DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2014 NFL Season NFL Draft 2014 The Combine

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Farmer, his assistant GM and all the scouts should forget what the meaning of "sleep" is.

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Farmer, his assistant GM and all the scouts should forget what the meaning of "sleep" is.

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The key, IMHO, is to find that right balance between guys that just play good football and the guys that have the exceptional measurables... More often than not you see these guys make mistakes because they outthink themselves...

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If there ever is a February to head to the NFL Scouting Combine with pockets bulging with draft picks, this is it.
Last week, Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert told reporters the 2014 draft class “is as deep across the board” as any he has seen in the past 30 years.

Soon to be former Browns CEO Joe Banner speculated the 2014 draft market would be richer than the one in 2013, so he traded the Steelers a 2013 fourth-round pick for Pittsburgh’s third-round pick in 2014. He also traded a fifth-round choice to Indianapolis for the Colts’ 2014 fourth-round choice. Five months later, he traded running back Trent Richardson to Indianapolis for the Colts’ first-round choice, which turned out to be the 26th overall pick.

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And we fired him.

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And we fired him.

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'Texas A&M QB Johnny Manziel won't throw at NFL scouting combine'

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-foot...-at-nfl-combine

By John Breech | CBSSports.com

February 15, 2014 1:01 pm ET

Johnny Football won't throw a football at the NFL scouting combine. Erik Burkhardt, the agent for Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, tweeted on Friday that Manziel won't be throwing until his individual pro day on March 27.

Manziel will also throw during private workouts with individual teams leading up to May's NFL Draft. Besides the combine, Johnny Football also won't be throwing at Texas A&M's pro day, which is scheduled for March 5.

The NFL combine is scheduled for Feb. 19-25 in Indianapolis. Quarterback passing drills -- the ones Manziel won't be participating in -- are scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 23.

The decision not to throw at the combine probably won't have too much affect on Manziel's draft status. Johnny Football is currently the No. 3-rated quarterback and No. 7 prospect overall, according to the ratings over at NFLDraftScout.com.

Where Manziel will end up is anyone's guess at this point. In their latest CBSSports.com mock drafts, Pat Kirwan and Rob Rang have Manziel headed for Jacksonville at No. 3, while Pete Prisco and Dane Brugler have Johnny Football headed for Cleveland with the fourth overall pick.

Manziel might not even drop that far though. On Friday, Johnny Football said if the Texans don't select him with the No. 1 overall pick, "It would be the worst decision they've ever made."



(end)

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It's more like, "I don't want to throw to [insert unknown wide receiver]."

Plenty of QBs don't throw.

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It's more like, "I don't want to throw to [insert unknown wide receiver]."

Plenty of QBs don't throw.

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j/c

Combine is a media show. Most teams already have a bead on who they want. Interviews at the combine are important since they don't count against team's max.

Combine helps kids who are low on the radar get a second look, and it may help a kid move up earlier than expected.

For those questioning Manziel not throwing, he already is ranked high. Any negative performance could drop him below another equally ranked. Any drop affects his paycheck. Johnny is making good business sense.

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During the combine they always talk about it being about the meetings. They also talk about it how if a player does something you don't expect (good or bad) you can go back and look at the game tape. An example of this would be Joe Haden's forty time. He ran a slow forty time, teams went back and looked at the tape and realized he can still play.

There will always be a team that falls in love with a player because of his combine/workouts (Vernon Gholston), but for the most part the combine is a chance to gain more information than you previously had. And for that it is useful.

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During the combine they always talk about it being about the meetings. They also talk about it how if a player does something you don't expect (good or bad) you can go back and look at the game tape. An example of this would be Joe Haden's forty time. He ran a slow forty time, teams went back and looked at the tape and realized he can still play.

There will always be a team that falls in love with a player because of his combine/workouts (Vernon Gholston), but for the most part the combine is a chance to gain more information than you previously had. And for that it is useful.

