cowboyjoe
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 28,435
- Reaction score
- 757
Rams might still have interest in Alexander
Agent for former Tiger standout says he’s cleared medically for workouts.
BY JIM THOMAS St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Friday, July 23, 2010
http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2010/jul/23/rams-might-still-have-interest-in-alexander/
Advertisement
Former Missouri wide receiver Danario Alexander still could be on the Rams’ radar. Alexander’s agent, Jeff Nalley, said Alexander was cleared medically Monday to work out for NFL teams after surgery on his left knee in February.
Alexander
If that is the case, General Manager Billy Devaney says the team probably will bring Alexander to St. Louis for a visit and a physical. The Rams have yet to see the medical reports.
Nalley said in an e-mail that he was working on setting up a workout day for NFL teams in the near future — a belated “pro day” he called it. Alexander posted via Twitter on Tuesday night that the workout would be this upcoming Wednesday. Alexander also tweeted that he ran a 4.41 in the 40-yard dash Tuesday in Houston.
Devaney said that he isn’t really interested in the pro day.
“We know he can run. We know he can catch,” Devaney said.
In that sense, Alexander’s game film proves it. Last season, he caught 113 passes for 1,781 yards with 14 touchdowns for the Tigers. He finished second in the nation in receptions per game (8.69) and led the nation in reception yards per game (137).
For the Rams, it’s the medical reports that matter.
“We need to get the medical reports,” Devaney said. “If he’s cleared physically, we’ll probably bring him in for a visit and a physical.”
After fighting his way through three left-knee surgeries at Missouri, Alexander seemed to have his injury problems behind him with his breakout 2009 season. Alexander isn’t sure how it happened, but he re-injured the left knee in late January during a Senior Bowl practice in Mobile, Ala.
“I think I went up for a ball and came down wrong,” Alexander said at the NFL scouting combine, just a couple of weeks after the surgery.
Doctors determined that he had a small cartilage defect in his left knee, an injury unrelated to the ligament damage that led to the earlier surgeries. Examinations by multiple doctors showed that the ligaments were stable.
But the cartilage surgery meant that Alexander couldn’t work out at the combine or take part in any pre-draft pro days. Once projected as an early- to mid-round selection, Alexander went undrafted. He has not worked out for pro scouts since that Senior Bowl practice.
But he may work out again soon.
If healthy, Alexander has the size and playmaking ability to potentially help the Rams’ wide-receiver corps. At 6-foot-4½ and 221 pounds, he posted a vertical leap of 43 inches and reached 11 feet 1 inch in the broad jump during pre-Senior Bowl training. Those are rare numbers for an NFL draft prospect at any position.
And if Alexander truly is running in the 4.4- to 4.5-second range in the 40, that’s plenty fast for someone his size even if, as some critics suggest, Alexander is somewhat slow to accelerate.
Among the Rams’ top seven wide receivers entering training camp, only Laurent Robinson at 6-2 is taller than 6-feet-1. In fact, three of the seven (Donnie Avery, Danny Amendola, and Mardy Gilyard) are shorter than 6 feet. And none of the seven — a group that includes Keenan Burton, Brandon Gibson and Brooks Foster — has a listed playing weight of more than 210 pounds.
In theory then, a player with Alexander’s size would complement the group. But if the Rams come away from their medical fact-finding with serious concerns about Alexander’s knee, they probably will shy away from signing him, even though his addition would bring a public-relations boost to the Rams because he was a popular player at Missouri.
Agent for former Tiger standout says he’s cleared medically for workouts.
BY JIM THOMAS St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Friday, July 23, 2010
http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2010/jul/23/rams-might-still-have-interest-in-alexander/
Advertisement
Former Missouri wide receiver Danario Alexander still could be on the Rams’ radar. Alexander’s agent, Jeff Nalley, said Alexander was cleared medically Monday to work out for NFL teams after surgery on his left knee in February.
Alexander
If that is the case, General Manager Billy Devaney says the team probably will bring Alexander to St. Louis for a visit and a physical. The Rams have yet to see the medical reports.
Nalley said in an e-mail that he was working on setting up a workout day for NFL teams in the near future — a belated “pro day” he called it. Alexander posted via Twitter on Tuesday night that the workout would be this upcoming Wednesday. Alexander also tweeted that he ran a 4.41 in the 40-yard dash Tuesday in Houston.
Devaney said that he isn’t really interested in the pro day.
“We know he can run. We know he can catch,” Devaney said.
In that sense, Alexander’s game film proves it. Last season, he caught 113 passes for 1,781 yards with 14 touchdowns for the Tigers. He finished second in the nation in receptions per game (8.69) and led the nation in reception yards per game (137).
For the Rams, it’s the medical reports that matter.
“We need to get the medical reports,” Devaney said. “If he’s cleared physically, we’ll probably bring him in for a visit and a physical.”
After fighting his way through three left-knee surgeries at Missouri, Alexander seemed to have his injury problems behind him with his breakout 2009 season. Alexander isn’t sure how it happened, but he re-injured the left knee in late January during a Senior Bowl practice in Mobile, Ala.
“I think I went up for a ball and came down wrong,” Alexander said at the NFL scouting combine, just a couple of weeks after the surgery.
Doctors determined that he had a small cartilage defect in his left knee, an injury unrelated to the ligament damage that led to the earlier surgeries. Examinations by multiple doctors showed that the ligaments were stable.
But the cartilage surgery meant that Alexander couldn’t work out at the combine or take part in any pre-draft pro days. Once projected as an early- to mid-round selection, Alexander went undrafted. He has not worked out for pro scouts since that Senior Bowl practice.
But he may work out again soon.
If healthy, Alexander has the size and playmaking ability to potentially help the Rams’ wide-receiver corps. At 6-foot-4½ and 221 pounds, he posted a vertical leap of 43 inches and reached 11 feet 1 inch in the broad jump during pre-Senior Bowl training. Those are rare numbers for an NFL draft prospect at any position.
And if Alexander truly is running in the 4.4- to 4.5-second range in the 40, that’s plenty fast for someone his size even if, as some critics suggest, Alexander is somewhat slow to accelerate.
Among the Rams’ top seven wide receivers entering training camp, only Laurent Robinson at 6-2 is taller than 6-feet-1. In fact, three of the seven (Donnie Avery, Danny Amendola, and Mardy Gilyard) are shorter than 6 feet. And none of the seven — a group that includes Keenan Burton, Brandon Gibson and Brooks Foster — has a listed playing weight of more than 210 pounds.
In theory then, a player with Alexander’s size would complement the group. But if the Rams come away from their medical fact-finding with serious concerns about Alexander’s knee, they probably will shy away from signing him, even though his addition would bring a public-relations boost to the Rams because he was a popular player at Missouri.
c:
