by Doug Farrar

While Friday's always the big day at the Combine from a media standpoint -- quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers take the podium, not to mention twice the number of coaches and executives as seen on Thursday -- things seem a bit different this year. Maybe it's the logistics of the change from the Convention Center to Lucas Oil Stadium, or it could be the specter of job changes, buyouts, and entire newspapers dying. Whatever it is, there's a tangible undercurrent of uncertainty I haven't seen here before. Talking to friends who have been doing this football writing thing a lot longer (and better) than I have who are struggling to find a place in their profession ... it's a humbling thing. Not to bum you out, dear reader, and it's tough all over right now, but you definitely see it at the Combine, too.

A Beautiful Mind

From a football perspective, the day opened with a very enjoyable press conference with Mike Mayock of the NFL Network. His was a long Q&A that touched on many subjects.

Florida receiver Percy Harvin: "Is he Reggie Bush, or can he run the route tree? He didn't run the kinds of routes he'll have to run in the NFL, but there will be a group of NFL teams that look at him and say, 'I don't care -- we'll find ways to get him touches and get the ball in his hands because he's so explosive, we have to have him.'"

Mississippi tackle Michael Oher: "He is a tremendously gifted athlete but inconsistent as a player, and I think you saw that at the Senior Bowl. It was exactly what I saw in his career at Ole Miss, which was that he'd look great for three or four plays, and then a pass protection busts. That inconsistency can get you killed in the NFL."

The quarterback (under)class: "I just keep trying to warn people that the Matt Ryan/Joe Flacco thing is an anomaly. You haven't seen that, basically, ever in the NFL, two rookie quarterbacks like that. And they were both fifth-year players. There's a track record on tape, there's a track record off the field. Work ethic -- everything. You can track it more accurately. Matthew Stafford just turned 21 last week. He has three years as a starter in the SEC, which is impressive, but you still don't have that same tracking mechanism that you have with the other guys. There's no question that the young quarterbacks are harder to read, because the intangibles at that position are more important than what I see on tape."

Young Frankenstein

Atlanta Falcons General Manager Thomas Dimitroff held court in an interesting and wide-ranging press conference, then taking more questions for about 20 minutes from a small pool of reporters. I've asked both Dimitroff and Atlanta Coach Mike Smith about running back workload -- Michael Turner carried the ball 376 times in his first season as an NFL starter, and while he held up well despite a great deal of inside power running, I wondered if it wouldn't be wise to give Jerious Norwood, who has outside speed and a quick first cut, more reps in future. Turner seemed particularly affected by defensive speed in the playoff loss to the Cardinals -- Arizona's fast-pursuit defense often got to Turner before he could hit a hole or bust outside. Dimitroff said that while the Falcons have a great deal of faith in Turner, they're also cognizant of the overuse issue.

Dimitroff also talked about the spread offense and the difficulty in evaluating players who spent time in that system. It's a common theme at the Combine as more college teams adopt it. How do this year's crop of tight ends match up? "This is a good tight end draft," he said. "I think you get a chance to see certain players like (Missouri's) Chase Coffman. He's a very accomplished receiver. With his abilities you have to project him inside. In all of our evaluations, there were very few times that we saw him on the line. For instance, we have tend to project a little bit to determine if he has the whole operation and control as far as blocking and pass reception. I think you really have to step back.

"In my opinion you really have to evaluate the athleticism, the fluidity, movement and the ball skills and see how they tend to project and know that maybe a player that is from a spread offense as a tight end might not be that accomplished as a blocker, but can continue to improve with coaching and with a stress on the blocking scheme."

The Brandon Pettigrews of the world -- those tight ends who are equally adept at blocking and receiving -- are rare beings these days. Teams have to learn which elements of the spread, per position, will work in their offenses.

Vanishing Point

Exhibit A took the podium this afternoon -- Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell. After throwing for 5,111 yards, 45 touchdowns and nine interceptions in 2008 under Mike Leach, Harrell had a bad time of it at the Senior Bowl, throwing wormburners and leaving many questions about his NFL future. Does he have what the league requires, or is he yet another Tech washout like Kliff Kingsbury, Sonny Cumbie, and Cody Hodges? Greg Cosell of NFL Films and State Farm NFL Matchup told me today that there are real and legitimate concerns about Harrell's mechanics. Primary among them is a tendency to back up out of pressure, which negatively affects his ability to deliver throws, with an average arm, under the best conditions.

Harrell believes that his transition will be successful, particularly because some NFL teams may be ready to meet the spread halfway, or at least incorporate it more into their systems. "If you watched the Super Bowl, it seemed that the Cardinals were running the spread the whole time," he said. "I talked to them yesterday and they said, 'We put the best players on the field. If that's a bunch of receivers, we put a bunch out there.' That made a lot of sense to me. In the NFL, more teams are trying the spread, experimenting with the spread, and if that's the case, I have as much experience as anyone in the country. I think the system prepared me for the NFL more than some people might think."

