The NFL Draft is done and now it is time to see if you did well at the combine.  If you ran a fast 40 yard dash, does that translate to being drafted or being drafted high.  I focused just on their combine results.  I tried not to read that much about them when I was recording their results.

So obviously, off the field issues, injuries, horrible playing career, didn’t come into play with me that much.  Let’s see how I did.

Running Back – My pick here was David Wilson from Virginia Tech.  With his numbers, I had him going in the third round.  The Giants saw something special in this kid and picked him with the last pick in the first round.  Good for him.  Now it’s time to get paid.

Wide Receiver – When I do this, sometimes I don’t hear about injury concerns, which might be the case for Chris Owusu of Stanford and why he didn’t get drafted.  I thought because he ran a 4.36 and played with Andrew Luck he was going to be gone by the fifth.  He wasn’t.  He had a series of concussions which worried teams and let’s be honest, he just might not be the greatest wide receiver out there.  Hopefully, he’ll get signed as a free agent.

Tight End – James Hanna of Oklahoma had to sweat it out all the way to the sixth round before Dallas picked him.  I thought because of his measurables he would have gone in the third.  Another case of where the football game film doesn’t lie and the execs not being swayed by what he did at the combine.

Tackle – Donald Stephenson of Oklahoma had some pretty good numbers, but I was a little scared of his bench press number.  I guess the Kansas City Chiefs weren’t that scared of it because they drafted him in the third round.  A lot higher than my projected fifth round pick.  But, the point is he was drafted.

Guard – Good for Johnnie Troutman of Penn State.  Despite running the slowest time in the 40 I’ve seen by a guard in the last three drafts, San Diego picked him up in the fifth round.  I didn’t think he’d get drafted.  Once again, what you do on the playing field becomes more important than the measurables you did at the Combine.

Center – San Diego likes their Big Ten lineman, as they selected David Molk of Michigan in the seventh round, one round later than I thought.  Hey, what can I say, at least he got drafted.

Defensive End – An athletic, strong defensive end is usually a high commodity at the draft.  My pick was Nick Perry from USC.  I predicted late, first round and sure enough that is where he went as the 28th pick for the Green Bay Packers.  There were five taken in the first round this year.

Defensive Tackle – Mike Martin from Michigan had some good measurables, but being a defensive tackle, I didn’t know if he would get drafted real high. The Tennessee Titans did just that snagging him in the third round and now he can help fill the void that Albert Haynesworth left a few years back.  I thought he might go in the fourth, so I was off a little bit here.

Outside Linebacker – I told you that speed kills and Zach Brown from North Carolina was the fastest OLB on the board.  When he got drafted in the second round by the Tennessee Titans (which is the round I thought he would go), all the analysts could rave about was his speed.  I guess he has some other issues that were areas of concern, but the guy was a former 100M state champ.  He has plenty of speed to go around.

Inside Linebacker – Mychal Kendricks was the fastest Inside Linebacker by a mile and I thought he would get snatched during the second round. Philadelphia’s linebackers stink so that is just what they did.  This kid comes from California and the analysts were raving about his speed plus his overall play.  Apparently, he was the conference defensive player of the year and should help Philly immediately.

Safety – As I stated earlier, safety is an odd position to watch during the draft.  I thought Sean Richardson of Vanderbilt would go in the fourth round and he didn’t get drafted.  There seemed to be a lot of safeties that did get drafted that didn’t perform at the NFL Combine.  For Sean, he’ll have to go the free agency route and see if he can wow some NFL team.

Cornerback – You want a fast cornerback if you are going to select him in the first round.  Out of the three that were selected, one participated at the combine, Stephon Gilmore of South Carolina.  I had him slotted late, first round, but the Buffalo Bills snagged him at number 10 as the second cornerback taken during the draft.  He had some stud numbers at the combine and combined with his play on the field, that was all the Bills needed to see.

What can we learn?

Nothing really, it is just a little activity I like to do with the NFL Combine numbers that were produced, but here are my observations:

  • If you were invited to the NFL Combine, your chances of getting drafted seem to improve.
  • I recommend performing all the measurable tests if you are healthy enough.
  • It still matters what you have done on the field, but if you have a good combine, that is only get to help your case.
  • If you didn’t get invited to the combine, you now have numbers to compare to see what you need to do for a good showing.
  • Speed!  Speed!  Speed!  If you have great speed, let it show and I think your stock will rise even more.