from off the net

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alyoshamucci]

So as I said yesterday, these are just stand out impressions to note as I watch the combine, not too technical. I’m going to try to do one every day.

Overall

1) I have very rarely seen an entire day lack energy like today’s groups. Kinda depressing. I don’t know how harshly to judge the QBs for not getting energy flowing, but it’s gotta be someone’s fault, and since it’s someone’s, it’s gonna be everyone’s. I’m dinging every player today (except Michael Thomas and David Morgan 2).

QBs

2) The accuracy was good across the board. It’s a good class, although it may lack personality.

3) Doughty and Allen were the most accurate passers. Doughty’s deep ball was inspiring actually.

4) Wentz and Goff were totally ready to go, mellow going through the drills. I predicted them going 1-2 a while back, and I can’t see that changing.

5) Lynch’s footwork seemed to be practiced, but was solid. He should be able to transition without losing more than half a season getting used to the drops.

6) They spent a lot of time with Cook, talking up his game and questioning his lack of being a captain … someone said there was “something missing.” I can’t imagine he’s not being hurt by comments like that. But as far as his command of the drills and the footwork he looked fine. Accuracy was slightly off compared to the others … weird feel I have on it is that he doesn’t have a grip on the ball he likes. Velocity drops, ball comes out funny sometimes.

7) The kid from Liberty Woodrum looked good again. He and the Rivers younger brother may have a future if they get into a camp and study. Watch the Patriots take him. lol

8) I have no recollection of Cardale throwing … did I miss it?

9) Driskel looked good. I also didn’t know that he was a #1 coming out of high school (just like Hackenburg).

TE

10) BOOOOO … Run your 40s. Henry, Vannett, Mcgee … none ran.

11) Morgan looked great even though he could only be a replacement for Harkey …

12) McGee was the best in the drills … although I will say Vannett grades out higher overall and has some really solid arm length for receiving. He made a seriously great catch.

13) Duarte is a WR, Cajuste is a TE.

14) I don’t know if there’s anyone in this class I would think are valuable where they would be picked.

WR

15) Treadwell should have run. The times were so bad that even running a 4.7 would not have made him look bad. He would have been middle of the pack and not stood out. His hands were excellent, and he moved well in all the drills. I think getting stuck on his timed speed is going to mess with some clubs, but he’s tenacious, aggressive and has great hands. He should be picked around the tenth overall … but could easily slide.

16) Michael Thomas ran a 4.58? Wild. Did NOT see that coming. He was competing though, really high intensity.

17) Josh Doctson probably made the most money today (besides Cal’s Davis … he may have jumped multiple rounds) … he may jump to the top of the class in some eyes. He had one of the best gauntlets I’ve ever seen, bad throws and he made all the catches in stride. He doesn’t have the best hands, but his “rapid cognition and ability to pick up the ball” is superior.

18) Duke Williams 4.75 and D Wilson 4.9? Valuable possession receivers and Duke can play football. Cayleb Jones and Lawler high 4.6s too.

19) Malcolm Mitchell nice time, and Ricardo Louis … both had a good day. 6th round? I’m game. Charone Peake had a nice day … so did Payton, who ran better than expected.

20) Marquez North ran a serious time at his size. 4.48 He was one of the most powerful freshman then he fell off the map.

21) Keyarris Garrett is huge and ran a 4.53. That, with his crazy production? Surprised he isn’t being talked about in round 2.

22) There is depth in this class, we can get quality in the 6th. High quality in the 4th.

Thoughts and comments/questions welcome

from off the net

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Kind of Blue/Gold

Laquon Treadwell

Highlights

Scouting Profile

http://www.nfl.com/draft/2016/profiles/laquon-treadwell?id=2555214

Comps? Zierlein cites DeAndre Hopkins, which would be great. His size would certainly make him an appealing complement to mighty mite smurf Austin.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000639554/article/day-2-nfl-combine-winners-and-losers

Connor Cook, QB, Michigan State: The Spartans’ star quarterback had an opportunity to make a move up the charts with a strong showing on Saturday but blew his chances for a surge up the board when he struggled with ball placement and accuracy in drills. Cook repeatedly missed receivers on routes with high and outside throws that landed well outside of the strike zone. While teams will certainly take Cook’s injury into account, the fact that he continued to struggle with his ball placement confirms the questions about his accuracy based on his low completion percentage.

