SOME PRE-NFL COMBINE THOUGHTS
The NFL's version of a job fair, aka the Scouting Combine, begins in Indianapolis tomorrow. Nearly 1,500 team representatives & 329 prospects will stage the 6-day spectacle that is basically 'large people running around in their underwear', all in high definition mind you. I'll do my best to keep you appraised of the most important news coming out of this annual event. If you want to read an article I wrote for The Kansas City Star sports blog, Upon Further Review, use this link; http://uponfurtherreview.kansascity.com/ & you'll be clued into the world of football scouting.
Like the pathetic football geek that I am, I'll watch every minute of every telecast the NFL Network provides. What I will post here, will mostly be about players I think the Chiefs could be interested in & how they perform at Indy. I would say 80% of the players in attendance have already been graded by every team in the league. The scouting departments see these prospects in person & on game films, they write reports that are forwarded on to the player personnel department & the coaching staff. The coaches watch hours of film on the prospects they might be interested in drafting. Then they all go to Indianapolis for 6-days of 'up close & personal' interaction. Teams return home, write more reports, have endless meetings, go to quite a few 'Pro Days' on selected college campus' to watch individual workouts by players who might have been injured or simply didn't want to participate in the Combine workouts. The process costs millions & still produces somewhat limited success. If you're a Chiefs' fan I'm sure you can remember such stalwarts as Percy Snow, Trezelle Jenkins, Ryan Sims, Sylvester Morris, etc. etc. etc. This isn't an exact science, but most teams have had more success than Kansas City over the past 15 years.
One thing I really like about the Combine is I can watch players I've never seen before, mostly small school prospects. Unless they make the playoffs, Division I, II, & III teams aren't televised. So the college All-Star games or the Combine are often my first opportunity to see kids like Jared Veldheer, an offensive tackle from Hillsdale College in Michigan. I hadn't seen Tony Washington from Abilene Christian, also an offensive tackle. Akwasi Owusu-Ansah, a cornerback from Indiana of Pennsylvania is another intriguing prospect.
Of course the marquee event of the Combine is the 40-yard dash. It doesn't really tell you if a prospect will become a superior football player, it simply ranks them from fastest to slowest. But watching the true speed burners run is quite entertaining. The top-3 this year appear to be Jacoby Ford, a WR from Clemson, Trindon Holliday, a WR & kick returner from LSU & Jahvid Best, a RB from Cal. I expect Best to run in the low 4.30's, Ford & Holliday in the 4.20's, possibly even quicker. The 10 & 20-yard splits a player runs is way more important to scouts, how often do linemen, quarterbacks, fullbacks & kickers run 40-yards in a game? Basically never, so the data isn't too vital plus sometimes watching a 360-pound fatbody run the 40-yard dash can be somewhat frightening. Just pray they're wearing a shirt, sometimes they don't & that's a lot of flesh moving around when they run.
The combine can also reinforce the scouting opinion on certain top prospects. For example, most people thought USC safety Taylor Mays would've been a top-10 pick if he had come out as a junior last season. He returned to USC & in the 7 games I saw, he didn't show any marked improvement. I question whether he is even in the top-20 picks at this point. He looked stiff all season, his play recognition was slower & his speed appears limited to the straight-line variety. Tennessee's Eric Berry is the best safety in the nation, by a sizable margin. Texas' Earl Thomas & South Florida's Nate Allen are also ahead of Mays on my list right now.
The private 15-minute interviews will be important to any team considering a prospect from the Combine's "bad boy list." Oregon's LeGarrette Blount, Syracuse WR Mike Williams & others have discipline issues to answer for & there are the underachievers who will themselves having to reply to a bunch of probing questions as well. The combine always has a number of sub-plots I find interesting, you just never know where they will come from, but you'll hear about the best ones right here.
Since there's little doubt the Chiefs need an offensive tackle, a center, several linebackers & wide receivers, depth at running back, at least one safety & possibly a nose tackle, guard, tight end & a cornerback, there's lot of window shopping this weekend. Fortunately, this could be one of the best five drafts of all-time. Only the QB & RB position looks to be sub-par. This defensive group might only be second to the 1981 draft. The depth, with 53 highly ranked juniors in the mix, is excellent at every defensive position. Teams should be able to find starters well into the 5th round this April.
I've heard some disturbing speculation from a couple of sources, one of them ESPN's senior football writer, John Clayton. Could the Chiefs, who have $28 million in front-loaded contract guaranteed cash invested in Matt Cassel, be considering former Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen? A former protégé of new offensive coordinator, Charlie Weis, Clausen is generally considered to be in the top-2 at the QB position in this draft. Neither he or Sam Bradford will throw at the combine because of injury rehab that isn't complete. Bradford had shoulder surgery & Clausen an operation for turf toe. I have to believe drafting Clausen would be a colossal public relations nightmare for Scott Pioli. One year after the big trade & $60 million deal you draft a QB with the 5th overall pick? I hope not, because if they do, be prepared for this team to suck a few more years with a rookie QB who has very little talent around him.
