KT's Combine Notes: Friday
The offensive lineman and running backs are on the field doing workouts today, while defensive players are coming in to the media room for their press time. Make sure to follow @1053thefan, @ktfuntweets, and @jc1053 all weekend long for updates from the combine. Let's get to today's notes of interest...
*Joey Bosa was the first player brought to the interview room today. He showed a great sense of humor, making the room laugh multiple times. I've always thought there were two types of dude bros in the world. You have your very chill and laid back dude bro, and you have your hyper let's go party dude bro. He's in the first category. He looked like he needed a red bull. He cracked a joke about how easy talking to the media was after having met with NFL coaches for the last couple days. When asked about his suspension at the beginning of the year, he answered "Yeah. I'm gonna discuss that with teams one on one." He talked about working some as a standup edge guy as well as working on drops into coverage. He could be a target for Jacksonville at 5 should he slip that far. He also said he thought he was the best player in the draft. He owned the spotlight and acted how you'd like to see a Top 5 pick act. I'd still take Goff, Tunsil, Jack, and Ramsey over him, but nobody should be angry if the Cowboys select Joey Bosa with the 4th overall pick in the draft.
*Ole Miss DT Robert Nkemdiche was suspended for the Sugar Bowl after being charged with marijuana possession when police found 7 rolled marijuana cigarettes in a hotel room with his name on it. He also fell 15 feet out of a hotel window, breaking it. When asked if he were under the influence of anything he said, "yes. I was drinking. I was drunk." Then when pressed on the drug possession charge he said, "There were people in my room. The hotel was under my name. Nobody wanted to take the fall. It had to go under my name. It just happened to play out like that." When asked if any other players were there, he answered hesitantly, "umm...yeah Laremy was there." He also admitted to sometimes being lazy and not finishing plays. Overall, it was 10 minutes of hard questioning and I thought he handled it about as well as he could, except for the whole throwing your teammate under the bus and admitting that he's lazy part.
*Eastern Kentucky edge rusher Noah Spence took the podium and I personally thought he knocked it out of the park. He was very open and forthcoming about his history of partying and using ecstasy. He continued to be transparent, which he's been throughout the entire draft process. He says he's still drug tested once a week, but he really did seem like a polite young man who just caught the party flu. I get it. When I was that age I had the party flu too. I stayed away from the ecstasy, but I'm not even convinced that's a good thing for me considering how little action I've been getting with the ladies these days. The one question he shut down was when a guy asked him how his meeting with the Giants went. Spence was having none of that, making sure to reveal nothing, something that I think NFL teams really appreciate.
*Baylor DT Andrew Billings had a fantastic interview session. He's a monster 1-tech and would be a great fit if he should fall down to 34. Unfortunately, he's likely a Top 25 guy. He did mention that the Dallas Cowboys were the only team he'd had a formal meeting with. Boom!
*Penn State DT Austin Johnson is a guy I liked a lot on tape. I was thrilled when he was on the Cowboys Senior Bowl roster. He didn't blow anyone away that week, but I still think he's a late 1st, early 2nd round type of player. He said his weight was up to 325 in January, but he's gotten it down to 315, which is where he needs to be if he's going to show the flexibility to play both interior defensive line positions.
*Ohio State LB Darron Lee is a 2nd round type of guy. A run and hit linebacker who can really fly around and is always near the ball. Talking to some reporters here at the combine, I was told that Lee is a very passionate and emotional player who would sometimes disappear. They said his emotions can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the situation. I thought Lee whiffed on a question when asked if he thought the Ohio State defense could compete in the NFL. While a lot of these guys are going to be NFL players and early draft picks, I thought it was a bad move to say the whole defense could go play in the NFL right now. For example, here's how I would have answered the question."Well, that's a bad question sir. Ohio State isn't getting added to the NFL, so that's a real bad question. But theoretically if that was going to happen, we'd have a lot of work to do. Where's the nearest bathroom? Thanks for your time."
*UCLA LB Myles Jack said he'll be medically cleared in the middle of March. He said teams have asked him about playing WLB, MLB, SLB, SS, and jokingly RB. I think he'll be firmly in the mix for the Cowboys at pick #4 and that's a good thing!
*Notre Dame LB had a weird situation where he was asked about nerve damage to his knee. He said "No, the nerve wasn't stretched at all. It's just the healing game." He then was pressed on a tweet he posted where he was walking and an NFL team doctor said that it appeared that he had nerve damage. His answer was, "I don't know when the nerve and everything will heal, but it's just a matter of me taking it day-by-day." He was wearing an AFO brace. An AFO brace is an ankle-foot orthosis brace that restricts movement in the front part of the foot. That would indicate that there could be nerve damage. When asked about that he said, "it's helping the nerve heal. The nerve isn't stretched at all." So is there or isn't there never damage? It's really hard to tell, but signs point to there being nerve damage, which would significantly delay his return to the gridiron. It's a story to follow because he's a Top 5 talent in the draft, and it appeared he'd still be drafted in the first round, but now with all the nerve damage talk, a full recovery may not even be possible.
*Memphis QB Paxton Lynch admitted that he didn't throw much in high school because they played in a Wing-T. He also said that his medical test went longer because there were a couple knee issues and an issue with his AC joint that "spooked" a couple teams. Yikes. That's not good.
*Georgia WR Malcolm Mitchell is a really great personality. He had a great week at the Senior Bowl and I'm planning to get him on the Ben and Skin show next week. He's likely a Day 3 guy, maybe a 5th rounder, but the interesting note on him is that he wrote a children's book. Cool.
(©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