Lot of interesting stuff here, including Kirwan

I moved a lot of qb discussion (mine, ag’s, invaders) to a new qbs in the draft thread:

combine/post-combine qbs in the draft thread…Lynch, Cook, etc.: http://theramshuddle.com/topic/nfl-combine-2016-paxton-lynch-has-a-shoulder-injury/

Conquering the Combine

Pat Kirwan

https://realfootballnetwork.com/2016/02/26/conquering-the-combine/

It only took 4.24 seconds for the buzz to begin. That’s how long it took Chris Johnson to run 40 yards at the 2008 NFL Scouting Combine—the fastest electronically timed performance in the event’s history. In less than five seconds, he went from being a third-round sleeper to one of the more intriguing weapons available in the ’08 Draft.

Speed alone wouldn’t have turned Johnson into a 2,000-yard back by his second NFL season, of course. The 40-yard dash is just one piece of the puzzle, and the combine refers not only to a collection of players; it’s really a combination of tests given to the 300 or more prospects who come to
Indianapolis every February to open eyes (and doors) .Beyond the position specific drills, each player at the combine will be subjected to the following battery of tests.

On the Field

40 Yard Dash: Many prospects elect not to run in Indianapolis on what is considered a slow track, but those who do run three times, all of which are timed electronically and with hand-held stopwatches. Scouts also track a player’s explosiveness by taking his times at the 10- and 20-yard intervals, which can indicate how long it takes a player to reach full speed, an important piece of data for, say, receivers.

Vertical Jump: This drill demonstrates a prospect’s lower body explosiveness. A poor showing can raise red flags about a player’s quickness or ability to come off the ball.

Broad Jump: The broad jump is another measure of a player’s lower-body explosiveness. A sluggish or non-explosive player can get exposed when asked to perform this movement.

20-Yard Shuttle: The player starts by straddling a line in the middle of the course, then runs 5 yards in one direction, touches another line, then runs 15 yards in the opposite direction, touches another line, then finishes by sprinting through the line where he started. This demonstrates a player’s
ability to change directions and his short-area explosiveness.

60-Yard Shuttle: This tests endurance more than explosiveness. Players start on a line, run 5 yards, touch a line, and come back. They touch the starting line again, then run 10 yards and come back, then run 15 yards and return. It exposes the same things as the short shuttle, but it’s really a measure of conditioning, especially for bigger guys .

Three-Cone Drill: The course is set up in the shape of an “L,” with three cones set 5 yards apart. The player begins in his three-point stance and runs to the first cone and then back to the start. Then he runs around the second cone on his way to the third cone. He circles that cone and around the middle
cone again on his way back to his starting point. Scouts and coaches are looking to weed out players who look stiff or straight-lined when they run.

Flexibility Drills: These are designed to check an individual’s flexibility in such critical areas as the hamstring and groin. Tightness or stiffness could be warning signs of a player who might have injury problems at the next level.

Bench Press: This measures how many times a player can bench press 225 pounds. It’s more instructive for the big-man positions, where upper body strength is so important. A good showing won’t raise many eyebrows; a bad one will.

Off the Field

Height and Weight: Something as basic as a player’s size can still be a mystery at the end of his college career. When players get weighed and measured in Indianapolis, their stats can be quite different from what’s listed in their schools’ media guides.

Wonderlic: A standardized IQ test that asks 50 questions in 12 minutes. Really smart players will get between 25 and 35 answers right. I’m not a big believer in the applicability of the Wonderlic, especially at certain positions, but it can be an indicator of potential problem areas.

Psychological Tests: Many organizations now have team psychologists on staff; the Giants, for example, put prospects through a 500-question exam (it’s considerably longer than most, and some players never finish it). But the Giants value the insight it provides into a player’s personality, competitiveness, and desire, and the results directly affect their draft decisions.

