Peering into April, we see the resplendent oasis that is the 2019 NFL Draft. Nashville grins to us in welcoming, as franchises are saved by deft trades, homerun picks, and the elusive franchise quarterback. Success, failure, bedlam -- that for which we have endlessly prepared has finally arrived.

Eventually, there are no more good players to watch. There are no more worthy debates to have. There is only the excruciating crawl, through the final pre-Draft days, to April 25th.

It's all too easy to overlook the chasm between here and there. If you check your feet beneath you, you may already feel the ground beginning to tilt down, into the deep and dark abyss that is Draft-exhaustion. The same players; the same debates; the same bickering between equally-obscured analysts, with neither object nor end in sight -- they all push us further and faster into the chasm.

How do we soldier through these dark times? We find the final gems -- the last players on our watch lists who probably aren't something, but just maybe, just might be -- in the suffocating rough. We watch Cortez Broughton one lazy Thursday morning, and we feel that spark of excitement once again.

Cortez Broughton's freakin' good, team.

This is how Broughton mostly wins. His first step is lethal, and when Cincinnati knows they can tee-off on the pass-rush, they let Broughton slant or crash on a stunt -- and when that much power comes at you that quickly as an offensive lineman, it's tough to redirect and react.

Broughton's sack numbers aren't bananas, because so much of this interior penetration becomes sacks/throwaways -- but when you put on the tape, you can see the effect it has on an opposing offense.

This off-ball explosiveness and initial power is absolutely devastating. Before the guard can get his hands up and his base built, Broughton is on him with heat.

But this rep also illustrates the issue with Broughton. I credited Broughton with 3.5 batted passes (I couldn't tell on one of them) over the games I watched of his film, which is objectively great -- but we have to ask: why wasn't Broughton getting to the passer?

On a rush like the one, Broughton should be able to sequence a rush move after the initial displacement to attack the quarterback's set point. Was he really sitting down to read the mesh point? I don't think he had a prayer of making a play on that running back, so throw an arm-over or hit a push-pull and attack the thrower!

The weakest aspect of Broughton's game is currently his hand usage -- you can even see in the first clip that Broughton's hands do basically no work on the pressure. As it stands, too often Broughton's pass rushes die because he's given up his chest or failed to win a half-man relationship by letting his hands fall asleep.

The flashes of hand usage illustrate the player Broughton could become. As primarily a bull-rusher, you'd like to see Broughton develop a snatch technique, or push-pull, to combat those offensive linemen who are bracing for a full head of steam, as you see here.

The Ohio LG is leaning heavily on Broughton in an effort to stymie his bull rush. Broughton does a great job feeling that weight and snatching it forward, to clear the rush lane for a quick pressure. However, you can see that Broughton's push-pull is still a segmented, chunky move. He doesn't yet exactly have his lower and upper body sequenced, and so it takes him a second to get his feet under him and turn upfield.

Similar situation here.

Broughton clearly wants to execute some sort of swipe to arm-over combo here, but he doesn't get his hips flipped into the rush lane and doesn't generate an ideal strike with his swipe. Because he's nimble, he's still able to get a clear angle on the quarterback and attack upfield -- but that rush move won't cut it at the NFL level. The building blocks are there, but technical refinement is needed.

Last one.

I love Broughton's ability to rush off the edge -- at 285/290 pounds, he has to fill a bit of a tweener role, and I think he does that nicely by working inside rush moves off of offensive tackles, surprising them with his burst and power. Here, it's a hump move, as Broughton again does a good job feeling the offensive lineman's weight and taking him where he wants to go. Great body control and flexibility here, but again, those traits could be maximized with a quicker move and cleaner footwork.

There's a good deal of polish to add to Broughton's game, and he likely isn't a Year 1 starter accordingly. But if you give this guy just one or two rush counters to hit consistently off of his bull-rush, he's an NFL starter for his ability to penetrate and create pressure. That's what matters, and that's where Broughton shines.

And despite the fact that Broughton's a smaller player and more effective as a rusher, he has some really nice flashes against the run as well. Double teams can get the most of Broughton, an upright player without ideal mass -- but when he reads them, he knows how to explode into contact and drop anchor to muddy up the middle and let his linebackers eat.

With the flexibility to turn corners as a rusher comes the flexibility to withstand contact as a run defender. Again watch as Broughton's able to absorb a combo block, fight pressure with pressure to maintain his ground, and then present in the gap. He's a slippery guy to get a hold of, when he activates his hands to keep his chestplate clean.

Broughton will never be an elite run defender, but he can more than hold his own, especially if he plays closer to the 290 pounds he tested at. Broughton's athletic ability at that size shines, as the Combine snub posted a 33.5" vertical, 113" broad jump, 4.57 short shuttle, and 7.65s 3-cone at the Cincinnati Pro Day.

The fact that he was a Combine snub does not bode well for his chances to get drafted high, but I have Broughton as a Round 3 grade on my board, right around the Top-100. Round 3 grades should be conceived of as "Year 3 Starters," as those players are not yet ready for a starting role in Year 1, but can develop through subpackage play and offseason work to win a starting role later down the road.

In a thick class of talented defensive tackles, Broughton likely won't leave the board until Day 3, but that's okay -- he'll stick on a roster for a while, given his off-ball explosiveness and power rushes. If he can add improved hand usage to his arsenal, Broughton will have a long NFL future wreaking havoc from the inside.