NFL Combine: QB, RB and WRs. Xavier Worthy runs a 4.21 40

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Adam Schefter

The official 40-yard dash time is now in: And WR Xavier Worthy owns the fastest 40 ever recorded at the combine - a 4.21.

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Thursday, Feb. 29 (3 p.m. to 8 p.m. ET): Defensive linemen, linebackers

Friday, March 1 (3 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET): Defensive backs, tight ends

Saturday, March 2 (1 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET): Quarterbacks, wide receivers, running backs

Sunday, March 3 (1 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET): Offensive linemen

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Welcome to draft season, folks. My flight touches down in Indianapolis Monday afternoon, and most of the NFL will be there by Tuesday. What’s waiting for them is one of the best crops of top-end players in years. There are quarterbacks, receivers, tackles, a deep crew of corners, and a pass-rusher or two who project as blue-chippers at cornerstone positions.

Last year, in our reporting, we came across the fact that the Lions—who wound up with an absolute gold mine drafting guys at non-premium spots such as Jahmyr Gibbs, Jack Campbell, Sam LaPorta and Brian Branch—only had14 players with first-round grades, and of those, only landed four of them. Detroit wasn’t the only team with that low of a number. It seemed everyone I talked to had a number in the mid-teens.

That won’t be the case this year.

“You could count to 32 this year,” said an AFC college scouting director, “and still find a first-round quality player there.”

“It’s a really good draft to need a quarterback or tackle,” added an AFC exec. “It’s really good at the premium positions in general.”

So where in a lot of years, I’d be in this space tamping down the optimism that every fan chases, thinking somehow players in the fifth and sixth and seventh rounds are going to project into starting roles, this year I’ll take governor off. Have fun. Go nuts. Even if the class as a whole has its flaws, the first round should be a blast, full of big-time players.

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Do Nabers and Odunze have any chance to catch Harrison?

The LSU and Washington stars are really good. But this is similar to the question of whether or not Maye and Daniels can catch Williams, with Harrison in the neighborhood of Julio Jones, A.J. Green and Calvin Johnson as a prospect.

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Who is going to star at the combine?

I love this one. From our scouts, we got Texas DT Byron Murphy—“He might run a 4.8 at 305 pounds”—Turner and Benson. Plus everyone said Iowa CB Cooper DeJean would’ve blown everything out if he wasn’t missing the physical testing due to injury.

Then, Muench gave me Worthy, Guyton, Clemson CB Nate Wiggins, North Carolina State ILB Payton Wilson, Penn State edge Chop Robinson, BYU OT Kingsley Suamataia and Michigan edge Jaylan Harrell.

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Nagy raised Wisconsin’s super-sized tailback Braelon Allen, who just turned 20 last month. The 245-pounder’s 40-yard dash looms as a swing factor for his stock. And then, Nagy brought up a player that sort of surprised me: Bowers.

I had one scout tell me he thinks Bowers will come in under 6'2". Another estimated he’ll be just over that mark. Either way, this unicorn of a college tight end, who was Mr. Everything for Georgia and a big-time playmaker on two national-title teams, even a very willing blocker, is a real outlier from a size standpoint. (Dallas Clark or Shannon Sharpe might be the best comps, in that sense.) So it’d really help if Bowers’s athleticism makes up for it.

“He’s a great player, don’t get me wrong, and he’s the unquestioned No. 1 tight end,” says Nagy. “You see the thing Daniel Jeremiah put out this week about positional value and why teams might be leery of taking Brock Bowers up high? It was basically just tying it back to the franchise tag number. You’re really not getting much of a discount. He was using the Chargers as an example. If the Chargers take Brock Bowers at five, you’re basically paying a tight end top-of-the-scale money, for a guy that hasn’t even played yet.

“You’d be paying him like a $12 million signing bonus. That’s what you’d be paying the top guy in free agency at that position, whereas if you get a receiver up there, compared to what you’d have to pay that guy in free agency, you’re getting a huge discount.”

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