2012 NFL Combine News and Notes: Orson Charles Charging to Be The #1 TE
Wheww!!! It’s Christmas day for draftniks. The On the field scouting combine drills being today with Offensive linemen and tight ends today.
There are a few players who could use a good showing, and a few who did yesterday.
Orson Charles had a terrific day. Yesterday he weighed in over 250 pounds and then out benched all but one offensive linemen and all Tight Ends. For a guy who is supposed to be a faster, weaker type tight end he put some of that speculation to rest. He has a great chance to pass Dwayne Allen as the #1 Tight End
Orson Charles: The third-ranked tight end on NFLDraftScout.com’s board, Charles showed up on Thursday and told the media that he’d be thrilled if he was drafted by a team like the Falcons and needed to sit until Tony Gonzalez was done. (It’s an appropriate hypothetical for a kid who went to Georgia.) Then on Friday he made it a little harder for people to pass on him, when he benched 225 pounds 35 times. That’s eight more than the nearest tight end and more than all but one offensive lineman.
One of the losers of yesterday might have been Ohio State Tackle Mike Adams. Adams has a realistic chance of going in the top 20.
Mike Adams: NFL teams can deal with a player having off-field issues. Adams has a pair of suspensions from his time at Ohio State and that has to be a concern, even if he’s says he’s “past” those maturity problems. Perhaps a bigger problem? He only benched 225 pounds 19 times. That’s less than all but eight of the linemen who lifted on Friday, and less than all but five of the tight ends. Bench press isn’t a clear-cut indicator of success, but that’s a pretty big pair of red flags for the Ohio State product.
Another loser is Justin Blackmon who admitted that he has trouble running some routes, won’t run the 40 yard dash, and was shorter than his listed height. Blackmon could even fall out of the top 10 if he can’t ease concerns about his speed at his proday.
Justin Blackmon: This isn’t to knock Blackmon, because we like the kid a lot. He’s a talented, physical receiver who’s managed to remain humble throughout his rise to stardom. But sometimes good qualities in people look bad in draft prospects: Blackmon isn’t running the 40 (the primary concern about him is speed) because of a hamstring injury he said he suffered last week. He measured in shorter than the 6’1″ and he admitted route-running is a problem for him. He’s too talented to slip too far, but we wonder whether the Rams will definitely make him a top-five pick.
Brian Bilick former Ravens coach and now NFL analyst conducted a personal workout with Matt Kalil here
National Football post has some news for us
Georgia Tech wide out Stephen Hill measured in at 6-4, 215-pounds and said he has run in the 4.3 range but expects to run in the low 4.4 range at the Combine. He also talked about his development as a route runner and that despite him being raw, he says he understands how to read coverages and can improve in that area.
Is it possible that more than one safety is drafted in the first round of the N.F.L. draft. Seems crazy, but you can’t rule it out completely according to NFP’s Matt Bowen
I do expect Barron to come off the board, and based off of what I am hearing in Indy, he might not be the only safety to be selected in the first round.
Griffin’s teammate, wide out Kendall Wright stressed that he’s been working on his route running a lot during the post season. He met with eight different teams last night, including the entire coaching staff from the Browns.
NFL.com takes a look at a player for each team to keep an eye on (for fans to keep an eye on for their favorite team is how that should be worded).
Jerry Reese is a strong believer in taking the best available player over addressing the team’s biggest need. Given the last pick in Round 1, the Giants will study Stanford TE Coby Fleener and Clemson TE Dwayne Allen to obtain a better feel for their upside and potential. The team could also look at offensive tackle candidates like Ohio State’s Mike Adams and Florida State’s Zebrie Sanders as potential replacements at different values.
The disappearance of “Ground and Pound” can be attributed to the deterioration of the offensive line and the lack of a dynamic runner. This could lead to extensive studies of Stanford OG David DeCastro, Georgia OG/OT Cordy Glenn, Miami RB Lamar Miller and Virginia Tech RB David Wilson. If the team looks to fortify the defense at outside linebacker, the Jets should focus heavily on Alabama DE/OLB Courtney Upshaw or West Virginia DE Bruce Irvin in workouts.
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