[wvuauthor]

There was a good article in the PGH Post-Gazette yesterday about the NFL Combine. It is amazing to me that teams will pick guys based on the results of the combine. In my opinion, looking at film on a player and judging his football talent is more important than how fast he can run and how high he can jump.

That is not to say that knowing this information cannot help. But there have been some huge busts in the past thanks to the combine. Check below...

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06056/661134.stm

[Lefty Noob]

There is useful information that can come out of this.

For starters, if you're looking for speed at the WR position, you now know to go with Chad Jackson of Florida, who ran a 4.32 40 on Sunday. It was the fastest time of the combine.

Or if you're looking for a strong defensive lineman who can get a good push-off on an opposing blocker, you could consider snagging Mike Kudla of Ohio State at some point in the Draft. Kudla tied the all-time bench press record by doing 45 reps at 225 pounds.

No doubt both of these guys helped their stock over the weekend.

[BigBadBuc]

The combine is useful but I love how the Steelers draft. They look at productivity at the college level. Potential is sometimes never reached but productivity is a clear sign that a player is getting the job done, Larry Foote is a perfect example of that kind of a draft pick. There are guys faster and stronger than Larry but cannot match his production. He can get to the ball.

Productivity is all about desire.

BBB

[Lefty Noob]

No doubt about it, 3B. I remember this one year where there was all this hype over these two quarterbacks named Rivers and Manning. I remember shaking my head thinking, "Has anyone even seen that kid from Miami of Ohio play? Just watch -- I bet he'll wind up being a better NFL quarterback than either one of them."

Okay, enough patting myself on the back.

The point is that sometimes you just need to find the best football player, even if he isn't the fastest or the strongest or the smartest on paper. Pork Chop Womack and Dominic Raiola are two more great examples. If you watched these kids in college, you knew that both would be able to play on Sundays. Yet if I'm not mistaken, both would up being mid-round picks.

That said, wasn't one of the main reasons the Steelers took Polamalu because of his Wonderlic score?

[BigBadBuc]

Lefty,

Troy was productive and scored high on wonderlic. He is a gem.
The guys that I'm talking about are like the recently deceased Mike Webster. He was an 8th rounder I believe. I used to go to Steelers training camp every year and he would out run the youngsters in the long distance runs by twenty to thirty yards year in and year out. I would watch that with utter amazement because he looked like grandpa from the neck up but charles atlas from the neck down.

BBB

[anrobins]

You'd think that every team would draft this way. Somebody can pay me the money GMs make to evaluated talent. I'll watch college football for that kind of cash.

[Lefty Noob]

That's right, I forgot that Webster was such a late pick. One of the greatest centers of all time, and drafted so late... hard to fathom.

But then, I guess there have been many, many great late round steals over the years. Bart Starr was a 17th round pick. Mark Clayton was an 8th rounder. Shannon Sharpe was a 7th round selection. 6-time Pro Bowler Karl Mecklenburg was a 12th round pick. The list goes on and on.

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Yes well...Cowboy greats Cliff Harris and Drew Pearson were both undrafted free agents...much of the credit back then for their constant undrafted free agent finds went to Gil Brandt the director of player personnel...in my memory serves...

[wedge]

Originally Posted by Lefty Noob

That's right, I forgot that Webster was such a late pick. One of the greatest centers of all time, and drafted so late... hard to fathom.

But then, I guess there have been many, many great late round steals over the years. Bart Starr was a 17th round pick. Mark Clayton was an 8th rounder. Shannon Sharpe was a 7th round selection. 6-time Pro Bowler Karl Mecklenburg was a 12th round pick. The list goes on and on.

Actually Starr was a 15th round pick. Not that it matters, just saying.

A few other names:

Johnny Unitas 9th round

Dwight Clark 10th round

Richard Dent 8th round

Priest Holmes Undrafted

Rod Smith Undrafted

[Lefty Noob]

Well, the Packers seem to think that Starr was a 17th round pick, wedge.

Greatness wasn't necessarily expected when the Green Bay Packers drafted quarterback Bart Starr in the 17th round in 1956. But greatness is what the Packers got.

Standing 6-foot-1 and weighing 197 pounds, Starr wasn't a physically intimidating quarterback, and in the early part of his career he was hardly dominant. In his first five seasons, Starr's interceptions (41) were almost double his touchdowns (23).

Source: http://www.packers.com/team/players/starr_bart/

Anyway, on the topic of great undrafted free agents. How about Donnie Shell, who played 11 years and was a 5-time All Pro? Shell is the only strong safety in NFL history to post at least 50 career interceptions, and was named to the NFL's Silver Anniversary Super Bowl Team as well.

[wedge]

Oops. You are correct. It was the 15th and not the 17th. I apologize for my error.