Combine stock watch: Cornerbacks and safeties
The NFL combine concluded Tuesday at Lucas Oil Stadium with the cornerbacks and safeties. Here are the players whose stock rose ― there were no losers ― according to Eric Galko of OptimumScouting.com and The Sporting News.
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Lindenwood (Mo.) cornerback Pierre Desir:“He's a guy I've always had a scout man crush on, to put it that way. I think he's very good player in college, he has a great back story that teams are always gonna appreciate, and that broad jump (133 inches) is just phenomenal. Even though he needs a lot of work and didn't really have great coaching in college — it's not their vault, it's just Division II guys aren't necessarily the best guys to develop you as a player — teams see the upside.”
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Northwest Missouri State cornerback Brandon Dixon:“He had a great 40 time (4.41) and great workouts across the board today. He's a guy teams are gonna want to develop. For those small-school guys, if you can play well in the games you're supposed to against the big competition and you can catch well, teams are always gonna take a chance on small-school guys because the big level guys, you know what they can do, you see them on film against top talent all the time. The small-school guys, you don't get those chances. Who knows what Dixon could have been if he played against the caliber of guys that (Bradley) Roby or (Justin) Gilbert played against.”
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Florida State safety Terrence Brooks:“He's a plus athlete the 40-yard dash time (4.42) was very low. He's an explosive guy who had a good 10-yard split. He didn't really get a chance to maximize his ability at Florida State kind of playing that deep center field, and teams really didn't bait him too much. He's a guy who can at least be a special-teams guy early in the NFL and could be a little more than that in the future.”
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Ohio State cornerback Bradley Roby:“A tremendous athlete, he's been that way since high school. His workout was nothing to be surprised about, especially his 40-yard dash time (4.39). I think he did a fantastic job during the season of showing his athletic ability and elite speed. He did at the combine, as well. I think he answered the character questions and the background stuff that he may have had at Ohio State, and I think he'll definitely be in the first-round discussion entering the draft.”
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Oklahoma State cornerback Justin Gilbert:This story was originally published February 25, 2014 at 9:23 PM with the headline "Combine stock watch: Cornerbacks and safeties."