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I think the only "good" example of a guy jumping up the ranks post NCAA season would be Chris Johnson, when his 40 time was like 4.2.

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I doubt JM is worried about clunking it off those random WRs hands. He's worried about them running funky routes (not what he's used to or expecting), and him looking inaccurate.

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Watt was a first round guy no matter what, he dominated at Wisconsin.

Hill is a bust.

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I remember specifically Watt being a borderline 1st rounder pre combine. After I saw him at the combine I watched his tape and fell for him. I wanted to trade back and take him at 9 or 10 sooo badly.

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Blake Bortles ‏@BBortles5
Dreamt about the combine since I was a kid! Fired up to compete in all aspects of it, especially throwing!

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j/c

Combine is a media show. Most teams already have a bead on who they want. Interviews at the combine are important since they don't count against team's max.

Combine helps kids who are low on the radar get a second look, and it may help a kid move up earlier than expected.

For those questioning Manziel not throwing, he already is ranked high. Any negative performance could drop him below another equally ranked. Any drop affects his paycheck. Johnny is making good business sense.

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J.J. Watt, Dontari Poe, Dwight Freeney, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and Vernon Davis are all examples of guys who had great combines help move them up the draft board.

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It's been quoted by many GM's they have a pretty good idea before the combine. If someone happens to surprise during the combine, GM's go back and review tape. I've also read a player who doesn't perform well, thus creating a negative, weighs heavier than a player who blows away at the combine. A small school player makes notice and gets a look, but those are secondary picks not first round. GM's like the interviews to help decide the 30 they want to interview back at home base.

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I said pretty much this exact same thing earlier in the thread.

The players I listed were not though of as high first round picks, but had good combines, were re-evaluated and drafted higher.

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cfrs, I believe, no proof, those guys were silent on the media guru's list not scouts.

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But all of the evidence that we had pre-combine for the guys I listed say that those guys were not going to go that high. They blew up the combine, were reevaluated, and put in their proper spot.

Just so I get what you are saying, are you saying that the only reason they do the combine is for the media? Or they do the combine for the media and so they can interview players? Or that no player ever helped his stock by doing well at the combine?

What is your argument here?

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If I am not mistaken, bench press is not longer weight lifting exercise used by active football players.

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y John Clayton | ESPN.com



INDIANAPOLIS -- Strategy is everything when it comes to scouting combines.

Agents who represent draft prospects have to be judicious with their advice. Many of them front tens of thousands of dollars to train their prospects for either the combine or their school workouts. And their investments could go bad if they make the wrong suggestion.

Because the combine workouts are televised, most of the prospects participate due to their competitive nature, as well as a chance to be introduced as the next great player to hit the NFL. Not doing the combine can be dangerous because it can put a player into the position of needing the equivalent of a home run at their school's workout.

On Sunday, those who didn't work out weren't damaged. The top quarterbacks and the top running back (Trent Richardson of Alabama) didn't drop a bit.

Here are the five things we learned Sunday.

1. Future matchups between Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III will be fun to watch: In what is expected to be the Luck's home, RG3 put on his second show. Griffin won the news conference by stringing together 15 minutes of answers that, in my opinion, surpassed any combine interview I've witnessed in 24 years covering this event. Even though he didn't throw Sunday, Griffin wowed everyone by running an official 40-yard dash time of 4.41 seconds, as well as a 39-inch vertical jump and a 10.3 broad jump. It was one of the fastest 40-yard times in combine history for a quarterback.

Even though that won't vault him over Luck to be the No. 1 pick, it should enhance the trade value of the No. 2 pick. No disrespect to Matt Kalil, Justin Blackmon or any of the other top picks, but this is a two-player draft -- Luck and Griffin. Not to be undone, Luck did well himself without throwing. He ran an official 4.67 40-yard dash. Plus, his vertical jump of 36 inches was slightly better than Cam Newton last year.

