The-Hogs.net - Washington Football Discussion, Redskins to Commanders Era

INDIANAPOLIS (Feb. 22, 2007) -- There were 90 players scheduled to report yesterday and all 90 came in. 21 of the 90 who came from the West Coast arrived a day early -- primarily to help them adjust to the time zone difference, but also to allow for any travel mishaps.

The first official function was the Welcome Dinner last night at 6 p.m. Jeff Foster, president of NFL Combine Inc., Eddie White of Reebok, Steve Alic of the NFL, Dean Kleinschmidt (medical director of this extravaganza) and Vin Marino (NFL management counsel) were all there. The theme of the evening was the importance of the players getting the job done. This is a job opportunity ... a job interview for the players, and the dinner stressed that. Later that evening, 45 players, including Levi Brown of Penn St. and Joe Thomas of Wisconsin, were among the people that visited the Reebok hospitality room. The good thing about the Reebok event is that the players are relaxed and you can talk to them on-on-one. An interesting tidbit: Mammoth Joe Thomas had a skinny younger brother who goes to school at Osh Kosh.

Today rise-and-shine was at 6 a.m. (for drug testing), breakfast was at 7, and the players headed over to the RCA Dome at 7:30. At that point, the first three groups sectioned off to go take their physicals.

Here are some of the superlatives from that group:

Tackles

Tallest: Chase Johnson, Wyoming, 6-foot-8 4/8
Heaviest: Stephon Heyer, Maryland, 334 pounds
Longest arms: Stephon Heyer, Maryland, 36 3/8 inches
Biggest hands: Stephon Heyer, Maryland, 10 3/4 inches

Guards

Tallest: Ma Sun, Oregon, 6-foot-5 1/8
Heaviest: Stephen Berg, Arizona State, 330 pounds
Longest arms: Arron Sears, Tennessee, 34 1/2 inches
Biggest hands: Justin Blaylock, Texas, 10 1/2 inches; Allen Barbre, Missouri Southern State, 10 1/2 inches

Centers

Tallest: Mark Fenton, Colorado, 6-foot-4 2/8
Heaviest: Dustin Fry, Clemson, 314 pounds
Longest arms: Drew Mormino, Central Michigan, 33 5/8 inches
Biggest hands: Scott Stephenson, Iowa State, 10 1/4 inches; Leroy Harris, North Carolina State, 10 1/4 inches.

Quarterbacks

Tallest: Josh Swogger, Montana, 6-foot-4 4/8
Shortest: John Stocco, Wisconsin, 6-foot-1 5/8
Heaviest: Josh Swogger, Montana, 237 pounds
Lightest: John Stocco, Wisconsin, 207 pounds

Tight ends

Tallest: Joe Newton, Oregon State, 6-foot-7 1/8; Matt Spaeth, Minnesota, 6-foot-7 1/8
Shortest: Daniel Coats, BYU, 6-foot-2 5/8
Heaviest: Scott Chandler, Iowa, 270 pounds; Matt Spaeth, Minnesota, 270 pounds
Lightest: Jonny Harline, BYU, 248 pounds

Running backs

Tallest: Dante Rosario, Oregon, 6-foot-3 2/8
Shortest: Gijon Robinson, Missouri Western State, 6-foot-0 6/8
Heaviest: Gijon Robinson, Missouri Western State, 255 pounds
Lightest: Dante Rosario, Oregon, 244 pounds

Everything revolves around the Medical Desk. We hear all about the players, we hear about coaches and so forth, but no one talks about the people in charge of keeping things running. Here are some of the folks who really make this thing go: Chad Murray, Dan Mosley, Kevin Domboski, Hunter Smith, Crystal Weir, John Darmelio, Chad Snyder and Dean Kleinschmidt.

One of the new additions to the Combine this year is the sheer amount of signage. Everything you could possibly want to find is marked down. Still, whoever made the signs this year happened to misspell psychological.

