Another perspective of Benson's workout - Dallas Cowboys Forum

AdamJT13 · 03-23-2005

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_yl...yhoo&type=lgns

By Charles Robinson,
Yahoo! Sports
March 23, 2005

In a scene that looks eerily similar to the swoon by Kevin Jones last season, Texas' Cedric Benson suffered through one of this offseason's most damaging predraft workouts Wednesday.

Despite working out in the familiar surroundings of the Longhorns' practice field, Benson posted 40-yard dashes in the 4.6- to 4.65-second range and struggled during pass-catching drills. It's clearly a stumble for a player who chose not to work out at the scouting combine, then sat idly as Auburn running backs Ronnie Brown and Carnell Williams posted superb workouts. Benson was expected to offer something in the 4.45 to 4.5 range.

"It was rough, but he plays better than he looked," said a scout who watched Benson, along with "60 to 70" other team representatives. "Nobody came here expecting to be blown away, but it wasn't a good day for him."

One comparison the scout drew was last year's performance by Jones, the former Virginia Tech running back who was expected to run around a 4.4 in the 40. Jones surprised everyone by running around 4.6, and his stock dropped dramatically.

Originally thought to be drafted between 15th and 20th overall, Jones slid all the way to Detroit at No. 30 behind Oregon State's Steven Jackson and Michigan's Chris Perry. He was the only one of that threesome to rush for 1,000 yards as a rookie, finishing with 1,133.

"There's a little bit of a difference because (Jones) was expected to be really fast, and Cedric Benson is clearly a power back," the scout said. "You can't erase what he did in college in one bad day, but of course it is going to be a factor."

It's just the latest bump for Benson in what has been a rocky journey toward the draft. He skipped the combine workouts, which wouldn't have looked bad if Brown and Williams (also considered top selections) hadn't participated. And while Benson seemed to have done well in team interviews – addressing questions about some off-field legal troubles – teams were still anxious to see his workout. Clearly, if he wanted to catch Brown as the No. 1 running back in the draft, he needed a sub-4.5 time in the 40 and show he could catch the football.

Now he's going to have to contemplate possibly running or working out one more time, in hopes of staging a last-minute boost in his value. Not that it would change how teams are going to look at his most recent performance. Bears general manager Jerry Angelo, who was attending the owners' meeting in Kapalua, Hawaii on Wednesday, said this latest performance should be a fair enough indication of the 5-foot-10, 225-pound Benson's true numbers.

"When somebody opts to work at their place, that's what they are," Angelo said. "He's not going to run a month from now, a week from now, and run much better. I've seen it enough times now. There are guys that run at the combine who run slow, and then they work out at their place and they run a lot better. I've never seen a guy that ran at his place, and then ran a month later and ran fast.

"That's what his time is. That's what his speed is. That's what he is. You could rationalize the combine time sometimes – you know, with the travel, that type of thing, and think, yeah, he might run faster on his home turf. Well, when a guy runs on his home turf, that is his time."

As for how it will effect Benson's stock?

"Each team will just have to assess it," Angelo said.

Ken · 03-23-2005

Not that the workout is the end all, but this does not surprise me one bit and I always thought it was funny so many had him as the unquestioned best back.

He is a solid, durable, and unexciting back. He isn't even as good as Steven Jackson. Yet all of these "experts" had him going #2 to Miami. It is not going to happen. I think he is a lock to fall to the middle of the first and probably lower.

There is no compelling reason to take the guy any higher.

joshjwp · 03-23-2005

This isn't good...he could slip out of the top 10 now, which would mean that there will be one less player that we might be interested in. We need all three of the RB, the two QB, and maybe the top two corners to get picked in the top 10 so that we have a better chance of getting one a player we covet at a position of need.

EX: D. Johnson, S. Merriman, M. Williams, B. Edwards

Q_the_man · 03-23-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken

Not that the workout is the end all, but this does not surprise me one bit and I always thought it was funny so many had him as the unquestioned best back.

He is a solid, durable, and unexciting back. He isn't even as good as Steven Jackson. Yet all of these "experts" had him going #2 to Miami. It is not going to happen. I think he is a lock to fall to the middle of the first and probably lower.

There is no compelling reason to take the guy any higher.

I saw a couple games with Benson and the most notable one was when Texas played Oklahoma and he looked like a 4th round pick compared to Peterson from Oklahoma.

To me I think he is more hype then Potential... but I hope he goes top 5 anyway pushing a better player down to us......

followthestar · 03-23-2005

this is not good news. he will fall out of the top 10 now i'll bet... crap!!! that lowers the chances of getting who we want, or of having many trade-down options. in fact, the best option we might have now is for some team willing to go for him at 11... let's see, which team following us in the first round needs a RB, who might be willing to trade up for him...?

Dyluke · 03-23-2005

Man i hate top 10 shake-ups. If he indeed does end up falling out of the top 10, my guess is he falls somewhere around 20-30

InmanRoshi · 03-23-2005

Not all the surprising for me, because I knew he supposedly ran a 4.65 when he was coming out of Midland. People have questioned his speed since he was in high school. He proved a lot of people wrong in college, we'll see how he does in the Pros.
I've always thought you're looking at a young Eddie George type, at best. A lot of people would gladly take that, and others of us have questioned how great that really was.

