Vontaze Burfict Stock Plummeting

Arizona State linebacker has been a polarizing player for much of his college career. Heading into the 2011 College Football season Burfict looked like a sure fire top 10 prospect. A player that consistently drew comparisons to Patrick Willis and Ray Lewis has officially tanked his stock for the 2012 Season after a season marred by personal foul penalties, and dumb plays. Burfict has rushed the passer well in college, but had less than stellar tackle numbers and has a lot of questions about his instincts, still he flashed brilliance.

Then he got benched at the end of the season and has done nothing to revive his stock since then. He showed up at the combine and measured in at 6’1 and 248 pounds with a 31 1/4 arm-span which is ok and not terrific, but sadly the best part of his combine. He ran the 40 yard dash in 5.09 seconds, a speed that is comparable to some offensive linemen and slower than many. On top of that he only had a 30 inch vertical. Worse than that he has reportedly been bad in interviews and has placed the blame for some of his problems on the referees and his coaches. Just a very terrible combine for a player who needed one badly.

The combine coupled with his erratic play will push this once top 10 pick into the latter part of the second round I believe, and off of many team’s draft boards.

His day has prompted tweets like this one from @sidelinescouts

Sideline Scouting ‏ @sidelinescouts

Vontaze Burfict? More like Vontaze bust-fict.

I was one of the last few defending Burfict, and while I’m not officially ready to get off the train here, I can justify passing on him in the first round where as in the middle of the season I would have thought that was lunacy. I’d still consider the risk at the bottom of the second round, but am now ready to justify people passing on him in the first round. I will not buy the undrafted talk yet.

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