Combine catchup: defensive backs

Notes from NFL Network Combine coverage of March 1: (post back-dated to 3/18)

NFL Network's coverage of this year's Combine workouts for defensive backs was a complete fiasco. As usual with large position groups, they only put the second group on TV, and at least in the 2-hour package that I got to view, there was NO review of what went on in the first group. We didn't see any and the announcers didn't tell us any.

Perhaps they were trying how to figure out how to use a god damn stopwatch. Coverage opened with a report of Taylor Mays running a stunning 4.24 40. That seemed to be a draft-transforming moment right there, until Mays' official time came out later, at 4.43. Yes, NFL Network somehow blew the time by a whopping two-tenths of a second. How are they coming up with their times, by counting one-Mississippi? Just ridiculous. The most accurate reports we had were for Kyle Wilson and SydQuan Thompson. They didn't run.

Maybe NFL Network should have just had Deion Sanders guess each runner's time. Seriously. When they clocked Mays at 4.24, Prime Time was the only one questioning the time. Mays didn't look that fast to him. But he did look faster than the official 4.43. Riiiight, Prime. Except when the video crew overlaid Mays' run with Trindon Holliday's run at the start of the week, Mays ran faster. And Holliday was an official 4.34. So Mays should have been somewhere between 4.30 and 4.33.

In any event, if the NFL is going to rely SO heavily on 40 times for its player evaluation and news reporting, the league and its network better get their freaking acts together so they report consistent, official times in a timely manner. I don't know why this should be so hard or create as much confusion as it did this week.

* (Semi)official gym class results:
Brandon Ghee 4.45; Eric Berry 4.47 with a 43-inch vertical leap; Devin McCourty 4.48; Chris Cook 4.46 with an 11-foot broad jump; Perrish Cox 4.53; workout warrior A.J. Jefferson 44-inch vertical; Javier Arenas 4.52.

* Heavy on safety. Berry and Earl Thomas both came in “significantly” heavier than expected. NFL Net timed Thomas' 40 at 4.53, which means he really ran about 4.7. That to me is a red flag for a guy Mike Mayock et al. have done nothing but gush about for two months. Have to red flag Rhodes Scholar Myron Rolle, too. He was timed by NFL Net at 4.68.

* Offshore drilling. Coverage featured two drills. One had the players drop back and flip their hips three times, then slant deep and catch a long throw at its highest point. I'll call that the “flip your hips” drill. The other had the players drop, come forward, then drop back again and cover a deep pass. I'll call that the “closing speed” drill. It seems designed to see how well the player can recover from getting pump-faked and trying to jump a short route that wasn't thrown.

Mays looked good at flip-your-hips the first time but messed up the drill the second time and broke deep before he was supposed to. Rolle was said to look good here. His change of direction did look quite good later. SydQuan Thompson performed this drill and butchered the deep catch. He also had a drop in the closing speed drill. His stock's falling as fast as most balls he tries to intercept. Sanders didn't like Thomas' drill, though I thought he looked fine. He played too high in the closing speed drill and also dropped the pass.

* Thumbs up/down. This downgrade's mine, because the NFL Net analysts love them some Patrick Robinson. Not like Deion's going to criticize a fellow Seminole. But his 4.42 was network-timed, so he really ran somewhere in the mid-4.5's, far from special cornerback speed. His hips looked really stiff in the first drill and he didn't move all that fluidly in the second drill, either. Stiff hips, I tell you, stiff hips!

Joe Haden's 4.57 40 was the biggest disappointment of the day, though Mayock refused to come off his call that Haden is this draft's best corner.

Everything about McCourty looked good. He should be at worst a second-rounder. Me talking again.

David Pender of Purdue “popped” (so you know Mayock said it) as one of the better prospects. Good speed, good athleticism, looked good in all of the drills.

* Punch lines. Seriously? All of the National Football League put their defensive back evaluation process in the hands of Peter Giunta?

Rich Eisen unofficially got his 40 time down to 6.25 this year. I say unofficially since it was timed by NFL Network, so it was probably really an 8.25.

Also, we can tell Eisen has never worked for the Philadelphia Eagles, or the Rams would have signed him already.

That's it for RamView's 2010 NFL Combine coverage. Good week for C.J. Spiller, Ben Tate, the inevitable Bruce Campbell, Trent Williams, Jermaine Gresham, Ryan Matthews, and certainly Ndamukong Suh. Not so good, for various reasons, for Gerald McCoy imo, along with Dan LeFevour (for not working out), Colt McCoy (for not working out and measuring 6'1"), Joe Haden or SydQuan Thompson.

On to pro days.