Category: NFL Draft (Page 27 of 102)

      Is Blaine Gabbert’s stock dropping?

      February 12, 2011 /
      Missouri Tigers quarterback Blaine Gabbert throws the football in the fourth quarter against the Oklahoma Sooners at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri on October 23, 2010. Missouri defeated Oklahoma 36-27. UPI/Bill Greenblatt

      Almost right on cue, the supposed No. 1 quarterback’s stock is starting to fall.

      Every year the media crowns someone the best quarterback prospect in the draft and every year that top signal caller’s stock starts to fall right around the combine. This year, the QB atop most pundits’ rankings is Missouri’s Blaine Gabbert, whose draft stock has begun “slipping” according to ESPN’s Mel Kiper.

      Rotoworld has the details:

      According to Kiper, Gabbert’s fall has occurred after NFL teams did “more film work” on the underclassman’s junior year. It’s true that Gabbert did not dominate his competition in 2010, throwing for 16 touchdowns compared to nine picks and averaging an unimpressive 6.71 yards per attempt. Gabbert was much better as a sophomore.

      I always find reports like these humorous because they’re so vague. How many teams are we talking about? Because there are five teams in the top-10 that could use a quarterback (Carolina, Buffalo, Arizona, San Francisco and Tennessee), seven if you believe the Bengals will trade Carson Palmer and the Redskins will dump Donovan McNabb.

      Have all those teams soured on Gabbert after watching more film? Have three? Have two? Have one?

      Or were these not the teams that Kiper was referring to? If they weren’t, then I wonder why Gabbert’s stock would fall just because teams that draft in the middle or bottom half of the first round didn’t like what they saw on film.

      I’m not trying to discredit Kiper’s report but without knowing what teams have soured on Gabbert, this news means very little. Plus, he’s a junior so he didn’t perform at the Senior Bowl, the combine is still over a week away and he hasn’t had his Pro Day yet. There’s still a lot of time before the draft, so I would take reports like these with a grain of salt.

      College Football, External Sports, NFL, NFL Draft

      Mike Mayock top-5 prospects at each position

      February 11, 2011 /
      Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett (15) is chased from the pocket by Ohio State defensive lineman Cameron Hayward (97) during first half action of the 77th Annual Allstate Sugar Bowl at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana January 4, 2011. UPI/A.J. Sisco

      Mike Mayock is one of the more respected NFL draft analysts in the business. Rotoworld does a great job following his rankings and they recently compiled his top-5 prospects at every position.

      Quarterbacks
      1. Blaine Gabbert, Missouri
      2. Jake Locker, Washington
      3. Cam Newton, Auburn
      4. Ryan Mallett, Arkansas
      5. Andy Dalton, TCU

      Comments: Mayock says he’s not done with his quarterback evaluation, but he’s made some changes since January. He’s now got Dalton alone in the five spot after the Horned Frogs’ four-year starter previously shared the position with Ricky Stanzi, Colin Kaepernick, and Pat Devlin. Devlin’s stock appears to have plummeted since a poor showing at the East-West Shrine Game. Senior Bowl MVP Christian Ponder remains absent from the list.

      Check out the rest of his positional rankings.

      It’ll be interesting to see if Newton eventually moves past Locker (or even Gabbert, for that matter) the closer we get to the draft. Locker was unimpressive during Senior Bowl week and Newton’s personal media workout on Thursday was reportedly “phenomenal.”

      Of course, the quarterback in this year’s class that intrigues me the most is Mallett. At 6’6” and 238 pounds, he certainly has the size to be a NFL quarterback. He also has great arm strength and he’s coming off a year in which he threw for 3,869 yards and 32 touchdowns.

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      College Football, External Sports, NFL, NFL Draft

      Newton’s media day workout “phenomenal”?

      February 10, 2011 /
      Auburn Tigers Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Cam Newton warms up for the Tigers game against the Oregon Ducks at the BCS Championship game at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ, January 10,2011. UPI/Art Foxall

      At least one analyst enjoyed Auburn quarterback Cam Newton’s media day workout.

      From Bruce Feldman’s Twitter page:

      Cam Newton session is done. Wow. Trent Dilfer: “That was phenomenal. If scouts saw this they’d have been slobbering.” More on ESPN.com later

      The workout was done in a controlled environment, so it’s not surprising that Newton impressed. But considering he’s been working on his footwork and trying to get acclimated to taking snaps from under center, this is a positive report.

