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The NFL Combine starts tomorrow in Indianapolis. Chris Jones could sleep in his own bed. I wish him the best and hopefully he is a Steeler next year.

Best of luck Jonesy!!! Tear it up...

Did 30 reps today in the bench press.

Also...check out the photo NFL.com has of Chris...

http://www.nfl.com/combine/profiles/chr ... id=2539987

Wow, he's been out in the sun too much.

I've always heard that you become a changed man when you work out. Maybe that will happen to me too!

I just checked again this morning. They fixed the picture. Somebody must have informed them of their mistake.

Ran a 5.3, 40. Hopefully he runs better at BG's pro day.

NFL TV said he tweaked his ankle and is not going to participate in any more drills. Hope he heals quick and gets healthy. He needs to really get his 40 time down and show up big at Pro Day .

Yikes. I hope it was due to him being hurt and he can come back for pro day and run a much better time. 40 time doesn't mean much for an interior DL, but a time that slow screams "This guy is not an NFL caliber athlete" to me. I hope the best for him, but if he doesn't get a few tenths off that 40 by the draft I would be pretty shocked to see him taken.

He put up 30 reps on the bench...good enough to tie for 5th amongst the 36 DL guys (per BGSU twitter feed). I think the vertical leap and broad jump are a bit more important for a DL than a 40 time because they're more of a measure of explosive power...but a slow 40 is somewhat predictive of issues there as well.

Hopefully, he'll impress at the pro day on...I think...3/12

Assuming everyone is projecting him to be a DT I wouldn't worry too much about the 40 time. Once the ankle is healed, that should improve. I sure would keep him as a DT, even if he is a little shorter than desired for that position. If GMs are looking at him as a DE it could become an issue. I don't see him ever being a MLB but if anyone is interested in him moving there he would need to be significantly faster.

Georgia Tech DT TJ Barnes ran a 5.22. He's 6'6 369. Wow.

Chris ran the pro shuttle and L drill. He just isn't doing position drills. Odd.

I think 40 is completely meaningless for a D lineman. Did he do the shuttle?

Falcon137 wrote:Georgia Tech DT TJ Barnes ran a 5.22. He's 6'6 369. Wow.

Downright scary seeing a man that BiG run that fast...

Globetrotter wrote:I think 40 is completely meaningless for a D lineman. Did he do the shuttle?

I don't think any drill at the combine is completely meaningless.

Like I said, if you are looking at 40 time as an indicator of how fast the man can run straight for 40 yards, sure it's meaningless for a DL. But instead you have to look at it as one piece of a bigger puzzle to gauge the overall athleticism of a prospect.

40 time is far from the be all end all, but if I'm an NFL scout I see a guy that is an average sized DL from the MAC. I see that he is strong as an ox from his bench number. When I watch film I see a guy that is a hard worker and produced on the football field. But with only being average size I need to see some overall athleticism to really pique my interest. That 40 time is a definite red flag. You have to realize Chris is way too small to be a run stuffing plug the middle guy in the NFL. At his size he must show the innate athleticism to beat blocks with quickness. Obviously the shuttles and jump numbers will do more to show quick burst athleticism, but if they fall in line with his 40 time, it's quite likely he goes undrafted.

And I'm not just dogging on Jones. I have REAL questions about supposed all world guard prospect Chance Warmack as well after seeing him clock in at 5.55 in the 40. Obviously guards don't need to be able to get out and run 40 yards either, but that sort of time makes me think he's going to be such a slug you can't even count on him to pull and get in front of a play.

I would never let a 40 time over rule what I saw on the field, but it is definitely something that you have to put in your head when trying to determine whether or not a player can translate his production in college to the NFL.