Prospects I'm interested in seeing at the Combines

[cincygrad]

People are still using this as an insult? It's 2013.

I was being facetious.

It was a poor attempt at making fun of message boards.

But, I mean yeah.... Kramer is gay.

Not that there is anything wrong with it.

 

[augustisback003]

Ok, lets not forget that 3 yrs ago this draft class was expected to be one filled with elite prospects in Michael Dyer, Montee Ball, Knile Davis and Marcus Lattimore but due to injuries and off the field issues the luster has worn off a little. But the talent is still there. Knile Davis has been injured the last two seasons, so yes there are concerns about his ability to stay healthy. But he's proven that when healthy he's an elite prospect as attested by his Sophomore season when he ran for 1,322 and 13 tds on only 204 carries against SEC defenses. My hope is that his ankle is finally healed and his performance at the Combines, where he ran a 4.37 and 31 reps, are a reflection of what's to expect from a healthy Knile Davis. I expect him to go in the 3rd like DeMarco Murray in 2011.

 

[Tubbs1518]

Ok, lets not forget that 3 yrs ago this draft class was expected to be one filled with elite prospects in Michael Dyer, Montee Ball, Knile Davis and Marcus Lattimore but due to injuries and off the field issues the luster has worn off a little. But the talent is still there. Knile Davis has been injured the last two seasons, so yes there are concerns about his ability to stay healthy. But he's proven that when healthy he's an elite prospect as attested by his Sophomore season when he ran for 1,322 and 13 tds on only 204 carries against SEC defenses. My hope is that his ankle is finally healed and his performance at the Combines, where he ran a 4.37 and 31 reps, are a reflection of what's to expect from a healthy Knile Davis. I expect him to go in the 3rd like DeMarco Murray in 2011.

Do you also expect him to stop being a pussy and start holding onto the ball?

 

[augustisback003]

I'm really liking Zaviar Gooden too! He ran a 4.50 forty and is looking really fluid in the drills. He too looks to be moving up the boards and appear to be a solid 3rd Round pick now.

2013 NFL Combine Live

 

[CrashDavisSports]

Do you also expect him to stop being a pussy and start holding onto the ball?

You can teach a guy better techniques to carrying the ball with switching arms so that the ball is being carried away from would be tacklers, or on the sideline if running down the sideline, two arms in traffic, a different way to tuck, etc.

Guys that fumble bother me, but for 4.37 speed and 31 reps along with a 6'0" 220 body, I would take the chance re-teaching him how to hold on to the ball.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

I'm really liking Zaviar Gooden too! He ran a 4.50 forty and is looking really fluid in the drills. He too looks to be moving up the boards and appear to be a solid 3rd Round pick now.

2013 NFL Combine Live

He was a guy I liked even before the combine. I think he could be pretty decent. Maybe a little raw still, but fundamentally seems pretty sound.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

People are still using this as an insult? It's 2013.

I don't know...I would still find it a bit insulting if someone called me gay. I mean if someone else wants to suck dick like a whore, that is all fine and dandy, but I am not one of those people, so to be mentioned as one still would be a little bothersome, IMO.

 

[Tubbs1518]

You can teach a guy better techniques to carrying the ball with switching arms so that the ball is being carried away from would be tacklers, or on the sideline if running down the sideline, two arms in traffic, a different way to tuck, etc.

Guys that fumble bother me, but for 4.37 speed and 31 reps along with a 6'0" 220 body, I would take the chance re-teaching him how to hold on to the ball.

Just like they could teach Gholston and Maybin to rush the QB, teach DHB to catch, etc.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

Just like they could teach Gholston and Maybin to rush the QB, teach DHB to catch, etc.

I think those are two seperate things.

Rushing the QB requires you to actually get there, which you either have or your down with natural speed, acceleration, a nice blend of upper and lower body strength, etc.

Catching the football requires for you to actually catch the football to possess it. Guys usually do not improve hands (hand eye coordination) etc. Matter of fact, it usually gets worse. Not things that are easily teachable.

However, fumbling the football is giving it away. You already possess it. You do not have to catch it,. you do not have to get from point A to point B like a blitzer, you already possess the damn thing, you are just required to hold on to it. Both your scenerios require the athletic ability to do something extra to perform your job. The RB already has the ball, he just needs to hold on to it. Where you tuck, how you hold, which arm to hold it in, that is all teachable because nothign is required to GET THE BALL, he already has it.

That is my opinion anyways.

 

[augustisback003]

He had 7 fumbles, 5 of which came in two games, and they all came last season a year after missing all of 2011 and all the the spring 2012 practices. So no, I'm not concerned with his fumbles.

