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APRIL 23, 2006
O S T O N
S
U N D A Y
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Sports C13
L O B E
D R A F T 2 0 0 6 | Receivers
Top receiver prospects
WIDE RECEIVERS
Chad Jackson
Santonio Holmes
Sinorice Moss
Travis Wilson
Maurice Stovall
Derek Hagan
Demetrius Williams
Brandon Marshall
Michael Robinson
Greg Jennings
College
Florida
Ohio State
Miami
Oklahoma
Notre Dame
Arizona State
Oregon
Central Florida
Penn State
Western Michigan
Ht.
6-0Œ
5-10Œ
5-8
6-2
6-4æ
6-1Œ
6-1Œ
6-4Æ
6-1æ
5-11
Wt.
213
188
185
214
217
208
197
229
227
197
40
4.35
4.45
4.39
4.54
4.58
4.46
4.54
4.53
4.55
4.49
*Rd.
1
1
1-2
2-3
2-3
2-3
2-3
2-3
2-3
2-3
TIGHT ENDS
College
Maryland
UCLA
Colorado
Georgia
Notre Dame
Vernon Davis
Marcedes Lewis
Joe Klopfenstein
Leonard Pope
Anthony Fasano
Ht.
6-3æ
6-6æ
6-5Œ
6-7Œ
6-4
Wt.
254
261
255
258
259
40 *Rd.
4.38
1
4.85 2-3
4.64 2-3
4.66 2-3
4.80 2-3
* Consensus round in which draft analysts expect player to be
selected.
NOTE: Some 40 times are estimated.
DARRON CUMMINGS/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Georgia’s Leonard Pope, at 6 feet 7Œ inches, is an imposing physical specimen who is often mistaken for a basketball player.
Georgia tight end Pope towers over the field
By Jerome Solomon
GLOBE STAFF
With a remarkable combination of size
and speed, Maryland tight end Vernon
Davis is certainly the freak of this year’s
NFL Draft. But Georgia’s Leonard Pope is
not far behind.
At 6 feet 7Πinches, he looks more like
an NBA power forward than a football
player — fellow flyers in airports frequently ask him to divulge the basketball team
for which he plays — and that makes him
one of the more intriguing players available.
‘‘I think he’s definitely unique,’’ said Patriots tight end Benjamin Watson, a college teammate of Pope’s. ‘‘He’s got something that nobody can teach: He’s 6-8
[actually 6-7Œ]. That’s definitely a plus
for him.
‘‘We heard all about him before he got
to Georgia, then we were just amazed at
how he runs and moves. As big as he is,
he’s not a loafer, he really can get downfield. And everybody drops one every now
and then, but I’ve never seen him miss
anything.’’
Pope is far from a polished blocker, but was when I was at Georgia,’’ said Watson,
few college tight ends are, and at a lean who plans to travel to Americus, Ga., to
258 pounds, his build suggests that he will watch the draft with Pope. ‘‘He’s really eacontinue to mature physically. As built, ger to learn, really coachable. He’s going
however, few defenders can match up to be a player.’’
with him vertically, and smaller players
That’s more than one NFC assistant
tend to bounce off him
coach had to say about any
when he gets to full speed
of the receivers in this
in the secondary.
year’s draft.
‘‘The average lineback‘‘I’m really not wowed
er, I think, is about 6-1 or
by any of them,’’ he said afsomething like that? If it’s
ter watching the top 40 wime and one of them onedeouts work out at the NFL
on-one, I’m going to make
combine.
the play because of my
Projected to be a secheight,’’ said Pope, who
ond-round choice at best,
credits Watson with helpFlorida’s Chad Jackson
ing him develop into a
wowed enough observers
first-team All-Southeastwith a surprising display of
ern Conference selection.
speed at the combine to
Leonard Pope move to the top of the reWatson, who showed
flashes of brilliance with
ceivers class. Depending
New England last season after missing all on whose stopwatch you believe, Jackson
but the first game of his rookie campaign clocked anywhere from 4.29 to 4.35 secwith a knee injury, expects big things from onds in the 40-yard dash.
Pope.
That’s surprising to some because
‘‘He’s gotten so much better than he Jackson played in the slot at Florida,
‘The average
linebacker, I think,
is about 6-1 . . . If
it’s me and one of
them one-on-one,
I’m going to make
the play because of
my height.’
where he tied a school record with 88 receptions in 2005, but those catches went
for just 900 yards (10.2 yards per catch).
He rarely stretched the field, as his speed
would have you believe he could have.
‘‘The scouts and everybody else want
to see receivers with speed,’’ Jackson said.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick said there
seem to be a lot of players projected as
first-rounders in this year’s draft who
don’t have an extensive body of work on
their résumé. Jackson is on that list.
The early entrant played sparingly as a
freshman, started just three games as a
sophomore, and did not become a starter
until the second game last season. Now,
he is believed to be coveted by the Denver
Broncos, who have the 15th overall pick.
