Three-cone drill standouts amongst passrushers at the Combine.

[Direckshun]

The Combine is well known as the Underwear Olympics, and scouts and GMs regularly say they don't give two shits about it unless they have two players rated the exact same.

Almost everybody agrees, however, that one of the few things the Combine does usefully provide is the three-cone drill for passrushers.

This is a great exercise where passrushers both in the 4-3 and 3-4 have to show they can "bend the edge" at the NFL level and get to the QB in record time.

Amongst all the passrushers at the Combine (and I'm going to include Dee Ford's Pro Day from yesterday, because America), here's the folks that had the elite times:

1. Tyler Starr out of ****ing South Dakota, of all places, slaughtered everybody this year with a 6.64. He's tailored to be pretty much only a 3-4 OLB in the draft at 6'4", 240 lbs. His 4.9 40 was horrendous. He put up 9 sacks, 15 TFL, 4 FF, 71 tackles, 1 INT, and 4 PD in 2013 against admittedly inferior competition. (It should be noted, and I know people hate this, but 6 of those 9 sacks came in three games.) Nonetheless, that 3 cone time is going to get him drafted, much like Junior Hemingway's got him drafted by Pioli.

2 .Trent Murphy has been a borderline 1st/2nd round prospect out of Stanford, and I gotta think his #2 time of 6.78 will push him into the 1st round. Murphy only ran a 4.8 in the 40, but he led college football in sacks in 2013 with 15. Murphy is 6'5", 250 lbs, and is more of a 3-4 OLB, though he could convert to 4-3 DE.

3. Anthony Barr of UCLA has projected as a Top 15 pick at this point, and his 6.82 will only solidify that. 20 TFL, 10 sacks, 5 FF, 62 tackles. He is a pure 3-4 OLB, and can play in the 4-3 in the Derrick Thomas/Von Miller role at OLB. He blazed a 4.6 in the 40, and has ideal size at 6'5", 255 lbs.

4. Kony Ealy was a surprise on this list, essentially tying with Barr with a 6.83. Ealy is well known around these parts, but only projects to 4-3 DE -- doesn't seem to have the power to play at 3-4 DE, and doesn't seem to have the linebacker-esque athleticism needed as a 3-4 OLB, but hey, we all said that about Hali. He ran a terrible 4.9 in the 40, but we all know his statline here: 8 sacks, 14 TFL, constant disruption. He's got to be at the top of the list for 4-3 defenses needing a passrusher. Outside chance he lasts to the Chiefs pick at 23.

5. Jackson Jeffcoat out of Texas is on this list, which surprises nobody. Jeffcoat, interestingly, has been slipping down draft boards due to his "lack of size" which, well, 6'3" 247 isn't that bad for a 3-4 OLB, but that's all the guy can really be. He had a really good season with 12 sacks, 21 TFL, and led his team in tackles with 80. He also blazed one of the fastest 40s in the Combine for passrushers with a 4.6. At this point he is just a passrushing specialist, and will need grooming to round out his game, but is a really promising athlete.

6. Dee Ford is a pure 3-4 OLB out of Auburn, who is rising fast on draft boards, mine in particular (where I have him neck-and-neck with Brandin Cooks as my favorites picks for the Chiefs at #23). His 7.06 at his Pro Day should only help. There is no doubting that he's a great athlete, though undersized at 6'2", 244. He ran a 4.5 at Auburn's Pro Day, but Auburn has a fast track -- but even adjusting it to a 4.6 is damn impressive. 10.5 sacks, 14.5 TFL, but only 29 tackles and very much a one-year wonder.

7-tie. Cassius Marsh was the super-weird looking tatted-up guy at the Combine from UCLA, if you watched it, and he looked super iffy to me in the DL drills. But it's hard to argue with a 7.08 in the three-cone. Even though he's got 3-4 OLB size at 6'4", 252 lbs, he's got versatility playing out of a three-point and two-point, and his 4.8 40 suggests he may be more of a 4-3 DE. Bit of a tweener, if you will... Marsh's problem is primarily an inconsistent motor, and his 5 sacks and 8.5 TFL was underwhelming in 2013. He's going to be a late-rounder for somebody to develop. The question is, how much of his production came because everybody focused on his teammate across from him...

