Players continue to arrive every day before the on-the-field workouts begin Friday in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, but Wednesday the NFL coaches and general managers took the stage to respond to questions and talk, at least vaguely, of their strategies heading into the combine. Here’s some of the news that came out of it today.
Tampa Bay still likes Winston
Even though there was a report last week that the Buccaneers had locked in on Oregon’s Marcus Mariota as the top pick in April’s NFL Draft, head coach Lovie Smith didn’t sound like a guy who had made his decision at all. If anything, he sounded more like he’s leaning towards Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston with the top pick.
“I think you have to look at the facts,” Smith said. “On the field there’s a lot to love. I feel he (Winston) has made some bad decisions and he’ll be the first guy to say that. You have to look at all the information and the allegations against him and leave it at that and do your research from there. Keep in mind, young people make mistakes and you can’t give them death sentences on some of those things.”
If not for Winston’s off-the-field behavior over the last two seasons, there’s little doubt he would take the field for Tampa Bay next September. The biggest issue is the sexual assault allegation that Winston was cleared by both the Florida District Attorney’s office and Florida State University. That ends Winston’s involvement, but the story will remain in the news as long as the woman, a former FSU student, is suing the university’s board of trustees.
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The Titans seem to have tipped their hand
Wednesday the Tennessee Titans attempted to play poker with the No. 2 pick in the draft and didn’t do a very good job. General manager Ruston Webster took questions and made comments to the media, showing they were very interested in the 2015 draft’s top two quarterback prospects, Winston and Mariota.
“We’ll spend a lot of time with those guys (Winston and Mariota) over the next few months,” Webster said. “We’ll meet with them here. And do our due diligence all the way through. I mean, they are very good players. There would be no reason for us not to, and that’ll start with meeting with them here at the combine.”
The Titans don’t seem worried about Winston’s off-the-field behavior and, before recent events, probably assumed he was the guy that would fall to the m with the No. 2 pick.
“We’ve done a lot of work with Jameis,” Webster said. “We’ll continue to do a lot of work on Jameis, just like these others guys at No. 2 or in the draft in general,” Webster said. “But it’s something that, I just don’t want to go off perception, I want to know what reality is with him and we’ll give him a fair shake.”
Browns could draft a QB high again
Though head coach Mike Pettine expressed his pride in quarterback Johnny Manziel’s decision to enter rehab a few weeks ago, it doesn’t mean the team won’t look at drafting another quarterback in the first round for the second year in a row.
The Browns pick at No. 12 and No. 19 this year thanks to a draft-day trade with the Buffalo Bills last season. Even combining those two picks is likely not enough ammunition to move up to one of the top two spots, but landing UCLA’s Brett Hundley at No. 12 is a real possibility if they want to pull the trigger.
Bryce Petty from Baylor, Garrett Grayson from Colorado State and Shane Carden from East Carolina are all realistic targets for Cleveland in the second and third rounds.
Texans are targeting offensive line
Houston’s offensive line coach Mike Devlin didn’t waste his plane ticket to Indianapolis, meeting nearly all the combine’s offensive linemen Wednesday. Devlin was most interested in their football knowledge and asked them to draw plays they ran in college and explain how they worked.
The Texans also made it a point to meet with Southeastern Louisiana QB Bryan Bennett. Bennett transferred to Southeastern Louisiana after losing the QB competition to Marcus Mariota in 2012. Bennett passed for 2,357 yards and 18 touchdowns with just eight interceptions for the Lions in 2014 and rushed for 830 yards and 15 touchdowns.
