NFL Combine Day 2 News

NFL Combine Day 2 News

Day 2 of the NFL Scouting Combine is officially in the books and it saw the quarterbacks, wide receivers and tight ends go through measurements while the offensive line and running backs did the bench press and more coaches and General Managers met with the media. Want to know the big news from the day with our twist on it? Then our NFL Combine Day 2 News is for you!

NFL Combine Day 2 News and Notes

Murray’s Measurements

This had to be one of the most anticipated weigh ins in years and it’s hard to say it wasn’t best case scenario for Murray. With reports he was 5’9 or smaller and playing at 175lbs coming in over 5’10 and 206lbs is a win in the Murray camp. I mean if he was 5’9 4/8 instead of 5’10 1/8 would it make that much of a difference with his play on the field? Likely not, but when it comes to seeing that 5’10 number it looks better. Weight was another important number where 207 is good, but you have to assume that he won’t be playing at that weight come the start of the season. Lost in all of the height and weight is Murray’s hand size. There was some concern that he would have small hands, instead his 9 1/2″ hands is above the threshold number and bigger than some of the taller quarterbacks in the draft. Now Murray is still a small quarterback, but if you were concerned about his size, then this helps the cause.

Kyler Murray Won’t Throw

Kyler Murray’s measurable were not the only news for the much talked about quarterback as word came out that he wasn’t going to throw at the Combine and now it comes out that he won’t be doing any timed or on the field drills. This is a bit of a bummer as I would love to see how he ran at 207lbs, but we’ll have to to wait till his Pro Day. Does this really matter in the long run? No, but selfishly I wanted to see it. Sure some will point out that he didn’t want to participate in timing drills at 207 because his numbers are down. And they are not wrong. But to others all Murray needed to do was show up and get measured and he was fine. After several years of top prospects showing out in all the drills we got a bit spoiled. Before that we saw stuff like this happen all the time. A bummer, but what do we expect.

Raiders sticking with Derek Carr?

One of the big stories this offseason is whether the Raiders would be moving on from Derek Carr as they continue to rebuild this team. Having three first round picks they could have easily traded Carr and possibly acquired a fourth. However in his media session John Gruden was very up front with the notion that he wants to keep Derek Carr. Now does this mean that it is a guarantee that they won’t draft a quarterback early? No. Could Gruden be lying? Yes. But the statement is a lot stronger than the one we got yesterday from the Cardinals that Josh Rosen is their quarterback, for now. At this point I won’t be mocking a quarterback to the Raiders in round one until further news comes out.

Drew Lock Small Hands

Drew Lock having small hands wasn’t that big of news because his hands also measured in at 9″ at the Senior Bowl a month ago. While some laugh that people like me and (maybe) you are concerned about hand size, it does have value. For a quarterback you have to grip the ball and having bigger hands makes it so you can do better in adverse weather situations or be able to spin it better. But that being said, there are other quarterbacks that have 9″ ish hands and have still done well. Jared Goff has 9″ hands while Patrick Mahomes had 9 1/4. It’s not the end of the world for Lock, but it will cause some teams to go back and watch Lock more to see if it affected him.

Hollywood is Light

While most of use were watching out for Kyler Murray’s weigh in, his teammate has also made noise by weighing in at only 166lbs. While that is tiny, did we really expect Brown to come in close to 200lbs? I mean he looks small on tape and wins with his explosive speed and quickness. But before we crush him for being too small, let’s remember that Desean Jackson measured in at 5’9 3/4″ 169lbs at his combine. It’s safe to say that Jackson has gone on to have a good NFL career where he weight was never going to hurt him from making plays down the field. Let’s just move on from this.

DK Metcalf Not as Big as Thought

With the picture that made it’s rounds on the Internet of Metcalf all yoked up, it looked like we could see him weigh close to 240lbs, instead his 228lbs was a lot closer to the 225lbs that we all thought he was at Ole Miss. There was some general concern that he has bulked up too much and that could affect his upper body stiffness reacting to the ball in the air. We’ll get a chance to see him on the field where I’ll be looking to see him go in and out of breaks which we didn’t get to see him do while at Ole Miss. Another note is that Metcalf has long arms and wingspan. On tape it looked like he hand longer arms and this should help him going up to high point the ball or even extend to make some tough catches.

How about this Catching Radius

Just after DK Metcalf set the record for wingspan for a receiver, Hakeem Butler went out and broke it. This isn’t a surprise if you have watched any Iowa State games this year as Butler looks incredibly long and has an insane catching radius. At 6’5 with over 35″ arms it is nearly impossible to over throw Butler but he has shown the ability to adjust low or to the side to make tough catches. Having almost 11″ hands doesn’t hurt either. That being said, Butler has struggled with drops throughout his career at Iowa State letting some routine catches fall to the ground. Getting that cleaned up and showing some agility is what we will turn our attention to when he takes the field on Saturday. If he shows that he can do more than just run go routes then he could find himself going in the first round.

Small hands for Isabella

While we just saw a couple of physical freaks in Metcalf and Butler it wasn’t as good for Andy Isabella who is known for his explosive speed. While Isabella is fast, when you watch him on tape you notice that he tends to trap the ball far too often. At the Senior Bowl his hands were measured at 8 1/2″ and they were even smaller today. While speed always tends to help, small hands for a smaller receiver is not a good sign for his draft stock and could see guys like Mecole Harmon and Terry McLaurin go ahead of him.

Hunter Renfrow Has Tiny Hands

If we thought that Andy Isabella 8 3/8″ hands were small, then Renfrow’s 7 7/8″ hands are tiny. Not that I was expecting Renforw to have 10″ hands or anything, but to have smaller than 8″ hands is shocking. From watching him on tape it never looked that his hand size was an issue, and maybe it’s not. But that will scare some teams. Renfrow has always made plays and shredded Minkah Fitzpatrick a couple years ago in the National Title Game, so there was some talk he could be taken early day three. But after this, would it really shock you if he fell till the 6th or 7th round?

Jonah Williams Shining

The highest ranked offensive lineman on our boards in Alabama left tackle Jonah Williams. Despite his strong play at left tackle there was talk of was talk of him moving inside due to his perceived shorter arms. Well yesterday he measured in at 33 5/8″ which meets the threshold and then today in the bench press he puts up 26* reps showing off some good functional strength. With the on field drills coming tomorrow Williams continues to check off all the boxes and is still on track to being one of the first lineman off the board.

Potential Trade

While Dee Ford has gotten most of the attention of Chiefs fans, it’s Justin Houston that is being mentioned in a trade. Detroit has been one team mentioned and that could be a possibility as they need to add edge help with Ezekiel Ansah likely moving on. Moving on from Houston will allow the Chiefs to then tag Dee Ford and work on a long term deal.