Taking A Look At Recent NFL Combine Standouts

The NFL Combine is attractive viewing because we like to watch the elemental power of the human body. Faster, higher, stronger. Just how far can we go as a species? The combine is the answer to that question within a certain segment of the population.

Way too many people — usually those who gab at your local pub or get paid to gab on local talk radio — use the numbers that come out of the combine to predict a player’s future in the NFL.

Instead of gleaning the most about a football player looking for a football-playing job by watching them actually play football, these prospective employees get run through a glorified physical fitness test, the results of which could either add or subtract millions of dollars from their bank account.

There are some teams (read: Raiders) that put too much weight into the overall value of the combine as well. So, what happens to these “Workout Warriors”? Here is a recap of the best performers in the top four combine events (40-yard dash, broad jump, vertical leap and bench press, in my opinion) over the past 10 years.

Screw the shuttle drills. There is a raw appeal to faster, stronger, higher. Agility is the offspring. Plus, no one ever watches in awe as someone runs around a series of small orange cones.

Notes: The lengths of the jumps and leaps will be presented in inches. Each player in the bench press does reps of 225 pounds, and the 40-yard dash, obviously, is presented in seconds.

On to the feats of athleticism!

Even Though It Probably Should Be, Titus Young’s NFL Career Isn’t Over

(Kevin Terrell/Associated Press)

Maybe there is something wrong with Titus Young.

I mean, really wrong. Some time down the road, perhaps we will find out that he is a tortured soul, haunted by personal demons and private childhood memories. Maybe something will come to light that makes us look back on his actions with a better understanding, a more sensitive touch with a pinch of empathy, if I may be so bold. It kind of happened with Brandon Marshall.

Until that time, it’s hard to not just shake your head and laugh in disbelief at what Young has “accomplished” in the past nine months:

Sucker-punched a teammate; became the ultimate freelance receiver; got suspended by the Lions for insubordination and then was basically told to go home for the rest of the year; went kamikaze on Twitter; got cut; signed with the Rams and got cut by them after nine days.

And that was just 2012-13. He was acting like a jerk long before then.

If you click that last link, you’ll see what Rams head coach Jeff Fisher had to say Friday when he released Young, and if you read between the lines, you can basically tell that he and the organization didn’t like what they heard from Young during their “extended interview process.”