Why some NFL coaches think the transfer portal is killing prospect development

When I began working on my annual NFL Draft confidential about a month ago, I wasn’t looking into how the name, image and likeness and transfer portal dynamics had impacted pro football.  But after making a bunch of calls to NFL coaches, that became an interesting subplot to this year’s draft.One veteran NFL defensive line coach lamented just how bad he thought this year’s draft class of interior defensive linemen actually is. He almost sounded apoplectic about it.“This is the worst D-tackle group in 10 years,” he told The Athletic. “It’s horrible.”Advertisement