Another perspective of Benson's workout

[Crown Royal]

Originally Posted by VACowboy

Did you guys see him play? The games I saw, Brown looked better to me than Cadillac. He blocks. He catches. He runs hard. He's big, fast, and although he's not as elusive as Cadillac, I've seen him make some guys miss. He can turn the corner on a sweep or run over a LB off-tackle. I don't see what's not to like.

I'm not an Auburn or even an SEC fan. Brown just looks pretty damn good to me.

He looks good to me the way Hambrick did backing up Smith. A backup.

[DLCassidy]

Benson probably just made sure that neither Merriman nor Johnson will be Cowboys. Nice job Benson.

[Avery]

Funny how the whole season of college football doesn't matter anymore.

People get caught up in workouts so much that they tend to overlook everything before.

[MichaelWinicki]

Originally Posted by Chief

I think we've all seen a lot of Benson over the years, so it's funny to read all the different opinions.

IMO, he's good, but not as good as he's been made out to be by the Longhorn legion. He looks like a late first, early second-round guy to me. I compared him to Anthony Thomas, only a little more elusive.

Inman made a great point that when you think of him, you don't remember any "signature runs." He's solid. That's probably the best way to put it.

Something else to consider with Benson is he hasn't exactly been a choir boy during his high school and college careers.

Well said Chief.

[tyke1doe]

Originally Posted by DLCassidy

Benson probably just made sure that neither Merriman nor Johnson will be Cowboys. Nice job Benson.

As if Benson is worried about who the Cowboys have targeted in the draft.

You guys are funny.

I just can't get worked up about who we pick because 1.) we really don't know who Parcells and Jones is targeting and 2.) we really have no control over it anyway.

[dargonking999]

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.

ACtaully i beilve BEnson is omre of a ricky type back, not explosive speed but has the homerun abilty and the battering ram type body. I think Miami will take speaking of the type of offense they like to run, even with the new coach i still think they want the pounding back, remember they are in the AFC, with nothing but defense, not the NFC where its who can score the most points(IE GB and MINN)

[jimmy40]

Originally Posted by InmanRoshi

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.

Show me some articles that labeled Benson as slow coming out of high school.

[jimmy40]

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......

Using that reasoning means Adrian Peterson would be a sixth or seventh round pick from what I saw against USC. You agree?

[Rack Bauer]

Originally Posted by jimmy40

Using that reasoning means Adrian Peterson would be a sixth or seventh round pick from what I saw against USC. You agree?

AP is the most overrated player in the country. I'm not saying he's not good. He is good, but people act like he's the next coming of Jim Brown.

Maurice Clarett looked good as a freshmen too. Let's watch the kid a couple more years before we call him "Great."

[jimmy40]

Originally Posted by Chief

I think we've all seen a lot of Benson over the years, so it's funny to read all the different opinions.

IMO, he's good, but not as good as he's been made out to be by the Longhorn legion. He looks like a late first, early second-round guy to me. I compared him to Anthony Thomas, only a little more elusive.

Inman made a great point that when you think of him, you don't remember any "signature runs." He's solid. That's probably the best way to put it.

Something else to consider with Benson is he hasn't exactly been a choir boy during his high school and college careers.

To read these posts you'd think Benson has been playing with Joe Montana at QB. Vincent Young was a freakin joke until he went wild against Michigan. Benson has seen nothing but 8 and even 9 man fronts for the last two years and still put up great numbers. Unbelievable.

[jimmy40]

Originally Posted by Rack

AP is the most overrated player in the country. I'm not saying he's not good. He is good, but people act like he's the next coming of Jim Brown.

Maurice Clarett looked good as a freshmen too. Let's watch the kid a couple more years before we call him "Great."

I love AP even though he plays for OU. I don't think there is any doubt he's the real deal but I'd like to see his yards before contact this year compared to Bensons. I bet that would tell a little story.

[jimmy40]

Originally Posted by AdamJT13

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.

[View Full Quote]"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.

Sounds like he's even slower today than yesterday when he ran in the 4.51-4.59 range.

[jem88]

Originally Posted by Avery

Funny how the whole season of college football doesn't matter anymore.

People get caught up in workouts so much that they tend to overlook everything before.

I'd be very interested in seeing a compilation of high-profile players who had damaging pre-draft workouts and then seeing how their pro careers played/have played out. As well, it's always interesting to look at the workout warriors and see how they fared in the NFL (Mamula is the obvious case here but I'm sure there are others.) I agree that people are far too ready to write off a collegiate career due to one sketchy workout.

[jimmy40]

Originally Posted by AdamJT13

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.

[View Full Quote]"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.

Some of these NFL guys hold a grudge forever if someone doesn't kiss their arse at the combine. He sure has a lot of opinions on how Benson ran considering he was in Hawaii at the time.

[zagnut]

Originally Posted by jem88

I'd be very interested in seeing a compilation of high-profile players who had damaging pre-draft workouts and then seeing how their pro careers played/have played out. As well, it's always interesting to look at the workout warriors and see how they fared in the NFL (Mamula is the obvious case here but I'm sure there are others.) I agree that people are far too ready to write off a collegiate career due to one sketchy workout.

Me too. It always seems there are a lot of guys who drop that are more clearly football players than those who go earlier. But because they didn't perform as well in Indianapolis, or weren't bigger, or a guy's hands measured 8 3/4" instead of 9 1/2", they drop. Whether it's as slight as a Ryan Leaf going ahead of a Peyton Manning, or Warren Sapp dropping a little more, or a Ray Lewis lasting all the way to the end of the first.

Baltimore has made a living drafting these types of players. They just draft football players who performed. When they go against the grain and draft a workout guy or a 1-season wonder, the guy is a bust (Kyle Boller, Travis Taylor).

I can't think of another industry where there's 2 to 4 years of film showing exactly what the job applicant can do. Draft the guy who showed you what he can do over 3-4 years. Simple.

That said, I want Mike Williams to be a Cowboy.