2017 NFL Combine

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I was expecting mid 4.4s.

He aced everything else.
His strength is versatility. Catches the ball like a wideout. If we'd gotten Bosa last year, I might be pulling for him to be our pick this year. Unlike a lot of these guys, he doesn't have a lot of wear and tear.
 

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The standout player today by my eye was Western Michigan OT Taylor Moton. Thought he really moved well for a guy who was supposed to have to kick inside to play in the NFL.

But I'm using this eye, so don't hold me to that.

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His strength is versatility. Catches theCan he be a ball like a wideout. If we'd gotten Bosa last year, I might be pulling for him to be our pick this year. Unlike a lot of these guys, he doesn't have a lot of wear and tear.

Can he be a feature back though or is he another Felix Jones? That's the question.
 

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Todd McShay
ESPN Senior Writer

INDIANAPOLIS -- The NFL combine is just a small sliver of the evaluation process. Evaluators often use it to confirm their scouting report from the tape. Let's take a look at how a few of the big-name prospects performed on Friday, when running backs and offensive linemen went through workouts.

Players analyzed below include: Stanford's Christian McCaffrey, LSU's Leonard Fournette, Florida State's Dalvin Cook, Tennessee's Alvin Kamara and Clemson's Mike Williams.

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Christian McCaffrey, RB, Stanford
Rank entering combine: No. 37 overall | No. 4 RB

Coming into the day, I thought McCaffrey would run the slowest 40 time of the top four running backs (Fournette, Cook, Kamara). He's really shifty and accelerates quickly, but I wasn't sure what his top-end speed would be. McCaffrey ended up with an official time of 4.48, which is outstanding and the fastest time of this group. Where McCaffrey really shined, though, was with a 6.57-second three-cone. That's the second-fastest time among RBs since 2006, and it jibes with his short-area quickness and route-running ability on tape. And the Stanford product put on an absolute show during pass-catching drills. He just looks so natural catching the ball. If you draft McCaffrey, you're getting a really good running back and wide receiver. You can't say that about many guys. There's a good chance he goes in Round 1 after his performance.

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Leonard Fournette, RB, LSU
Rank entering combine: No. 3 overall | No. 1 RB

Fournette's workout was a mixed bag. Let's start with the obvious: A 240-pound man should not be able to run the 40-yard dash in 4.51 seconds, but that's exactly what Fournette did on Friday. That's ridiculous, and it meshes with his tape. He's as good as you'll ever see at the college level in terms of straight-line explosiveness. That's why it was surprising to see Fournette jump just 28.5 inches in the vertical, which tests a player's lower-body power. According to ESPN's Stats & Information, 31.5 inches is the shortest vertical jump at the combine for a RB drafted in the first round since 2006 (Mark Ingram). That re-jump-started talk of Fournette's weight. It's pretty clear based on his 40 time that he's not out of shape, but teams will certainly be poking around to figure out what's going on there -- 240 is a lot of weight for a RB to carry. It'll be interesting to see what he weighs at LSU's pro day (April 5) and how he performs in the vertical and broad jumps.

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Dalvin Cook, RB, Florida State
Rank entering combine: No. 6 overall | No. 2 RB

Among the top four running backs, Cook is the best at stringing multiple cuts together and getting up the field in a hurry. He delivered in the straight-line speed department on Friday, too, running a 4.49 40. That's a really good time and it speaks to his game-breaking ability. Cook is also a very physical blocker in pass protection, and he showed off his strength by putting up 22 reps on the bench. That was tied for third most among all running backs this year. Cook came into the combine as an elite prospect, and he did nothing from a testing standpoint to hurt himself on Friday.

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Alvin Kamara, RB, Tennessee
Rank entering combine: No. 30 overall | No. 3 RB

Kamara had the second-best overall workout of this group of four running backs. He has prototypical size at 5-foot-10 and 214 pounds, and while he didn't blaze the 40 (4.56), Kamara still posted a better-than-average time. He's going to be an interesting test case because there are a lot of games in which he had fewer than 10 carries, and he never had more than 18 rushing attempts in a game. Kamara interviewed very well from what I heard, he's very well-liked by his teammates, and he catches the ball cleanly. He has the skill set of a first-rounder. He's just so explosive, which showed up when he posted the best vertical jump (39.5 inches) and broad jump (10 feet, 11 inches) among all the running backs.

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Mike Williams, WR, Clemson
Rank entering combine: No. 13 overall | No. 1 WR

Wide receivers did not work out on Friday, but Williams did announce that he will not run the 40-yard dash. Coming into the combine, the 40 was probably more important for Williams than any other player, given the questions about his top-end speed. Those questions aren't going away, but we'll get more clarity at Clemson's pro day on March 16. Here's the reality: At just over 6-foot-3½ and 218 pounds, if Williams runs 4.55 or better, he's totally fine. If that number creeps into the mid-4.6s, then it'll hurt his stock.
 
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