The NFL Combine will start doing timed drills and untimed position drills. The timed numbers aren’t completely indicative of a player’s athleticism as they are running in Under Armour’s latest line of training wear instead of in football pads. At the same time, it’s an opportunity for potential draftees to interview with NFL head coaches and GMs. I do think the Combine can be overhyped a bit and some of the things that go on there can be quite absurd at times. However, it’s what we as fans have to look at for draft eligible prospects.
Link to live feed at the Combine
Some numbers are important to give a cursory look, as the Patriots love the 3-cone drill, especially for WRs, RBs, and CBs. The 3-Cone drill is supposed to measure a player’s ability to change direction and move in space. The Patriots offense features a lot of option routes, so the receivers need to be able to move fluidly when changing routes when adjusting to coverage. At the same time, the Patriots want CBs who have the fluidity to match receivers step for step on routes, which is why there’s a high emphasis on the 3-cone there.
The Patriots have not drafted a WR runs a 3-cone in my memory, with Malcolm Mitchell’s 6.94 being the slowest time at the position. Only Duron Harmon and Patrick Chung have worse than 7.00 times, in fact the other defensive backs ran the drill around 6.70-6.75 seconds. At the RB position, the Patriots only have one player who ran the drill in over 7 seconds, that was James White with a 7.05. Blount ran 6.85 and Lewis 6.93. My advice is to take off every RB, CB, and WR off the draft board whose 3-cone time is over 7 seconds.
Links:
- Justis Mosqueda’s grades on the 2017 EDGE class and the corresponding spreadsheet. If you have any questions, tweet @JuMosq.
- Mike Loyko has the updated combine measurement spreadsheet for viewers to follow along
Draft Prospect Profiles on the Pats Pulpit:
- Alabama EDGE Ryan Anderson
- Colorado CB Chidobe Awuzie
- Mississippi TE Evan Engram
- Missouri EDGE Charles Harris
- Louisiana Tech WR Carlos Henderson
- Toledo RB Kareem Hunt
- Alabama S/CB Eddie Jackson
- Tennessee RB Alvin Kamara
- Eastern Washington WR Cooper Kupp
- Clemson TE Jordan Leggett
- UCLA EDGE Takkarist McKinley
- Oklahoma RB Samaje Perine
- Temple EDGE/LB Haason Reddick
- Toledo TE Michael Roberts
- North Carolina WR Ryan Switzer
- USC DT Stevie Tu’ikolovatu
- Utah S Marcus Williams