Cordy Glenn had a fantastic day today at the combine. If you watched the television coverage this morning then this should be nothing new to you. If not, you missed out.
Those of you who follow me and read what I write are probably already aware of my man crush on Cordy Glenn. I strongly believe that if he is available at 29, the Ravens will draft him(if they are unable to re-sign Grubbs). After today though, I am less sure than ever that he will last that long.
Glenn wasn’t spectacular in any of the measurable drills(except the Bench press where he got 31 reps and has almost 3′ long arms), but in his on field drills, he was a machine. His kick slide was probably the best of the combine (he was better on the left than the right). That is particularly impressive because the kick slide is more of a Tackle drill than it is a guard or center drill. Any time Glenn was asked to drive a block, he was great. His footwork in every drill was better than I had given him credit for from what I had seen on tape (I went back and quickly skimmed a handful of plays and I see it more than I did before now.). He was really impressive today.
To put this all in perspective, the Combine doesn’t (and shouldn’t) create big rises and falls for any of these prospects. When I say a guy really hurt himself or really helped himself here is what I mean.
Really hurt himself – this player reaffirmed some problems I had already seen when I watched him (ex. Mike Adams is a grabber and holder in college and he opened up his hips way to fast today, those things are strongly related). If the player was a fringe 1st rounder he probably is more of a solid second round guy now, meaning he fell maybe 4-6 picks overall if had a really really bad day.
Really helped himself – This player showed some things that made me think I need to go look at him play again. Phillip Blake (Baylor) is the perfect example of this because coming in I was iffy on how well he adjusted his hips and came up out his stance (being in a pure spread shotgun offense makes this hard to evaluate), but today he showed a ton of explosiveness and really adjusted his hips as well as anyone, if I describe a fringe 1st rounder like this, he is probably closer to a solid 1st rounder than a second rounder now, meaning he might have jumped 2-3 spots.
Make sense?
Good!
Now Here are some other things I saw today.
-I was really unimpressed with the TE group. Orson Charles (Georgia) inexplicably elected not to run the 40 and struggled to catch the ball in several drills(although he did turn in a nice gauntlet run on his second attempt). Dwayne Allen(Clemson) didn’t run a great 40 but was solid in the other drills and he remains firmly my top rated TE. Of the whole group I think Michael Egnew (Mizzou) might have been the most impressive because he quietly out performed what I expected from him in almost every drill.
-Matt Kalil(USC) looks like a top 5 tackle. He was a beast and just further solidified his draft placement (likely no. 3 overall to the Vikings)
-Ben Jones (Georgia) looks ugly in his drills. His form is good but not pretty but damn he is effective. He showed exactly what I expected from him and is, in my mind, a solid second round player.
-Phillip Blake (Baylor) had a great day and showed some serious athletic burst. His 10 yard splits were fantastic for a center. His reaction times in drills were great and I think he helped himself a lot and is a serious consideration for a late second round pick (I had him as an early third coming in) and would be a nice fit for the Ravens.
-Mike Adams (Ohio St) had a terrible Combine. He started by only putting up 19 reps in the bench press (OTs should be getting minimum 23), he ran slower than he should have, he got beat at least twice in one on one drills (by fellow OL prospects…yikes). His kick slide drills were terrible, he opened his hips almost immediately coming out of his stance which is a major red flag considering how big of a holder he was in college. I thought Adams was a very fringe first round pick coming in, after today I think he is firmly in the second round (basically he fell about 4-5 picks I think). The bench press reps really concern me.
-Adam Gettis(Iowa) was the combine warrior this year for the OL group. He was tops in the 40 time (4.91 40 with a ridiculous 1.65 10 yard split) and he beat the field in the broad jump by about 4 inches (9’4”). I still don’t think he is worth anything higher than a fourth round pick but he had a good day.
-Rishaw Johnson (California University(of Pennsylvania)) really struggled today. I don’t generally believe that the combine should hurt players much (if any) but Johnson may be the exception. He wasn’t just bad in the drills, he simply couldn’t follow directions. At least 4 times I saw him unable to complete the task he was asked to do, on the pull block drill he went after the wrong block(a major red flag), he twice went the wrong direction on the kick slide drills(once as a blocker and once as a rabbit). I thought he was a 5th rounder that could slide to the 6th but now im not sure he gets drafted. He was that bad today.
-David Decastro (Stanford) was a stud today and pretty much squelched any possibility that he would fall to the Ravens.
-James Brown (Troy) helped himself a lot today. Scouts probably haven’t watched a ton of his tape (I know I haven’t) but he practiced well enough today to force a second look.
-Jeff Allen (Illinois) showed some things that I think a lot of people hadn’t seen from him yet and helped his stock quite a bit. I think he is a solid third round pick.
-The OL group as a whole was extremely impressive. This might be the deepest and strongest group in several years.
Come back tomorrow for my Day 2 coverage when I talk about the workouts of the QBs, WRs, and RBs.
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