At the end of August, I profiled the athletic traits of a pair of Green Bay defenders who seem destined to be marginal players in the NFL – that’s if they are able to stay on an NFL roster at all. The two were inside linebackers Kyler Fackrell and Jayrone Elliott.
As before, I’m going to compare NFL Combine test scores of a couple of other Packers players with others who play the same position. I’ve thrown in some teammate comparisons too. The numbers in the charts are percentile rankings.
Geronimo Allison
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Other than having good hands and height, Geronimo has no attributes suggesting he’ll become a solid NFL receiver. Davante Adams, in contrast, has well utilized his leaping ability, decent strength, and maneuverability (3-cone drill) to become one of Aaron Rodgers’ favorite targets. You will also note that while he’s not fast, he’s in the top third of wide receivers when it comes to getting a quick start – this is why I focus a lot on 10-yard split times. Janis – it’s just maddening.
Quentin Rollins
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Except for his jumping ability, Rollins is simply not an NFL-quality athlete. It was insanity for Ted Thompson to spend on second-round pick on him. Davon House is a considerable improvement. Damarious Randall had fine combine numbers – the team can’t quit on a guy with such credentials. I believe he’s going to better reflect these talents on the field going forward. Kevin King is the real deal – his ability to change directions and overall agility are fabulous!
Combine Marks Translate to NFL Success
For those who continue to downplay NFL Combine scores, wake up. These scores have now been shown to accurately reflect the on-field abilities of the following players: outside linebackers Kyler Fackrell, Jayrone Elliott and Clay Matthews; receivers Geronimo Allison, Davante Adams and Jeff Janis; and cornerbacks Quinten Rollins, Davon House, Damarious Randall and Kevin King.
You can even spot players’ deficiencies on the field by viewing their combine scores. For example, none of the four Packers cornerbacks have good strength, and only King has shown himself (to date) to be an effective tackler.
Another example: Adams and Allison both have trouble gaining separation from defenders. You saw what happened when Rodgers relied on Allison to separate himself from the Falcons’ Desmond Trufant: interception. For those wondering, Trufant was 89th percentile (among cornerbacks) in the 40-yard dash, and 96th in his 10-yard split time. Yet the Packers – including Rodgers – thought Allison could go deep on Trufant. The speed differential at 40 yards: 4.38 vs. 4.67 seconds. Plus, Allison started to break off the route when he saw that Trufant had him blanketed.
You might also recall I included ex-Badger Joe Schobert in my previous post, as the Packers passed over this athletic guy when they picked Kyler Fackrell in the third round last year. I asked at the time: who do you bet is going to have a longer and more successful career, Schobert, Fackrell, or Jayrone Elliott? Well, at the two-week mark, Schobert has 14 tackles for the Browns. Fackrell has two, and Elliott has none and was just released by the Cowboys.
And so it goes in Ted Thompson’s world.
Postscript. Jordy Nelson is said to be only 50-50 to play against the Bengals. Do you really want Geronimo Allison to play most of the game, as he did in Atlanta? I don’t.
MM always plays favorites. Always has, always will . . . Repugnant.
I doubt Jordy plays this week. Can’t compare but I did notice Jon brown in az had a quad issue and missed week 2 and is doubtful for week 3. Depending how bad and the way this staff works, Jordy could be out a few weeks. These big bad te we signed better step it up.
And yet the unathletic Patriots keep winning championships.
Quentin Rollins problem isn’t his combine scores. It’s the 6 inches between his ears.
In your face!!!
Like i’ve said before, i’ll take a team of hard nose guy’s who love to play football, over an athlete that can rebound, or shoot 3’s, or who was a good short stop.
How do Max McCaffrey numbers look? He looked like a gamer during preseason and his family “pedigree” is pretty good.
Gort: McCaffrey did his tests at a Pro Day event. His approximate NFL Combine percentiles would be 58 (10-yd. split), 69 (40-yd dash), 66 (3-cone), 20 (20-yd shuttle), 59 (vert. jump), and 10 (bench presses). So nothing is great, but speed, burst, jump, and one agility score are better than average, and the other agility score and strength scores are poor. Overall, it’s an above-average grouping, and quite comparable to Davante Adams. The important 4.46 40-yard dash time is quite promising.
Rob, thanks for your work on these sorts of in depth reports.
Max’s numbers are better than Geronimo’s. Max is gone probably because he was not a Packers draft pick.
Sux for us. I thought that Max was good enough for a roster spot.