You can’t let a once-every-four-year occurrence like Leap Day go by without posting, right? Though it may seem like four years since my last post, in fact it’s barely been a fortnight.
In the intervening time, however, the NFL held its annual Indianapolis get-together and invited 400 players and twice as many media. Since I’m a sucker for big fellas in their Under Armors—and thanks to the quantity-over-quality approach of New Coke I had nothing better to do anyway—I tuned in. Here are some of my thoughts.
• Jake Long looks every bit the part of a tackle who’ll anchor somebody’s offensive line for years. Scouting reports suggest he’s not quite the pass protector Joe Thomas was coming out last season but he’s already a better run blocker. If he goes to the Rams and plays on the right side for a year or three while Orlando Pace holds down the left side, Steven Jackson should have his pick of places to run. Long also flashed a bit of humor as he took the NFL Network on a tour of the combine, stopping at the hotel’s front desk long enough to leave a 3 a.m. wakeup call for Vernon Gholston, who was one of only two players to slip past Long and record a sack during Long’s four years at Michigan.
• Speaking of offensive linemen, Jeff Otah sure looked like he plays pretty high during his work in the drills. Granted, he’s 6-6 so he’s going to play high, but some scouts might knock him down a peg or two because of it. In Otah’s defense, he is apparently still recovering from a high ankle sprain (which explains his slow 40 time). He’s also relatively new to football, having picked up the game late in high school, and as such can likely be “coached up” at the next level.
• My pick for sleeper lineman who helped himself the most at the Combine is Jeremy Zuttah of Rutgers. Zuttah checked in at 6-3 and 303, then ran a 4.99 40 and pressed 225 pounds 35 times. Size, speed, strength… if scouts go back to the film and see that Zuttah has even a smidgeon of football ability he’ll hear Gene Washington call his name early on Day Two. Odds are a team like the Broncos, Texans, or Packers that employs a zone blocking scheme and puts a premium on the footspeed of their linemen will be making that call.
• Matt Ryan impressed teams without throwing a pass. According to published reports, he showed up for his meetings with the various teams dressed in a shirt and tie (as opposed to the sweats many others were sporting), took copious notes and asked intelligent, pointed questions. This all-business approach drew comparisons to Peyton Manning, and it’s not surprising that the two quarterbacks share the same agent. As one scout said, “Now that’s what a first-round pick is supposed to act like!” I’m sure Atlanta will be very proud to have him.
• It wasn’t just the players who were impressing at the Combine. I gained further respect for NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock, as there is no question the guy does his homework. Any time he has a point about a player he has video evidence to back it up, and when it came time to talk about some of the surprises of the combine his response was fantastic. It wasn’t “This guy ran a 4.33 and should move up two rounds”; it was “I need to go back and look at more film to see if this guy’s speed and athleticism translate on the football field.” I’d put Mayock up there with Pro Football Weekly’s Nolan Nawrocki and Houston scribe and radio host Lance Zierlein as the guys whose opinions carry the most credibility with me when it comes to breaking down the NFL draft.
• Finally, for those of you who find yourself consumed with the Combine results and what they might mean for future NFL performance, check out the article I wrote last year around combine time. It’s located here.