      There’s no doubt that Newton has the physical tools to be a first round pick and maybe even a top-5 selection. He’s 6-6, 250 pounds, has tremendous athleticism and very good arm strength. You could make a case for being the best quarterback in this year’s draft class, which includes Missouri’s Blaine Gabbert (whom many pundits have listed as the top signal caller).

      Of course, the one question that often gets overlooked at this time of year as it pertains to draft prospects is whether or not they have the work ethic. Is Newton willing to put in the work to become great? Not every prospect has Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers’ natural abilities but devotion has nothing to do with how accurate or far you can throw a pass. JaMarcus Russell could throw a ball 50 yards from the seat of his pants but the guy never studied or had the desire to be any better than he was. Simply put, his work ethic stunk.

      Players find out rather quickly that their natural abilities will only take them so far in the NFL. It’ll be interesting to see if Newton has the work ethic to match his draft standing.

      College Football, External Sports, NFL, NFL Draft

      Cameron Heyward chats with The Scores Report

      February 6, 2011 /

      Standout Ohio State defensive end and highly touted NFL draft prospect Cameron Heyward spent time earlier this week working with scientists from the Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI) at a sports science lab constructed in the Super Bowl XLV Media Center in Dallas. Gatorade is kicking off an offseason program to help elevate the performance of top incoming NFL rookies like Heyward through sports nutrition science.

      The Scores Report was fortunate enough to catch up with Heyward to discuss a variety of topics, including what he learned from Gatorade about his nutritional needs at GSSI and whether or not he’ll perform at this year’s scouting combine after having recent shoulder surgery. We also asked him about his thoughts on the Ohio State players that were suspended five games next season, what pro athlete he models his game after and his thoughts about playing in either a 3-4 or 4-3 at the next level. Of course, we couldn’t let him go without getting his prediction on this year’s Super Bowl.

      Cameron Heyward: Hello?

      The Scores Report: Hey Cam, how are you?

      CH: Pretty good – you?

      TSR: Good, good! You enjoying yourself down in Dallas?

      CH: Oh yeah, definitely.

      TSR: Give me the scoop on what you’re doing with Gatorade and how things are going at the GSSI.

      CH: Gatorade has a great program going right now. I’m in the GSSI lab and they put me through a series of tests. I went through an injury recently and while I’m still working through it, this is definitely helping me through it, too. We’re working on things that measure my speed with power, as well as my reaction time to see how I deal with power over a long period of time. They measured my body fat too – all these different things to help you find another edge to help prepare your body, as well as to educate yourself on what you need to do to be in tiptop shape.

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      College Football, External Sports, Interviews, NFL, NFL Draft, Super Bowl

      Is Newton’s February workout just a publicity stunt?

      January 31, 2011 /
      Auburn Tigers quarterback and Heisman trophy winner Cam Newton smiles during the warm ups at the BCS Championship game at the University of Phoenix stadium in Glendale, Arizona on January 10, 2011. Auburn beat the Oregon Ducks 22-19 to win the national championship. UPI/Gary C. Caskey

      According to CBS Sports, at least one NFL front office executive believes that Auburn quarterback Cam Newton’s individual workout on February 10 is just a publicity stunt.

      I asked a handful of scouts about this workout. All were mystified as to what gains could be made with what one front officie executive termed a “publicity stunt.”

      One high level scout put it this way:

      “The Newtons would be best to realize they aren’t in college anymore. Regardless of how good he looks for [the media], there isn’t going to be a bidding war for him. We’re not recruiting him. They could wind up turning more people against them than for them with this [workout].”

      As Rob Rang of CBS points out, NFL scouts are forbidden to attend a workout like this that was set up by the player (or agent, or whomever). This will be a media-only event, which raises questions as to why Newton’s camp would want to set up a workout like this in the first place.

      If Newton struggles, then the media will hammer him. If he performs well, then the NFL may be turned off by what appears to be a workout to upstage the league’s process for evaluating prospects. It seems like an inevitable lose-lose situation for Newton.

      College Football, External Sports, NFL, NFL Draft

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