As I’ve said all along in this process, being good at exercising doesn’t mean you’ll be good at football. But the NFL scouts, general managers and coaches don’t listen to me and way too much of a player’s NFL Combine measurables matter when it comes to draft position.
Earlier today we discussed who made money from Friday’s NFL combine. Now we;re going to talk about some guys who might have cost themselves cash by their performances in Indianapolis.
Who lost money?
Samaje Perine (Oklahoma), Wayne Gallman (Clemson), Corey Clement (Wisconsin),
Here’s how big a waste of time some of the workouts are at the combine. Oklahoma running back Samaje Perine did 30 reps in the 250-pound bench press. Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey barely got up 10 reps. At the end of the day, Jimmy crack corn and no one cares. McCaffrey solidified himself as a first round pick in the combine and Perine, by virtue of a 4.65 40-yard dash, probably slid into a day three pick.
Perine was a workhorse back for the Sooners the last three seasons and put up three consecutive 1,000 yard seasons, all while sharing the ball with Joe Mixon. Three seasons ago he scored 21 touchdowns and never scored fewer than 12. Perine is 5-11, 233 pounds and as I just mentioned in the previous paragraph, strong as hell. He should absolutely go no later than the third round and when he doesn’t, it will all be because this 4.65 40 time.
Pop on the film and it’s difficult to find a flaw in Wayne Gallman’s game with Clemson. He can pass block, pick up the blitz and run out of the shotgun, a formation NFL teams use probably half the time. He’s been a key player in getting the Tigers to the national title game two years in a row and helped them win it in January. He’s 6-0 and 215 pounds and has spent his career playing and performing in big games against top competition.
His stats in 2016? He averaged 4.9 yards per carry, gained 1,133 yards and scored 17 touchdowns. He added 20 catches for 152 yards. Gallman should be a second or early third round pick. But he probably won’t be because he ran a 4.60 40.
While Perine and Gallman will likely lose thousands of dollars by getting taken in the fifth or sixth rounds after their combine 40s, Wisconsin’s Corey Clement can just go ahead and call his combine a disaster. Clement was the primary back at Wisconsin, averaging 4.4 yards per carry and gaining 1,375 yards and scoring 15 touchdowns. All that you’d think would put him on an NFL scout’s map. I’m willing to bet his 4.68 40-yard dash took him right off it.
Before the combine Clement was probably looking at a fifth or sixth round selection. Now there’s a good chance he won’t get drafted at all. And with the glut of running backs not only free in the NFL, but that will be left in the wind after this draft, there’s no guarantee he even gets in an NFL camp as an undrafted free agent.
It wouldn’t be fair to wrap up my Friday losers article without discussing the offensive line class that USC sent to the combine and its historic shitty performance Friday. As I said earlier, this isn’t football. This is exercising but, you know, damn, guys. How can one school have so many potential draft picks do so poorly?
Three of the seven worst 40 times for linemen were posted by USC lummoxes with guard Damien Mama officially logging in as the slowest person at the combine this season with a 5.84. Zach Banner, the Trojans’ offensive tackle, posted a 5.58 40 and center Chad Wheeler ran a 5.48.
Wheeler wasn’t done. The USC center did just 15, that’s right, 15 bench presses of 250 pounds. That’s just five more than McCaffrey and 15 less than Perine. To put that lack of just brute strength into perspective, only eight offensive linemen who even lifted did fewer than 20 reps and 15 guys did 25 or more. As much as I want to downplay this display of exercising, an offensive lineman has to be able to win in the weight room or he’s worthless.
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