Pro Day notes: Potential Day 2 WRs highlight Western Michigan, Ole Miss workouts

Lane Kiffin sure believes Elijah Moore should be a first-round pick. The Ole Miss head coach vouched for his team’s leading receiver after Moore’s Pro Day on Thursday.

“He’s an elite player, should be a first-round draft pick,” said Kiffin, the former Oakland Raiders coach. “And with his work ethic, he’s going to play for a long time in the league.”

Moore certainly showed elite speed. He ran an unofficial 4.34 40-yard dash, which would’ve been among the fastest times at the 2020 NFL Combine.

Moore led Ole Miss with 86 receptions for 1,193 yards and eight touchdowns in 2020. He is generally considered a likely second-round draft prospect. Pro Football Focus has him as high as No. 27 overall on its top 100 list. The Athletic’s Dane Brugler has him 56th overall. NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah has him 50th.

Moore said he has a meeting with the Bears set up for next week. At this point, he has spoken with pretty much every NFL team.

“At times it kind of does get overwhelming because of all the calls and everything, but I’m just blessed to be in this position,” Moore said.

With Bears former second-round draft pick Anthony Miller potentially on the trading block this offseason, the team could be in the market for a slot receiver. Whether Miller returns or not, the Bears need depth at receiver.

Moore was one of two potential Day 2 draft targets showcasing Thursday, Western Michigan’s D’Wayne Eskridge being the other.

Ole Miss used Moore in multiple ways, not solely as a slot receiver.

“He’s proven to go take the ball away from people,” Kiffin said. “We played him outside sometimes. Obviously, his natural position would be inside, but the guy plays physical and sometimes there’s guys that size that don’t. … This kid’s wired right.”

Two-way speed: In Kalamazoo, Michigan, Eskridge flew through his 40-yard dash in 4.38 seconds and still wasn’t satisfied.

“Wanted to run a 4.29 today, for sure,” Eskridge said Thursday. “The weather, it wasn’t terrible. I don’t know what it was. It’s a little bit cooler. I guess it just wasn’t my day for the 4.29, but I still feel like I’m a 4.29 guy.”

Make no mistake, a 4.38 isn’t slow. It’s right on line with what Bears receiver Darnell Mooney ran at the 2020 Combine. Eskridge has legitimate NFL speed.

He also has met with the Bears.

“I had a formal interview with them I think two weeks ago,” Eskridge said. “So I met with the complete staff, GM, everything. Everybody was on there and it went great.”

Eskridge was such a versatile player for Western Michigan that at one point in 2019 he was starting at both receiver and cornerback. That’s not unusual at the youth or high school level, but rarely does a player go two ways at the Division I college level.

He said that knowledge of the cornerback position helps him as a receiver.

“Just realizing some of the vulnerabilities when it comes to DB,” Eskridge said. “The receivers always have the advantage because as a DB I never knew what a receiver was doing, I studied up on tendencies and all that.”