Team Interviews: The head coach, general manager, and personnel director will meet with a player in a controlled environment for about 15 minutes. It’s an opportunity for a basic Q&A session, which most players rehearse for in advance. Still, it can be the first opportunity for coaches and staff to meet with a player face to face.

Physical Exam: The exams administered at the combine are likely the most extensive a player will undergo in his entire life. Team doctors will conduct every conceivable test, from blood work to a complete cardiovascular workup. And, of course, they will examine the status of any injury a player may have suffered in college.

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Time for the Combine

Pat Kirwan

https://realfootballnetwork.com/2016/02/25/time-for-the-combine/

This time of year, everyone can start drawing his own comparisons at the scouting combine in Indianapolis. It’s at the combine that players are often reduced to a bunch of numbers referred to as their “measurables.” These numbers include everything from height and weight to the number of times a player can bench press 225 pounds. They include a prospect’s time in the 40-yard dash and the short shuttle (which tests agility and lateral movement), how far he can broad jump, and how high he can jump vertically. At the combine, players will have the length of their arms measured as well as their hand size, and they’ll all take the Wonderlic test. These numbers will stick to a prospect throughout the rest of the pre-draft process. Objective for the most part, they will be used relentlessly in comparing players who play the same position.

Scouts and coaches rely on measurables because they allow them to compare a prospect’s physical characteristics with those of a player who’s been successful in the NFL. Each evaluator has a chart defining key traits at each position, and each prospect is graded based on how his measurables stack up. If, for example, an offensive tackle is 6’5″, he gets 10 out of 10 points for that category. If he’s more than 300 pounds, he gets another 10 out of 10. That player is a 20-point prospect on this particular scale. A tackle who’s 6’4″ and 290 might only score an 18 on this chart, which could affect his eventual grade in the eyes of a particular team.

But not all numbers are equal, of course.

Hand size matters more when evaluating receivers and defensive linemen than when evaluating other positions. Arm length is a key factor for offensive linemen. If a scout finds a 6’0″ cornerback who can run a 4.3 in the 40 and the short shuttle in under 4.0, he won’t care if the player scores in the single digits on the Wonderlic.

Everyone comes back from the combine with a ton of information. They’ve watched prospects in drills, conducted interviews with hundreds of players, and seen them all put through various tests of athleticism. Such a mass of information can be paralyzing, so sorting it all into a functional system is as important a part of the process as gathering it is.

Decision makers have to recognize that some scouts are great at gathering information but not as great at delivering it. Their scouting reports might be convincing, but they aren’t good at selling their players when they’re sitting in a meeting with the rest of the front office. Some people prefer to receive their information in certain ways. For example, Mike Shanahan always liked to watch highlight tapes. He watched cut-ups of 100 plays from a certain player on tape, and then made his decisions with them in mind. That can be a dangerous way of operating if you don’t have the eye and experience of Shanahan.

And, of course, there’s a ton of personal information that scouts accumulate for each prospect. Some of the information speaks to a player’s intangibles—qualities that are immeasurable, like leadership or poise. The rest comes from a background check that will paint a more three-dimensional picture of a prospect’s character.

For instance, let’s say a scout likes a player and he has all the requisite measurables, but he played at Tulane. It may be helpful to know why he went there coming out of high school instead of a powerhouse like Alabama or LSU. Maybe he was a late-bloomer. Maybe his body didn’t develop until he was 20 years old. Whatever information a scout can gather may prove useful down the road.

After the combine comes the worldwide tour of pro days, when players work out on their own campuses. Again, they are put through all the requisite position drills and run all the tests that define a player’s measurables—the short shuttle, the bench press, the 40-yard dash, and so on. If there’s no one with a first- or second-round grade working out at a particular pro day, teams might only send a scout.

But to some coaches, pro days are critical. Paul Alexander, the offensive line coach of the Bengals, will show up at a pro day at South Dakota State because he saw a tape of the left tackle and observed some traits that he wanted to see in person. When coaches do attend pro days, they’re very interested in giving a guy instruction and seeing how fast he can learn it, take it out onto the field, and perform. At the pro day, teams will videotape their interviews with a player. It may be the third time they’ve taped an interview with him—first at the Senior Bowl, then at the combine, and now at his pro day.

