DB Times

[Alo]

Earl Thomas runs an unofficial 4.44 the second time around.

[Dan in Florida]

Originally Posted by Alo

Earl Thomas runs an unofficial 4.44 the second time around.

Did I hear that Mayock has Earl Thomas as his TOP RATED SAFETY?

[heckofajobbrownie]

Stunned by Chad Jones's day. Not as fast in the 40 as I thought he'd be, but the real stunner is 9 bench reps of 225 lbs. That's his body weight. He can only lift his body weight 9 times?

I haven't lifted in months and I'm quite sure I can lift my body weight more than nine times.

Lack of preparation indeed. Which is odd because everyone talks about what a smart kid he is.

[heckofajobbrownie]

Thought I'd share an email. Someone in Indy (who you all know of) says they expected Haden's 40 time to be in the low 4.4s after watching his tape. Said his slow 40s are a "huge red flag" because the 40 means more to corners than any other position. He thinks this may cause him to drop out of the top ten.

[Alo]

I'm sure Haden regrets opting to train with his father instead of going to one of the more established pre-Combine training facilities. It damaged his draft stock and is the worst kind of publicity for his dad's business: if you go there, you lose millions...

[Solon16]

Mays time is Bunk...no way 4.24 he was 2 feet behind spiller when video was overlaid.

[heckofajobbrownie]

In the end, I don't think it'll mess with Haden's stock too much. He'll run better at his pro day and everyone will still have him as the top corner. He's still a possibility at #7.

[YtownBacker]

What needs to be remembered is that you are talking straight line speed vs game speed, speed in pads. Also, Lombardi said watching film of Haden he never saw anybody run away form him. He has good feet, loose hips and can play football.

If the only thing wanted is speed then jump on Mays. But, he isn't the football player that Berry or Thomas are.

IMO, Haden runs in the 4.4's on his pro day and all is forgotten. But, Berry is still the best catch of the DBs at this point and Thomas could work his way into the top 10. Haden is still the #1 corner and teams are looking for lock down corners more then ever before.

[Enigmatic Evil]

Well one thing that's always emphasized is that the pro game is so much faster than the college game. The NFL has world class athletes. It's one thing to be able to keep up with College wide outs with varying degrees of speed and skill and another to keep track of NFL Wide outs where typically you're dealing with not just the best athletes but the best receivers in the world.

I'm not trying to depreciate Haden's value here because the video I've seen of him he's looked really good. He's driven to succeed and work hard to be better, so I don't think the combine will do much to hinder that. If he drops out of the top ten he could make a team very happy with his acquisition.

[Alo]

Originally Posted by Dan in Florida

Did I hear that Mayock has Earl Thomas as his TOP RATED SAFETY?

Yep. Mayock said that based off of play in '09, when - admittedly - Earl Thomas was more of an impact player.

However, you have to take into account two things:

1. Berry had to play in the box a lot in '09, which limited his playmaking opportunities. As a run support safety, Berry did an okay but not great job; if you put Earl Thomas in the same role, he'd get killed.

2. As Berry said at the Combine, his pick total went down in '09 because teams avoided throwing to his side of field. After he picked off twelve passes in his first two years in Knoxville, teams learned not to test him.

So while Thomas had the better year, I think Berry's a better prospect.

[Alo]

Originally Posted by YtownBacker

What needs to be remembered is that you are talking straight line speed vs game speed, speed in pads. Also, Lombardi said watching film of Haden he never saw anybody run away form him. He has good feet, loose hips and can play football.

I watched a majority of Florida's '09 games, and I didn't see anyone run away from Haden either.

The worst things I saw were some minor issues covering shifty slot guys and trouble early in the game against Arkansas WR Greg Childs (6'3", 217 lbs.). But he didn't get burned at all, despite facing some very talented wideouts.

[mz.]

Originally Posted by YtownBacker

IMO, Haden runs in the 4.4's on his pro day and all is forgotten. But, Berry is still the best catch of the DBs at this point and Thomas could work his way into the top 10. Haden is still the #1 corner and teams are looking for lock down corners more then ever before.

AMEN, brother.

Can we all just read this a few times and BREATHE.

Haden's tape is phenomenal, from ALL sources I've read. Can we realize that a 40 time does not a football player make?