 

[augustisback003]

Just like they could teach Gholston and Maybin to rush the QB, teach DHB to catch, etc.

Apples and Oranges, stop being an idiot and trying to argue over dumb shit.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

He had 7 fumbles and they all came last season a year after missing all of 2011 and all the the spring 2012 practices. So no, I'm not concerned with his fumbles.

I imagine some of that was also him going through his "pussy" stage as Tubbs likes to call it. He had been injured, he didn't want to get hurt again, guys start hitting him hard he starts securing himself for the hit instead of the football.

He was probably in his own head more than anything because he was a top level RB before the injuries and was looking forward to an NFL career and didn't want to keep getting hurt.

Maybe BEING in the NFL can rid him of some of that burden and make him play more loose and less scared on the football field of the next big injury that takes his dream away. Kinda like the hit that Lattimore took.

 

[augustisback003]

Justin Hunter also is have a great Combine with a 4.44 forty, 39.5 vertical and 11'4" broad jump. All the guys on my list are really separating themselves from the pack.

 

[Tubbs1518]

I'd take Lattimore in the 2nd over Davis in the 2nd.

 

[vancelot23]

Here's the thing about the combine. A bad one can hurt your draft stock. A good one should never shoot you up a draft board. A good combine should only serve to send scouts back to the game tape, and not just move him up a draft board because he ran fast in spandex. Those times, and benchpress results can be manufactured by using the 2 or 3 months after the season to train for them. A 4.5 guy can work hard enough to get to 4.4. A 25 benchpress guy can get up past 30. Tape far supersedes the combine. Remember Mike Mamula? The Raiders are notorious for picking guys who dominated the combine, then couldn't play football. Never raise a guy up your draft board for what he does in tights.

 

[Tubbs1518]

I'm really liking Zaviar Gooden too! He ran a 4.50 forty and is looking really fluid in the drills. He too looks to be moving up the boards and appear to be a solid 3rd Round pick now.

2013 NFL Combine Live

I will agree with this. He was really fast as expected, was not nearly as tight in the hips as I had heard. He looked very fluid and smooth in the drills out there. Could be an option as a WLB if we don't take one early.

 

[Tubbs1518]

Here's the thing about the combine. A bad one can hurt your draft stock. A good one should never shoot you up a draft board. A good combine should only serve to send scouts back to the game tape, and not just move him up a draft board because he ran fast in spandex. Those times, and benchpress results can be manufactured by using the 2 or 3 months after the season to train for them. A 4.5 guy can work hard enough to get to 4.4. A 25 benchpress guy can get up past 30. Tape far supersedes the combine. Remember Mike Mamula? The Raiders are notorious for picking guys who dominated the combine, then couldn't play football. Never raise a guy up your draft board for what he does in tights.

I agree. Numbers shouldn't matter as much as the drills do. Drills can show movement, how fluid you are and how well you move. Raw speed and strength mean very little in the NFL if you don't know how to use it.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

Here's the thing about the combine. A bad one can hurt your draft stock. A good one should never shoot you up a draft board. A good combine should only serve to send scouts back to the game tape, and not just move him up a draft board because he ran fast in spandex. Those times, and benchpress results can be manufactured by using the 2 or 3 months after the season to train for them. A 4.5 guy can work hard enough to get to 4.4. A 25 benchpress guy can get up past 30. Tape far supersedes the combine. Remember Mike Mamula? The Raiders are notorious for picking guys who dominated the combine, then couldn't play football. Never raise a guy up your draft board for what he does in tights.

I agree with this, and normally do not let a combine sway my opinion much, but Davis's numbers just jump out at you and smack you in the face with a skillet. It is mind numbing. A back, that big, that fast, that strong even with a troubled injury past? Hard to ignore. You draft him in a 2nd or 3rd knowing you may be taking a huge chance, but pray for the over instead of the under.

Just like we have done with several guys, including: Johnson, Dunlap, Moch, etc.

Soemtimes you guess right and thigns go good: Johnson, Dunlap, and sometimes they were a painful mistake: Moch.

 

[vancelot23]

You absolutely do not jump all the way up to the 2nd round for a 3rd-4th round prospect. Never reach based on the combine. Quick way to the division basement.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

You absolutely do not jump all the way up to the 2nd round for a 3rd-4th round prospect. Never reach based on the combine. Quick way to the division basement.

Davis has been talked about by scouts before the combine about not even getting drafted due to his history.

I can almost guarantee you, he will not be available in the 4th, we would be damn lucky with our pick in the 3rd, and probably right about his draft position where teams will start looking at taking a chance on him in the lower 2nd round.