Excellent job. I've been busy elsewhere and haven't looked at any of this stuff to date. I had planned to track it down next week.
I appreciate that some of my favorite players are on the list, guys like Jason Spriggs, Eric Murray and Robert Nkemdiche. I wondered about the absence of Eli Apple until reading that he skipped many tests.
I'll have to raise Darron Lee after looking at his score. That guy has been the biggest wild card among all these prospects to me. The Dolphins desperately need somebody who can create sudden plays for a loss. I get annoyed at pretending Jelani Jenkins is somebody we are supposed to be content with year after year.
Hargreaves has an incredibly strange frame. Massive butt and thighs for that position. I noted it somewhat during his Florida career but it really stood out at the combine. I couldn't believe nobody was mentioning it, until finally Deion Sanders did. He said he normally doesn't like cornerbacks with thick lower bodies but he does like Hargreaves. Overall I hope we start avoiding guys who have less than ideal frames for the position. Jordan Phillips was last year's example. Sorry, he's not built like a defensive tackle.
Along those lines, I'll be very interested to see where Buckner is used. He looks like a pure 3-4 end, not a defensive tackle. For one thing, Buckner has very, very long strides. That normally is not ideal at defensive tackle. If your initial thrust doesn't enable a gap you have to shuffle step quickly to create something. Buckner does not shuffle step. He keeps long striding and gets stalemated. The comparison to Calais Campbell is cliche but it is correct. I hate to downgrade somebody with that much ability and such a huge frame. Campbell was also somewhat lethargic in his final season in college. Buckner can have some Dion Jordan moments out there, even though he's far more legitimate. In the bowl game against TCU, Buckner looked winded and disinterested from the opening snap of the second half. Often he didn't even line up in a threatening stance. It was unbelievable, like he didn't care at all. Of course, he had plenty of help from blase teammates. It takes special talent to blow a 31-0 halftime lead against a backup quarterback. TCU was actually running smack at Buckner with considerable success late in that fourth quarter. Only a handful of times did Buckner actually try. Then he would use a quick swim move and enter the backfield in a flash. Mack Brown at color commentator would rave about it, somehow ignoring all the plays in which Buckner did nothing and rarely gave much of an effort. Buckner could be a big hit on a talented front but I could see him struggling on a less than ideal setting.
This wide receiver crop is a major anomaly. There have been many more kids at that position entering the league with a "make it" grade and athletic ability than the league has room for. That is also true of recent college crops at the position.
Metrics are still underrated and under reported. Other sports are using the ideas also. For example, believe it or not there are now specific tests used to identify potential in golf long drive competitions. They are standard power-based tests like standing broad jump. One guy developed three tests that supposedly identify long drive potential. He found someone who had freak scores in those three tests. The guy wasn't even on the long drive radar. But the coach contacted specialists in the field and said the guy was a certain winner, if provided the training and path. There were natural skeptics. But it happened. The guy won the REMAX long drive championship. This was maybe 10 or 12 years ago. Those tests also excluded many guys who were thought to be potential winners based on standard criteria, until they took the tests and did not fare nearly as well as expected.
