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It's about 2 months away, but with the combine officially kicking off Saturday (the workouts, at least) it seems like a good time to start things.

The first bit of "news" is DeSean Jackson. He reported for his weigh-in today and was officially measured at 5'9" 169 lbs.

That would make him slightly smaller than Jeremy Bloom before he got back into football shape.

Desean has bust written all over him and is no bigger than Uber as it turns out and as I suspected.


Pass.

Yeah, but he's got his own Wikipedia page. That's gotta count for something!

At that size, this kid has "Jim Johnson's prized defensive tackle" written all over him.

Keep those fastballs comin'!

I don't know...he's a fastball, but I'm concerned that he might not have enough "sand in the pants".

Alright...first day of real workouts is in the books. Saturday was O-line, TEs, and kickers. Mercifully, they didn't televise a minute of the kickers.

These are my combine thoughts, but I can't stress enough that these are simply observations from the combine, impressions, and not some kind of judgement (good or bad) on the player outside of the combine.

Offensive Line

I'm not sure what you can learn about offensive linemen in shorts running around, but they do it anyway.

Jake Long looks like a stud and he's the star of the combine among o-linemen. They say he's better suited to play RT than left, but can do either well. That's actually the theme for this year's linemen...they are almost all better suited to play on the right side. The purest, complete LT out there might be Ryan Clady (who will likely be taken before the Eagles, behind Long, and he didn't work out at the combine), but the RT spot appears to be loaded. The top 6 guys are all first round picks (maybe more) and all LTs, but most just seem better suited to play on the right side at the next level.

That's important for the Eagles, though. I would think LT would be the position they'd be more interested in and since Clady/Long will be gone, the other guy the Eagles could look at if they do take a shot in the first is Chris Williams from Vandy. He's 6'6" 315, highly athletic, and what they consider a "finesse" blocker. He's the prototypical blindside pass protector, but there are concerns. The comparison goes straight to Winston Justice, for me. He's not a physical guy and he clearly doesn't have an NFL body. He looks very athletic, but he also looks fat in a bad way...jiggly gut and tits. I know it doesn't really matter, but I just expect a little more out of a guy who interviewing to become an NFL professional and it makes me wonder. Justice was almost the same guy a couple years ago, though Williams has absolutely no character concerns. He's a good guy, very smart guy, and a great team leader according to the scouts. Just a little red flag, though...

Among the guards, I didn't really pay attention. There's a kid from Virginia (Brandon Albert) who will go high (maybe top of the second), but there are a lot of stud RT prospects and I think some of the lower end RTs (in this particular class) have the bodies of NFL guards.

One guy to keep an eye on is Roy Schuening from Oregon St. He's a bit undersized for a guard (6'4" 304) in the Eagles offense, but he's got a lot of the things they look for in a player. He's a 4 year starter, academic All American, standout high school wrestler, and has versatility (he played RT at time when they had injuries). He's fat and sloppy looking (like Belushi, really), but he's considered a tough guy, a mauler, a phone booth football player (not really an "athlete", though). He's projected to go in the 2nd or 3rd round, but I think he;s the kind of guy who could get lost in the shuffle of all these more impressive tackles and guards. If they could get him at a good value (maybe 3rd or 4th?), he's be interesting.

The award for most physically imposing lineman probably goes to Otah from Pittsburgh. 6'6" 340 lbs. He played LT at Pitt, but he just looks like a road grader.


Tight Ends

It's night and day between the TE's last year and this year. The size and speed of this group is really, really impressive. The actual production is very questionable among these guys, though...a lot of projects in one way or another.

The star of the show was absolutely, no doubt about it, Dustin Keller from Purdue. He ran 2 4.5's in the 40, he had a 38 inch vertical, and he looks fast and athletic in the drills. The downside is his size. At 6'2" 240, he might struggle as a pure TE in the run game and he never really had to block in college.

The guy who hurt himself the most was probably John Carlson from ND. Going into the combine, he was arguably the #1 TE and a potential first round pick on a lot of boards. His production was putrid his senior year, but most of that was blamed on the QB situation (since he was very productive as a Jr. with Quinn). He's billed as one of the 2 "complete" TE's coming out who could be great all around players in the league, but he ran 2 awful 40's. He looks the part at 6'5" 256 lbs., but he ran two 40's just under 5 seconds and that's going to hurt him. I think a lot of people forgave his senior year but if you have a senior year and turn out to be a lot slower than people expected, you could slide. Very interesting and he is the early favorite to become this year's Witten (guy who slides on measurables). He's a guy I'd keep a close eye on if he slides far enough, but I think there might be too many questions to consider him even in the second round (at least for the Eagles).