Anyway, I never really thought that all three runningbacks would be taken in the top 10. RB's in the past 5 years have seemingly been the ones who always fall because teams are convinced they can find them in later rounds. How many years have we gone since a Top 10 runningback? Tomlinson five years ago?

silverbear · 03-24-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken

He is a solid, durable, and unexciting back. He isn't even as good as Steven Jackson.

Oh, ... yeah, Ken, Benson isn't even as good as Steven Jackson... he "only" gained 2500 more yards rushing, 200 more yards receiving-- while playing a somewhat tougher conference schedule than Jackson played...

Jackson averaged 1125 yards per season rushing and receiving, Benson averaged 1540 yards per season...

So tell me, Ken, on what FACTUAL basis do you base your argument that "Cedric Benson isn't even as good as Steven Jackson"??

Benson might not even be the best back in this draft, but he is better than any back who was in last year's draft... in fact, there are THREE backs in this draft who are superior to anything that came out last year...

As for Cedric's 40 time, I'll just say that after having watched him turn the corner for the Horns these past 4 years, I'd wager that he's faster than a 4.6 40, at least on the football field... he's not as fast as the two stud backs from Auburn, but he's fast enough for the NFL...

That said, I wouldn't want the Cowboys picking him even if he is still on the board at pick 11... they don't need a feature back, they already have one in Julius... nope, the ONLY offensive position the Boys should be considering at 11 is WR...

PS-- I wonder if the disappointing 40 time is because he bulked up too much... he reportedly weighed in at just under 225 pounds, after playing last year at around 210-215... perhaps he needs to drop those 10 extra pounds...

btcutter · 03-24-2005

His 40 time just dropped him to mid-late teens. Its going to cost him millions. Look no further than Emmitt Smith when he came out (not that he can hold Emmitt's jock strap

Bad news is that another good player will be taken in the top 10

InmanRoshi · 03-24-2005

I don't think the 40 time is a result of anything other than this is who Cedric Benson is. He's been labeled as slow since high school. He racked up a lot of yards in college (on a lot of carries), but he never really broke many long gains of over 25+ yards. I watched Benson for every single snap of his career, and I really can't think of a signature Cedric Benson run, especially compared to Ricky's days as a Longhorn. Ricky broke off a lot of big runs in college. He broke the record on a big run.

TruBlueCowboy · 03-24-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Q_the_man

I saw a couple games with Benson and the most notable one was when Texas played Oklahoma and he looked like a 4th round pick compared to Peterson from Oklahoma.

To me I think he is more hype then Potential... but I hope he goes top 5 anyway pushing a better player down to us......

I agree, I saw the Texas/OU game too and even though Peterson is one of those rare elite talents that doesn't come around often, Benson didn't even look close to the same league Peterson is in. I've always thought he was overrated.

SuspectCorner · 03-24-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by silverbear

Benson might not even be the best back in this draft, but he is better than any back who was in last year's draft... in fact, there are THREE backs in this draft who are superior to anything that came out last year...

That said, I wouldn't want the Cowboys picking him even if he is still on the board at pick 11... they don't need a feature back, they already have one in Julius...

i'll believe there are three better backs than julius in this draft when they SHOW ME they are better than julius.

so far i see three highly-rated potential busts.

Rack Bauer · 03-24-2005

I agree with Ken that SJackson is better then Benson. Stats don't tell the whole story. If they did, then Curtis Martin is currently a better RB then Ladainian Tomlinson.

I watched Jackons very closely last year, and the OL he ran behind was absolutely horrible.

JMO

jterrell · 03-24-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken

Not that the workout is the end all, but this does not surprise me one bit and I always thought it was funny so many had him as the unquestioned best back.

He is a solid, durable, and unexciting back. He isn't even as good as Steven Jackson. Yet all of these "experts" had him going #2 to Miami. It is not going to happen. I think he is a lock to fall to the middle of the first and probably lower.

There is no compelling reason to take the guy any higher.

I think he is a far better RB than Steven Jackson.
He has actual running back skills in the vision and balance area that Jackson doesn't. Jackson is a long striding home run threat with a slow takeoff but excellent power and speed when he gets going. Benson is an explode through the hole up the middle for 5 yards kinda back. Benson really is similar to Emmitt. His leg strength, vision and balance are all very similar. Like Emmitt he may drop because of that lack of top speed but as the scout mentionned he isn't a speedback who runs sweeps anyways.

jterrell · 03-24-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Q_the_man

I saw a couple games with Benson and the most notable one was when Texas played Oklahoma and he looked like a 4th round pick compared to Peterson from Oklahoma.

To me I think he is more hype then Potential... but I hope he goes top 5 anyway pushing a better player down to us......

That applies to every UT player versus their OU counterparts but it doesn't mean that holds up on the pro level. OU was tossing out 2 first round DL and very likely 6 draftable guys in the front 7.

Besides that, AD would be the first overall pick if he was available right now to be drafted.

I'd be worried if Benson shrunk versus all good teams but that wasn't the case at all. He punished some very good defenses.

I agree that Benson has a limited potential but then again so did Emmitt and all he did was end up the all time leading rusher in history.