Teams sort through all the canned answers that players have prepared for these interviews, looking for any tiny bit of information that can be used in his overall evaluation. We interview a lot of draft-eligible prospects on the radio show, and coaches around the league love it because they know we’re asking the questions they want answers to. Because we know the process, we don’t let guys get away with canned answers. We ask football questions, and players know their interviews with us are going to be recorded and sent to clubs around the league. I know a lot of coaches are sitting in their cars listening to our interviews to see if anything gets revealed that they couldn’t elicit themselves. After about five weeks of pro days, coaches and scouts are brought back to the team headquarters. At this point, players can’t be worked out again, but a team can bring up to 25 players to its facility for one last visit and for team doctors to examine him one final time. He’ll meet with coaches, the owner, and possibly the team psychologist.

There’s a bit of gamesmanship involved at this point. Teams bring in not only players they will consider drafting; they also bring in players they want other teams to think they are considering drafting. This is where much of the buzz that contributes to the dramatics that surround the draft is created.

Daily Combine Wrap-Up: Friday

Myles Simmons

http://www.therams.com/news-and-events/article-1/Daily-Combine-Wrap-Up-Friday/52dcc65c-569a-4f63-b235-d696b4e9cefe

INDIANAPOLIS — After two days filled with press conferences, groups of players at the 2016 NFL Combine began their on-field workouts. Specialists, offensive linemen, and running backs went through those events on Friday, while a few big-name players spoke to the media.

TOP STORIES

1) Henry is a stellar athlete

When you’re the Heisman Trophy winner, there’s going to be plenty attention on you at the Combine. And Alabama running back Derrick Henry did not disappoint when he hit the field on Friday.

Keep in mind that Henry checked in at 6-foot-3 and 247 pounds this week. On Friday, he ran a 4.54-second 40-yard dash, put up a 37-inch vertical jump, and a 130-inch (or 10-foot, 10-inch) broad jump. Those are some serious numbers, which Rotoworld’s Josh Norris effectively pointd out on Twitter.

Last year’s top SPARQ RB, Ameer Abdullah, posted a 10’10” broad jump at 205 lbs.

Derrick Henry posted a 10’10” at 247 lbs.

— Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) February 26, 2016
Based on his remarkable season — 395 carries, 2,219 yards, 28 touchdowns — Henry didn’t have much to prove on Friday. But he certainly still did look impressive.

2) Elliott is one serious competitor

If there was one thing that became clear from listening to running back Ezekiel Elliott, it’s his competitiveness. Yes, the back helped lead Ohio State to a National Championship for the 2014 season. And yes, he’s amassed over 4,000 yards from scrimmage and 41 touchdowns over the last two years. But to him, the most important element of his game may be his pass blocking.

“Not everyone is willing to go out there and play with a lot of effort,” Elliott said. “And blocking is another thing that running backs aren’t really willing to do. So that’s a part of my game I really made important to me to become very good at.”

He also had a strong on-field day at the Combine, solidifying himself as one of the top-two backs available in this year’s draft. He recorded a 32.5-inch vertical, a 118-inch broad jump, and ran a 4.47 40.

For more on Elliott, check out our therams.com feature on him here.

3) Run fast, jump high, etc.

Henry and Elliott may be the consensus top two picks, but two other running backs were arguably the top performers in the agility drills.

Daniel Lasco of Cal was in the top four of running backs with a 4.46 40, a 41.5-inch vertical, and a 135-inch broad jump. He had some injury issues in 2015, but could be a nice pickup for a team.

Tyler Ervin of San Jose St. had a similar day recording a 4.41 40, a 39-inch vertical, and a 130-inch broad jump. He had a nice final collegiate season, rushing for 1,469 yards and 13 touchdowns.