Fred Davis from USC didn't do himself any favors, either. He's the other guy jockeying for position as the top TE and a potential first round pick. he skipped the measurables...refused to run, jump, etc. I understand why some people don't do it, but I always assume the worst. I mean, this is a kid who, if he believes in his athleticism, stands to gain quite a bit from running and jumping. By NOT doing that, he's telling me he doesn't have confidence in his athleticism. That's a tough sell with a guy billed as a down-the-field TE who stretches defense...put your shit on display if you aren't embarrassed. Things got worse for Davis when he decided to participate in the passing drills. His first route resulted in a...drop. His second route resulted in him catching the ball, but stepped out of bounds when he turned upfield. His third route, a fly route down the field, resulted in a drop. He went on to drop about half the balls in the gauntlet drill, as well. He also didn't look athletic to me. He looked herky-jerky to me...not very fluid. Overall, I'd call his workout a complete disaster, but i think it's very likely he just had a bad day. Still, he did absolutely nothing to help himself.

When I say the speed and size of these guys is impressive, what I'm talking about most specifically is the size. However, these guys are all projects and the buyer should beware. In total, 7 guys measured in at 6'6" or taller. A total of 12 guys measured in at 6'5" or taller. Wow.

The two guys who will be talked about quite a bit after the combine are Kellen Davis and Brad Cottam. Davis is 6'6" 260, built like a brick shithouse, ran a 4.6 40, and was also a situational pass rushing DE for Michigan State (recorded 2 sacks this past year).

Cottam is 6'8" 271 (from Tennessee) and ran a 4.63. That's completely absurd.

While they are both different players (Davis an intriguing physical specimen and Cottam appears to be more of a gentle giant), the size/speed blend will have a lot of people looking at them. Davis has an assault on his record and is billed as a guy who is a questionable "football player" (route running, instincts, etc.). Cottam is a guy who has almost zero production in his career as his breakout season (2007) ended early with an injury.

There's are a number of other interesting guys like Jermichael Finley from Texas. He really disappointed in his 40 (4.82), but from watching him in the drills it appears his speed shows up better in drills than on a track. He's 6'5", uber-athletic, and only 20 years old. Downside is he's light at 236 lbs. he looks thin, too.

There were plenty of other guys like Martellus Bennett or Craig Stevens who could be mentioned and Missouri's Martin Rucker (one of the better projected prospects) didn't even work out.

The story on the TE's this year is simply intrigue. I don't think there's a sure-fire first rounder in the bunch based on what I've read, but there are about 10-11 guys who are extremely interesting. Tremendous depth this year at the TE spot, though lacking elite, blue-chip prospects.

Oh, and in the "forget it" category, I have a feeling Derrick Harvey is going to absolutely fly up draft boards after his workouts Monday.

Harvey is still very young (just turned 21) and measured in in at 6'5" 271 lbs. He's put on 13 lbs. since the end of the season and it's not bad weight...just natural growth and muscle. He also was measured with an 81 inch wing span, which is massive. If he performs as well as people expect, with that natural size and upside, he'll be a fast riser.

I'll give my observations on the RBs, QBs, and WRs later on, but the big news of the day was McFadden running 4.27 and 4.33.

Kinda lost in that is he wasn't even the fastest RB and there were a slew of amazing times, but this will probably elevate him if he was starting to fall at all.

F-d, the passing drills were incredibly bogus. So much hinges on the passes of the QBs. They don't always throw a pass that is intended to show off what the WR/TE is being tested at. I saw enough crappy throws that made WRs look awful and enough pretty nicely thrown balls that made them look good. The only instance where this makes a "real" difference is when there isn't enough information on a player who wasn't a 3 or 4 year starter, and even then its only marginal.

Didn't watch the tight ends. I agree that it'd be pretty hard for anyone that selects a lineman in the first 2 rounds and the early part of the third to screw it up.

ok eagles fans i need to pick your football knowledge, donovan mcnabb had a game within
the last two years that he was 7 of 9 for 79
yards and sacked five times i need to know the date of that game it is very important,
please post the answer thankyou

ok eagles fans i need to pick your football knowledge, donovan mcnabb had a game within
the last two years that he was 7 of 9 for 79
yards and sacked five times i need to know the date of that game it is very important,
please post the answer thankyou

If you had posted that one more time, I might have had the answer for you.

