| A number of draft-eligible players have held workouts for NFL scouts in
recent days. We’d like to tell you about the results of those workouts and how they
might affect each player’s standing for the draft. At running back, you’ve had
a couple of players move up and a couple who moved down. A big gainer was Alabama’s Shaun
Alexander, who had an excellent workout and ran in the low 4.5s. Trung Canidate
of Arizona also helped himself by running a 4.3 on grass. On the other hand, J.R.
Redmond of Arizona State had a very disappointing workout in which he ran in the 4.65
area, and that could drop him to the third or fourth round. Scouts also have not been
overly impressed with Virginia Tech’s Shyrone Stith, and he may have made a
big mistake by coming out this early.
At tight end, Florida’s Erron Kinney has been having disappointing
workouts, and Northwestern’s Jay Tant still has been unable to work out
because of injuries. Iowa’s Austin Wheatley had an awesome workout, but that
still doesn’t improve how he plays the game when it counts.
Everyone’s talking about how much faster Florida State WR Peter Warrick is
now that he ran 4.48 outdoors on a fast surface with the right shoes. But if you really
just translate the time from indoor wood to outdoor fast surface, he basically ran the
same thing. The bottom line on Warrick isn’t how fast he runs. He’s a great
football player. Nobody talked about how fast Jerry Rice ran the 40, how fast Raymond
Berry ran it, how fast Steve Largent ran it. The kid is just a great football
player. Period.
WR Travis Taylor of Florida had an exceptional workout. Dez White of
Georgia Tech ran extremely well. Dennis Northcutt of Arizona ran well and had a
very good workout. Ditto for Todd Pinkston of Southern Mississippi. USC WR R.
Jay Soward’s workout was typical; he ran like the wind, and people came away
shaking their heads at some of the things he did. Arkansas WR Anthony Lucas ran
much better, as did Tulane WR JaJuan Dawson. But Dawson doesn’t play like a
burner. Gari Scott had a good workout at Michigan State. Chafie Fields did
not run as fast as people hoped he would at Penn State, running in the 4.63 area.
On the offensive line, Chris Samuels finally worked out. He was not 100 percent.
His 40-times ranged from 5.08 to 5.18 at 320 pounds. His agility drills were not overly
impressive, but remember he’s coming off knee surgery, and his workout was just
so-so. Chris McIntosh of Wisconsin still has been unable to go yet, which
isn’t helping him any, but if he can have a good workout before the draft, he can
solidify his position in the first round. While Redmond was flunking his test at Arizona
State, Marvel Smith had an excellent workout and may have moved up high enough to
possibly even go in the first round.
On the defensive line, you couldn’t ask for a better workout than Courtney
Brown turned in, and when you take all things into account as well as his character,
it’s going to be very, very hard for the Cleveland Browns to pass on him. Byron
Frisch of BYU ran extremely well, as did Erik Flowers of Arizona State, and
both now look like solid second-round picks. John Milem of Lenoir-Rhyne continued
to have outstanding workouts, and because his numbers are so good, some team could take
him as high as the third or fourth round if it really feels it can develop him quickly
enough. Darwin Walker of Tennessee has worked out extremely well, and Corey
Simon of Florida State had an awesome workout and vertical-jumped 41 inches at 293
pounds, to give you an idea what type of leg explosion he has.
At linebacker, LaVar Arrington of Penn State had a tremendous workout, looked
chiseled and almost thin at 250 pounds, ran under 4.6 and did everything very well. Julian
Peterson of Michigan State worked out well. South Carolina’s John Abraham
and Syracuse’s Keith Bulluck ran extremely well. Raynoch Thompson’s
workout at Tennessee was disappointing, but he is coming off hernia surgery and his weight
is down and his time is not as good as it should be. Scouts are anxious to work out Ohio
State’s James Cotton as a linebacker now that he ran under 4.5. He’s in
the 245-pound range. Speaking of linebackers, Nate Webster of Miami (Fla.) gets
mixed reviews. As a player, he’s tremendous and he has excellent speed and range. But
he’s also 5-10 1/2, 225.
At cornerback, California’s Deltha O’Neal ran much better than people
thought he would, although he was wearing nubs. The workouts of Virginia Tech CB Ike
Charlton have not gone that well. Lewis Sanders of Maryland has run well, but
his agility was not very good in his workouts. David Macklin of Penn State had a
nice workout but didn’t run a blistering time, and that may be his undoing. William
Bartee of Oklahoma continues to work out extremely well. Lloyd Harrison of
North Carolina State ran under 4.4 on a very fast surface. Mario Edwards of Florida
State did not run nearly as well as people thought he would, and that’s going to hurt
him.
At safety, or perhaps even at corner now, Mark Roman of Louisiana State had an
awesome, awesome workout.
Editor’s note: This draft update is a sample of what we’ll provide next year
on our new premium-services Web site, PFWsports.com. Other examples of future premium
content will appear on ProFootballWeekly.com in the next few weeks before the April 15-16
NFL draft, including more player workout information, updated printouts and a late mock
draft. |
