Combine catchup: running back

Notes from NFL Combine coverage of February 27th:

Again NFL Network's focus on what's unimportant is the biggest impression left from a Combine session. Why such incessant coverage on the running back broad jump? (And how come none of the RBs can ever stick the landing with both feet when every single offensive lineman could?) Then when there's something you want to see, like the RBs running their second 40s, NFL Net won't even cover it because they're busy interviewing Tim Tebow. Here's what I could make of what we did get to see.

- Most impressive number of the Combine so far: 172-pound Dexter McCluster doing 20 bench presses of a bar that outweighs him by 53 pounds. McCluster's believed to be hurt by his 4.58 40 time. That is a disappointing time for a guy projected to play some wide receiver. I thought he stumbled on one of his runs but that doesn't account for that being his best time. He also had a drop in what I'll call the flare route drill.
- Jahvid Best ran the best time at the position with 4.35. C.J. Spiller got credit for 4.37 after NFL Network timed him at 4.27. He didn't hurt himself in any event. I don't know about Spiller, but Best is also a track athlete, so you would expect him to run well.
- Ben Tate had a big day. 4.43 40 and 26 bench reps. He and Joe McKnight (4.49) are fast, but you have to run the right direction, too. They both ran the wrong way on the drill that's supposed to show how explosive a back is out of his cuts. Rashawn Jackson's reaction time looked especially slow in this drill, and Charles Scott's drill was a disaster. Balancing that off, Scott had the fastest 3-cone drill time.
- Anthony Dixon came in at 4.67, but he's a name to watch where the Rams are concerned. I'd call him a Shonn Greene-type. Sylvester Croom coached him at Mississippi State a couple of years and knows he broke 100 yards against several of the SEC's top teams.
- Toby Gerhart was timed at 4.53 and protected the ball with both hands during the pitchout/5-cone drill even though the coach's instructions were not to do that. I still like that. Stafon Johnson switched the ball to the proper arm during this drill though the instructions were not to do that, either. And I still like that. I want my players protecting the ball. It was a little disturbing seeing all the receivers running down the sideline this weekend with the ball in the wrong arm.
- It doesn't sound like Dixon or Gerhart caught many passes in college, though. Same for Jonathan Dwyer, though NFL Net led us to think otherwise on him.
- Though a big back, Tate delivered the third-fastest RB time, and big back Ryan Matthews was right behind him with a 4.45. Joe McKnight turned in a 4.49. Montario Hardesty had an unofficial 4.49 and was probably in the low 4.5s.
- Unimpressive 40s: LeGarrette Blount, 4.62; Stafon Johnson, 4.66. Had to have some admiration for Johnson, though, bouncing back from a near-fatal weightlifting accident to do 13 reps at the Combine.

Spiller was the star of the group. By demonstrating speed and size, Tate and Matthews took significant strides up the board with their Combines. On the other hand, McCluster's 40 time didn't help his evaluation any. The good value players appear to have moved ahead of the Rams' 3rd-round pick and I doubt there'll be good value at that position again until the later rounds.