Alright...day two of workouts was yesterday with RB's, QB's, and WRs. There were a few surprises in here, but I was disappointed with the coverage in general. I watched a total of about 5 hours of the combine stuff yesterday and for the first 3 hours they were doing a poor job of identifying which players were running the drills. This was a particular problem with the WRs running routes/catching balls because you could only tell who was who if you recognized a certain guy's hair or they happened to point him out. The reason for this was because Mike Mayock spent the entire day defending his stance that McFadden isn't the best running back in the draft and every single guest wanted to fight him him on it. During the o-line and QBs, it was Jamie Dukes. During the RBs, it was Marshall Faulk. Deion Sanders called in to argue with him about it.

Note to the NFL Network: fuck the great debate of Darren McFadden.

QBs

I wasn't paying close attention to this group because I feel more confident than ever that the Eagles won't draft one...not that it worked last year.

Matt Ryan, slated to be the first QB taken, didn't throw the ball. He did all other workouts, but didn't throw. That wasn't help or hurt him, IMO. I thought it was kinda pointless to do anything, though. He's a pocket passer so no one gave a shit if he ran anyway.

Andre Woodson didn't participate at all. His stock is absolutely plummeting. He had a great year, has mechanics issues, absolutely sucked at the senior bowl, and didn't participate in the combine. Strange.

The most intriguing guy is Josh Johnson from San Diego (whale's vagina). He's a 1-AA guy, so he's a bit of a mystery to most people. He's 6'3' and a little thin at about 200 lbs, but he has a live arm. He threw for 10K yards, 113 TDs, and 15 INTs in his college career. he also rushed for 2,000 yards and 19 TDs. He ran a 4.55 40 yesterday and ran an unofficial 4.45. His arm was extremely erratic in the passing drills, though. I think he's an interesting project but teams will have a lot to think about with him.

Biggest risers at the combine were Brennan, Flacco, and Henne.

Henne is a guy who will impress with his tools and maybe be a guy who climbs the charts late, but I think he's a tools-only guy with no shot to be anything but a marginal (at best) NFL QB.

Flacco is the bell of the fucking ball. Honestly, he didn't impress me at all in the passing drills. He's a big guy with a big arm, but he was wild and he played against garbage competition in college. What he'll end up being is still a question, but I'm not as in love with him as most teams are.

Brennan maybe had the biggest day. he came in at 200 lbs...15 or 20 lbs. heavier than the senior bowl. he threw crisp, accurate passes and was the most accurate QB BY FAR at the combine. His stock just went through the floor at the senior bowl, but I think people are starting to reconsider him as a WCO QB now. When they site down to think about it, the guy was coming into the senior bowl off the worst game of his college career and goes from the spread he's run for 4 years to Mike Martz. Martz supposedly liked him on the down low even though his performance was shaky. He's said to enjoy throwing a ton at QBs and seeing what sticks to test their meddle and wasn't all that concerned about the immediate results. You could almost see how a QB like Colt could be successful in a Martz offense IF he has the mental accumen.


RB

This position is absolutely loaded with speed, talent, and production. 13 running backs came in UNDER 4.5 seconds.

McFadden blew the doors off with a 4.27 and a 4.33. the 4.33 was considered "official". Jonathon Stewart, the 235 lb RB from Oregon ran a 4.48. Reshard Mendenhall from Illinois ran a 4.43 at 25 lbs.

Those are your top 3 backs in this year's draft and they all performed very well in the 40 and the rest of the drills. McFadden has bust written all over him, though. He isn't an every down back and he doesn't have Reggie Bush's change of direction ability. I think he'll make a splash next year and quickly get labeled as a bust. My guess is whoever drafts him will be very disappointed after the initial "wow" wears off.

Stewart is interesting and in a lot of ways he reminds me of TJ Duckett. He's big, has great straight line speed, but his change of direction was a little spotty.

Mendenhall might be the most fluid looking RB of the 3.

In terms of risers/fallers, I think Kevin Smith might have fallen a bit. He ran for a million yards at UCF has decent size, ran well, etc. However, he cuts like an offensive tackle. Watching him do cone drills was painful. Maybe he's just a slashing, straight-line type runner and can be successful doing that, but I think any thought that he might be a franchise back jewel buried in a small school might have evaporated.

Another big hit was the one Mike Hart took. Everyone knew he wasn't a speed guy, but he ran a 4.7. Of the 5 guys who ran slower than him, every one was projected to be a FB. No one expected him to run fast, but I think they might not have expected him to run quite that slow.

Ray Rice helped himself with a 4.44. I'm sure there will be MJD comparisons flying around.

Slaton ran a 4.43 and a 4.44, so I think he helped himself a little. He looked good in the RB drills as well.

