Spring Break
Brown shines at combine
Kevin Duffy
Issue date: 2/24/09 Section: Sports
The NFL Draft Combine: the one weekend where a four-year college career doesn't matter.
All that matters is how many times a player can lift 225 pounds on a barbell. Or how many tenths of a second it takes someone to run 40 yards in a T-shirt and gym shorts.
There's no way to truly measure true football speed and power at the combine. There are no tacklers in the 40-yard dash. There's no way to way to measure toughness. There's no way to measure heart.
And that's why the combine is so highly-scrutinized. Remember the 2005 combine, when Matt Jones, a college quarterback trying to play wide receiver in the NFL, ran a 4.37 40-yard dash and flashed a 39.5-inch vertical leap? Jones was drafted 21st overall even though he never played a snap at wideout in his career at Arkansas. Remember when Troy Williamson catapulted to No. 7 overall in 2003 after running a 4.32 40? How about when Sebastian Janikowski struck first-round gold after drinking an entire keg by himself in four hours?
Jerry Rice never ran a 4.3 40. Neither did Barry Sanders or Emmitt Smith. So, with more and more "workout warriors" turning into NFL "busts," there's been a growing trend to downplay the significance of the combine.
That, my friends, is a load of horsehockey.
The combine is the be-all-end-all of football scouting. It is far and away the most effective way to determine how any given player will translate to the professional ranks.
Why the extreme stance on the NFL combine?
Because Donald Brown absolutely wrecked it.
As if rushing for 2,083 yards (the 11th best single-season total in Division I-A history) wasn't enough, Brown made absolute mincemeat of his competitors Sunday. His performance--which one scout called "sensational" - may have pushed him into the first-round, according to Chicago Tribune reporter Dan Pompei.
Brown ran a 4.48 40-yard-dash unofficially, which was later ruled a 4.51, still good for fifth among all running backs. The only ones that beat him in the 40 - Cedric Peerman, Ian Johnson, Kory Sheets and Andre Brown - are all projected to be mid-to-late round picks.
All that matters is how many times a player can lift 225 pounds on a barbell. Or how many tenths of a second it takes someone to run 40 yards in a T-shirt and gym shorts.
There's no way to truly measure true football speed and power at the combine. There are no tacklers in the 40-yard dash. There's no way to way to measure toughness. There's no way to measure heart.
And that's why the combine is so highly-scrutinized. Remember the 2005 combine, when Matt Jones, a college quarterback trying to play wide receiver in the NFL, ran a 4.37 40-yard dash and flashed a 39.5-inch vertical leap? Jones was drafted 21st overall even though he never played a snap at wideout in his career at Arkansas. Remember when Troy Williamson catapulted to No. 7 overall in 2003 after running a 4.32 40? How about when Sebastian Janikowski struck first-round gold after drinking an entire keg by himself in four hours?
Jerry Rice never ran a 4.3 40. Neither did Barry Sanders or Emmitt Smith. So, with more and more "workout warriors" turning into NFL "busts," there's been a growing trend to downplay the significance of the combine.
That, my friends, is a load of horsehockey.
The combine is the be-all-end-all of football scouting. It is far and away the most effective way to determine how any given player will translate to the professional ranks.
Why the extreme stance on the NFL combine?
Because Donald Brown absolutely wrecked it.
As if rushing for 2,083 yards (the 11th best single-season total in Division I-A history) wasn't enough, Brown made absolute mincemeat of his competitors Sunday. His performance--which one scout called "sensational" - may have pushed him into the first-round, according to Chicago Tribune reporter Dan Pompei.
Brown ran a 4.48 40-yard-dash unofficially, which was later ruled a 4.51, still good for fifth among all running backs. The only ones that beat him in the 40 - Cedric Peerman, Ian Johnson, Kory Sheets and Andre Brown - are all projected to be mid-to-late round picks.
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Siddhartha Aneja
posted 2/24/09 @ 11:54 PM EST
Good post buddy. Tell that to the Tennessee Titans who drafted my man Chris johnson soley because of his combine time. Or The cardinals for drafting DRC because of his combine. (Continued…)
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