It was a long week in Indianapolis, Indiana, and the NFL and the media have left town. There is no better time to break down and see who made the most of their time and who didn’t during the NFL Combine.
You don’t want to overanalyze how every player performs because you want to rely on the film more than anything, but these numbers paint a bigger picture. As we go across the skill positions this week, we will see some guys who may have shown one thing on film, but the testing proved something else, for both the good and bad sides.
The Dynasty Nerds staff is already building up rookie ADP after all the happenings of this past week’s NFL combine. Now, that being said, kicking things off with quarterbacks may not be the deepest dive to start our breakdown series.
Many quarterbacks opted out of different drills, mainly the 40-yard dash, but a lot of them threw and were able to demonstrate their mechanics. Most of these guys have worked with programs or individual coaches about their style and mechanics, so it is always nice to see who made what changes.
That being said, you can start with the biggest winner of the week by all accounts to recap.
Winner: Malik Willis, Liberty
Willis could handle and ace everything the NFL threw at him all week. Whether it was the Wonderlic test, interviews, or drills, he was able to take them all with what seemed like ease, and teams came away super impressed. What was once seen as a sure-fire thing that Kenny Pickett would be the first quarterback off the board, Malik Willis may have had a say in that. Willis in Carolina or Denver would make for some fun fantasy potential as both teams have great weapons to boost him up. Both seem like landing spots after this week.
Loser: Kenny Pickett, Pittsburgh
You know why he is on here; we need to look at this from the NFL and team’s perspectives because that’s what matters at the end of the day. If it is reported that teams may be concerned with his hand size, then we as fantasy players need to be concerned. No one in the league has had a successful quarterback career with 8 ½ inch hands outside of Michael Vick. Vick had a cannon of an arm, though, something Pickett lacks. As rookie drafts unfold and draft picks are traded, proceed with caution for now.
Winner: E.J. Perry, Brown
Good measurables and an on-field solid performance at the Combine have the NFL and media talking about the Ivy League quarterback. On film heading into the NFL Combine, you could see he has a live arm, good mechanics, and a dual-threat ability, as he has shown to be a decent runner as well. At the Combine, he participated in more drills than any of the other quarterbacks, and you may have seen on social media he even acted as the trash man cleaning up after his constitutes. All in all, an excellent week for the Boston College transfer as he continues his venture to usurp Chris Berman as the most famous Brown alum.
Loser: Matt Corral, Ole Miss
He measured in well, but we still haven’t seen him show off his big arm yet due to his rehab from his knee injury. He will be able to throw and test at his Pro Day before the draft, but again, when everyone else he is competing against isn’t there, it doesn’t help his chances. This quarterback class, more than any, is about staying in the mind of evaluators, and Corral hasn’t done that this cycle.
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