The most interesting guy was Chris Johnson from East Carolina. He was highly productive in college, he's got average size (5'11 200 lbs.), he's the best receiver among RBs in the draft, and he ran and official 4.24. He's pegged as a 3rd down guy, but with that speed and his receiving ability, a lot of teams (including the Eagles) should be interested.

WR

By far the most disappointing group of players so far.

2 of the top 3 prospects didn't run or participate in drills (Malcom Kelly and Early Doucet) because they are both not very fast and know it.

Desean Jackson ran the fastest time at 4.35, but he was also 5'9 168 lbs instead of the 6' 180 he was listed at.

Dexter Jackson from Ap St. ran a 4.37 (he also ran an unofficial 4.27), but dropped a lot of balls. For what it's worth, he looked quicker than DeSean Jackson in the routes.

Andre Caldwell (brother of Reche) ran a 4.37 and looked great throughout the day, but given Reche, Florida WRs, and most recently Chad Jackson, count me out.

Eddie Royal continued to build steam. He's potentially the best return specialist in the draft and ran a 4.39 on the heals of a great combine. I think the Eagles will really like this guy and he might be an option in the second round. He might have been a 3rd or 4th rounder a month ago, though.

For me, however, the theme of the WRs was "average". They all ran pretty well, they all caught most of the balls thrown at them, they all seemed comfortable. The closest thing to a standout was Eddie Royal, though...no one jumped out and made you pay attention. Mike Mayock, for what it's worth, said he doesn't have a true first round grade on a single WR in this class even though he conceded maybe 3 or 4 guys will ending up going in that frame.

The most disastrous combines for WRs were had by Mario Manningham and Adarius Bowman. Manningham, who is considered a speed merchant and potential first round pick, ran a 4.59 and 4.61. That might not be a big deal for a big guy or something like that, but Manningham is wafer thin and is considered a deep threat which will certainly push him out of the first round and maybe further depending on his pro day.

Bowman is a raw prospect out of Oregon St. (compared to T.O. by many scouts). He ran a 4.7, which was pretty much the worst time out there.

A final guy who likely helped himself was Limas Sweed. He's a big target at 6' 4" 215 and his question mark is speed/injuries. he didn't participate in the drills due to injury, but ran a 4.46. I think that's a fraudulent time compared to the speed he actually plays with, but that will elevate his stock, I think.

Also, among WRs, Devin Thomas will be a riser. He ran a 4.4 at 6'2" 220 and is coming off a very productive season and Michigan St.

And word on who the Wonderlic flunky of the year is yet?

FD, I always look forward to your draft breakdown. Great job as usual. Thanks.

And word on who the Wonderlic flunky of the year is yet?

Nothing leaking out about that yet.

My early guesses for functional retard are the QB from San Diego and Darren McFadden.

DT's and running backs should normally win this race by a wide margin, though.

Gimmie Andre Woodson for that distinction.

Good wrap up of the combine F_D.

I wonder if Woodson started taking money from an agent when he was being projected in the top 5 or 10 in mocks at the time.



Gonna take a long time to pay it back cooking burgers at McDonalds.

Gimmie Andre Woodson for that distinction.

I was going to mention Andre Woodson, too, but I thought naming two black QBs would be racist and figured Josh Johnson would probably be dumber.

I wonder if they've always been Black QBs.

Well, since no one asked them I guess we'll never know how long they've been black QBs.

Seems like an obvious question to me. The media these days...

I'm also curious how long Morelli has been an Italian American QB.

Defensive linemen and Linebackers today. I think this is normally my favorite day of the combine because the defensive linemen are always so impressive in the change of direction drills. It also really shows you who has quick feet, balance, and athleticism. They also do an edge rush drill which gives you a look at how they turn the corner.

Additionally, the linebackers doing linebacker drills is important to watch. It really doesn;t matter how linebackers run because they rarely run more than 5 yards in a straight line. The bag drills and change of direction drills give you a lot better feel for what they look like as linebackers, but more on that later...


Defensive Linemen

The defensive linemen were exactly as advertised. The DE's were athletic and plentiful. The DT's didn't appear quite as deep. Notables who didn't work out were Glenn Dorsey (who might be the best DT) and Phillip Merling, one of the top 10 or so DEs (some say top 5).

Cliff Avril put on a show running a 4.51 and looking extremely quick in all the drills. he looks too small to play DE, though. They'll compare him to Anthony Spencer, but I thought Spencer would have been much better off in a 4-3 and based on build/athleticism, I think this guy is better suited to play outside in a 3-4.

