comes from deceiving film.

“A lot of it is how he plays for us,” he said. “People who look at that stuff don’t understand the system we play in. When you’re playing on top of an offensive tackle as opposed to outside and told to run up a field, and given certain sets of responsibilities, it makes you look a certain way on film.

“I would agree with the fact that he’s not a pass-rushing defensive end at the NFL level. He’s not going to be Osi Umenyiora. Dave Tollefson was a lot more explosive in running the 40-yard dash than Collin is, but I’ve had dinner with all those guys, and none of those guys are as big as he is. Justin Tuck isn’t as big as he is. The bigger the person, the slower they look on film. When you get them on the field, a lot of the time, they are faster than you think they are.”

Bevins participated in the Missouri Western Pro Day on March 24 and had discussions with the New York Giants, Miami Dolphins, Arizona Cardinals, Seattle Seahawks, Green Bay Packers, New York Jets and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Bevins had 61 tackles, 8 sacks, 15 ½ tackles for loss this past season, helping Northwest win a second straight Division II title.

He earned first-team All-American honors in two publications and a second-team honor from another after a season where he consistently had to battle two offensive linemen.

Bevins, who will stay busy working out with Northwest strength and conditioning coach Joe Quinlin and fellow draft hopeful Cass Weitl, plans on watching the draft at home in Creston with family and a few friends.

Wright on other draft hopefuls

Cass Weitl — “Cass is another one that’s going to have an opportunity to play. I would be surprised if he got drafted, but I think he’ll sign a free agent contract. There’s a lot of people who really like him and who are really intrigued about him. He’ll be a Matt Longacre-kind-of guy. He’s going to be a high-motor guy, a guy who plays hard, and a guy who will surprise some people. A lot of making it in the NFL is landing in the right spot. Being a free agent has its advantages because you get to essentially pick where you go.”

Simon Mathiesen — “The interesting thing about Simon is that he hasn’t really had a lot of formal training as a kicker. I think a team that looks at him has the ability to have quite a bit of upside. He hasn’t topped out as far as who he is. It’ll be does somebody want to take the chance? Kickers generally aren’t going to get drafted, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in a camp as well.”