Combine Day 4 Notes

It was the final day of the 2007 NFL Combine, and the DB's definitely did well as a group. Eight unofficially timed below 4.4, making it 16 total this year. Here are some guys that impressed me, and some that didn't:

Leon Hall of Michigan ran a 4.39, while many (including me) questioned his overall speed. This should do a lot to help his stock, especially with Darrelle Revis deciding not to work out. He also ran a 6.50 in the 3-cone drill, which was .1 faster than the next best DB. (Michael Griffin ran a 6.60)

Chris Houston was no doubt the star of the day, or I guess you could say week. He showed up and repped 225 27 times, the most out of all DB's, and one less than Joe Thomas. After that, he ran the fastest DB 40 time (4.32) and looked extremely fluid and athletic in cover drills. Add that to the praise he received from Prime Time (Deion), Mike Mayock, and Dwayne Jarrett, and I guess you could say he did pretty good.

Chinedum (Nedu) Ndukwe of Notre Dame is definitely a name to watch out for leading up to the draft. Where he really stood out, to me, was in the change of direction, cover drills. He didn't post the top times, although they were very good for a 6'2" 206lb safety (4.51 forty, 37.5"vert), but his fluidity and ball skills were very impressive.

In a week where the best of the best made themselves even better (see: Calvin Johnson, Adrian Peterson, Joe Thomas, Gaines Adams, Patrick Willis), LaRon Landry had no choice but to keep it going. He ran a 4.35 forty, then followed that by posting a 37.5" vert. This cemented his stock as the top safety in the draft, and even brings his name up as a possible Top 10 guy.

Daymeion Hughes might like to forget about this week. After some stated that his "estimated" 4.55 time by several sites was not right, Hughes proved them correct by running an unofficial 4.68. I try not to pick on anybody here, I'd rather focus on the positive performances, but it will be extremely hard for him to overcome his overall lack of athleticism. I don't know what his exact vertical jump was, but he barely got the first bar, so I'm guessing it was around 30". He had 8 ints this past season, he has great instincts and ball skills, but a lot of teams probably draw the line when corners run around 4.7. I really wish him the best, and I actually had him ahead of Leon Hall before the combine, but I'm not sure he can make it in a league where many receivers are 6'4" and run 4.5s.

Finally, if I could give a message to the Darrelle Revises and Dwayne Jarretts out there: WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Revis hurt his stock big time by not working out, and even with an impressive pro day, he'll have a very hard time regaining one of the top 2 spots from Houston and Hall. Jarrett is an interesting story, as there are some rumors floating around that he was running in the 4.7 range. He reportedly was coming in behind Sidney Rice in his workouts, and Rice ran a 4.53. With so many great WR prospects in this draft all working out, Jarrett might have just been passed up by all of them (especially Robert Meachem). Why would you take a guy with so many questions when you could take a guy like Dwayne Bowe or Sidney Rice? Jarrett was an amazing college WR, but if he doesn't run below 4.6 on USC's fast track, his stock will be dropped to that early 2nd range. I really think the NFL should force all healthy players to work out, but I guess I could see why some of the top players (Calvin, JaMarcus, A.D, etc.) sit out. I mean, what is the point of taking that risk if you're already going to be a top pick? But guys like Revis should NEVER, NEVER sit out by "own choice". I had him as the top CB and the #17 overall prospect, and if he would have came in and ran somewhere in the 4.4's, he'd still be there. But, Hall and Houston each had extremely impressive workouts, and Revis deciding not to run shows he has something to hide. If you've got nothing to hide, what's the point of not showing your stuff in front of every coach/gm/scout in the league?