Plus, Linebacker is a perfect position for a player to have questionable integrity. If Jameis Winston was a LB, I'd view his raping and thieving as positives.
I will say, though, that as the game moves to more and more of a horizontal spread, you want faster and more rangy linebackers. I'm guessing most NFL teams spent more time with 3 WRs on the field than not. You'd ideally want a linebacker that is useful in coverage and that can get to the sidelines quickly. So I get that you'd shy away from a slow linebacker. But 40 times are fucking useless for figuring that out. If you are trying to have a linebacker cover anybody 40 yards down the field, you're screwed. You need a guy who can keep with a TE or slot guy for 10-20 yards.
The days of a 3 down run stopping linebacker are over. There's definitely still a place for a good run stopping linebacker in the NFL, but the best linebackers are the ones who can help stop the run on 1st and 2nd down, and then cover a TE on 3rd down. There are a reasonable amount of hybrid S/LBs in college that do this, and I'd expect that trend to follow more in the NFL.
Except for the fact that Paul Dawson was a beast on a team that played in the Big XII, a league where 75% of the teams are running a "horizontal spread."
-YTC
Maybe James Harrison. I don't remember him doing shit in college. That could just be because I don't even know where he went and I pride myself in knowing where a ton of these guys played collegiately.I'm racking my brain trying to come up with someone, but who won the Underwear Olympics, didn't have the game film to back it up, and was a boss in the NFL?
Basically, has a Chris Conley type ever been drafted in the 1st round and gone on to great success?
-YTC
Maybe James Harrison. I don't remember him doing shit in college. That could just be because I don't even know where he went and I pride myself in knowing where a ton of these guys played collegiately.
Well that's most likely a unicorn because guys that were shitty in college don't get invited to the combine, but I understand your point and it's the same as mine. Previous success playing football is the best predictor of future success playing football.
Mamula had been projected as a second- or third-rounder. He went seventh overall. The rest is history.
But that doesn't mean there aren't any modern-day Mamulas ...
Troy Williamson, No. 7 overall pick in 2005, Minnesota Vikings: Best known as the guy drafted to replace Randy Moss, Williamson's holes on tape were washed away with a 4.32 40-yard dash at 6-foot-1, 203 pounds. To the surprise of many, he went ahead of USC's Mike Williams. Three years later, he was dealt to Jacksonville for a sixth-rounder. Of course, the Jags were another team that whiffed on a receiver in the '05 draft ...
Matt Jones, No. 21 pick in 2005, Jacksonville Jaguars: A quarterback at Arkansas, Jones checked in at 6-6, 242, ran a 4.37 40 and posted a 39.5-inch vertical, prompting the Jags to deem him worthy of a first-round pick as a conversion project. He showed some promise early, but substance-abuse issues that were well-known pre-draft derailed that progress. Jones played four NFL seasons.
Chris Henry, No. 50 pick in 2007, Tennessee Titans: Henry never topped 600 yards in any of his four seasons in college, but ran a 4.40 40 as a 230-pound specimen, and became the fourth running back taken in Adrian Peterson and Marshawn Lynchâs class. He served a four-game suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy his rookie season, and lasted just two years in Tennessee. He had 32 carries in his 11-game, four-year career.
Amobi Okoye, No. 10 pick in 2007, Houston Texans: Okoye was a good player at Louisville, but his youth (19 during the draft process) and athleticism at 302 pounds (4.85 40, 29 reps on the bench) led teams to believe there was more to be unlocked with a guy who moved to the U.S. from Nigeria at 12 years old. He keeps getting shots, but has started just one game since the Texans released him following his fourth season.
Vernon Gholston, No. 6 pick in 2008,New York Jets: Probably would've gone in the first round regardless after an up-and-down career on a loaded Ohio State team, even with questions about how much he liked football. A 4.58 40 at 266 pounds and a combine-high 37 reps on the bench propelled him into the top 10. Gholston lasted just three years with the Jets, and hasn't played in an NFL game since.