Still there are physical and mechanical adjustments that a player like Joe Flacco -- who ran a lot of shotgun at Delaware but seemed amazingly comfortable with play-action and pocket awareness in his first preseason -- could overcome more easily. Arm strength is key; you can dink and dunk all you went, but every NFL quarterback had to step up and make those "stick throws," downfield bullets into tight windows. The pros will only take this hybrid thing so far.

Air America

A couple of red flags about Harrell's teammate, receiver Michael Crabtree. First, he's not working out at the Combine because he's still recovering from an ankle injury. It's not quite like Alabama offensive tackle Andre Smith admitting that he's not working out because he's not in shape (no, I'm not kidding), but it isn't good for a receiver who you'd think would want to get a fast time and quiet the doubts about his straight-line speed and ability to run out of coverage. Second, that 6-foot-3 height listed on all the scouting reports? Pure folly. Crabtree measured in at 6-1 1/3. Still not a severe debit, but we are talking about degrees of top ten placement, where a chip in the veneer can come back to haunt you. So, let's have it, Mike Mayock: Is Crabtree the next Larry Fitzgerald, as so many seem to believe? Or is this just a default tendency to match the best receiver in the draft with the best receiver on the planet?

"I think the whole Michael Crabtree versus Larry Fitzgerald thing has some legitimacy," Mayock said, "and I'm not trying to say that he's Larry Fitzgerald, but when Fitzgerald came out, people didn't think he was going to break 4.50 in the 40. You know how much emphasis we put on the 40, which is pretty crazy sometimes. But at that position, you want to know how fast a guy is. Fitzgerald had 4.49-to-4.51 speed. The people that didn't like Larry Fitzgerald -- and none of them will tell you that now, by the way -- didn't think he'd be able to separate in the NFL. But what he does have in unbelievable ball skills, vertical jump, the ability to go get the ball with his hands. That's a long way of saying that Crabtree is that kind of player. I don't think his ball skills are as good as Larry Fitzgerald's, but they're elite."

Still, Fitzgerald has the rare ability to jump out of double teams and still retrieve the ball. Crabtree could use that extra inch and two-thirds. We'll have to wait until his Pro Day on March 26 to find out if everything else is in order.

Wildcats

Everyone's favorite set of gadgets has been a hot topic throughout the Combine. Yesterday, Dolphins coach Tony Sparano talked about how the AFC East Champs are not only going forward with the 'Cat, but recruiting for it, as well.

"I'm sure of that," Sparano said, when asked about it. "I'm sure that there's some people that are looking at those pieces right now. I know that as the season went on, more teams tried it. I don't know how committed other teams are one way or the other to it, but there's a lot of those kinds of players out there, the potential Wildcat guys, whether they're different positional players that have the skill to run the football that maybe has thrown the football. There are some of those people out there that might fit other people's philosophy. Again, it all depends on whether or not you're married to it. It was good to us, certainly. But at the end of the whole process and you got back and evaluate where we were offensively, it was just a very small part of what we do."

So ... paging Pat White? Perhaps. Still, the 'Fins are reluctant to bring players in who can't do things in more "traditional" NFL offenses -- that's the fine balance. There's no question that Sparano sees it as more than a bag of tricks with a quick expiration date. "I think our coaches feel like there are some advantages there. There are some things this offseason that we had to go back and look at and reevaluate how to do it better, those type of things. There was a lot left on the bone that we didn't roll out there during the course of the season for one reason or the other. This gives us a chance this offseason to push the envelope a little bit more."

Atlanta's Dimitroff is on board; the Falcons ran some direct snap stuff to Jerious Norwood last year, though they couldn't seem to get the blocking together at times. "I think the Wildcat situation is something that a lot of us are trying to figure out what's the best way to defend it and as well as use it. I think (Atlanta offensive coordinator) Mike Mularkey has a very good understanding of that as well. I think it will continue to bring players to the forefront that are a little bit of that 'Slash' ability, where they can also toss the ball. If you can get that player who can run as well as be a receiver, versatility in this league is huge at any position. But when you get a receiver-slash-skill position, a guy who has the versatility to run it out of the backfield, to me that adds a whole different dimension."

Adopt, adapt, and improve. It's the undercard of every Combine -- how do the pro and college players and plays fit together? There are a great many people on both sides trying to merge two very different playbooks. It seems to have been the theme so far.

Posted by: Doug Farrar on 20 Feb 2009

21 comments, Last at 23 Feb 2009, 12:08pm by Rich Conley