2. What did the weekend do to handicap the trade talks for the St. Louis Rams at No. 2? I'd handicap it as a two-team bidding war for Griffin. The Rams, who draft second, have to broker a strong deal and should be able to pull it off. The price of the trade would exceed the traditional draft value trade chart that was started by former Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson in the 1990s. The No. 2 pick in the first round has a value of 2,600. The No. 4 pick, currently owned by the Cleveland Browns, is 1,800. The Redskins' No. 6 pick has a value of 1,600.

In order to put a trade together under those terms, the Browns would have to offer a draft value of 800, which equates to the 21st pick in the first round. The Redskins would have to offer 1,000, which would be an additional first-rounder and a third-rounder. For Griffin, it would probably cost the Browns at least the additional first and a significant draft choice in 2013, maybe a third or higher. The Redskins then would have to offer the equivalent of three first-round picks. The Dolphins and Seahawks might as well forget about bidding because the price for RG3 would be too high.

[+] EnlargeKirk Cousins
Brian Spurlock/US PresswireMichigan State quarterback Kirk Cousins could be the big winner from the combine on Sunday.
3. Sorting out the third quarterback in the draft: The big winner Sunday was Kirk Cousins of Michigan State. He completed 14 of 16 passes, but none of his throws were off target. He missed on a slant route to his left, but the throw wasn't awful. A turn-in to his right didn't sync up with a receiver, but it wasn't bad, either. Other than that, he could make every throw. His deep passes had good spin on the football. His throws to the middle of the field were strong and accurate. Ryan Tannehill of Texas A&M and Brock Osweiler of Arizona State didn't work out because of foot injuries. Based on the way things went Sunday, it looks as though Tannehill, Osweiler and Cousins are competing for the Nos. 3, 4 and 5 spots among quarterbacks. Osweiler's the wild card. He's a 6-foot-6 quarterback with mobility and a decent arm. You get the feeling that Tannehill is the one quarterback of the three who could go in the first round, but more will be determined in school workouts and how the offseason goes for quarterback acquisitions.

Brandon Weedon of Oklahoma State was inconsistent with his throwing Sunday, hitting on 16 of 28 passes. He looked good throwing to his left but wasn't accurate on his deep balls. Russell Wilson of Wisconsin was one of the best throwers of the day, but his 5-10 stature may keep him in the middle rounds.

4. Trying to catch Blackmon as the top wide receiver: Michael Floyd of Notre Dame moved closer to the No. 2 receiver spot in the draft behind Justin Blackmon of Oklahoma State. Floyd ran an official time of 4.47 seconds and measured out at 6-2 5/8, 220 pounds, but had unofficial times of 4.42 and 4.44. That's fast enough for a big guy. But he caught just about everything, looking very impressive in a gauntlet drill in which seven different quarterbacks fired passes at him.

Blackmon didn't run because of a hamstring injury, but he did do the drills. Likely because of the hamstring injury, he didn't go full out for speed and didn't show the catching flair Floyd did. Still, Blackman is No. 1 among the receivers. Stephen Hill of Georgia Tech might have moved into the first round by running an official 40 of 4.36 seconds, and catching the ball well. Tommy Streeter of Miami also helped himself with a 4.4 40 official time and showcased some catching skills in those drills.

5. Minus Trent Richardson, the running back group lacked excitement: Of course, last year's running back group had one headliner -- Mark Ingram of Alabama. Richardson couldn't work out because of a recent minor knee injury that will sideline him until his March 27 workout. David Wilson of Virginia Tech (4.49 40) and Lamar Miller of Miami, FL (4.4 40) may have locked up the Nos. 2 and 3 running back spots, but their distance isn't much ahead of Isaiah Pead of Cincinnati (4.47), Chris Polk of Washington (4.57, although the NFL Network had him at 4.46) and LaMichael James of Oregon (4.45). Doug Martin of Boise State didn't hurt himself with a 4.55, with the NFL Network having him with one time of 4.47. It's not a bad group, but it might not be enough to convince many teams to use first-round picks on them. Richardson is the one star of the group.

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