Darrius Heyward-Bey, No. 7 pick in 2009, Oakland Raiders: Heyward-Bey came to Indy a borderline first-rounder, posted a 4.30 40-yard dash at 210 pounds and wound up being the first of six receivers taken in Round 1. He spent four years in Oakland, with his best season (by far) being a 64-catch, 975-yard campaign in 2011. Last year, he was at the end of the Steelers' roster.
Stephen Hill, No. 43 pick in 2012, New York Jets: He turned heads by running a 4.36 at 6-4, 215, and sent scouts looking for answers on why he only caught 49 passes in four years at Georgia Tech, an option program that had just produced Demaryius Thomas. Hill was released by the Jets in his third training camp and spent last season on the Panthers' practice squad.
Harrison went undrafted, doe. I'm talking about a guy who rockets up the draft boards based on his combine performance, but doesn't have great game film.
-YTC
Maybe Chris Johnson? He had a good senior season, but was below average before that.
Dumb as rocksYeah I didn't either. Vernon Gholston is one that really gets me. 2 great years at tOSU, great combine, then just absolutely can't play NFL footbaw.
Yeah I didn't either. Vernon Gholston is one that really gets me. 2 great years at tOSU, great combine, then just absolutely can't play NFL footbaw.
He ended his junior campaign with 581 yards -- his career total turned out to be just 859 yards and only nine touchdowns.
So what'd he do? He bounced for the NFL, citing slim playing time as the cause.
And he made his decision in December, right after the season ended. Most people thought it was silly, considering his lack of gaudy numbers.
Still, at 5-foot-11 and around 230 pounds, NFL teams were salivating.
What happened thereafter? Henry ran a 4.40 in the 40-yard dash at the predraft combine, and with his build impressed in the bench press, repping the 225 pounds 26 times.
"When it comes to Henry, you can just go ahead and throw his college stats out the window, because they don't accurately tell the tale," said draft website NFLdraftblitz.com.
In the 2007 NFL Draft, the Tennessee Titans took him in the second round, 50th overall. He produced 119 yards on the ground and took 13 kick returns for 272 yards, but following his rookie year, he's been in anonymity.
For another example of a successful player who saw their draft stock go way up because of measurable, I'd give you Demaryius Thomas (he didn't technically run at the combine because of a broken foot, but he did clock an electronically timed 4.38 40 at his pro day).
He was a WR at Georgia Tech during the Paul Johnson Flexbone and had one good season catching streak passes that were wide open because the teams were shitting their pants with 10 players in the box trying to stop the option. 1,150 yards but it came on only 46 catches. I mean that's still good production and all, but he wasn't exactly a polished pro WR prospect coming out of that system, his routes were atrocious, etc. The reason he jumped into the first round was his 4.38 40 yard dash at 6'3 225lbs.
I must have missed when people on Flufftopia were comparing Burfict to Luke Kuechly in 2012.
Burfict was lazy, undisciplined and had some of the worst film you'll ever see at LB. But you saw the talent and man could he hit.
Best thing that could have happened to Vontaze was getting picked up by Mike Zimmer and Marvin Lewis.
I didn't really follow the combine or NFL at all at the time he was drafted. But I watched a fair amount of him at Georgia Tech. And I thought he was a great pick by the Broncos when he was originally drafted. I thought he was a great player in college. He's probably as good of an example as Chris Johnson, though.
Arm reach. In the NFL the long arm tackles will just stone him. He will never get any sacks in the NFL.it's boggling that stats, actual results from work on the field, are dismissed when combine numbers have no direct correlation at all to performance.
it is like the BMI index of footbaw.
i mean 125 people were drafted before elvis dumervil because he was 5'11". he broke the ncaa record for forced fumbles and broke freeney's sack record. what else could anybody possibly be looking for in a defensive end but getting sacks and forcing turnovers? herp.