2010 Combine Thread

[pbmax]

Sean Jones talks on 107.5 the fan. He was on Friday and said he went to the combine with a bandage on his wrist so he wouldn't have to do the bench press. He said he could only bench 185 lbs coming out of college. Said he had great functional power for power cleans and incredibly strong forearms and hands for moving guys around. He said he played with great natural leverage and power, but for whatever reason could never bench press.

I'm not saying Matthews is great, but 13 reps on the bench doesn't mean he's bad either.

Jones is/was very tall and lean for a D lineman. 185 sounds is pretty low, but being at a disadvantage is not too unusual for long arms.

[RashanGary]

Lowerbody and core power is 10x more important than upper body. You don't play football laying on yoru back or haning from a bar. Football is played on the ground. Your legs and core do the majority of the work on just about any football movement. You see a blocker using his arms, but look how he's planted. Look at how he's using his core to transfer all of that leg power. Arms, chest are dead last in that equation and that's for blcoking, maybe the most upper body intensive football action.

Top heavy people run around like big stiffs. Every NFL player is strong and explosive from the bottom up, not the other way around.

[Lurker64]

Sean Jones talks on 107.5 the fan. He was on Friday and said he went to the combine with a bandage on his wrist so he wouldn't have to do the bench press. He said he could only bench 185 lbs coming out of college. Said he had great functional power for power cleans and incredibly strong forearms and hands for moving guys around. He said he played with great natural leverage and power, but for whatever reason could never bench press.

I'm not saying Matthews is great, but 13 reps on the bench doesn't mean he's bad either.

The bench at the combine is used more as an "indicator of weight room commitment" than anything else. Since almost all college-age males will spend a disproportionate amount of their weight room time on the bench.

Regardless, I'm almost certain that Casey Matthews' 13 reps is because he injured his shoulder during the drill more than anything else.

I mean, if a guy hurts a hamstring running the 40 and has a bad time, which are you going to go to: "Long speed doesn't matter that much, anyway" or "He probably would have done better if he didn't injure himself"?

[Old School]

Somebody tell me, are the number of bench presses related to the length of a players arms as well as strength?

[swede]

Somebody tell me, are the number of bench presses related to the length of a players arms as well as strength?

Yes. That and some lifters are more comfortable with a narrower grip or a wider grip, slightly changing the length of the push and the muscles that are activated. That doesn't mean that some long-armed guys won't beat a short-armed guy, but the guys with orangutan arms do tend to put up a few reps less than the squatty guys.

I wrote my post ripping on Casey about only getting 13 reps before I found out that he was injured. In fairness to the kid, the official number should be Did Not Participate if he was injured while competing. You wouldn't give a guy a 14 second 40 time if he pulled a hammy at the 10 yard line.

Now the concerning thing with Casey is not 13 reps...it is the fact that shoulder injuries are slow to heal and very difficult to rehabilitate. I was glad that Starks had another five months to heal his shoulder after developing the leg injury in camp.

[sharpe1027]

Yes. That and some lifters are more comfortable with a narrower grip or a wider grip, slightly changing the length of the push and the muscles that are activated. That doesn't mean that some long-armed guys won't beat a short-armed guy, but the guys with orangutan arms do tend to put up a few reps less than the squatty guys.

I wrote my post ripping on Casey about only getting 13 reps before I found out that he was injured. In fairness to the kid, the official number should be Did Not Participate if he was injured while competing. You wouldn't give a guy a 14 second 40 time if he pulled a hammy at the 10 yard line.

Now the concerning thing with Casey is not 13 reps...it is the fact that shoulder injuries are slow to heal and very difficult to rehabilitate. I was glad that Starks had another five months to heal his shoulder after developing the leg injury in camp.

I would also be worried about injuries being used as an excuse for poor performance. I would not put it past an agent to gamble that explaining away the poor performance with an injury would be less damaging than admitting Casey could only do 13 reps.

