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The NFL Combine started a few days ago, and it'll be interesting to keep up with how some of our Bears perform at the combine.
RB Jahvid Best likely has the most to gain or lose as scouts recognize his spectacular talent, but will have a number of questions regarding his health as Best has missed at least one game in each of his seasons at Cal due to injury.
You can watch the combine here at the NFL.com.
Updates:
(10:07) Cal WR Nyan Boateng clocked in at 4.64 in the 40 yard dash. While Boateng was never a burner at Cal, you would think that he would have liked to have gotten into the 4.5 range to help any hope in getting picked in the last round of the draft.
WR Verran Tucker did not run to an injury. It would have been interesting to see how he would have done, as he was one of the faster receivers in the Bears. Methinks he could have hit the 4.5 range.
(3:42) Wow, so turns out CJ Spiller's 40 yard dash time was way off. Clocks in at a 4.37. Jahvid Best's official is 4.35. That's right. Best has the best time among runningbacks in this year's combine, and the second fastest overall. Go Best!
You have to wonder if Spiller regrets for calling it a day and sitting out the rest of the workouts.
(3:30) The announcers just started pronouncing Jahvid's name correctly. Yup. No more "Jah-vahd."
(2:45) Toby Gerhart clocks in at 4.58. He doesn't look to happy with the time, but he's shown consistency in the 4.5 range. That's about all he could have asked for. What a freak of an athlete.
(2:34) Jahvid Best is back on for his second run. Ouch, stumbled a bit on his first few steps. But get's a 4.33. Wow. Color me impressed. Yes, it's unofficial, but I'd be surprised to see his unofficial time be outside of the 4.3 range.
(2:30) CJ Spiller clocked in at 4.28 unofficially. Wow. Tied Holliday for fastest time if it sticks. Say hello to the first back taken.
(2:25) Joe McKnight has an unofficial 4.49 time. Pretty good given his biggest questions have been about his top-end speed.
(2:23) Ryan Matthews has an unofficial time of 4.41. That's not going to help Best too much. Matthews might have kept himself in the first round.
(2:18) Slightly off-topic, but Gerhart had a really good unofficial time with a 4.53. Given his size and productivity in college, Gerhart might have just locked himself into the second round.
(2:10)Jahvid is up at the 40 yard dash.
And it looks like Best has an unofficial time of 4.39. It'll be interesting to see where the official time lies, as it could be the difference between a 4.4 and a sub 4.4 time.
Honestly, I know there were some pretty heightened expectations as to where Best's speed would clock in, given his incredible speed on the football field and on the track. The mystery surrounding Best's time was only heightened by the fact that virtually no one had an actual forty time for the speedster.
I was one of the few who felt Best's time would be fantastic, but not quite as Chris Johnson like (4.2 range) as some thought it might be. I know Best has incredible speed, but his true speed really starts to shine after about 20 yards, which is why he had such an incredible 100 meter time (10.31).
It makes sense with a number of scouting reports regarding his time.
Given all that, I'd say that anything under 4.4 would have been absolutely fantastic, and a 4.4 time would simply be a "Ok good, it's about where it needs to be."
As it stands I'd say Best is still in the late first round, early second round range. It'll be interesting to see if he can beat out Fresno State's Ryan Matthews for that second RB draft spot.
OT Review
To recap where we are so far, OT Mike Tepper clocked in at 5.36 yesterday in the 40 yard dash, and put up 28 reps in the bench press. It doesn't put him in the Top 10, but fairly close to it...I think.
Read the rest of the post and comments here >>
