Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Rookie free agent preview: Dominique Curry, WR, Cheyney

Dominique Curry, 6'2" 227
WR, Cheyney

Rankings: 83rd-ranked WR by Pro Football Weekly. Expected to have a chance to be in an NFL training camp.
97th-ranked WR by NFLDraftScout.
117th-ranked WR by Scouts Inc. Lacks NFL skills; not expected to make a solid contribution as a camp body.

Biography/Honors:
Here's a shocker! Curry played in the 2010.... CACTUS BOWL, the college all-star game the Rams are single-handedly trying to make relevant by signing every player who appears in it. He had one catch for 8 yards.

Curry played at Cheyney from 2005-07. He graduated in 2009 with a year of football eligibility left and played at California University of Pennsylvania in 2009.

2009: Role player with 4 catches for 64 yards and 2 blocked punts.
2007: All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference 1st team. 38 catches for 583 yards (15.3 ypc).
2006: All-PSAC 1st team. 63 catches for 1,035 yards (16.4 ypc) and 7 TDs.
2005: PSAC Rookie of the Year and 2nd-team all-conference. 33 catches for 584 yards (17.7 ypc) and 4 TDs in 11 games.

Major: Geographical information systems, with a 3.5 GPA.

Injuries: None reported.

Pro day stats: (per his YouTube highlight video)
* 4.52 40
* 17 bench presses
* 10'1" broad jump

Positives: Three-sport (football, basketball, track) athlete. Receiver with good size and timed speed, sticky hands and good concentration. Can go up and get it; frequently successful outleaping Division-II DBs for deep jump balls. Decent runner after the catch and looked difficult to tackle, for his level of competition. Seems to have good sideline awareness and ability to adjust to the pass. Seems competent with WCO-style routes. Headhunter on special teams who can throw a good block on kickoffs. Competer.

Negatives: Even at the Division-II level, he didn't look especially hard to cover. Does not appear to be an elusive route-runner and does not appear to have elite speed as a route-runner.

Compares to: Texans 7th-round pick Dorin Dickerson. Considered too small for TE, heavy for their size for WR. Dickerson is significantly faster.

Fun facts: Curry is the closest thing to a geek you're probably going to find in the NFL. He's a computer major who played at a school (CalPa) whose athletic teams are called... the Vulcans. I mean, come on, every geek wants to be a Vulcan, don't they? Please tell me the vets will force him to sing the Vulcan fight song in camp, and that it involves frequent use of the word "Kroy-kah".

RamView: RamView wishes Curry the best, but he's a player who had just four teams at his Pro Day, and they were likely there to see another player, receiver A.J. Jackson. I don't see that he has NFL-level skills as a receiver, though he certainly has the athletic background and physical attributes to be polished into one. His best chance to contribute quickly to the Rams appears to be on special teams, but he'd probably have to beat out veteran Jordan Kent, and Kent's teams play is top-notch. Curry looks like the longest of long shots from here, but this is the time of year great stories are made, or at least begin.

Sources: Pro Football Weekly 2010 Draft Preview, Cheyney University athletics site, ESPN.com, CDSDraft.com, InsidePittsburghSports.com, NFLDraftScout.com, YouTube.com

photo from Cheyney athletics website

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