7-tie. Khalil Mack out of Buffalo is, as some have already noted on this forum, a force of nature. His 7.08 confirms that, but you only really need to watch Mack's tape to see what a disruptive player he is. He ran a 4.6 at the Combine, but some scouts timed him at a 4.4 at yesterday's Pro Day. In other words, he's ridiculous. At 6'3", 251 lbs, he seems to purely be a 3-4 OLB, but there's no reason a team in any defense won't try to take him. Outside of Clowney, he's the best defensive player in this draft.

9. Aaron Donald of Pitt is not an edge rusher, so he shouldn't be on this list, but **** it. I'm including him, because he's incredible. An undersized DT at 6'0", 285, he'll be an awkward fit anywhere, but holy shit did he kill the 3-cone with a 7.11. That is a fantastic time for a guy his size. Get these stats: 28.5 TFL, 11 sacks, 16 QB hurries, 4 FF and a blocked extra point. This guy is outstanding, and somebody in the Top 20 will make space for him. I'm guessing Dallas.

10. Howard Jones out of some school called Shepherd impressed everybody at the Combine, and absolutely will be drafted, probably somewhere around the late rounds, because he looks like somebody you could develop. He ran a 4.60 (some sites suggest he could run much faster...), with a 40" vertical, over a 10' broad jump, and a 7.16 in the 3 cone. He has a lot of room to pack on his frame, so the fact that he only came in at 6'2", 235 lbs is not going to scare a 3-4 team away from drafting him and essentially redshirting him for a year. He had a pretty weak statline against inferior competition, with only 6.5 sacks in 2013. In the 7th round, teams like drafting nobodies with measurable who could make them look like geniuses, and Jones looks like that kind of guy.

[Reerun_KC]

Is there anything more useless in professional sports than the NFL combine?

[planetdoc]

Any data showing that 3-cone correlates with pass rushing success in the NFL?

[Rudy tossed tigger's salad]

Originally Posted by Reerun_KC

Is there anything more useless in professional sports than the NFL combine?

NBA combine?

[Chiefshrink]

Originally Posted by Reerun_KC

Is there anything more useless in professional sports than the NFL combine?

Yes and No. I get your point.

[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by planetdoc

Any data showing that 3-cone correlates with pass rushing success in the NFL?

Just going by what coaches and personnel men say. That's about it.

[htismaqe]

Actually, there does seem to be at least SOME correlation...not just with pass rushing but with DL/LB overall.

http://www.nfl.com/combine/top-perfo...position=DL-LB

[Direckshun]

Also note that of the Top 10 I put up here, no fewer than six of them are 1st round probabilities.

[WhiteWhale]

Originally Posted by Reerun_KC

Is there anything more useless in professional sports than the NFL combine?

Depends on how you value raw athleticism.

Without the combine where do we think Poe would have been picked? One could say that in at least that one instance it was useful in determining a player's upside since he's a probowl NT now and looked like a throwaway player in college to most fans and scouts.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by WhiteWhale

Depends on how you value raw athleticism.

Without the combine where do we think Poe would have been picked? One could say that in at least that one instance it was useful in determining a player's upside since he's a probowl NT now and looked like a throwaway player in college to most fans and scouts.

Take a look at the link I posted.

Look where a guy like Navarro Bowman is (sub-7) and where a guy like Aaron Curry is (above 7).

When guys have tons of positive college film, the combine can be the thing that separates the "will be's" from the "won't be's".

[Jimmya]

We can say what we want.... But it's a huge deal either way.

[The Franchise]

It's kind of interesting and I'm not sure if it's a mistake but I've found a couple of websites that list Aaron Donald as an OLB.

[WhiteWhale]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Take a look at the link I posted.

Look where a guy like Navarro Bowman is (sub-7) and where a guy like Aaron Curry is (above 7).

When guys have tons of positive college film, the combine can be the thing that separates the "will be's" from the "won't be's".

Yeah I guess. I don't think Curry's failure was because he lacked athleticism though, so I'm not really sure that's a great example.

The combine often causes great players like Flowers, Boldin, or even Tamba Hali to fall.

I don't think it's worthless, but it is what it is. Know how to interpret it. In reality drafting players is more of a crap shoot than most want to admit.

[OldSchool]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

It's kind of interesting and I'm not sure if it's a mistake but I've found a couple of websites that list Aaron Donald as an OLB.

He did run faster than a lot of the LB prospects, lol. He moved really smoothly too. Imagine if Donald dropped about 20 pounds and moved to the outside, even faster and more explosive with a little less power but the same relentlessness.

[ChiTown]

Really wish there was a way to sneak up to get Anthony Barr. Love his game and athleticism.