ProFootballWeekly.com personnel expert Joel Buchsbaum reports on the
hottest news in football workouts leading up to the NFL draft April 20-21.Wednesday,
March 27
WR Ashley Lelie was always healthy when he was at the University of
Hawaii. He became one of the great deep receivers in the college game. The knock against
him was he was on the thin and frail side. After this season, when he decided to go pro,
he started working out at one of these facilities that specialize in training players for
the NFL draft.
As a result, he got his weight up to 197 pounds and was running the 40-yard dash in the
4.3-4.4 area. He was also doing extremely well in his drills. However, before the NFL
Scouting Combine in Indianapolis in late February, he pulled a muscle and did not feel he
was able to run at the Combine.
Then, he set his own private workout for yesterday and once again while running the 40,
he pulled a muscle and was not able to finish his workout. Right now, being a junior,
having played in Hawaii in a vertical offense where he rarely ran passing routes across
the field, Lelie is a super talent who still has many questions to answer.
Unless he can hold a legitimate workout before the draft (on April 20-21), some clubs
will not consider him in the first round due to their lack of knowledge of what he can and
cannot do.
What strikes me as interesting here is you have a lot of players who were never hurt,
never pulled anything in college, who go into these extensive, quick weight-gain programs
which make them stronger, faster and everything else. But it always seems that once
they’re done with the program, they’re always getting hurt. Granted, it’s
generally pulled muscles, nothing major, but pulled hamstrings keep wide receivers out and
keep them from being as effective as they could be.
 In other
workout news, at the University of Pittsburgh’s workout, the big surprise, and star,
was OLB-DE Bryan Knight who, at 230 pounds, ran the 40-yard dash in under 4.5
seconds. Now clubs will start looking at him as an outside backer, probably a strong
outside backer who rushes — a lot like the Bears do with Rosevelt Colvin.
The most disappointing workout of all was from S Ramon Walker, who looks like a
helluva football player on tape and hits anything that moves. In his workout, Walker
looked stiff and his times were in the 4.65-4.7 area, which on an Astroturf surface,
although not a fast one, will be a huge negative and knock him down quite a bit in the
draft.
WR Antonio Bryant ran a little bit better than he did at the Combine in Indy,
and came in in the mid-4.5s. He still has an outside chance of going in the first round,
but will probably be a second-rounder.
As expected at
the University of North Carolina, DE Julius Peppers ran in the 4.67-4.75 area and
had a very good, athletic workout. DT Ryan Sims, at 313 pounds, also had one time
under 5.0 and the average of his times came to 5.0 or just a little over, which is fine
for a defensive tackle with his quickness.
At
Stanford’s latest workout, S Tank Williams was really exposed because of his
lack of ability to change directions. Finally a workout showed what scouts had suspected
all along — that he’s a straight-line athlete who has marvelous workout numbers
but can’t translate many of those numbers onto the football field. As a result, he
will probably end up slipping to the second day of the draft. Although with his size and
speed, someone could still take him a little bit higher than that.
Friday, March 22
South Carolina’s Kalimba Edwards did not work out very well as a
linebacker and the general feeling right now is that he will have to be a defensive end.
He has good speed but was injured at the end of last season and did not have a good senior
year. Don’t be surprised if Georgia’s Charles Grant ends up being drafted
ahead of him.
Monday, March 18
Several more schools had workout days for NFL scouts and coaches as hopeful players
showed off their talents to those assembled in hopes of being drafted higher on April
20-21.
At LSU, WR Josh Reed ran around where people thought, running in the 4.47-4.55
area on a faster surface. QB Rohan Davey ran in the mid-4.7s on the same surface.
At Ohio State, CB Derek Ross ran again, and his times were in the 4.49-4.5 area
on a very fast surface.
At Michigan State, RB T.J. Duckett, at 250 pounds, ran in the 4.48 to 4.5 range,
according to a lot of watches, but the big surprise was LB Josh Thornhill running
in the 4.6 area.
At California, OLT Langston Walker had a great workout, running the 40 in 5.1
seconds while weighing 342 pounds. If teams just go off workouts and not how he plays, he
could end up in the second round of the draft.
Another player who may have got himself drafted, thanks to a strong workout was
Northwestern WR-KR Sam Simmons, who had an impressive workout. He’s short and
has had some injury problems in college but is a good football player.
Thursday, March 14
Florida and Tennessee hosted two big workout days for NFL scouts and coaches on March
12-13, with numerous potential draft picks displaying their skills. Some raised their
stock, others dropped.
At Florida, DE Alex Brown ran a disappointing 4.9 in the 40-yard dash and had an
average workout. WR Reche Caldwell, on the other hand, ran under 4.5, had a
vertical jump of close to 40 inches, had a broad jump of nearly 11 feet, and did the short
shuttle in less than four seconds. LB Andra Davis ran a disappointing 4.96 to 5.03.
WR Jabar Gaffney looked very smooth in his workout and ran a little over 4.5 —
he has small hands but still catches the ball well. CB Lito Sheppard had a good,
not a great, workout, ran a 4.49-4.5 and overall did things well but not great.
At Tennessee, DT Albert Haynesworth, at 319 pounds, ran under 4.9. However, his
weight-room numbers were not overly impressive as he bench-pressed 225 pounds only 17
times. DT John Henderson came in at right about 5.0, and he was not as impressive
as some people were hoping he would be. The star of the show was WR Donté Stallworth,
who ran under 4.3 despite running on an ankle sprained the previous Friday. He was in the
mid-4.2s, according to a lot of watches. Some had him even faster than that. The consensus
of the times was the very high 4.2s to 4.3. He couldn’t do everything as well as he
would’ve liked in the drills because of his ankle, but his speed and explosiveness
just set him apart from the other receivers in this draft, and he impressed the scouts.
Also, Boston College RB William Green, who had very disappointing times at the
combine, ran 4.49-4.5 when he worked out for scouts and coaches.
Friday, March 8
The University of Miami (Fla.) and the University of Wisconsin were the sites for NFL
workouts on March 7 as athletes from the two schools showed off their skills for the
scouts and coaches in attendance.
The standouts at Miami (Fla.)’s workouts were RB Clinton Portis, whose
40-times were in the 4.4 area and who had an excellent overall workout. Also, DB Phillip
Buchanon was every bit as athletic as advertised. He’s stronger than people
thought, he ran extremely well, looked very fluid and showed quick twitch and good ball
skills. S Ed Reed ran faster and looked a little more athletic than people thought
he would, and he helped himself. However, the best workout of all might have come from TE Jeremy
Shockey, whose times ranged in the high 4.5s to the low 4.6s and who did a marvelous
job of catching the ball and showing off his skills. If any player moved up the most
there, it was Shockey. Reed and Portis also appear to have solidified themselves as
first-round picks, and Buchanon now should go in the top 10-12 picks in the entire draft.
OG Martin Bibla also helped himself with a good, athletic workout, running in the
5.2 area. OT Joaquin Gonzalez had similar workout numbers to Bibla but didn’t
look quite as impressive. CB Mike Rumph was a little bit disappointing with his
40-times in the mid-4.5 area.
At Wisconsin’s workout, DT Wendell Bryant was very impressive and ran in
the 4.8 area. CB Mike Echols was a little disappointing but may have had a foot
problem and still ran in the mid-4.4s. RS-WR Nick Davis had a good workout and
helped himself, expecially with his 40-time which was in the mid-4.4 area. LB Nick
Griesen looked a little bigger and faster than advertised, and the same was true for
TE Mark Anelli. |
