by Pigskin Paul Guillemette: So the first groups of players have wrapped up their job interviews in Indy and are headed back home, and/or to their Performance Camps. As often happens I have ended up the first day of on-field with as many questions as I have answers. But here are a few tidbits I wanted to share with you our readers.
My first quandary centers around the amazing transformation of the right hand of QB/VERNON ADAMS. My concerns about his “small”hands started after getting a hand measurement at the Shrine Game venue that listed his hand at 8 3/4″. Now that number came from members of National Scouting who conducted the weigh-in. These are the same guys who primarily handle running the COMBINE. So what in the wide, wide world of sports has been going on at ADAMS’ Performance Camp that enabled him to have his hand measured again by National personnel in Indy and his new official hand size is 9 1/8″. This new number indicates that his hand may not be RUSSELL WILSON size (10+”), but is bigger than JARED GOFF & CHRISTIAN HACKENBERG. By the time he posts his speed and quickness numbers ADAMS may leave the Combine as one hot prospect.
Of other note on the hand size front CODY KESSLER may have just made up a bit for his relatively short stature at 6’1, with a hand that measured 10 7/8″. THat ties him with DAK PRESCOTT for largest mitts in the QB group here.
Just to bring you up to date, guys with hands measuring 10″ or grater in Indy were
KEVIN HOGAN/STANFORD, CARDALE JONES/OHIO STATE, KESSLER, PAXTON LYNCH, PRESCOTT, JOEL STAVE & CARSON WENTZ.
One more note, before i drive you insane with hand size talk. At his presser Thursday JOHN ELWAY indicated that he recently measured his hand and came out with a size of 10 1/8″. Just another piece of interesting but probably useless information.
A name from the past emerged today amongst the RB group, and put a new name into consideration as a worthy Draft project; KEITH MARSHALL. Those of you follow College Football may remember him as the sidekick of TODD GURLEY, when they were freshman together in 2012. MARSHALL shared time with GURLEY and rushed for 759 yards and 8 TD, averaging 6’5 ypc. Then in 2013 he tore an ACL and never really regained much status for the Bulldogs. In 2015, though seemingly healthy, he only got 68 carries. He averaged 5.1 ypc and scored 3 TD. It seemed strange he saw so little action, especially after NICK CHUBB went down for the season.
When I saw MARSHALL’s name on the Combine invite list I figured the primary purpose must be to get an extensive medical work-up so teams could eliminate his name from their prospect lists. Well, he cleared his medical and was allowed to participate today in on-field drills. NFL Network showed a tweet from this morning from TODD GURLEY basically predicting a blazing 4.30/40. Good for a smile or two. But not so fast my friends. MARSHALL was the fastest RB by far, blazing an official 4.31 time. On top of that MARSHALL had the highest Bench Press count of the true RB, with 25. I can’t wait for the rest of his numbers to come in and to see the buzz he may leave Indy with. What a great story this could become if it pans out over the next two months.
What a pleasant surprise when I tuned in the NFLN at 9AM and the first three guys running their 40’s were from the Special Teams group. JIMMY LANDES/LS, MARSHALL KOEHN/K & JOHN LUNSFORD/K all run and had times well under 5 seconds each. I was not surprised to see LUNSFORD out there. I had multiple sideline conversations with him during Shrine Game practices and the kid is tough, smart & a serious athlete. I guarantee if he’s on the field for an NFL team next year he will indeed cover his own kick-offs and record a few tackles. Way to go guys.
Overall, the work of the OL groups pretty much confirmed my fears that the overall athleticism of this Draft Class is decent, but a notch below the past two years in overall athleticism. This was especially true of Group 1, which included 20 OL. Group 2 was better, but no one knocked it out of the park.
Only three OL were able to better the 5.00/40:
JASON SPRIGGS/INDIANA 4.94
JOE THUNEY/NC STATE 4.95
CALEB BENENOCH/UCLA 4.98
Next up at 5.00 even was JACK CONKLIN.
Top Dog amongst the OL prospects LAREMY TUNSIL declined to run. He’ll wait for his Pro Day. But he did participate in on-field drills and earned high praise for his agility, technique and athleticism.
SPRIGGS who had a solid week was very impressive overall and looks to be riding out of Indy as a First Round Prospect.
From what I saw today I would rate the following guys as having had the most overall productive, if not surprising, days of the 50 participants.
SPRIGGS
JOE DAHL/WASHINGTON STATE
JACK CONKLIN/MICHIGAN STATE
CHRIS WESTERMAN/ARIZONA STATE
GRAHAM GLASGOW/MICHIGAN
CONNOR McGOVERN/MISSOURI
Some Draft philosophy thoughts I have had this past week as MOCK DRAFTS are flying everywhere you look, soon to be followed by post-Combine updates. I am a strong believer in building NFL tams through the Draft process, with the following cautions.
1) Being a one trick pony is not likely to get you a Super Bowl roster anymore. Because of injuries and Salary Cap restrictions your draftees must be supplemented, on a regular basis, by prudent and limited use of the Veteran Free Agent signing periods.
2) You cannot draft the same position over and over again because of a glaring need. Just reflect back on the MATT MILLEN obsession with finding a star wideout year after year in Round One.
3) Drafting the Best Available Athlete at every selection cannot be exercised at total disregard for team needs. Overall roster quality has got to be taken into account. Having DeMARCO MURRAY & RYAN MATHEWS at RB in Phily didn’t do much good behind an inadequate Interior OL last season, as an example. If memory serves me correctly the old fox RON WOLF used to qualify his philosophy by saying something like Best Available Athlete at a position of need.
Looking forward to watching WO/QB/TE Saturday.
PIGSKIN
