Broncos looking for diamonds in the rough at the scouting combine

The NFL Scouting Combine begins this week. The drills are fun to watch, and the interviews at the combine can tell you a lot about a prospect. It’s an important time of year on the NFL calendar, as teams are planning to build their team through the draft.

I like it when the combine gets here. That means pro days are around the corner, and it symbolizes that we are fully in draft season.

I also like contemplating life and sports when driving around with the top down on my old Jeep TJ! The following is a result of those trips during the week.

Buckle up, let’s take a ride through my thoughts.

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Medical Checks Priority No. 1

I’m a fan of the combine, but there are players and agents who may not be thrilled about this part of the process. Players must train for this event, and there is a chance of an injury while going through drills. Agents know the perception of how you do at the combine could change the draft stock of their players. These two factors have some in the pre-draft process to consider the combine somewhat outdated.

I must confess, the drills don’t mean much. The players always have their pro days to redeem themselves if their numbers don’t match what people are expecting heading into the combine. The 40-yard dash doesn’t mean much in football evaluation, but a slow 40 time can cause a player to fall in the draft. On the other hand, a blazing 40 time (see WR John Ross) can catapult you much higher than some expected entering this week. The best reason for the combine is the reason it began in the first place; medical checks.

NFL teams get their hands on prospects this week – literally – to run them through a barrage of medical tests. Players must show they’ve healed from recent surgeries, and there are some teams that will go back to gradeschool injuries (broken leg from a bicycle accident, etc) to be as thorough as possible.

Tennessee QB Hendon Hooker has a big week in front of him. He’s recovering from a torn ACL he suffered in November 2022. Before the injury, Hooker was considered a first-round pick who could go in the top-10 of the draft. Now, Hooker needs a good medical check in order to make his way into the second round. If his knee checks out, many teams will be interested in him early in the second round. Hooker may not be able to play or participate in practice until the middle of his rookie season, but when healthy he’s got the tools of a franchise quarterback.

I know he's older and doesn't have much draft buzz but Hendon Hooker reminds me of Sam Bradford coming out of college. He's calm, decisive and accurate.

— Daniel Jeremiah (@MoveTheSticks) February 17, 2023

Hooker could end up as the best quarterback in this draft class if he can get healthy, stay healthy, and play up to his potential in the pros. If he slides in the draft, we could assume that medical checks brought up red flags for teams. If Hooker is picked in the late first or early second round, then his medicals were received positively.

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Remember the Name

Everyone out there wants to know who my Tariq Woolen in the 2023 NFL Draft is. Last year, I was standing on the table for the Broncos to take the UTSA cornerback. His measurables were incredible (6-foot-4, 4.2 40-yard dash), and Woolen was quite impressive at the Senior Bowl practices in January of 2022. I wanted Broncos general manager George Paton to take Woolen when he was available on Day 3 of the 2022 NFL Draft, and instead he selected S Delarrin Turner-Yell the pick right before the Seattle Seahawks selected Woolen. Turner-Yell barely played for the Broncos as a rookie, while Woolen led the league in interceptions and was a Pro Bowl player as a rookie fifth-round pick.

Whoops.

Paton doesn’t need to make another mistake like that. So, to start this draft season I began looking for tall corners who can run. One of my favorites to emerge was Julius Brents from Kansas State. If you’ve kept up with my pre-draft work at Denver Sports, then you know I wrote about Brents as a player to watch before the Senior Bowl, and he was my no.1 standout player on the first day of Senior Bowl practices.

Those performances during the week of practice for the Senior Bowl captured the attention of everyone in the league. Brents is a name to remember, but now he’s already on the radar for a lot of teams. Is there a possibility he could fall to the third round? Sure, anything is possible but if Paton wants him then he’ll likely have to move up from the back-to-back picks (68,69) early in Round 3. Most I talk to in the scouting community see Brents as a top-75 pick, so there’s a chance he could be there in the early third round. Something working in the Broncos favor if they want to draft him; this is an incredibly deep cornerback class. The depth and talent of this class could push Brents back into the range where the Broncos are first ready to pick.

NFL scouts tell us few guys boosted their draft stock more at @seniorbowl than K-State CB Julius Brents. 6030v w/ record-setting 82 7/8 wing. DB teach tape stuff here. Textbook tight-man focus.

