NFL Combine Thread

[Monkeyfeng06]

combine is tomorrow people! did people here forget it? i'm so excited but my house got its cable disconnected by comcast... don't have nfl network anymore... life sucks.

hopefully, icness can bring us some "insider" info. plus, which website has the best combine results?

[GS Warriors 1]

List of the Combine invitees:

http://www.nfldraftcountdown.com/features/combine/invitees.html

[PhilipNelsonFan]

Who are this year's freaks? I'll go with...

QB: Matt Ryan
RB: Jonathan Stewart
FB: Owen Schmitt
WR: James Hardy
TE: Martellus Bennett
OT: Gosder Cherilus
OG: Branden Albert
C: Mike Pollak
DE: Vernon Gholston
DT: Glenn Dorsey
OLB: Erin Henderson
ILB: Vince Hall
CB: Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie
FS: DaJuan Morgan
SS: Craig Steltz
Specialists: Mike Dragosavich (Go NDSU!)

[Flaming Mo]

I'll bet Quentin Groves is putting on a show at the LB drills and in the 40...

[Icness]

I'm heading down tomorrow morning, should be there by 10AM or so. Not much is happening until Friday from what I can tell, not with the draftees anyways. It's free agent negotiation extravaganza until Sat. and that's the fun of the Combine. Very little about any of the players actually changes in terms of team perception; it's more about validating the size/speed numbers and interviewing.

I've heard that one of the big things teams are looking for this year is intelligence, not just football IQ either. That bodes quite well for some, not so much for some notable others...

[studcrackers]

this could be huge for a guy like james hardy, jamaal charles, felix jones or martellus bennett and freak athletes like that

anyone know of the people not working out at the combine?

[Next Coming]

Malcolm Kelly will only partake in the interview process.

[Icness]

Thursday afternoon:
Alge Crumpler and Seattle are real close to a deal that both sides very much want to happen. He will take less (but not much less) to play for Mora again.

The Browns and Jamal Lewis agreed to a deal. I heard 4 yrs with $19M guaranteed but that is not confirmed. The rest of their cap space is going to Derek Anderson, who will be the starting QB in 2008. The only way Anderson leaves is if they get a top 10 pick and at least two other picks in the top 100, so he

[Da Schwab]

Icness, can you tell me anything about Josh Johnson? The most I've seen of this kid is what he did at the Senior Bowl, being as that he spent his time at San Diego. He looked like a Mike Vick type of player with a bit slower speed and tremendous accuracy. Are there any teams out there that are hung up on him?

Also, could you try and find out more about this Kolo Kapanui (TE, from West Texas A&M)? He seems to be in the same situation as Kevin Boss was last year. I just want to know if he could be that dark horse type of guy.

One more thing: The Giants are going to give Kawika Mitchell a new deal, right?

[UCF]

Any updates on Kevin Smith?

[studcrackers]

hey icness any news on what the cowboys might do with flozell adams? can they franchise him if they already franchised a player? i wouldnt want to give him more then a 3 year deal.

also any chance a team matches the tenders on chris canty or marion barber?

[GS Warriors 1]

The Bears did not franchise Bernard Berrian, but the Lovie Smith and Jerry Angelo press conferences were quite revealing. It sure sounds like they plan on having Rex Grossman as their starting QB and going with the Mark Bradley/Devin Hester duo as the starting WR tandem. They appear to have genuinely no idea they have the worst skill position talent in the NFL. I walked in late on Lovie

[GS Warriors 1]

stud, I think the deadline to designate a franchise tag was earlier today, so Adams will likely hit the open market.

[studcrackers]

yea i heard that then also heard you can only designate 1 guy, dumb move not to franchise flozell, i can deal w/the false starts i dont want to give an aging lineman a 5 year deal though w/a huge signing bonus

[PhilipNelsonFan]

Stacy Andrews was franchised instead of Justin Smith or Madieu Williams. Way to go, Bengals.

[Monkeyfeng06]

Stacy Andrews was franchised instead of Justin Smith or Madieu Williams. Way to go, Bengals.

hm... that means we aren't picking a tackle in the first round.

[PhilipNelsonFan]

Very true. But hopefully it means we do draft an offensive lineman somewhere. We are lacking muchly.

[Icness]

Some random observations from the last few hours...

The biggest topics of conversation are Randy Moss not getting franchised, Deshaun Foster being cut, and Dom Capers moving to New England. Nobody I've talked to (granted that is a small sample size!) thinks Moss is going anywhere, that the Pats didn't franchise him in order that they may negotiate a longer deal with him, but they wanted Randy to see they respect him enough to trust him to allow them to match any offer. Does that make sense--it did in my head before I typed it...

Falcons won the coin toss, followed by Oakland. Draft order is finally set.

Personal thrill--I got to meet Ozzie Newsome, one of my all-time favorite players and the one reason why this native Clevelander doesn't abhor the Ravens. He's one of the best GMs in the NFL and did so on his own terms. Okay, man crush time over...

Lots of the big sexy names arrive today--Jerry Jones just entered the building, Belichick is supposedly here now, Matt Millen (okay, he's sexy to me as a Lions fan!) was seen gladhanding people.

Today is going to be a strange one--no workouts, but pretty much all the players are here doing team interviews today.

A couple big-name guys apparently aren't going to workout:
Malcolm Kelly
Matt Ryan
Limas Sweed is going to run but not do anything else

From the "overheard" heading, which is basically me shamelessly loitering while beat reporters do radio guest spots:

Both Falcons guys I've listened to believe the team is very high on Matt Ryan and that he will be the #3 pick. Nolan Nawrocki of PFW thinks so too.

Pittsburgh really likes Jake Long--enough that they will look to deal up to get him. Not sure what they have to offer though. They also came away impressed with Chilo Rachal, so perhaps Kiper's mock where he goes to them 1st round has some legs?

All the Chicago guys are sullen, bad day to be from Chicago. Between the Bulls hoisting the white flag and listening to Lovie and Angelo talk up Rex Grossman and their awful WRs, it was a tough day. Max from 670AM looks like he was up all night crying.

I feel bad for the West coast guys. Last night I saw two bay area guys have to leave quickly at about 11:30 PM to go do guest spots. I went to bed instead. I have not seen either guy here yet, but I'm not exactly awake yet myself.

[treyZz]

Who is more jacked? Stewart or Mendenhall?

Mendenhall looked much bigger @ the college skills challenge thingy.

[revprodeji]

Stacy Andrews was franchised instead of Justin Smith or Madieu Williams. Way to go, Bengals.

Both those guys have been talked on Minnesota networks and sports shows as being top targets for us.