Draft Grab-bag

Holy Stopwatch, Batman!!! Was that Joe Haden?

via www.tvcream.co.uk

We are what, about a month away from Draft Day, post-Combine, fully into free agency, into College Pro Days, and you would think that mock-drafters would be getting a handle on their craft as they re-rank their draft boards (shakes head). Not so fast, Speedy Gonstopwatch.

I think we can all agree that there is no consensus all-time king of all mock-drafters out there. But, sometimes you have to wonder who these mock-drafters are and how much time they actually put into their craft! I give you TFY Draft Insider as my designated lackey mock-drafter. They have the Texans picking Notre Dame WR Golden Tate. In doing so, the Texans are passing on: DT Brian Price, RB CJ Spiller, OT Anthony Davis, OLB Sean Weatherspoon, and OG Mike Iupati. I could stop there. But, let's add to the list; RB Ryan Mathews, C Maurkice Pouncey, OT Charles Brown, CB Kyle Wilson.

Pro Days were recently held. WR Freddie Barnes of Bowling Green, who's name has been mentioned on this blog was unimpressive with 40 times of 4.58 and 4.65.

TE Watch: TE Scott Sicko of New Hampshire ran speedy 40 times of 4.53, 4.54. Stunned by the times, attending scouts asked the 40 distance to be measured. Guess what? It was 40. Sicko measured out at 6'4", 252. This puts Sicko squarely on the Texans' radar. Florida TE Aaron Hernandez pumped out 32 reps on the bench press, but can he block? He ran a 4.59 40 on the same track that Joe Haden ran on, so keep that in mind when I talk about Haden in a couple paragraphs.

I would also like to note that when comparing Pro Day times versus Combine times, you should remember that Pro Day times are hand-timed and Combine times are electronically timed. You may have to add .1 to .2 seconds onto a Pro Day time to get the equivalent Combine time. That is my opinion on that and I stick to it. I say this as I lead into my next topic... Also, Pro Day times are on unverifiable distances, different tracks and so on.

So, let's talk about Florida CB Joe Haden. who had a disappointing Combine 40 time of 4.57. Yesterday at his Pro Day, he ran around 4.45. Some stopwatches had Haden in the 4.3s on the sloppy grass field. I will opine to say that the Combine times of 4.57 were probably accurate. If you want to hand-time Joe Haden at 4.3-something, you can do it. It doesn't change the fact that he ran an electronically timed 4.57 on an indoor surface, on the same day when 7 other CBs were electronically timed at 4.48 or faster. Joe Haden does not have elite speed. The scouts know this.

Of course, that fast track at Florida can't work for everyone, as LB Brandon Spikes logged times of 5.02 and 5.08; not times that will get him on the track team. Maybe Haden really is fast....

We can't talk about Pro Days without mentioning Tim Tebow. He was at the Gators Pro Day yesterday and displayed his new swing. He now has a mechanical looking loop & pause. I wonder if he has been taking lessons from Charles Barkley?