The clear winner of today’s passing drills was Josh Allen of Wyoming who showed off remarkable arm strength, along with the kind of touch that was often missing during his season with the Cowboys. On the other hand , it appears there were more mixed reviews for UCLA’s Josh Rosen. It was also not hard to be impressed with the way the ball came out of Rosen’s hand; he also threw some delightful long balls, but the pinpoint accuracy wasn’t there for the former Bruins’ star. With USC’s Sam Darnold opting to sit out today’s passing drills in favor of his pro day later this month, the question now becomes does Allen legitimately challenge Rosen for one of the top two grades among the QBs.
Coming at the end of the day, the TE workout today got kind of lost in the wash. However, one could forgive those who were paying attention if they thought they were really watching the ‘Mike Gesicki Show!’ No question that Gesicki, the former Penn Stater put on a show. In fact, he lead the position in every drill as he ran a 4.54 40, while posting leaps of 41.5” in the vertical and 10-9 in the BJ. He also led the TEs by a wide margin in all the agility tests including the short shuttle where his time of 4.10 seconds was a full tenth faster than any other TE; it also would have been the 4th best time among the WRs. Those aren’t just good numbers for a TE, they’d be really good for any position. For good measure, Gesicki also caught the ball well in passing drills. Among the other leading TE prospects, both Hayden Hurst of South Carolina and Oklahoma’s Mark Andrews came into Indianapolis hoping to get under 4.7 seconds in the 40 and both did so with decent times of 4.67 seconds. Hurst, in particular, caught the ball very well in the passing part of the TE workout. Maybe the biggest disappointment of the TE workout was that South Dakota State’s Dallas Goedart, arguably the top-rated guy at the position who led the TEs in the bench press with 23 reps, didn’t work out.
A number of WRs helped their cases today as they aced the physical tests and then caught the ball well in passing drills. Everybody knew, for example, that LSU’s D.J. Chark could run so it was no surprise that he led the wideouts with a 4.34 40 clocking; however, Chark really surprised onlookers with the ease with which he caught the ball. Meanwhile, Texas A&M’s Christian Kirk who looked like he could run the gauntlet in his sleep after running the 40 in 4.47. Same story for Maryland’s D.J. Moore who was even faster at 4.42 and also caught the ball effortlessly. Other WRs who did nothing to hurt their grades today included Notre Dame’s EQ St Brown who ran under 4.5 seconds at 6-4.5 and 214 pounds, Alabama’s Robert Foster and Keke Coutee of Texas Tech.
The surprise of the day among the WRs, though was unheralded Marquez Valdes-Scantling of South Florida, a 6-4, 206-pounder who was second among the receivers with a 40 clocking of 4.37 and then did not look out of place at all in receiving drills. It was also a really good day for Florida’s Antonio Callaway, who didn’t play in 2017 because of off-field issues. Indeed, he may still go undrafted because of his checkered past, but no question he has talent after he ran a 4.41 40 and looked good in passing drills.
On the other hand it was something of a mixed bag for Alabama’s Calvin Ridley, the consensus #1 WR in this year’s draft. Ridley ran well enough with a 40 clocking of 4.43, but didn’t jump at all well. And in the passing drills, Ridley just didn’t look smooth at all. Meanwhile, other WRs who did not have good days included Florida State’s Auden Tate, the 6-5, 228-pound wideout who has been touted as a possible late first rounder, but not running a 4.68 40. At the same time, NFL types had to be a little disappointed with the times posted by Simmie Cobbs of Indiana (4.64) and Oklahoma State’s Marcel Ateman (4.62), although both are bigger receivers.
The weigh-in session for DBs is somewhat unlike other positions as teams tend to be looking for length over pure size. Unfortunately, NFL talent evaluators may have been a little disappointed with today’s results as a number of this year’s top DB prospects didn’t have that expected length. Ohio State CB Denzel Ward, who’s getting some top ten buzz this year, for example, checked in at under 5-11 and with just 31-inch arms. Same story for rising Central Florida CB Mike Hughes who is just 5-10 with arms under 31 inches. And in no particular order, it was the same for Louisville’ Jaire Alexander (5-10, 31), Duke Dawson of Florida (5-10.5, 31.5), and the LSU duo of Donte Jackson (5-10.5, 29.5) and Kevin Toliver (6-2, 30).
It wasn’t all bad news, though, as several other top corners did come closer to passing the eyeball test including Auburn’s Carlton Davis who checked in at 6-1 with 33-inch arms. Same for Isaiah Oliver of Colorado (6-0, 33.5), Florida State’s Tavarus McFadden (6-2, 32.5) and Brandon Facyson of Virginia Tech (6-1.5, 32.5). In fact, for all these guys the bigger tests comes tomorrow when they have to do their on-field physical tests.
Even Alabama’s Minkah Fitzpatrick appears to have caught the short-armed blues as he checked in with just 31 inch arms, although at 6-0, 205, he’s solid physically otherwise. No such problems, though, for Fitzpatrick’s Alabama teammate Ronnie Harrison who measured in at 6-2, 207 with 33.5-inch arms. Same story for Florida State safety Derwin James who looked all the part at 6-2, 215 with 33-inch arms.