But when it comes to the 40 times, Keith Marshall of Georgia was the fastest on Friday, running a blazing 4.31. After a strong freshman year, Marshall suffered a torn ACL in his sophomore season and was essentially passed over the rest of his collegiate career. But Nick Chubb’s injury in 2015 did allow Marshall some opportunities later in the season. He’ll be an intriguing prospect to monitor not only through the draft process, but also in the 2016 season.

AROUND THE TWITTERVERSE

A few of my favorite Tweets from Day 3 at the Combine…

Alabama LB Reggie Ragland promised he’d come down from 259 (Senior Bowl). Did just that. Weighed 247 in Indy. Dropped 12 in only a month.

— Chase Goodbread (@ChaseGoodbread) February 26, 2016
DeForest Buckner on his huge 11 3/4 hands: “Growing up my siblings would make fun of me for em.When I got here, I was shooting for that 12.”

— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) February 26, 2016
#LetsGetWeird with Joey Bosa. Future son to be a 1st Rd pick?
“I guess I’ll have to marry a tall, athletic girl to breed football players.”

— Myles Simmons (@MylesASimmons) February 26, 2016
I’ll admit, it’s narcissistic to put my own Tweet in there, but I thought this was pretty funny. For some background: Ohio State defensive end Joey Bosa is likely to get picked high in the first round. The Dolphins picked his father, John Bosa, in the first round of the 1987 draft. So a reporter asked Bosa how he could keep the family streak going, resulting in that quote.

Let’s get weird, indeed.

QUOTABLE

“I would say that would be a mistake if they did that. Like I said, I plan on doing my pro day, so if they feel like there’s a red flag or anything, that’s my job to go out there and get rid of it. So that would be a big mistake if they did that and they slept on me.”

—UCLA LB Myles Jack on if team doctors may think he’s too risky to select with a high draft pick.

“There were times where I didn’t finish. There’s times I was lazy on some plays. But I told them, I’m going to keep growing as a player and I’m going to keep learning how to finish. Become more of a student of the game and just focus on being the best NFL player I can be. … I know what’s at stake. And I know what I have to do as a player to be great in the NFL. And I’m just going to keep focusing on the things I need to focus on as a player that I didn’t focus on so much in college that I need to get better at.”

—Ole Miss DT Robert Nkemdiche on the on-field improvements he has to make heading into his rookie year.

“Definitely. Just because of being in the shotgun, and I know a lot of teams in the NFL — basically all of them — are under-center teams. But there have been some coaches spitting some facts to me — about 61 percent percent of snaps were out of the shotgun this year. I think the game is kind of going that way. But, obviously, it’s still not fully that way. So I have to get used to those three-step, five-step, and seven-step drops. But that’s all I’ve been doing, so I’m very confident in that.”

—Memphis QB Paxton Lynch on if his footwork may be the aspect of his game that needs the most work.

UP NEXT

It’s the day we’ve all been waiting for, as the quarterbacks, wide receivers, and tight ends will have their on-field workouts. That means we’ll get to see the top QBs like Jared Goff, Carson Wentz, and Paxton Lynch throw one right after the other. Stay tuned, because it should be a pretty interesting day

In just four years Russell Wilson has become something of a legend at NFL combine

http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-insider-blog/article62665242.html#storylink=cpy

While Russell Wilson has been busy with things such as being with Ciara at the Grammys in Los Angeles, the legacy of the quarterback is obvious listening to the coaches and collegians across the country at the NFL combine.

Here this week, the name “Russell Wilson” is a comparison of honor and admiration — and in the case of Oregon quarterback Vernon Adams, a “blessing.”

New 49ers coach Chip Kelly met away from the combine site on Thursday with beat writers from San Francisco. As my pal and former Sacramento Bee colleague Matt Barrows tells it, Kelly went on and on about one of the hottest (and weirdest) topics at this combine: hand size.

In doing so, Kelly went on and on about Wilson.

Kelly told Barrows and the Niners beat writers the importance of hand size is “huge” for quarterbacks.

“You better have big hands,” Kelly said, according to Barrows’ story in The Bee. “Russell Wilson is 5-10 1/2 — but he’s got 10¼ (-inch) hands. You better have a big paw to manipulate the football.”