Over the next few days you'll read about Russell Okung, Zane Beadles, Maurkice Pouncey, Jerry Hughes & more. Just names right now, but someday, most likely, they'll be Pro Bowl talent. Stay tuned because the football "geekathon" that is the NFL Combine & Draft, is just getting started.
Like the pathetic football geek that I am, I'll watch every minute of every telecast the NFL Network provides. What I will post here, will mostly be about players I think the Chiefs could be interested in & how they perform at Indy. I would say 80% of the players in attendance have already been graded by every team in the league. The scouting departments see these prospects in person & on game films, they write reports that are forwarded on to the player personnel department & the coaching staff. The coaches watch hours of film on the prospects they might be interested in drafting. Then they all go to Indianapolis for 6-days of 'up close & personal' interaction. Teams return home, write more reports, have endless meetings, go to quite a few 'Pro Days' on selected college campus' to watch individual workouts by players who might have been injured or simply didn't want to participate in the Combine workouts. The process costs millions & still produces somewhat limited success. If you're a Chiefs' fan I'm sure you can remember such stalwarts as Percy Snow, Trezelle Jenkins, Ryan Sims, Sylvester Morris, etc. etc. etc. This isn't an exact science, but most teams have had more success than Kansas City over the past 15 years.
One thing I really like about the Combine is I can watch players I've never seen before, mostly small school prospects. Unless they make the playoffs, Division I, II, & III teams aren't televised. So the college All-Star games or the Combine are often my first opportunity to see kids like Jared Veldheer, an offensive tackle from Hillsdale College in Michigan. I hadn't seen Tony Washington from Abilene Christian, also an offensive tackle. Akwasi Owusu-Ansah, a cornerback from Indiana of Pennsylvania is another intriguing prospect.
Of course the marquee event of the Combine is the 40-yard dash. It doesn't really tell you if a prospect will become a superior football player, it simply ranks them from fastest to slowest. But watching the true speed burners run is quite entertaining. The top-3 this year appear to be Jacoby Ford, a WR from Clemson, Trindon Holliday, a WR & kick returner from LSU & Jahvid Best, a RB from Cal. I expect Best to run in the low 4.30's, Ford & Holliday in the 4.20's, possibly even quicker. The 10 & 20-yard splits a player runs is way more important to scouts, how often do linemen, quarterbacks, fullbacks & kickers run 40-yards in a game? Basically never, so the data isn't too vital plus sometimes watching a 360-pound fatbody run the 40-yard dash can be somewhat frightening. Just pray they're wearing a shirt, sometimes they don't & that's a lot of flesh moving around when they run.
The combine can also reinforce the scouting opinion on certain top prospects. For example, most people thought USC safety Taylor Mays would've been a top-10 pick if he had come out as a junior last season. He returned to USC & in the 7 games I saw, he didn't show any marked improvement. I question whether he is even in the top-20 picks at this point. He looked stiff all season, his play recognition was slower & his speed appears limited to the straight-line variety. Tennessee's Eric Berry is the best safety in the nation, by a sizable margin. Texas' Earl Thomas & South Florida's Nate Allen are also ahead of Mays on my list right now.
The private 15-minute interviews will be important to any team considering a prospect from the Combine's "bad boy list." Oregon's LeGarrette Blount, Syracuse WR Mike Williams & others have discipline issues to answer for & there are the underachievers who will themselves having to reply to a bunch of probing questions as well. The combine always has a number of sub-plots I find interesting, you just never know where they will come from, but you'll hear about the best ones right here.
Since there's little doubt the Chiefs need an offensive tackle, a center, several linebackers & wide receivers, depth at running back, at least one safety & possibly a nose tackle, guard, tight end & a cornerback, there's lot of window shopping this weekend. Fortunately, this could be one of the best five drafts of all-time. Only the QB & RB position looks to be sub-par. This defensive group might only be second to the 1981 draft. The depth, with 53 highly ranked juniors in the mix, is excellent at every defensive position. Teams should be able to find starters well into the 5th round this April.
I've heard some disturbing speculation from a couple of sources, one of them ESPN's senior football writer, John Clayton. Could the Chiefs, who have $28 million in front-loaded contract guaranteed cash invested in Matt Cassel, be considering former Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen? A former protégé of new offensive coordinator, Charlie Weis, Clausen is generally considered to be in the top-2 at the QB position in this draft. Neither he or Sam Bradford will throw at the combine because of injury rehab that isn't complete. Bradford had shoulder surgery & Clausen an operation for turf toe. I have to believe drafting Clausen would be a colossal public relations nightmare for Scott Pioli. One year after the big trade & $60 million deal you draft a QB with the 5th overall pick? I hope not, because if they do, be prepared for this team to suck a few more years with a rookie QB who has very little talent around him.
Over the next few days you'll read about Russell Okung, Zane Beadles, Maurkice Pouncey, Jerry Hughes & more. Just names right now, but someday, most likely, they'll be Pro Bowl talent. Stay tuned because the football "geekathon" that is the NFL Combine & Draft, is just getting started.
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