I talked to agent Drew Rosenhaus last night at the players' hotel. All of the players he represents will work out this week. That includes players like Lawrence Timmons from Florida State and Drew Stanton from Michigan State.

Ryan Tollner called me last night to let me know that quarterback Trent Edwards is going to work out here and do everything but the jumps. He had hurt his leg, so he's going to do his jumps at the Stanford Pro Day. Edwards has the chance to the surprise player of this draft. He played for Stanford, a team that had little success last year, so he's under the radar. He'll be compared to Jay Cutler, who never played for a winning team in college, though he probably won't go as high as Cutler did.

INDIANAPOLIS (Feb. 23, 2007) -- There were 101 players scheduled to come in, and 100 made it. Bret Smith, a wide receiver from Tennessee, was the only player not to show.

Last night, the only difference for the welcoming dinner for the players was the presence of Charley Casserly, who came in to speak to the group. He does a fantastic job of explaining what players need to know and need to do. He let the players know, for example, that no agent can get them drafted higher and how much they can help themselves by working out at the Combine, where there are so many more decision-makers than there are at the individual workouts.

Gene Upshaw and Roger Goodell last night met with 12 players from around the league, such as Bengals wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith, to talk about player conduct. There are 1,800 players in this league, and probably 1,750 never have any problems. It's the other 50 guys that make the other players, the ones with charities and great track records of public service, look bad.

There were over 100 players at the Reebok room last night. Quarterbacks Drew Stanton, Brady Quinn and JaMarcus Russell, running backs Marshawn Lynch and Adrian Peterson, and Buckeyes Troy Smith and Ted Gin were among the attendees. It is probably the most popular place to be, because the players can go up there, relax, have some snacks and share football stories. Some players, like Levi Brown, even made a return trip from the previous night.

There is a record media attendance for this event. 385 people picked up credentials so far -- that's more than last year's 350 with still two days to go. Just about every new coach (Cam Cameron, Wade Phillips, etc.) has visited the press area to visit with the media ... which of course the media loves.

In the NFL media room, we've had over 50 players here to be interviewed, including Troy Smith, JaMarcus Russell, Robert Meachem and Levi Brown. The media presence just keeps getting bigger and bigger. This has developed into a carnival-type event.

Here are some of the superlatives from today's groups:

Quarterbacks

Tallest: Jordan Palmer, UTEP, 6-foot-5 5/8
Shortest: Reggie Ball, Georgia Tech 5-foot-10 5/8
Heaviest: JaMarcus Russell, LSU, 265 pounds
Lightest: James Pinkney, East Carolina, 208 pounds

Running backs

Tallest: Cory Anderson, Tennessee, 6-foot-2¼
Shortest: Garrett Wolfe, Northern Illinois, 5-foot-7½
Heaviest: Leron McClain, Alabama, 256 pounds
Lightest: Garrett Wolfe, Northern Illinois, 186 pounds

Wide receivers

Tallest: Matt Trannon, Michigan State, 6-foot-6
Shortest: Syndric Steptoe, Arizona, 5-foot-8 5/8
Heaviest: Calvin Johnson, Georgia Tech, 239 pounds
Lightest: Yamon Figurs, Kansas State, 174 pounds

The special teams players worked out today, and here are some of the more important notes to keep in mind going forward.

Nick Leason of Virginia Tech was the best long snapper of the bunch.

Danny Sepulveda of Baylor was the best punter, averaging 44.58 on eight kicks. Reed Johnson, former director of player personnel for both the Broncos and the Falcons, said Sepuldeda did something he had never seen in 35 years. Sepuldeda holds the ball on the pop and can kick that way, which allows him to kick it end over end (like on field goals). He does this on directional kicks and on the pooch kicks designed to be downed inside the 20. For regular kicks, he'll boot it normally, but this quirk allows him to get good backspin on the ball when needed.