Seahawks Pete Carroll spent part of Thursday here at Lucas Oil Stadium reciting all the qualities he saw in Wilson at this combine four years ago, before he and general manager John Schneider made him Seattle’s third-round draft choice and then, a few months later, its starting quarterback from day one of his career.

“We thought he had an extraordinary list of characteristics that would allow him to be a great player, some that no other player in the draft have, that few players ever have: the savvy, the escapeability, the creativity, the great work ethic,” Carroll said. “Mix all of those things together, he’s a marvelous talent.

“He just came in a different package.”

Even some of this year’s college quarterbacks, four years, two Super Bowls and a Seahawks NFL title removed from when Wilson was going through this draft process, revere Wilson almost as much as Carroll does.

“Most definitely,” Jacoby Brissett said, his voice rising.

Brissett is like Wilson, a North Carolina State quarterback who transferred to play a final college season and is now getting overlooked beneath the top tier of QBs at the combine. He’s been seeking advice from Wilson on what awaits him.

“He has a camp there (the Russell Wilson Passing Academy in Raleigh) and he comes through a couple times a summer,” Brissett said. “I got to help work out his camp two times and be around him for a while.

“He just said it’s a business, and you just have to work at it,” said Brissett, who transferred from Florida to NC State for last season when the Gators chose Jeff Driskel over him as their quarterback. “It’s a job that you never fully understand or fully know it, you won’t have fully have all the answers to. So you have to work. I mean, you watch his game and it’s evident that’s all he does is work. He tries to perfect his craft.”

Adams has also done a camp with Wilson. He said he’s flattered people are comparing him to the Seahawks’ $87.6 million franchise quarterback.

Adams is the former Eastern Washington Eagle that shredded Washington with 475 yards and seven touchdowns in the Huskies’ 2014 home opener. He transferred to Oregon for last season then wondrously ran around the backfield extending plays for the Ducks, Wilson style.

Adams is 5 feet 11. So the Wilson comparisons keep coming.

“I think that’s a blessing,” Adams said. “I’m blessed to be compared to Russell Wilson, a great quarterback like that.

“I’ve always rooted for him. I did a quarterback camp with him,” Adams said. “Drew Brees too; he’s been getting it done for a long time. I don’t think too much about being a short quarterback. You find a window. It’s about your football IQ, I think. If you’re prepared well, I think you’re going to do well. This is nothing against Tom Brady or Brock Osweiler, but I see those guys get their balls batted down a lot.

“So it’s not about being short—you get your balls batted down if you’re tall or short—it’s about getting the ball out on time, having the right pocket, stuff like that.”

Rams to tag corne

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/writer/jason-la-canfora/25496981/rams-to-tag-corner-colts-face-tight-end-choice-and-more-fa-notes

INDIANAPOLIS — The Rams will be using their franchise tag, according to sources, on one of their corners. To this point, they have not indicated to Trumaine Johnson or Janoris Jenkins which one of them is getting the tag, and ideally they would sign one long-term and tag the other, but even with all of their cap space that might prove impossible.

Whichever young corner does not get tagged is going to crush it in free agency on the open market. And the other will likely get a nice, new deal with the Rams by the July 15 deadline to extend players who are on the tag as well. The Rams are telling agents they have yet to finalize the decision themselves but fully intend to do so by Tuesday’s tag deadline.

The odds of getting either player signed to a new deal between now and the deadline looks pretty bleak, so in the end it just might be that they tag one and the other walks. While Jenkins gets more of the press, personally, I wouldn’t be shocked if they ended up tagging Johnson, who is a budding talent and does not have some of the off-field stuff in his background.

WHAT DOES 2016 LOOK LIKE FOR NEW LOS ANGELES RAMS?

With the Rams making the move from St. Louis to Los Angeles this season, a lot of changes have already taken place, including the release of notable players like Chris Long and James Laurinaitis.

vid link: http://www.nbcsports.com/video/what-does-2016-look-new-los-angeles-rams

Jeff Fisher joins The Darren McFarland & Derrick Mason Show (2-26-16)