Gholsten and Long were the two superstars and they showed why. Both outperformed every DE from last year and both look the part. They are giving the edge to Long because of his "motor" (as well they should), but Gholsten is a better overall athlete. the difference isn't what a lot of people thought it was, though. If you;re looking for comparables, Long looks like a more athletic Patrick Kerney and Gholsten looks like a slightly bulkier version of Shawn Merriman. I think Long will go first because he seems like the safer bet, but Gholsten could have the higher upside.

In terms of surprises, Derrick Harvey weighed in at 291 lbs. (6'5"). I was shocked. This is a guy who was listed at 252 when he played for the Gators..he showed up 40 lbs. heavier. He certainly didn't look 291, either...looked 270 to me. he moved extremely well. He wasn't in the class of Gholsten or Long, but just a shade below and quite a bit bigger on the scale. At that weight, he's gotta be a 4-3 DE, though. If he lasts, he'd be a very interesting pick for the Birds. In terms of size/athleticism, he's not in the mold of Florida defensive ends. He ran a 4.8 if anyone cares.

Lawrence Jackson from USC looked a lot more athletic than i think people expected. Watching guys like him, Long, Gholsten, and Harvey on the change of direction and bag drills really separated them from the other guys in the field. They were all so quick and under control that it was impressive. Jackson ran a 4.81 at 271 lbs.

Calais Campbell was very unimpressive. His size is excellent at 6'8 290, but he doesn't look like he has an NFL body. he ran a 5.03in the 40, all his movements look labored an stiff...he was a standout in a very bad way during the change of direction drills. I was thoroughly unimpressed with him as a combine performer. He wasn't as fluid or athletic as Chris Canty was to me a couple years ago (similar build) and I wonder where he fits best. He's not athletic enough to play standing up. He doesn't have the burst you'd want to see from the edge. He just didn't impress the way the other potential first round picks did.

Sedrick Ellis was the top DT performing with Doresy out and I don't think he took advantage. He looked good, but if you didn't know who he was, he wouldn't have been the most impressive DT there. Not a bad showing by any means, but didn't jump out.

Dre Moore from Maryland ran a 4.88 at 6'4" 304 lbs. That was impressive, but he's supposedly the classic athlete who doesn't have a great motor. They mentioned he almost washed out of Maryland and there seems to be a lot of question about his heart.

Laws from ND was probably the best overall performer. He's short, does everything very well (nothing exceptional) and had 112 tackles as a DT. They compared him to a Mike Patterson and based on what he did/how he played at ND, that's probably a good comparison. He seems a little fatter/stouter than Patterson when he came out, though.

The one thing that stood a little for me with the DTs is they are pretty short this year. Nobody is a smurf, but the tallest guy in the bunch is 6'4"...no John Hendersons or someone like him in this crowd. There seems to be a bunch of guys who might be fits for the Eagles in the middle/lower rounds, though. There are a lot of the kind of tackles they like...short, 4-3 guys who have a high motor and no upside.


LB

Of course, Dan Connor came down with the "flu" and didn't participate. Keith Rivers came down with an ankle tweak and didn't participate. based on that, and the fact that the Eagles don't need a linebacker, I didn't spend much time on them.

So...that left us with all the linebacker left, none of whom have much of a chance to go in the first rounds.

Jerod Mayo, MLB from Tennessee, was one of the two athletes who popped. He's 6'2" 242 and ran a 4.54.

Woodyard Wesley was the other. He's a weakside backer from Kentucky and he runs like a safety. At 221 lbs, he'd seem to be a fit for a Colts or Tampa-type defense, but he ran a 4.51 and was in the 4.4's unofficially. His open field skills were excellent, but I'm guessing he doesn't always show up on film based on his size.

Overall, the name of the game was s-l-o-w for these backers. the DE's had better times across the board...it was really embarrassing.

The guy who really took a massive hit to his stick was Ali Highsmith. He's an undersized guy from LSU who made a ton of plays down there but at 5'11" 230 lbs, he ran a 4.96 and a 5.03. That would have put him in the middle of the pack among defensive tackles. He also fell down in the change of direction drills.

The guy many people probably haven't seen, but interested me, was Curtis Lofton. He's a Jr. MLB from Oklahoma who didn't run particularly well (about middle of the linebacking pack), but at 6' 246 lbs. he looks like a mean bastard. He's got plenty of sand in his pants and they compared him to a young Jeremiah Trotter. He doesn't have the same build as Trot and he's smaller, but looking at him I could see how he might be able to knock guard on their ass and run through people.

The linebacker specific drills weren't televised today and frankly, they are the best/only thing of any value when it comes to looking at LBs at the combine. If anyone saw them later on and wants to chime in, please do.

I think the NFL is really shitting the bed on some of this coverage. It's become even more 40 driven this year, which is a shame.

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