We haven’t hit the field yet, but one of the prospects getting some early buzz here at the Senior Bowl is a guy I highlighted in my piece this morning as one to watch, Javon Kinlaw.

One of my favorite players here, Javon Kinlaw is enormous, talented, and an even cooler guy.



Kinlaw has very inspiring story of how he got to where he's at.@JReidNFL did a great piece documenting that story. Check it out, and watch for this kid to make some noise. https://t.co/DAsQPDpk4N pic.twitter.com/vBuiwEJPq2 — Jeffrey Essary (@JeffreyEssary) January 21, 2020

Kinlaw was impressive in his time at the podium during the opening Senior Bowl press conference. First of all, he is absolutely huge, but it was just his physical traits that had Mobile abuzz about the defensive end from South Carolina.

Javon said all the right things when meeting the media and came off as a very genuine young man who is just happy to be here, and ready to come out and play football.

Kinlaw talked repeatedly about how he was just here to compete and loves to compete; said he just wants to run through people. The quote that really stuck out to me was how he talked about wanting respect as a player and wanting to be the best, but emphasized that he was here to earn it. “I’ve got a ton of respect I need to earn this week.”

It just seems that he has the right mindset and attitude for this week and for the whole draft process. He definitely fits the new mold of high character draft prospects Denver has been selecting lately.

Speaking of that, Kinlaw also joined Ryan Edwards and Benjamin Allbright on KOA’s Broncos Country Tonight, live from here in Mobile, and they asked him about potentially being picked by Denver at #15, as some recent mock drafts have suggested.

His response should be music to Broncos fans’ ears:

“It would mean a lot man, I would love to play for Denver. I would love to give that Dline a little boost. I think I could come in and provide some value there at the D-tackle spot.”

He was also very complimentary of Von Miller and Bradley Chubb.

“They get off that rock, man” Kinlaw said, in reference to Miller and Chubb’s explosiveness at the snap. “I’m telling you, you just gotta respect it. They do their thing in the pass rush, but they play the run also. They might not get that much credit towards that, but they play the run, now.

Javon said his get off and explosiveness is one of the things he prides himself in about his game, and it goes back to his old JUCO defensive line coach that always drilled into him the importance of being the first one off the ball. He said he almost views it as a race, and he has to be the first one off the ball. He would certainly fit in well in Denver in that regard.

Check out his full conversation with Ryan and Ben above or right here. I was high on this kid heading into this week, and am even more excited to watch him now.