Rarely see 1-on-1 rep where QB doesn’t even throw it. 👀 #TheDraftStartsInMOBILE™️ pic.twitter.com/DvZMizYPCF

— Jim Nagy (@JimNagy_SB) February 17, 2023

Brents is not as fast as Woolen. However, with a good 40-yard dash at the combine he could see his draft stock rise. Right now, scouts see Brents as a 4.6 guy, so pretty much anything faster than that and they’ll be happy. If Brents can check in around the 4.4 range, then his draft stock could really be on the rise.

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Ahead of His Time

I’ve always been a fan of Marshall Faulk. I remember him at San Diego State University, with some guy named Sean Payton as his running backs coach, and Faulk was a phenom in the WAC. In his first season working under Payton (1992), Faulk ended No. 2 in the Heisman Trophy voting to Miami Hurricanes QB Gino Torretta. At the time, sophomore players did not win that award and Faulk should have been the first to do that because he was clearly better than the Hurricanes quarterback.

I was elated when Faulk came into the league as the No. 2 overall pick in the 1994 NFL Draft. This was when I first had a VCR (remember those things), and I still have the tapes recorded of the Sportscenter the day he declared to go pro. Faulk was a superstar with the Indianapolis Colts, but his career really took off when he was traded to the St. Louis Rams. As the centerpiece of the “Greatest Show on Turf” we saw Faulk flourish as a runner and receiver out of the backfield for that team. In his first year with the Rams (1999) Faulk became only the second player in NFL history to become part of the “1,000-1,000” club. He joined former San Francisco 49ers RB Roger Craig as the only running backs to have over 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards in a single season (Christian McCaffrey became the third RB to do that in 2019). It’s one of the most exclusive records in NFL history, and the Rams won the Super Bowl with Faulk tearing up defenses on the ground and through the air.

I’ve often thought that Faulk was ahead of his time. In his first eight pro seasons, Faulk eclipsed 1,000 yards rushing in seven of those years. Even though he wasn’t a big back, Faulk handled a large workload. However, Faulk showed what a skilled route runner could do from the running back position. Had he played wide receiver exclusively, I think Faulk could have been a perennial Pro Bowl player. That’s how good of a receiver he was. It wasn’t just his hands; it was the way he got open and what he did after the catch that made him such a threat.

I can't even imagine how great Faulk would have been in today's NFL. https://t.co/Ut2QJnm2YW

— Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) February 26, 2023

Faulk is one of those timeless players. He was ahead of his time when he was in the league, but his game would fit right in today. Teams are looking high and low for running backs who don’t have to come off the field. Even in today’s pass-happy league, very few backs are like Faulk.

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Sneakerheads Rejoice!

There is no doubt that I’m a sneakerhead. I’m not sure when the bug hit me, but I imagine it had something to do with me growing up poor. While everyone on my team wore Air Jordans, I had a hand-me-down pair of Converse (that looked like red clown shoes) from my cousin. I’ve always wanted a pair of Jordans, and when I bought my first pair in the mid-90s I was hooked. However, I was broke too so my closet didn’t have too many sneakers collecting dust.

Even though I’m a Jordan guy, I do like other basketball shoes from that time. I had a couple of pairs of Converse shoes that Larry Johnson wore. I’m a big fan of UNLV Runnin Rebels from the early 90s that won the National Championship (in Denver) with Johnson leading the way. Anything Johnson did in the NBA, I was right there as a fan.

The 90s had some outrageous shoes as well. I liked the “Air Darwin” shoes that Dennis Rodman wore. I still have a pair of these today, and I consider them a great shoe to actually play basketball in. My Jordan collection is for fashion, but there are a few sneakers I will break a sweat in – those Darwins are one pair. I also loved the psychedelic look of Shaq’s shoes and Shawn Kemp’s shoes from Reebok. I’m not a Reebok fan, and have only owned one pair in my entire life (Allen Iverson Question I), but I did admire the wild look from afar. Also, the Converse “Destroyers” that Johnson wore had the same wild 90s look that Shaq and Kemp were wearing at the time.

As a sneakerhead (only Jordans) I liked both Shaq and Kemp shoes back in the day. #sneakerhead pic.twitter.com/GXoWcCgEwQ

— Cecil Lammey (@CecilLammey) February 25, 2023

What are some of your favorite sneakers, both past and present? Hit me up on social networking and let me know!

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