At 26.2 miles of running, a marathon is one of man's toughest physical accomplishments, to the point that people who can run half of one are so proud of it they'll stick one of those "13.1" stickers on the back of their vehicle. So where's the sticker for somebody who watches 7-plus hours of NFL Combine footage on a Sunday? Talk about your grueling marathons. Here's the highlights:
* Quarterback. The
Rams aren't looking for a quarterback in this year's draft, not high,
at least, but this may have been the most important position at the
Combine for them anyway. Day 2 of the Combine opened with Robert
Griffin III ripping off a 4.41 40. The Rams didn't interview him in
Indianapolis, but they should at least buy him dinner, for putting
the value of pick #2 overall through the roof. Andrew Luck was no
slouch, either, putting up numbers similar to Cam Newton's last year
in just about everything. They're the obvious 1-2 punch at the
beginning of this year's draft now.
What do I hear for
#2? Two first-rounders? Three first-rounders? Let the bidding begin!
* Wide receiver.
But let's skip the QBs for the moment and go to a position the Rams
probably will take in this year's first round. A lot going on at WR:
* Justin Blackmon
didn't run the 40, but that didn't really seem to hurt his standing
as the draft's top wide receiver. His first gauntlet run was
excellent, and the ball he dropped on the second run was thrown well
low. He muffed a slighly-underthrown ball on a deep sideline route,
but also made a good grab of a bad throw on the first speed out
drill. He's far from the biggest receiver there, but he plays bigger than he measures and was one of, if not the best route-runner, there. He makes a decent case for a top-five pick.
* Not that Michael
Floyd (Notre Dame) isn't close. His second gauntlet run was one of
the best of the day because he cleanly handled several tough, low
throws. He also had a perfect first run. He also ran a 4.47, and
given that he's a good 2-3 inches taller than Blackmon, Floyd could
be an excellent consolation prize for a team that might miss out on
Blackmon after trading down. Ahem.
* Stephen Hill
(Georgia Tech) made the biggest move of anybody at this year's
Combine, not just by burning a 4.38 (that NFL Network originally
overclocked at 4.30), but by looking great at all the position
drills. His gauntlet runs were probably the best of the day. He
looked good on slant routes, made a nice overhead catch on a deep dig
route, and the only pass I saw him drop was thrown too far behind
him. Great size and speed in the Demaryius Thomas mode, and though his game tapes won't show a lot of action because Georgia Tech is an option offense, the Combine tape shows Hill can ball.
* I'm a biased
Illini fan, but A.J. Jenkins had a good day. The Brandon Lloyd clone
turned in a 4.39 and made a beautiful connection with a Ryan Lindley
pass on a deep corner route.
Like Hill, there
were some other sleeper candidates to show some life today:
*
T.J. Graham (NC State) blazed a 4.41 and had an excellent 2nd
gauntlet run after a couple of drops on the first run.
*
Juron Criner (Arizona) seemed to get more than his fair share of bad
passes but made the most of them with several tough catches.
* Lavon Brazill
(Ohio) could be worth a look as a late pick. Very nice gauntlet run,
sub 4.5 speed, played the deep ball well. 5'11” height may be his
issue.
Then there are the
receivers the Rams and other teams may want to stay wide of:
* What the heck is
Alshon Jeffery (South Carolina) thinking? He's reportedly dropped at
least ten pounds this year, the thinking being that he's trying to
get lighter to run a faster 40 time. And that'll be at his pro day,
because he chose not to do anything at the Combine. Maybe he felt
getting measured went badly enough. Though he's still just a tic
under 6'3”, that's still 1-2 inches short of his billing.
* A lot of balls
hit the ground during gauntlet drills, but I don't think anyone had
it worse than Travis Benjamin (The U), who dropped three in a row
before slowing to a crawl just so he could finally haul one in. He
looked good on vertical routes but had another bad drop during the short
out route drill.
* Dwight Jones
(North Carolina) struggled mightily. He had a bad drop in the speed
out drill and later ran one deep route so poorly, and quit on it,
that he got chewed out by the coaches. You never want to have that
happen at the Combine.
* James Rodgers
(Oregon State) is Jacquizz's brother, inherited the family height
gene, and I can't believe he's serious about being a wide receiver. A
lot of good throws to him fell incomplete because he's too darn short
to get to them at 5'7”. Why not try out for center in the NBA while
you're at it?
* More bad drops:
Marquis Maze (Alabama) had two passes soap through his hands on
comeback routes. Greg Childs (Arkansas) had two bad drops of slant
passes. Gerell Robinson (Arizona State) dropped a pass on a comeback
route that hit him in both hands. Jermaine Kearse (Washington) had a
bad drop on a deep route. Devon Wiley (Fresno State) also had trouble
hanging on to the ball.
