NFL player's visit has Brewers musing about their own football prowess

PHOENIX -- Indianapolis Colts Pro Bowl cornerback Kenny Moore II took the field for the Brewers’ morning workout on Wednesday as a guest of left-hander DL Hall. Moore and Hall’s older brother Nick were best friends while growing up in Valdosta, Ga., and Moore had a standing invitation to visit DL in Spring Training.

“I’m a sports junkie,” Moore said. “It’s a different type of world here. They have a lot of games.”

Said Hall: “I respect the physicality [of the NFL]. I don’t want to get hit the way they do. But I’m sure they don’t want to play 162 games, either.”

If Hall came to Colts training camp, where would Moore position him?

“It depends. We’ll have to see if he has his speed,” he said, smiling. “If he has his speed, maybe we’ll put him at safety. If not, probably at outside ‘backer.”

Naturally, Hall, who is nursing a lat injury at the moment but makes a living with his arm, had a different position in mind.

“I’ve got to take snaps, man,” Hall said. “I have to be a quarterback.”

Which led us to a question:

Which Brewers player would best survive a day in the NFL?

We surveyed the clubhouse.

“Survive? Or thrive?” asked Brewers closer Trevor Megill. “Because I want to see William [Contreras] thrive in that situation. And on the other hand, I think it would be absolutely hilarious to see [Jacob] Misiorowski try and do it.

“But William, he would mess someone up. He’s got that younger brother thing going. I wouldn’t mess with that guy.”

Contreras was Christian Yelich’s pick, too.

“William, because he’s a little crazy,” Yelich said.

Who would Contreras like to see?

“[Jackson] Chourio can fly,” he said. “I say Chourio.”

And Chourio?

“Contreras or [Jorge] Alfaro for defense,” Chourio said.

Alfaro, a non-roster invitee to Brewers camp who is likely to be the first call should Contreras or backup catcher Eric Haase miss time, was a popular pick. He’s listed at 6-foot-2, 243 pounds and is nicknamed "El Oso."

The Bear.

“He’s thick,” said Brewers shortstop Cooper Pratt, grabbing one of Alfaro’s broad shoulders as he walked by. “That’s what you want to look for.”

Others went for raw speed. Infielder Brice Turang, third in the Majors last season with 50 stolen bases, always wanted to play quarterback as a kid but thinks he’d fit best today as a slot receiver.

He wasn’t alone.

“Yeah, Turang,” said pitcher Brandon Woodruff. “Let’s put him in the slot and see what happens when he gets hit.”

Pitchers were rudely passed over for the most part, though Misiorowski tabbed right-hander Logan Henderson based on his athleticism. Much more common were picks like that of Tobias Myers, who went for the best combination of height and size with 6-foot-6, 254-pound first-base prospect Ernesto Martinez Jr.

“If he can catch a football, I’m throwing him out there at tight end,” Myers said. “Do we know if he can catch a football? I have a feeling he can.”

Somehow, the two men who arguably had the best football careers were passed over in our little poll.

Sal Frelick was a star quarterback at Lexington (Mass.) High School who threw for 1,940 yards and 30 touchdowns his senior season and was named Gatorade Massachusetts Football Player of the Year. Megill mentioned Frelick as having the hard-nosed personality to thrive in the NFL, but couldn’t come up with a position.

Outfielder Brewer Hicklen, meanwhile, played wide receiver at the University of Alabama-Birmingham before that school ended its football program in 2014 and he focused exclusively on baseball. He knows the rigors of both sports as well as anyone.

“When I look at my time playing football, it was a huge blessing. I try to take a lot of that mentality into the way I play baseball,” Hicklen said. “I hope that’s what makes me unique and a little bit different -- having a gridiron mentality between the white lines.”

Hicklen’s clubhouse pick to survive a day in the NFL, incidentally, was Garrett Mitchell.

“He’s a specimen,” Hicklen said.

Did Hicklen ever dream of an NFL career?

“Whatever I did, I always shot for the stars,” he said. “I remember that when I was in kindergarten, I wrote that when I grew up I wanted to be a catcher for the Boston Red Sox and a quarterback for the New England Patriots.”

Moore knows what it’s like to play for the Patriots. He didn’t play football until his senior year of high school, then attended Division II Valdosta State University and signed as an undrafted free agent with New England in 2017. The Patriots waived him despite a strong preseason, and Moore went to the Colts and became a star. In 2021, he made the Pro Bowl. Last March, he signed a three-year contract worth $30 million that made Moore the NFL’s highest-paid nickel cornerback.

He gets back to work with the Colts next month. Moore and Hall plan to stay in touch all season.

“He’s been doing it a little longer than I have,” Hall said. “I know it’s different locker rooms, but it’s good to have a veteran mindset I can bounce things off of.”