WCG’s lead draft analyst speaks with Exos PT Manager Zak Mitchell about his work with Kiran Amegadjie.
It may have been a surprise to some that the Bears took an FCS offensive lineman coming off an injury at No. 75 when they took Yale’s Kiran Amegadjie in the 2024 NFL Draft. For those who know him and have watched him, though, the only surprise is that he didn’t go earlier.
Amegadjie prepared heavily for the draft through physical therapy, having suffered a season-ending quad injury in October of last year. Despite the injury and his not playing at the FBS level, his athletic traits, his dominant tape, and his character played a big role in why he was so highly-touted coming out of the Ivy Leagues.
Few know that as well as Zak Mitchell, the Physical Therapy Manager at Exos Sports Performance Training in Gulf Breeze, Florida. Mitchell had the chance to work with Amegadjie on a regular basis starting in early December, giving him a headstart on draft prep compared to other prospects still finishing up the season.
“We worked together on trying to get him feeling healthier and getting to a good point,” Mitchell told Windy City Gridiron about the intensive rehab process he helped Amegadjie through. “And we continued that [from early December] through March. I spent more time with him than anybody else in the building.”
A lot of Mitchell’s work with Amegadjie came in the form of recovery, so Exos didn’t get to see the 2023 first-team FCS All-American at full strength, and the injury also prevented him from performing at the Senior Bowl and the NFL Combine. That said, Mitchell was impressed by his dedication, his work ethic, and his coachability. Even though Amegadjie wasn’t at full strength from an athletic perspective, the tools were obvious when working through exercises.
“I could tell that his strength and his power and his determination, [off] those things, I think he would have tested really well [at the Combine]. I think he could have tested probably near the top of the offensive line group. That’s obviously something I’d have to take a guess at, but he’s a very athletic guy. When you do work with a lot of different people, you can identify traits and qualities about how someone moves, even with very sub-maximum [exercises] and be able to know if they’ve got some pop or not. Kiran’s a guy who’s definitely athletic; he would have tested very well.”
A Hinsdale, Illinois native, Amegadjie returns home to the Chicago area, where he figures to be more of a long-term piece for a Bears offensive line that has most of its starting situation sorted out for 2024. That said, a player with his athletic traits, his determination and his character has a very high ceiling at the NFL level. Having worked as close with him as anybody in the pre-draft process, Mitchell feels confident about his projection in the pros.
“Kiran is genuinely one of the most mature athletes that I’ve worked with,” Mitchell said. “He’s very self-aware, he’s very intelligent, he’s able to see multiple sides of anything that we’re talking about, and it’s not just sports. He and I were able to have many good conversations about life and about things outside of sports. This man is very open and very aware of the multiple sides to all things. I think that’s a very important quality for a young man to have when you’re entering into a professional sports where there’s a lot of things going on around you.”
“He’s honestly one of my favorite athletes to have worked with and to have gotten to know.”
You must be logged in to post a comment Login