Scouting Combine, Day Two (RB's, QB's, and WR's)

A lot will be made out of Darren McFadden's 4.27 today, but in his next run, he ran a 4.33, which was a little better than Rashard Mendenhall's 4.37 on his second run. Both are outstanding RB's, but not in the conversation when comparing to Adrian Peterson from last year. Both ran in spread offenses, which is very hard to grade RB's when moving to the next level. Speaking of spread offenses, what killed UM this year showed itself again today when Dexter Jackson of Appy State ran a 4.27, and looked OK in the drills. I've been high on him, and also on MSU's Devin Thomas, who lit up the combine with a 4.32 forty, and excellent work on the drills. He might be the #1 WR available, or close to it. Other skill position guys besides the obvious top couple of players that impressed me were WR's Andre Caldwell, Eddie Royal, Lavelle Hawkins, Will Franklin, and Jordy Nelson. RB's that impressed included Kevin Smith, Matt Forte, Tashard Choice, Chris Johnson, and Felix Jones. RB and WR both look to have pretty deep classes that will thin out around the fourth round or so.

As far as the QB's are concerned, Josh Johnson ran a 4.44, which goes along with his body of work to create a buzz upward that suggests he'll probably be drafted in the second round. Chad Henne still throws the most accurate passes to me, and is still my #1 QB. The only thing working against Josh Johnson is his level of competition, otherwise he could go even higher. Other QB's that caught my eye included Joe Flacco and Brian Brohm. Flacco is a natural ball thrower with a strong arm, and Brohm has an average arm, but has been a high output guy in college. There is good balance in the top echelon of QB's, but there are only about 10 draftable QB's in this draft.