Later, Sepulveda he learned the technique from Darren Bennett, a former Australian Rules football player who became a Pro Bowl punter with the Chargers. (Bennett was named to the NFL's all-decade team for the 1990s even though he didn't enter the NFL until 1995.)

Adam Podlesh of Maryland was the second-best punter in workouts.

The best field goal kicker was Nick Folk of Arizona. He converted on 13 of 16 field goals. Justin Medlock of UCLA and Nathan Crosby of Colorado were the next best.

Historically, kickers do not kick well in the Dome. So bad performances here will not necessarily bury anybody's chances. Interestingly, the only kicker who was drafted last year was Stephen Gostkowski (Patriots -- Memphis), and he wasn't even invited to the Combine.

Texas Tech guard Manuel Ramirez bench-pressed 225 pounds 40 times. Texas guard Justin Blalock had 40 lifts.

INDIANAPOLIS (Feb. 24, 2007) -- On Friday, 86 players were scheduled to report, and all 86 reported. Tennessee's Bret Smith, who had missed his flight the previous day, arrived a day late. At the welcome dinner last night, it was Bill Polian's turn to address the players from a G.M.'s perspective.

Today, the first group of players, which were defensive linemen and linebackers, went to get measured and weighed. While they were going through the medical process, the Dash for Cash started at roughly 9 a.m. (The Dash for Cash is what you might call the 40-yard dash.)

The offensive line ran first. From Group 1, you had three deepsnappers, and Rick Leeson was the only longsnapper who didn't run (by his own choice). In fact, Leeson was the only player who chose not to run (others bowed out because of injury). Everyone else who could run, did run, which is remarkable.

12 of 16 linemen ran. One did not run because of the flu, two because of injury and one pulled a calf on starting. Allan Barbre from Missouri Southern had the best time, at under 4.9.

There were 35 runners in Group 2, and everybody ran that could. Four were excused because of injury. The fastest time in this group was by Joe Thomas of Wisconsin who also ran under a 4.9.

One interesting note that people may not know about is that the league assigns rows for the different teams for timing purposes. For instance, Buffalo is in Row 1, Green Bay is in Row 12 and Cleveland is in Row 32. They determine the row by drawing names out of a hat -- which prevents any jockeying for seats.

16 of the 17 tight ends ran today. Probably for the first time I can remember, one player chose to run, but will not do any position drills or the three-cone: Clark Harris of Rutgers

Matt Spaeth of Minnesota had a shoulder operation and was just cleared to work out the other day, so he didn't run.

Greg Olsen of Miami (Fla.) ran the fastest time at under a 4.6 (4.51). Michael Allen of Whitworth is drawing interest after running a 4.73 -- which is a great time for a man so big

One of the things that will happen tomorrow -- for the first time ever -- media members will be allowed to watch the quarterbacks throw. They'll be sitting in the press boxes to watch, so they shouldn't be a distraction. Brady Quinn and Troy Smith are not expected to throw, and there is some question as to whether JaMarcus Russell will throw or not.

Here are some of the superlatives from today's groups:

Linebackers

Tallest: Dallas Sartz, USC, 6-foot-4 7/8
Shortest: Sam Olajubutu, Arkansas, 5-foot-8 6/8
Heaviest: Stewart Bradley, Nebraska, 254 pounds
Lightest: Chad Nkang, Elon, 220 pounds

Defensive ends

Tallest: Jarvis Moss, Florida, 6-foot-6 4/8
Shortest: Justin Hickman, UCLA, 6-foot-1 3/8
Heaviest: Adam Carriker, Nebraska, 296 pounds
Lightest: Victor Degrate, Oklahoma St., 249 pounds; Jacob Ford, Central Arkansas, 249 pounds

Defensive tackles

Tallest: Alan Branch, Michigan, 6-foot-5 6/8
Shortest: Keith Jackson, Arkansas, 6-foot 2/8
Heaviest: Quintin Echols, Kansas State, 328 pounds
Lightest: Claude McBride, Tennessee, 277 pounds