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Oklahoma State's Dez Bryant leads weak field at receiver
By Pete Dougherty • [email protected] • April 17, 2010
Despite all the red flags, despite the concerns about maturity and background, don’t be surprised if Dez Bryant ends up a top 15 pick in this year’s NFL draft.
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com.../WRs-Oklahoma-State-s-Bryant-leads-weak-field
The Oklahoma State receiver reportedly has been sliding down draft boards late this spring, especially after a sometimes lackluster personal workout two weeks ago, when he forgot to bring his favorite cleats and was in mediocre physical condition.
But in a draft that’s weak at receiver, Bryant is a possible top-five pick overall based strictly on talent and playmaking. So even though it appears he’s taking a Randy Moss-like dive into the 20s of the first round, or perhaps even into the second round, plenty of NFL scouts think someone will snag him in the upper half of the first round.
“The receivers are Dez Bryant, and then you have some guys below his ability, you don’t have a great group there,” one scouting director said. “The top 10 (at receiver) is kind of hard to fill out. If you’re in dire need of a wide receiver — I think that’s why Dez Bryant goes back up and goes high. There’s nobody to take his spot in the draft.”
Bryant’s problems haven’t been with the law, but his personality history has raised serious questions about his dependability, which is an especially serious matter for NFL teams when they’re deciding on whom to spend tens of millions of dollars as a high first-round pick.
Bryant’s family background is of concern because he had almost no support system bouncing from various homes in his extended family while growing up the son of a teenage mother who did time in jail for dealing drugs. In his first two seasons at Oklahoma State, he had a history of being tardy for class and practice, and then last year the NCAA suspended him for the final 10 games after he lied to investigators by denying a friendship with NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders — the contact potentially violated NCAA rules because Sanders has ties to agent Eugene Parker.
“The suspension by the NCAA was a nonissue for NFL teams,” another scout said.
But the chronic unreliability is, and was exacerbated by Bryant’s workout at his former high school field in Lufkin, Texas, where Packers coach Mike McCarthy and college scouting director John Dorsey were in attendance.
It’s not that Bryant’s overall numbers were a problem. He had a 1.50-second 10-yard split in the 40-yard dash and an 11-foot-1 broad jump, both of which would have been first among receivers at the NFL scouting combine, and an excellent 38-inch vertical jump that would have ranked sixth. His 40 time of 4.55 seconds was only OK but about what scouts expected from a player whose greatest assets are strength and athleticism, not pure speed.
But Bryant weighed 224 pounds, which though he carried well, was 12 pounds above his playing weight last season and suggested he wasn’t in good shape for a critical part of his job interview. Also, near the end of his physical testing, he kept slipping while performing the short shuttle run, and after finally completing the fourth try, quit in the middle of a fifth attempt. He attributed the poor footing to forgetting to include his favorite cleats among the five pairs he brought that day.
It was hardly an abysmal performance, but it left high-ranking executives revisiting whether they’d spend a first-round pick on him.
On one hand, there’s the impressive game videotape from 2008, when he averaged 17.0 yards on 87 receptions and scored 19 touchdowns. On the other hand, there’s the question of what kind of work habits and accountability he’ll exhibit after being paid millions of dollars as a rookie.
That’s enough to knock him out of consideration for the top five of the draft, but at least some scouts are betting he won’t last until the latter half of the first round. One predicted that, at worst, he won’t get far out of the top 10.
“At some point you have to judge what he’s like off the field,” the scout said. “I understand that he’s late to practices and late to class and that they had to have somebody on top of him. But that’s kind of on the university as well, allowing him to be like that. There are some things in his background that are questionable, but if you look around the NFL there’s a lot of questionable background kind of kids that play a long, long time.”
Lufkin, Texas. File/AP
About the wide receivers
Overall: A weak class in the top two or three rounds at receiver, but some good top-end talent at tight end.
Best prospect: Dez Bryant of Oklahoma State was a dominating receiver in college but comes with a "Buyer Beware" tag.
Packers outlook: Not a position of high priority in the draft, though they might be looking for a player to develop as eventual replacement for 35-year-old Donald Driver in the starting lineup.
Rising star: Jimmy Graham played basketball at Miami until trying football last year and could end up being an excellent tight end down the road.
Falling star: USC's Anthony McCoy has prototypical size and ability at tight end but also a diva temperament.
Sleeper: Joe Webb played quarterback at Alabama-Birmingham but is an exceptional athlete who could develop into a good receiver.
Wisconsin ties: Garrett Graham, TE, Wisconsin.
