Since I flooded everyone with Combine recaps for almost a full week, I decide to take a bit of a break before posting the “winners” and “losers.” Now we all know that no one can inherently lose the Combine, but they can hurt their stock with bad performances that don’t match what they did on tape. Working out poorly and causing yourself to fall in the draft is a loss to me.
This was probably the most disappointing day in terms of coverage from NFL Network. They spent a lot of time talking about anything but the guys on the field and showing commercials instead of actual drills on the field. There was almost no video of the second group of DBs outside of the 40-yard-dash times.
Fansided.com
The last two recap posts are a bit delayed because of my schedule, but hopefully I’ll have day 4 done sooner rather than later.
The linebackers turned out to be an extremely disappointing group when it comes to the drills, while the edge rushers showed just how strong of a class it is going to be. For those that don’t know, an edge rusher is a pass rusher. Usually a lighter defensive end that either plays DE in a 4-3 or stands up in a 3-4 as an OLB, either way, they’re getting after the quarterback.
The second day of the NFL Scouting Combine featured a lot of big names, and quite a few guys that made a big impact. Quarterback-wise, it’s still clearly a two-horse race between Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota. Brett Hundley and Bryce Petty each had solid days, and which quarterback goes #3 is going to come down to personal preference. Both of them are going to need work before they can start in the NFL. Overall, it’s a weak quarterback class.
As I say every year, I enjoy watching the NFL Scouting Combine, but it is a very small piece of the evaluation process. Smart analysts use the Combine to see if players’ measurables and performances in drills match what they saw on tape. If it doesn’t, then that’s a red flag and they have to go back and check what exactly they missed. Or to just see if the kid had a bad day. When I say that a player has “won” or “lost” at the NFL Combine, I’m referring solely to the fact that their good or bad performance could have made them some money or lost them some money with their performance. By and large though, there are more winners than losers. Guys who jump up on evaluator’s radars with great measurables and then it forces teams to go back and watch their tape more closely happens every year.
It was quite a small class on the defensive side of the ball, but that’s what happens when you have very little time to put a class together. Getting Johnson and Washington to flip on signing day were absolutely massive pulls. You can check out my recap on the offense here, obviously this is going to be quite brief.
This was going to be a small class as it was, with a maximum of 17 spots available. Add in the fact that Michigan didn’t have a coach until late December and it’s impressive that they were able to get any recruits at all. What Jim Harbaugh and his staff accomplished is nothing short of amazing and the star rankings for these recruits shouldn’t matter to you one bit. Michigan’s staff was behind the 8-ball as soon as they were hired, and you should only be concerned about the “quality” of the recruiting class next year, when Harbaugh and co. have a full year to recruit. I personally don’t care about star rankings at all, but that’s a debate for a different time.
It’s safe to assume that we can just put all of the quarterbacks on this list. They didn’t all prove that they were bad, they just showed how much work they really have to do. I thought that Sean Mannion, Garrett Grayson and Bryce Petty showed that they are draftable and had an okay week, but the others raised some big time flags. On top of that, Brent Hundley did himself zero favors when he decided not to participate in the game. He could have taken advantage of the opportunity and proven himself, but he backed out. It’s a little more understandable that Marcus Mariota didn’t play since he had just played in the National Championship game a week before and had gotten dinged up.
Each year I’ve done a “stock is rising” and a “stock is falling” post for the Senior Bowl. I figured why not let the tradition continue, even though I think this Draft Class is going to be worse than what we’ve gotten accustomed too. Especially compared to last year.
Sure this is a completely loaded draft at running back, wide receiver and defensive end. But to say that it is weak at quarterback, and other positions, is about as kindly as you can put it. The Senior Bowl put the depth of the quarterbacks in this Draft Class on full-display and well, let’s just say they aren’t going to be talked about in this post.
It’s been four days since the game and I’m still not quite over it; I was really dreading having to write this post. It’s a tough pill to swallow. What else is there to say? I’m not one to blame losses on refs but this was utterly ridiculous. Referees miss calls all the time. They miss holding calls on a lot of plays. They make mistakes, but this was particularly egregious. Never in my life have I seen a flag get thrown, a penalty get announced, the sticks moved down the field and then have it get picked up. Not only was there holding on Brandon Pettigrew before the throw, but there was pass interference after the ball was thrown and then Dez Bryant ran on the field without a helmet on to argue with the referee. Never in my life have I seen a play transpire like that and it’s safe to say that we will never see it again.
The Daily Traub 