* Wish they'd been
faster: Joe Adams (Arkansas) ran a disappointing 4.55 and had a drop
in the gauntlet drill. Mohamed Sanu ran a 4.67 and had a terrible
drop on a deep route.
* Back to the QBs real quick:
Even
without Luck and Griffin throwing, there was a lot to like in the QB
group. Kirk Cousins and Brandon Weeden had excellent sessions.
Cousins threw perfect slant passes and short outs. I don't think
Weeden threw a single bad ball. He put his short outs exactly where
they were supposed to go and arced one beautiful deep corner pass
after another. Nick Foles looked stronger than he did at the Senior
Bowl. Nice accurate out routes and slants, and pretty deep passes on
vertical routes. Did tend to underthrow the deep corners, though.
Austin Davis continues to show plenty of arm. He looked strongest on
the shorter stuff but also threw to the corner well. I think he's
going to be a good pickup for somebody. Kellen Moore was similarly
pinpoint on the short and timing stuff but was even less of a deep
thrower. Patrick Witt (Yale) showed he could make about all the
throws, and Ryan Lindley looked a major spell better than he did at
the Senior Bowl, with a series of pretty, deep passes.
On
the other hand, I have no idea how Case Keenum could rack up such
crazy numbers in college when he looked so awful here. Was probably
the worst player on the field. He threw slants behind receivers,
couldn't throw the deep dig route, which was cake for every one else,
accurately, couldn't throw decent out routes, couldn't keep deep
sideline passes in bounds... simply an awful outing. Jacory Harris
showed neither accuracy on short outs nor deep arm strength. Darron
Thomas (Oregon) did his own share of underthrowing. Jordan Jefferson
(LSU) made up for them by overthrowing almost every short pass,
showing little hope of completing a short out route ever. Mike Mayock
can say he just wants to see the ball leaving Jefferson's hand all he
wants – a five-yard pass flying ten yards out of bounds just
doesn't do anybody a whole lot of good.
* And at running back:
The
Rams once again have some nice candidates for change-of-pace
third-down back, and no Billy Devaney picking this year and ignoring
the need. Lamar Miller (The U), LaMichael James, Ronnie Hillman
(SDSU) and Chris Rainey all ran 4.45 or better 40s and showed they
can do the job. James can run all the routes. He was textbook making
catches in the flat and looked nice running the deep corner. Hillman
had good moments there as well and made some of the best cuts as a
runner in the hole. Worthy of his school's most famous alumnus,
Marshall Faulk. Rainey didn't have a perfect catching day but looks
like a completely natural pass catcher. David Wilson's (Virginia
Tech) right there as well, having run a 4.49 and having done well at
all of the passing drills.
A
surprise here was Chris Polk, who I thought stunk at the Senior Bowl.
But he's also a natural pass catcher and he did some of the best
route-running there. He was about the only player who sold the flat
route like you're supposed to when he ran the wheel route.
If
you want your team to look good getting off the bus, your guy is
either Davin Meggett or Robert Turbin (Utah State). Meggett is built
like a truck and Turbin is rocked up like a bodybuilder.
Really hurts his agility, though, especially as a receiver. Bradie
Ewing is considered “just” a fullback, but he looks like a solid
receiver and seems to play faster than his timed speed. No idea how
he is as a blocker, though.
On the down side:
* Lennon Creer didn't look anything
like the guy who shined at the Shrine Game. Really needs to clean up
his footwork. One of the few guys to kick the pads during one of the
change-of-direction drills, and he stumbled running through the hole in
another. Also had a tough time with the catch on the flat route.
Puzzling day for a player who'd had a good offseason up till now.
* Doug Martin (Boise State) got a lot
of positive reviews from Mayock, but he dropped a screen pass and got
eaten up at the end of the running backs' version of the gauntlet.
* Cyrus Gray (Texas A&M) also
showed plenty of footwork issues, including doing a full spin running
one of the flat routes. Yikes, that's a big hit or a pick-six waiting
to happen. Hillman did that, too.
* I don't think Marc Tyler inherited
his pop's speed. 4.76. Also had a clumsy drop of a deep pass and
overran the hole in the “dummy drill,” which very few backs ever
mess up.
-$-
Time becomes a serious issue for yours truly the next couple of weeks. Still have the defensive Combine sessions Monday and Tuesday, and free agent previews, and they'll be clashing with a week-long class and an upcoming trip out of town. May be difficult to get those things out in very good order, sorry in advance.
-$$-
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