{"id":272491,"date":"2026-04-06T09:00:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T13:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=272491"},"modified":"2026-04-06T07:01:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T11:01:05","slug":"2026-nfl-draft-scouting-report-seth-mcgowan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/04\/06\/2026-nfl-draft-scouting-report-seth-mcgowan\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Seth McGowan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The running back position in this draft class has some overlooked talent, and Seth McGowan may be the frontrunner of that group. With some early off-field <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college\/oklahoma\/football\/report-former-oklahoma-rb-seth-mcgowan-handed-sentence-by-district-judge\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">concerns<\/a> that appear to be in his past, it will be interesting to see just what kind of draft value the NFL is going to place on McGowan.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Measurables:<\/h3>\n<p><b>Height:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 6\u20190\u2033<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Weight:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 223 pounds<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Arms:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 31.375\u2033<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Hands:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 8.75\u2033<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>40-yard:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 4.49<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Vertical:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 42.5\u2033<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Broad jump:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 10&#8217;11&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>RAS:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 9.63<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>School:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Kentucky<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Position:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Running Back<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Seth McGowan NFL Draft Overview<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">McGowan was a four-star recruit and the No. 16 running back in the 2020 class. After committing to Oklahoma, Seth made an immediate impact as a true freshman in 2020, appearing in seven games. He rushed 58 times for 370 yards (6.4 yards per carry), three touchdowns, and 13 receptions for 201 yards and a score.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In April 2021, he was dismissed from Oklahoma after an arrest involving robbery, conspiracy, and assault charges. He pled guilty to larceny, served three months in prison, and spent a year on probation. McGowan decided to continue his collegiate career, but needed an obvious reset. In 2023 at Butler Community College, he rushed for 125 yards and four touchdowns in six games while adding five catches for 104 yards.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">McGowan revived his career at <a  href=\"https:\/\/nmstatesports.com\/sports\/football\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Mexico State<\/a> in 2024, earning second-team All-Conference USA honors. He led the team with 823 rushing yards on 152 carries (5.4 yards per carry), adding three touchdowns across 12 games (11 starts). He also chipped in 23 receptions for 377 yards and three scores. Continuing to rebuild his resume, Seth transferred to Kentucky in 2025 as a redshirt senior and stepped into the lead role. McGowan rushed for 725 yards and a team-high 12 touchdowns on 165 carries (4.4 yards per carry) while reeling in 19 receptions for 126 yards.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">McGowan finished his college career with 375 carries for 1,918 yards and 18 rushing touchdowns, 55 receptions for 604 yards and four receiving touchdowns.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"max-width: px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"b0c95bc04383cef69c6b47df872135cf\" image-id=\"WmOB325Szcgd\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 5168px; aspect-ratio: 5168\/4136;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n<h4><b>Strengths<\/b><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Identifies the lane and moves into it early in the rep<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shows developing patience, followed by an immediate burst into the opening<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Possesses good tempo, balance, and the ability to string cuts together<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Physical and aggressive between the tackles, displaying good base strength and contact balance<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Explosive athleticism<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Effective in short-yardage situations<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Capable pass protector who squares up blitzers<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><b>Weaknesses<\/b><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Will sometimes hesitate too long before making decisions<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ball-security concerns with five fumbles over the last two seasons<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Will turn 25 in his rookie season, reflecting his tire tread as a collegiate athlete<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><b>Projection:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Day 3<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><b>Best Fits:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/seahawks\/\" target=\"_self\"> Seattle Seahawks<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/ravens\/\" target=\"_self\">Baltimore Ravens<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/jaguars\/\" target=\"_self\">Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/panthers\/\" target=\"_self\">Carolina Panthers<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/giants\/\" target=\"_self\">New York Giants<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Bottom Line on Seth McGowan<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With an athletic profile similar to David Johnson of Northern Iowa, the physical gifts are present for McGowan to make an immediate impact on Sundays. If drafted into a situation where he can learn to utilize his patience in following the blocking in front of him, there is a sneaky upside here that can reward a crafty offensive coordinator with returns surpassing his draft selection spot.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some may look at his past as too much of a red flag to take a shot on him with anything higher than a 6th or 7th round pick, but all it takes is for one coaching staff to view the playmaking ability as too much to let slide past early on Day 3.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The running back position in this draft class has some overlooked talent, and Seth McGowan may be the frontrunner of that group.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5786,"featured_media":272655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1647,33760],"tags":[33533,34324,34122],"class_list":["post-272491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-draft","category-profiles","tag-2026-nfl-draft","tag-2026-nfl-draft-combine","tag-seth-mcgowan"],"modified_by":"Sue Levine","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5786"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272491"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":272649,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272491\/revisions\/272649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}