didn't know mayock said in 2008 he thought he was the best WR prospect he had ever seen (better than moss, andre johnson, fitz or calvin???)... mayock isn't imo generally prone to hyperbole, and i respect him a lot...
he did express mixed reviews and concern over red flags today...
puzzling workout...
he missed most of last season...
misses the combine... reportedly over a hamstring... plausible, but led to further rumblings that he might be flaky...
than he schedules three different pro days? this doesn't help the perception that he may have maturity and professionalism issues... but maybe it was the hamstring again?
cleats were discussed primarily in the context of him being a bonehead... i do wonder if he could have run faster with them, and as was noted above, on a faster track... maybe in ideal circumstances, great start on a better track, he runs in the low 4.5s, or even high 4.4?
he was supposedly a bit heavy at combine (225)... again, maybe the hamstring? than in the wake of that, he said he was down to 220 after the combine... yet he weighs in at 225 again? odd.
if this is out of shape, some have pointed out that he looks pretty yoked. i think it is safe to say that he carries the weight well, putting up an elite 11'+ broad jump, and borderline elite 38" VJ, outstanding explosiveness measurables.
didn't see the bench press segment, but it does sound like some of the biggest concerns involved quitting in drills... without questioning what may be elite physical and athletic tools, even his most ardent supporters have to admit this looks bad, given that he was trying to overcome questions about his committment after skipping the combine and pushing back his pro day (several times)...
supporters can't have it both ways... if he looked in good physical condition and there shouldn't be concern about extra weight... why did he quit in drills (he did well on the explosiveness measurables, and wasn't noticeably limping in the receiving drills i saw?). was it the lack of cleats causing him to slip... i didn't see whole workout, but casserly said it reflected poorly on his preparation that he didn't even seem to know the technique in the cone drills... part of this should be blamed on his handlers, but why didn't he have the intiative to prepare better... did he think he could just waltz in after missing so much time and nail it by relying on his athleticism?
now in fairness, some of this reminds me of hakeem nicks last year... he was not as elite a prospect (bit smaller, i was going to guess he ran about a 4.45-4.55... looked it up, & i think he ran as high as a 4.45 by some timings, but maybe was officially credited with a 4.5?)... not sure if he "dropped" in the draft, he did go near end of the first, but WRs like crabtree and maclin were consensus higher graded (if not DHB

)... no shame in being picked lower than harvin (ROY), and about same place as britt...
here is a quote from last year...
"Ten receiver coaches from around the league showed up in Chapel Hill to watch the workout of Hakeem Nicks and they are likely to leave very disappointed.
Sources have told us Nicks weighed in at 226-pounds, looking overweight and out of condition. By contrast Nicks was 212-pounds at the combine. He looked poor running agility drills and injured his hamstring."
in retrospect, after a promising, at times brilliant rookie season (might have been better if not for injury, and sharing time with manningham), the above fears look massively overblown in retrospect. i thought based on nicks film, he had a dark horse chance to emerge as the best WR in his class... nothing i saw last year dissuaded me from that notion (probably encouraged it)...
the funny thing is, after filtering through some of the info about bryant's mixed pro day, without extensively processing it, my instinct/intuition told me today was bad - OVERALL... if i had a preconception about what i would write here, it was that... and clearly why there was SOME counterbalancing good, there were problems with lack of preparedness on drills (aside from forgetting cleats - strange, but maybe charitably he got overly excited?) and questions about his competitiveness in quitting drills... and by implication, his judgement, when he must have known there were rumblings about his work ethic. he didn't answer that bell today, and that is troubling.
but i think this profile turned out more balanced than i expected at the beginning... i was struck by a series of contradictions which i tried to document and use as the overarching theme of my observations, and than see where they led (some writers don't know how their story is going to end when they commence writing it, and allow the character's "nature" to dictate how the plot unfolds)... the nicks comparison came to me in mid-writing.
i don't think nicks had the same kind of preceding knucklehead rumblings that bryant suffers from.
the red flags definitely could drop him out of the first half of the draft... so many drafts had him linked with DEN (with marshall a question mark), that it seemed unlikely... he doesn't seem like a mcdaniels type player... possibly SEA at 14? in the second half of first (don't see him dropping to 2nd as some have speculated), possible destinations could include SF, ATL, NE, DAL & NYJ?
i am concerned about the red flags (if they don't give people at least SOME pause, imo there is something wrong)... but when mayock says things like best WR prospect he has ever seen (in 2008), that gets my attention... i think by the time dynasty drafts roll around, any change in his draft status would have more to do with where he goes in the NFL draft relative to his peers in the class... more so than intrinsic red flag concerns... in other words, if he goes to DAL late in 1st, where they have austin, and hypothetically, demaryius thomas goes at 1.10 to JAX (kirwan had this in a mock a few weeks ago, but i would be very surprised), that would be the kind of thing that would bump bryant down and thomas up, in dynasty.