NFL Combine Takeaways
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As the running backs and offensive linemen head to the weight bench for the final combine event today, it’s time to talk about what I learned from the NFL combine. People love to downplay the importance of the combine, and just call it the underwear olympics. However, there are drills, measurements, interviews, and more that can affect a player’s draft stock.
It’s important not to overreact completely to the combine but taking stuff that has been said or happened this week and combining it with film, usually gets you to a place where you know exactly what you have in a prospect.
The Bryce Young Narrative
Surprise, surprise, Bryce Young came in over 200-lbs. He weighed in at 204, and from what I have heard and read it wasn’t with a beer gut. There are a lot of people calling it fake weight and such, mainly because they’re mad he can put on the weight, but in the end, it doesn’t matter.
His height isn’t an issue at all. I don’t care that one anonymous scout from a team said that it scares him. That scout is probably getting fired. In the end, Young has played at this height the last several years, and behind a “NFL big” offensive line. He doesn’t have a heigh issue any more than Russell Wilson does.
Bryce Young Combine Height: 70.125”
Russell Wilson Combine Height: 70.63”
Both quarterbacks also weighed in at 204-lbs. Wilson and Young are a much better comp than the popular Kyler Murray one, in my opinion. Young is also a 100x better quarterback prospect than both of those players.
Young is an exceptional talent who has only missed one game in his two-year career as a starter. This idea that he’s made of glass or fragile is completely asinine. He was held out of one game as a precaution for a “little AC sprain” in his right shoulder.
He fell awkwardly to the ground while trying to throw. This isn’t an injury due to being little, we’ve seen thicc quarterbacks suffer the same problem. He has played this weight the portions of his football career that matter. Alabama, and more importantly Nick Saban, didn’t see an issue with his weight.
No one saw an issue with his weight last year when projecting him to go first overall in the draft. Now that we are in the offseason its suddenly a problem? Tired narrative. Yes, he will be an outlier, but his talent and the ability to avoid sacks should not be washed away just because he’s slim.
The 204-lbs is encouraging, because it shows he can add weight to his frame. How much more weight can he had? Probably not a lot, but it’s also about how much muscle can he add. The teams at the top are not scared of his weight.
People are overthinking Bryce Young. Simple as that. He’s an elite college quarterback. He can add weight, and a NFL training/nutritionist can keep him at a healthy weight, if the NFL team that drafts him needs him to stay at 204+.
No Change to my Top-3 QBs
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