Winners

Mike Gesicki, TE, Penn State

What’s in the water at Penn State? after Saquon Barkley blew the combine away a day ago, Gesicki was absurdly athletic, which doesn’t exactly match his tape.

There was a raging debate in the scouting community regarding his stiffness, but the big tight end answered those questions by running a 40 about as fast as some receivers and beyond anything the other TE’s did on the day, with a 4.54—as fast as speedster James Washington.

At 6-foot-5 and 247 pounds, he jumped out of the gym with an insane 41.5-inch vert jump. He also showed great agility with a three-cone drill that was as good as all but seven receivers in Indianapolis.

The entire NFL world will be going back to his tape, and Gesicki could now go extremely high, with the late first round seemingly within reach, which would’ve been unthinkable a little while ago.

The speedy receivers who made themselves some money

There are so many guys to mention that we’re grouping them together here, as a lot of our predicted combine winners shined. First was D.J. Chark out of LSU, who ran the fastest 40 at 4.34  and jumped out the gym with an impressive 40-inch vert. He’s also 6-foot-3, much bigger than most of these speedsters.

Already a winner at the Senior Bowl, Chark has made himself lots of money in this draft process.

Christian Kirk out of Texas A&M impressed just as expected athletically and also had more than 20 reps. Maryland’s D.J. Moore jumped very well and ran fast as expected too. Moore could’ve been a bit better with his three-cone, but he checked off lots of boxes in Indy.

Josh Allen, QB, Wyoming

Allen’s footwork looked smooth, as it’s evident he’s been groomed in a pro system, a big advantage for him over the rest of the top five quarterbacks in the class. He also didn’t show any bad misses against air, possibly quieting some of the concerns with his accuracy.

Allen also showed himself to be the most athletic of the top quarterbacks, even though he’s the biggest with massive mitts as well.

What stood out most was his gun against air as he was accurate and was throwing lasers initially in throwing drills. He also showed off on a few deep balls generating gasps from the crowd of coaches in attendance. He simply has easy arm strength and was able to unleash passes at all level. He confirmed his otherworldly upside and seemed prepared with sudden efficient footwork while throwing rainbows for over 60-to-70 yards.

Calvin Ridley, WR, Alabama

Ridley is the top receiver in the class on tape and did enough to confirm that running a good three-cone and a 4.43 40-yard dash.

Equanimeous St. Brown, WR, Notre Dame

St. Brown with his 6-foot-5 frame and great production two years ago, is very intriguing but he needed to confirm his speed. He did just that with a 4.48 40-yard dash and also showed some strength with 20 reps on the bench.

Courtland Sutton, WR, SMU

Sutton measured in a bit shorter than expected at 6-foot-3, but as one of the top big wideouts in the class he had questions to answer regarding his speed, and though he didn’t blow us away like St. Brown, he did enough by running a 4.54.

More importantly, Sutton showed his functional strength on the bench with 18 reps and had excellent jumps showing good explosiveness. Most surprising, he ran a superb three-cone at 6.57 which bodes well for his agility in being able to separate at the top of his route.

Losers

Sam Darnold, QB, USC

Darnold’s week didn’t help his stock and while it might not mean anything at the end of the day, he didn’t separate himself from the rest, quite the opposite.

First, Darnold who’s only 20, didn’t impress during his media portion showing his age and just not appearing savvy talking at the podium yesterday. Not a great sign for the future face of your franchise. He also chose not to throw at the Combine which is a business decision but doesn’t indicate confidence or readiness.

Maybe more telling, Darnold—who was the best running quarterback of the top guys not named Lamar Jackson—didn’t impress in the 40 or the jumps. He did have a decent three-cone drill but that’s not enough to exit Indy as a winner. His athleticism just didn’t excite us.

Ultimately, this might be a great thing for the Denver Broncos, as guys like Allen, Barkley, and Quenton Nelson rise while Darnold could fall right into Denver’s lap.

Baker Mayfield, QB, Oklahoma

The Johnny Manziel—or Russell Wilson—comparisons can likely end after today, as Mayfield showed he’s not the same class of athlete those other two were. With his size limitations, showing off his athleticism was important and we just didn’t see that from the reigning Heisman winner.

That said, what really mattered was the passing drills and Mayfield showed a live arm with a quick release and good zip over the short to intermediate. However, this was an opportunity to shine for Mayfield and he didn’t do that in the athletic portions.

He also came off as a bit too cocky in his media portion, which isn’t what you’d like to see when evaluating the face of your franchise. It shouldn’t hurt his stock but Mayfield didn’t help himself either.

Lamar Jackson, QB, Louisville

Jackson didn’t participate in the athletic test, which could’ve made him the talk of the combine, so that didn’t help his stock.

He did throw but showed some of the concern we’ve seen on tape as his accuracy beyond the numbers wasn’t always on point with his ball placement a bit off. He also threw a few ducks and his footwork was a bit lackadaisical, showing that he still has some areas to develop in.

In Jackson’s defense, he did improve as the drills progressed and showed a few good deep passes, but he reinforced questions about himself as a passer instead of answering them.

Mason Rudolph, QB, Oklahoma State

Rudolph is a big-armed, big-bodied quarterback, who off his first read can look like a true franchise QB. His questions are more related to what he can do when the play breaks down and how he operates as a passer off of his secondary reads.

In a setting like the combine, he had the tools to be a stud but compared to all the other top guys he just didn’t stand out above the rest. He’s quickly losing ground to the top five quarterbacks, falling firmly into the second tier.

He also looked like a real stiff in the athletic testing as the least gifted athlete of the QB group. Not a good showing.

James Washington, WR, Oklahoma State

We already knew from his measurements at the Senior Bowl that Washington wasn’t as tall as he was listed in college, coming in just under 5-foot-11. That meant the big play machine at OSU had to prove his long speed and show short area quickness in the three-cone.

James did the opposite, running a 4.54 and having the worst there cone of the top wideouts in Indy, which raise questions as far as his ability to transition to the slot where his size might play better.

Washington was a standout in practices at the Senior Bowl and watching his tape it’s clear that he can dominate, but his showing at the combine hurt him.

Simmie Cobbs Jr., WR, Indiana

Cobbs’ tape is great but his outing in Indy was disappointing as he was one of the big wideouts that didn’t do what he needed to.

His 4.64 40 was among the slowest of the receiver group and he also only had 11 bench reps. His jumps were below average as well. His stock might not have been hurt too much but he certainly didn’t help himself.