Notes from DL weigh-in … Perhaps the biggest takeaway from today’s measuring and weigh-in session for the defensive linemen was the fact that while he’s a rangy 6-6.5, Michigan DE Aidan Hutchinson has really short arms. Indeed, they were only a tad over 32-inches, although at this time its hard to imagine anyone in the NFL is really going to care. In fact, shortish arms almost seemed to be the order of the day among the DEs, or at least the top ones today as Kayvon Thibodeaux (33″), George Karlaftis (32.5″), and David Ojabo (33.5″) were all around 33-inches. Same for Logan Hall, another long (6-6.5) lineman who also had just 32 and 3/4 inch arms. Back to Hutchinson for a moment. While his 40 time was a solid, at least for him, 4.74, he was very quick in the shuttle with times of 4.15 in the short shuttle and 6.73 in the 3-cone. Just by way of comparison, the SS time would have been faster than all but two CBs in 2020, the last time there was a full combine, while no DL that year got under 4.35 seconds. As we said, he’s quick for a guy of any size.
Among the DEs, the major exception was Georgia’s Trayvon Walker who measured in at a sculpted 6-5, 272 with 35.5-inch arms and 10.5-inch hands. In fact, Walker may be the most dominant player in Indianapolis this week after he ran a now official 4.51 40 with a 1.62 split and a 35.5-inch vertical. And all that appears to have people definitely talking about him as a legit top 5-10 prospect. At the same time, though, we should note that several other DE/OLB/ER prospects do have the longer arms including FSU’s Jermaine Johson (34″) and USC’s Drake Jackson (34″) and the Penn State duo of Brandon Smith (34.5″) and Arnold Ebiketie (34″).
Oh, did we mention that Georgia DT Jordan Davis is huge! And fast! For those that missed it Davis measured in at 6-6.5, 341 with 34-inch arms and almost 11-inch hands. And then went out and ran a now official 4.78 40 with a 1.68 split. In fact, if the Bulldogs’ Walker isn’t the #1 star of the week, then its Davis. Meanwhile, the one guy who gave Davis a run for his money among the DTs today, it was Devonta Wyatt, yet another former Georgia Bulldog. Wyatt, at 6-3, 304 with 32.5-inch arms isn’t anywhere nearly as big as Davis, but he’s just as good an athlete who ran the 40 in 4.77 with a 1.66 split and a 29-inch vertical. At the same time, a couple of other DTs clearly also aced the eyeball test in Phil Mathis of Alabama (6-4, 310 with 34.5″ arms and 10.5″ hands) and UCLA’s Otito Ogbonnia (6-3.5, 324 with 34.5″ arms and 10″ hands, although neither worked out today.
Other notes from today:
- Cincinnati’s Myjai Sanders is listed as a DE, but weighed in at under 230 pounds, meaning he’ll likely have to find work at the next level at OLB.
- The official 40 times have been confirmed for the DL. In addition to Trayvon Walker’s 4.51, Kayvon Thibodeaux had an official clocking of 4.58 (better than his unofficial time of 4.65), while the figure for David Ojabo was 4.55 and a position best 4.46 for Sam Williams of Ole Miss. Aidan Hutchinson’s final time was 4.74.
- We didn’t mention it earlier as he looks more like a LB at 6-4.5, 246, but Amare Barno of Virginia Tech had an outsanding day whether he’s a LB or a DE. He also has 34-inch arms and blitzed a 4.37 40 with a 1.54 split and a 37-inch vertical.
- Jermaine Johnson and Brandon Smith both ran with the LBs this evening and both ran well. Again, the time’s are unofficial, but Johnson clocked a preliminary time of 4.58, while Smith was a 100th faster at 4.57. In fact, Minnesota ER Boye Mafe also posted a 4.57 preliminary running with the LBs.
