Monday, February 25, 2008

Stock watch

I watched a lot of the combine (all raw numbers available here) this weekend, just about all of it, and two guys stood out as having dramatically improved their draft stock. Rutgers OL Jeremy Zuttah ran a sub five second forty and 35 reps at 225, and Purdue TE Dustin Keller ran a 4.53 forty with a 38" vertical. Both emerged as likely first day picks. The biggest loser is probably Mario Manningham, who measured under 6' and ran a 4.59.

Darren McFadden and Joe Flacco also had strong combines, but they could only improve their stock so much. The guy who looks like this year's Warren Sapp/Randy Moss is LSU DT Glenn Dorsey. The consensus top seven is Dorsey, Sedrick Ellis, Vernon Gholston, Chris Long, Jake Long, Darren McFadden, and Matt Ryan. Every one of those guys had big weekends but Dorsey, who has to deal with questions about a broken leg from a year and a half ago.

If Dorsey gets past the Raiders at five, he could easily slide to nine. The Jets and Patriots have the next two picks, but run a 3-4, in which Dorsey wouldn't be an ideal fit. The Ravens have a history of taking the best player available, but defensive tackle is the strongest position on the team. There's no way he gets past the Bengals at nine. He was clearly the best player on the best team last year, and reportedly a high character guy as well.

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