By Pete Dougherty • [email protected] • April 17, 2010
Despite all the red flags, despite the concerns about maturity and background, don’t be surprised if Dez Bryant ends up a top 15 pick in this year’s NFL draft.
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com.../WRs-Oklahoma-State-s-Bryant-leads-weak-field
The Oklahoma State receiver reportedly has been sliding down draft boards late this spring, especially after a sometimes lackluster personal workout two weeks ago, when he forgot to bring his favorite cleats and was in mediocre physical condition.
But in a draft that’s weak at receiver, Bryant is a possible top-five pick overall based strictly on talent and playmaking. So even though it appears he’s taking a Randy Moss-like dive into the 20s of the first round, or perhaps even into the second round, plenty of NFL scouts think someone will snag him in the upper half of the first round.
“The receivers are Dez Bryant, and then you have some guys below his ability, you don’t have a great group there,” one scouting director said. “The top 10 (at receiver) is kind of hard to fill out. If you’re in dire need of a wide receiver — I think that’s why Dez Bryant goes back up and goes high. There’s nobody to take his spot in the draft.”
Bryant’s problems haven’t been with the law, but his personality history has raised serious questions about his dependability, which is an especially serious matter for NFL teams when they’re deciding on whom to spend tens of millions of dollars as a high first-round pick.
Bryant’s family background is of concern because he had almost no support system bouncing from various homes in his extended family while growing up the son of a teenage mother who did time in jail for dealing drugs. In his first two seasons at Oklahoma State, he had a history of being tardy for class and practice, and then last year the NCAA suspended him for the final 10 games after he lied to investigators by denying a friendship with NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders — the contact potentially violated NCAA rules because Sanders has ties to agent Eugene Parker.
“The suspension by the NCAA was a nonissue for NFL teams,” another scout said.
But the chronic unreliability is, and was exacerbated by Bryant’s workout at his former high school field in Lufkin, Texas, where Packers coach Mike McCarthy and college scouting director John Dorsey were in attendance.
It’s not that Bryant’s overall numbers were a problem. He had a 1.50-second 10-yard split in the 40-yard dash and an 11-foot-1 broad jump, both of which would have been first among receivers at the NFL scouting combine, and an excellent 38-inch vertical jump that would have ranked sixth. His 40 time of 4.55 seconds was only OK but about what scouts expected from a player whose greatest assets are strength and athleticism, not pure speed.
But Bryant weighed 224 pounds, which though he carried well, was 12 pounds above his playing weight last season and suggested he wasn’t in good shape for a critical part of his job interview. Also, near the end of his physical testing, he kept slipping while performing the short shuttle run, and after finally completing the fourth try, quit in the middle of a fifth attempt. He attributed the poor footing to forgetting to include his favorite cleats among the five pairs he brought that day.
It was hardly an abysmal performance, but it left high-ranking executives revisiting whether they’d spend a first-round pick on him.
On one hand, there’s the impressive game videotape from 2008, when he averaged 17.0 yards on 87 receptions and scored 19 touchdowns. On the other hand, there’s the question of what kind of work habits and accountability he’ll exhibit after being paid millions of dollars as a rookie.
That’s enough to knock him out of consideration for the top five of the draft, but at least some scouts are betting he won’t last until the latter half of the first round. One predicted that, at worst, he won’t get far out of the top 10.
“At some point you have to judge what he’s like off the field,” the scout said. “I understand that he’s late to practices and late to class and that they had to have somebody on top of him. But that’s kind of on the university as well, allowing him to be like that. There are some things in his background that are questionable, but if you look around the NFL there’s a lot of questionable background kind of kids that play a long, long time.”
Lufkin, Texas. File/AP
About the wide receivers
Overall: A weak class in the top two or three rounds at receiver, but some good top-end talent at tight end.
Best prospect: Dez Bryant of Oklahoma State was a dominating receiver in college but comes with a "Buyer Beware" tag.
Packers outlook: Not a position of high priority in the draft, though they might be looking for a player to develop as eventual replacement for 35-year-old Donald Driver in the starting lineup.
Rising star: Jimmy Graham played basketball at Miami until trying football last year and could end up being an excellent tight end down the road.
Falling star: USC's Anthony McCoy has prototypical size and ability at tight end but also a diva temperament.
Sleeper: Joe Webb played quarterback at Alabama-Birmingham but is an exceptional athlete who could develop into a good receiver.
Wisconsin ties: Garrett Graham, TE, Wisconsin.