Belichick has seen Jackson up close —
Belichick went to Florida and Jackson
came to Foxborough — and the Patriots,
who lost David Givens and Andre’ Davis to
free agency, certainly need to come out of
the draft with a wideout or two. With the
21st pick, New England would likely have
to move up to have a shot at Jackson.
Following the industry-accepted trade
chart, New England would have to give up
the lower of the two third-round picks
(No. 86 overall) to jump into the top 15.
Ohio State’s Santonio Holmes is the
only other receiver given a first-round
grade by most teams, with Miami’s Sinorice Moss rated just outside the first round
on most boards.
Thirteen receivers were taken in the
first round of the last two drafts, and it is
rare that fewer than three wideouts are
first-round picks in a year. The last time
that happened was 1992.
‘‘The last couple of years, we’ve had a
lot of guys go in the first round at receiver,
mostly bigger receivers, and there has certainly been a trend and a little bit of a
stampede to get those kind of guys,’’ Belichick said. ‘‘It seems like there are fewer
of them this year.
‘‘I’m not saying that they’re better or
worse, but there are other guys this year
that are maybe higher on the board that
don’t have that 6-2, 215-pound stature
that a lot of them had coming out the last
couple of years.’’
Well-defined Davis may well redefine his position
º DAVIS
Continued from Page C1
4.40 the first time and then got faster. His
closest competitor at the position was Tony Scheffler of Western Michigan at 4.54,
nearly two-tenths of a second slower,
which, in NFL terms, is the difference between ‘‘hello’’ and ‘‘goodbye.’’
His vertical leap was an astounding 42
inches — 4Æ inches more than Georgia’s
Leonard Pope, whom most scouts describe as a better athlete than football
player at this stage of his development.
Davis’s broad jump was 10 feet 9 inches,
nearly a foot longer than the next-best effort of 9-10 by Pope and UCLA’s Marcedes
Lewis.
And in case you’re wondering whether
he’s fast but a light load of poles, understand that he put up 225 pounds 33 times,
probably stopping only because the scouts
needed to get some Visine before their
eyes dried from bulging out of their heads.
But unlike others who have posted eyepopping numbers at February’s annual
NFL version of the decathlon, Vernon Davis is first and foremost not about the
numbers. He’s about catching footballs
and then running with them, something
he did 51 times last year for the Terrapins
for an average of 17.1 yards per catch. Add
that to the mix, NFL scouts say, and you
have a lot more than someone the scouts
would call a ‘‘combine warrior.’’ You have a
force of nature.
‘‘What he did at the combine wasn’t a
revelation,’’ raved Baltimore Ravens director of college scouting Eric DeCosta. ‘‘It
was a verification. If you were just grading
players on athleticism, there are four unbelievable athletes in this draft: Reggie
Bush, Mario Williams, Antonio Cromartie, and Vernon Davis. On tape, he’s one of
the most impressive guys in the draft.’’
Because DeCosta’s office is so near the
Maryland campus, he saw Davis four
times last season and each time he came
away more impressed. It seemed Davis,
only a junior, was improving each game
and making clear that there was nothing
left for him to prove in college football.
‘‘Every time I saw him, he put on an absolute show,’’ DeCosta said. ‘‘He’s big, fast,
explosive, and strong as an ox. He’s athletic like a receiver and powerful as a linebacker. That guy can take over a game.
‘‘He has explosive speed and you’ve got
to gang-tackle him. Some cornerback or
safety trying will break in half. They can’t
tackle him.’’
A year ago, the Ravens signed a rookie
free agent tight end named Rob Abiamiri
who spent the year on the practice squad
but is currently on their roster. He is a
240-pound guy who runs a 4.5 40, which
would have been the second-best time at
the combine this year. Yet he played sparingly at Maryland and went all but unnoticed until DeCosta saw him run a year
ago at the Terrapins’ Pro Day workouts.
‘‘He ran a 4.5 and never played,’’ DeCosta marveled. ‘‘The reason he never
played was Vernon Davis.’’
For those reasons and more, Davis is
expected to be a top-10 pick, which is unusually high for a tight end. The last to go
that high was Kellen Winslow Jr., whom
the Cleveland Browns took with the sixth
pick in 2004, but who has been stymied
for two years with injuries. Davis already
is being compared with Winslow, and
even spoken of in higher regard by some.
‘‘He’s Antonio Gates, Jeremy Shockey,
and Kellen Winslow all rolled into one,’’
said Kansas City Chiefs vice president of
personnel Bill Kuharich, who for the last
five years has watched two guys consid-
LUIS M. ALVAREZ/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Vernon Davis has great numbers,
but they don’t tell the whole story.
ered the best pass-catching tight ends in
football, Gates and the Chiefs’ Tony Gonzalez. ‘‘He can block like Shockey, run like
Kellen, and catch like Gates. He’s a different player than Tony. He’s more physical
but he can get down the seam. Davis is a
guy you can play in tight or flex wide.