[Lurker64]

I would also be worried about injuries being used as an excuse for poor performance. I would not put it past an agent to gamble that explaining away the poor performance with an injury would be less damaging than admitting Casey could only do 13 reps.

Considering that by all accounts when Casey was lifting he didn't just "stop at 13 unable to get the bar up any further", his left arm just gave out on him. I don't think that's something his agent would orchestrate in order to cover up a poor performance.

[prime311]

I don't think, honestly, it's a great idea to trade up for a 5-tech this year. There's a lot of good ones who grade out as first or second round prospects this year. It's also not the single most impactful part of the defense, primarily their job is to enable linebackers to make plays.

This is true about the draft being Dline heavy, but also means Watt could end up falling to us, or pretty close to us. I disagree completely on your assessment of the importance of dlineman. If anything I would say our dlineman are at least as importing if not more important then anyone on the field not named Woodson or Matthews. Our defense is predicated not just on taking up blockers, but on getting some push and pressure from the line. Just look at the difference between this year and last year. At the end of last year our dline was gassed and had no push at the LOS and good opposing QB's just tear that up. Lastly, this isnt just any 5T, this is the best 5t he's ever seen according to Mike Mayock, and that to me speaks volumes.

[Lurker64]

There's also the issue that this year we ran a nickel defense like 75% of the time. So we would have an average of 2.25 defensive linemen on the field... Raji never comes off the field, and assuming that a guy like Neal or Jolly lives up to their flashes in the past, I'm not sure a 5-tech we would take high would actually play all that much.

I would of course defer to Capers on this: "Hey Dom, are you going to keep playing Nickel all the time? I'm trying to figure out if I need to draft more defensive ends."

[vince]

Dom says "Yes, as long as we have the most effective QB in the league who doesn't turn the ball over, can get us out to leads and force teams to play from behind a lot, and as long as we have a great run support d-back like Chuck Woodson, we'll keep playing nickel."

[sharpe1027]

Considering that by all accounts when Casey was lifting he didn't just "stop at 13 unable to get the bar up any further", his left arm just gave out on him. I don't think that's something his agent would orchestrate in order to cover up a poor performance.

I didn't see anything that gave this much detail. I all saw were statements (mostly by Casey himself) that he couldn't finish his 14th because of the injury. On a similar conspiracy theory, he knew about what he was capable going into the combine. If they knew beforehand that it was really poor who knows... I'm not saying, I'm just saying.

[prime311]

There's also the issue that this year we ran a nickel defense like 75% of the time. So we would have an average of 2.25 defensive linemen on the field... Raji never comes off the field, and assuming that a guy like Neal or Jolly lives up to their flashes in the past, I'm not sure a 5-tech we would take high would actually play all that much.

I would of course defer to Capers on this: "Hey Dom, are you going to keep playing Nickel all the time? I'm trying to figure out if I need to draft more defensive ends."

I'm not keeping up much hope that we can count on Jolly or Neal next year. I really think DE is a smart pick for us. OLB is (IMO)a position easier to plug someone in then DE, because big bodies don't just come around as often. Its an area we could improve at, but I think our 1st pick is better spent on the line. If we didn't go dline I hope we go OLine, but I'm really not feeling it for any of the tackles that will be available to us at the end of the round. Given whats out there, I think we're more likely to hit on an elite talent at dline more then any other position with our pick. In my ideal scenario we sign Jared Gaither who becomes a FA with the new CBA and use our first pick on DE. WHo knows how the first round will fall though or if Gaither will be available.

[Lurker64]

In my ideal scenario we sign Jared Gaither who becomes a FA with the new CBA and use our first pick on DE. WHo knows how the first round will fall though or if Gaither will be available.

Jared Gaither isn't going to sign somewhere where he's not going to get to start, and we don't have a starting spot for him (he's not a guard.)

[Fritz]

Does anyone think a backup NT who could give Raji a breather would be a good idea?

[Lurker64]

Does anyone think a backup NT who could give Raji a breather would be a good idea?

Isn't that Ryan Pickett?