John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
Draft Stock Falling:
QB Shane Carden, East Carolina (6’2 | 218 | 4.94): Falling might be too strong of a word, it’s more that Carden didn’t do anything this weekend to help his stock. During the throwing drills his passes were less accurate than his peers and didn’t show much arm strength. He’s still got a shot to get drafted in the 3rd-5th round area, but of the group of QBs bunched in the 3-8 ranking group I thought Carden fell close to the end of it.
RB T.J. Yeldon, Alabama (6’1 | 226 | 4.61): Looked more explosive on his 2013 tape than he did last year. It was rumored that Yeldon was playing hurt, but he just looked slower in 2014 and that showed again at the combine. His 4.61 time and 1.61 split were slower than expected and he looked sluggish and stiff during the RB drills. The commentators mentioned that he would be better off losing 10-15 pounds and getting back to his 2013 playing weight. It’s a very deep RB class and Yeldon’s lack of speed and fluidity dropped him closer to 10th overall than 6th where I had him before the combine.
RB Mike Davis, South Carolina (5’9 | 217 | 4.61): Another guy who I expected to run faster than 4.61, but how he looked in drills is what hurt really Davis’ stock. He looked stiff in the hips and his cuts were choppy. I thought Davis was going to be one of the surprises of the combine after a season marred by injuries, but maybe he is still banged up because Davis didn’t look like the explosive running back I saw in 2013.
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RB Dee Hart, Colorado St (5’7 | 199 | 4.80): Was a surprise early entry who had a shot to be a day 3 pick, but his 4.80 40-time won’t help his chances. Hart looked quick in the drills, but there aren’t any sub-200 pound running backs in the NFL that run a 4.8.
RB Kenny Hilliard, LSU (6’0 | 226 | 4.83): He’s a big back with good power, so a 40-time in the 4.6s would have been acceptable but 4.83 is fullback speed. Hilliard was part of a time-share at LSU so doesn’t have an impress stat line to fallback on either. His slow 40-time and stiff hips during the drills could drop Hilliard out of the draft all together.