‘‘Athletically, he went beyond my ex-
pectations at the combine. You don’t expect a guy that big and strong to run that
fast. Tight ends notoriously don’t go in the
top 10, but I don’t see how he gets beyond
Arizona [at No. 10] if he doesn’t go higher.
Imagine that offense with the running
back [Edgerrin James], their receivers
[Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin]
and Davis. Oh, boy.’’
Many mock drafts have Davis going as
high as No. 6 to the 49ers, although some
teams believe San Francisco has so many
problems it may have to pass on him to fill
more pressing needs. But one rival NFC
general manager said, ‘‘You don’t find
tight ends who can run like that. Personnel guys knew him before the combine.
They were already talking about him as a
top-10 pick. Now, who knows how high
he’ll go? Whoever takes him is getting a
football player, not just a combine guy.’’
That is a key difference, because nearly
every year, some player who has been
‘‘less than’’ during his collegiate days becomes ‘‘more than’’ after them because he
runs a phenomenal 40 time or puts on a
S C O U T I N G F O R A PAT R I OT
Three big areas of need for the Patriots are defensive back, linebacker, and running back. Leading up to Saturday’s NFL draft, the
Globe each day offers a scouting report on a player at one of those positions that could be attractive to the Patriots at pick No. 21.
GL C13 21:50 SECOND
CB Jimmy Williams
COLLEGE
HEIGHT
WEIGHT
40 SPEED
Virginia Tech
6-2æ
213
4.50 (est.)
Intelligence/character: While he has the ability to play safety (moved to corner
as a junior), not considered smart enough to direct the backfield … Considered
very undisciplined both on and off the field …Takes too many chances and is of
questionable character with a very volatile personality, but can also show good
instincts at his position … Turned off coaches at the NFL Combine by refusing
to work out, then came off as too cocky in interviews … Still, once cited for his
leadership qualities at Tech.
Size/strength/durability: Height and long arms are a big plus … Plays very
physical, loves to hit, and can challenge for balls, especially in the red zone … Did
not miss a game in four years at Virginia Tech, also contributing on special teams.
Stopping the run: Physical, aggressive tackler who excels at plugging holes …
Knows how to wrap up runners … Will leave his feet and lay it all out to make the
play … Has a habit of always being around the ball … Sometimes has problems
shedding blocks.
Defending the pass: Strong at man-to-man coverage and fast and fluid enough
to stay with any receiver … Unusual quickness that allows him to close fast on the
ball … Good hands and can take it all the way after an interception … A threat to
blitz off the edge and gets there quickly … Has the ability to hold up receivers at the
line … Can get caught peeking into the backfield, and sometimes playing too far off
receivers, relying too much on his speed.
Sources: Analysis of draft prospects from information provided by Pro Football Weekly, Ourlads’, War Room (The
Sporting News), National Football League, and Globe staff.
show running shuttle drills and around
three-cone alignments. Those drills say
much about athletic ability, but when the
cones are replaced by flesh-and-blood demons like Rodney Harrison and Joey Porter, running around them becomes a lot
more complicated.
That’s what separates Davis from mere
athletes. He’s shown during his 34-game
career at Maryland that he is more than
the sum of his numbers.
That’s why he decided to leave school a
year early even though the dream of his
grandmother Adaline, who raised him
and his five siblings, was that he complete
the art degree he was on track to receive
next year before turning professional. Davis understood that, but he also had a
dream of his own. A dream to turn combine numbers into more marketable ones.
‘‘I’m ready to get on with it,’’ Davis said
during the combine. ‘‘My decision to come
out early was based on my grade, the one I
got back from the NFL. My coaches and I
talked about it, and they said if I got a
first-round grade, it would be best if I
came out.’’
That was before Davis exploded at the
combine the same way he did through the
secondaries of the Atlantic Coast Conference, piling up the kind of receiving yardage normally expected from wide receivers half his size. After that, he had more
than a first-round grade. He was on the
combine honor roll.
‘‘They all speak highly of me,’’ Davis
said of various NFL tight end coaches and
offensive coordinators. ‘‘They all say they
would love to have me, but you never
know. I do feel good about being labeled
the new breed of tight end. That’s what it
is when you got a guy who can do more
than catch the ball. Someone who can get
extra yardage after catching the ball and
make guys miss.
‘‘At Maryland, my coach tried to find
different ways to get me the ball. Options,
coming up with creative plays. But they
were mostly still the seven routes: the post
corners and dig routes. You’ve got a tight
end who can make moves like a wide receiver, when there’s a linebacker on you,
that’s kind of a mismatch. That pretty
much speaks for itself.’’
So do Vernon Davis’s numbers, whether he’s in pads or in shorts. They speak
loud and clear, and they seem to say the
same thing to every NFL scout who’s
watched him. To a man, it seems, they
lead to a one-word conclusion about his
NFL future: ASTONISHING!