Impressions from Days 1&2 of the NFL Combine

The combine is fully underway and already there have been plenty of standout performances.

On day 1 Matt Kalil and Cordy Glenn were the standouts for me. Kalil will be long gone but Glenn could be in play in round 2 for Atlanta. Glenn displayed considerable athleticism at the combine at way over 300 pounds and given his performance yesterday could lead teams to think he can be a left tackle in this league.

I am getting more and more convinced we will select a tight end in round 2 and that choice could come down to Georgia’s Orson Charles, Stanford’s Coby Fleener and Clemson TE Dwayne Allen. At the combine none of these guys really distinguished themselves.

Allen looked fairly unimpressive in the 40 going in the 4.8s, his on field performance wasn’t bad but the lack of athleticism concerns me a bit. Fleener measured impressively at over 6”6 and performed well in the bench press. However due to an injury he was unable to run and take part in the on field drills. Charles opted not to run the 40 which is a bone head move if you ask me. If he had run and recorded a team in the 4.6 range, which I think he is capable of, he could have improved his stock significantly.

At the moment I would say Fleener is my favourite but over the coming weeks, I will be watching more film before a make a concrete decision.

Day 2 saw the QBs shine. Robert Griffin III had a ridiculous combine. Clocking an official time of 4.41 in the 40 yard dash only 0.08 seconds slower the Mike Vick ran in 2001. His athleticism blows me away, combined with his intelligence could be a devastating combination at the next level.

Fellow QB Andrew Luck showed off his athleticism in Indy. Whilst not quite reaching the heights of RG3 he was no slouch, clocking a time of 4.67 in the 40. Neither QB chose to throw which was incredibly disappointing considering both could of benefited from doing so.

Obviously neither of these players will be on the Falcons radar obviously, as they are currently exploring a contract extension for current franchise QB Matt Ryan.

Georgia Tech WR Stephen Hill flew at the combine running a 4.3 unofficial time in the 40. He ran nice routes to boot out on the field and at 6”4 he is a very intriguing prospect that could follow in the footsteps of former GaTech receivers Calvin Johnson and Demaryius Thomas.

An under the radar prospect that interested me for Atlanta was Alabama WR Darius Hanks ran some really nice routes on the field and he could a player of interest as a developmental/ slot receiver late in the draft.