Earlier this week, I wrote a post about how Clemson defensive end Da’Quan Bowers’ draft stock may be falling due to a knee injury and this report from the Denver Post does nothing to refute that claim.
According to the report, “several teams” insist that Bowers’ knee surgery was more serious than the defensive end claimed. Bowers had arthroscopic knee surgery following the season and was only able to participate the bench press at February’s scouting combine. He has also postponed his Pro Day from March 10 to April 1 as he continues to try and recover from what was thought to be a minor knee scope.
For Bowers’ sake, I hope he performs well at his Pro Day and he can put the concerns about his knee to rest. He’s a bona fide top 5 prospect and was a terrific player at Clemson. He’s strong, long-armed and extremely athletic. He has excellent closing speed for his size and could turn out to be a very good edge rusher in the NFL. But the concerns about his knee could cause him to drop out of the top 10 and while he would wind up being a steal for whichever team drafted him later in the first, it would cost him millions in the process.
One thing to keep in mind is that some teams will attempt to sabotage a prospect in hopes that he’ll fall in the draft. But it’s not like this is the first time that a media outlet has reported problems about Bowers’ knee. We’ll just have to wait and see if he can perform at his Pro Day in April and convince teams at the top of the draft that he’s still worthy of being selected among the first five of picks.
