To run or not to run … Somewhat ironically, the most notable moments from this week’s pro days across the country came from players who did not run at their team’s pro day this week. NFL scouts, for example, were fully expecting Alabama LB Rashaan Evans to run at the Tide’s second pro day this year after he voluntarily opted not to run at either the combine or Alabama’s original pro day earlier this month. However, Evans decided against running the 40 for the third time this spring meaning that it is very likely NFL teams will not have an accurate time for him. That likely won’t hurt Evans’ overall grade heading into the draft – he’s considered to be a mid-to-late opening round candidate – but it did leave some NFL personnel people frustrated and wondering if he has something to hide. The NFL community was also expecting Louisville QB Lamar Jackson, one of the best athletes in this year’s draft, to run the 40 at the Cardinals’ pro day if for no other reason than to show off. Instead, the 2016 Heisman winner only participated in passing drills. No reason was given, though, there is speculation that Jackson wants to be considered only as a possible QB and fears that if he in fact goes out and runs in the 4.3-4.4 range some teams will start to look at his as either a WR or RB. For the record, Jackson’s passing workout consisted of a scripted 59-pass program which was described as solid if unspectacular. And while one doesn’t want to read too much into this kind of stuff, reports from the UL pro day indicate that Pittsburgh paid a lot of attention to Jackson. In fact, the Steelers, who don’t know how long incumbent starter Ben Roethlisberger intends to play, also were out in force at Oklahoma State QB Mason Rudolph’s pro day earlier this month, suggesting they are indeed in the market for a top young QB of the future. Meanwhile, for many schools having ‘all 32 teams represented’ at their pro day. Not so, though, for South Dakota State whose last pro day prior to this year attracted 4 scouts. However, all 32 NFL teams were represented at this week’s SD State pro day with most there to see TE Dallas Goedert, potentially the first player off the board at the position this year. Goedert wasn’t able to workout at all at the combine because of a hamstring injury suffered at the Senior Bowl and NFL teams were hoping to see him run this week. Goedert, though, didn’t feel 100% and opted not to run although he put up some good numbers in some of the other drills including a 35″ vertical and a 3-cone drill time of 6.87 that was about a tenth slower than Mike Giesicki’s top TE time at the combine.
