So, the Combine is over, but what does that mean? There were crazy performances, which I’ll review, but does it really move the needle?
Combine Highlights
As mentioned, there are guys who just show out at the Combine. This year, the talk was about Oklahoma QB, Kyler Murray, but he didn’t perform at the Combine.
DK Metcalf – The guy who destroyed it was DK Metcalf, a 6’4″, 230 lbs WR out of Ole Miss with 1.9% body fat. He is like a Marvel character. He ran a 4.33 second 40 yard dash, 27 reps on the 225 lb. bench press, a 40.5 inch Vertical Leap and 134 inch Broad Jump. Translation, dude is an explosive athlete with the measurables like Julio Jones or Josh Gordon. Not sure he has the hands or route running ability, but he is an athlete.
Montez Sweat – At 6’6″ and 260 lbs, Sweat has the size to be a good Edge Rusher in the NFL. However, at this size, he ran a blazing 4.41 40 yard dash, 36 inch Vertical Leap, and 125 inch Broad Jump (and an even faster 3 cone drill than Metcalf at 7.0 seconds). The word is he is the cross between Julius Peppers and Willie McGinness. Those are great comps.
WRs – A stunning 7 WRs went sub 4.40 40 yard dash, and there were 2 guys – Parris Campbell of Ohio State and Andy Isabella of UMass who ran 4.31 (blazing!). Coming into the Combine there were not many high end WRs touted, but Indy showed there are a lot of fast, tall guys ready to enter the league in the 2nd-5th rounds.
Conclusion: The Combine confirmed that this year’s Draft in April will not be headlined by the QBs. In fact, I’ve heard as many as 21 of the first 23 picks could be Defensive Players, as this Draft is going to be rich with Edge Rushers and Defensive Lineman. I’ll go over all the positions again soon so we can understand which traits teams are looking for out of the Draft. Murray not even throwing at the Combine, was a strategic move, but also indicative that he is not worried about his competition on top of the Draft Board for QBs.
I’ll review the Mock Drafts post-Combine in next week’s posts.
Wegs