Anthony Davis ended up having a disappointing Combine performance. 40-yard dash times don't remotely matter for offensive linemen, but Davis ran a relatively slow 5.38. Hey, if it scares off Al Davis and the Raiders, that could end up being the best thing that ever happened to him. Only doing 21 bench reps was on the low side too. 8'03 in the broad jump isn't awful, and at 33 inches, Anthony actually had the second highest score for tackles in the vertical jump, which purportedly measures explosion.
There's not really any hard and fast rule for the value of those workouts, but the consensus is that A.D. didn't fare so well. That could hurt his chances at the top 5 and possibly the top 10. Or, some team loves him and is trying to spread rumors so they can snatch him up As everyone on the boards seemed to point out over the weekend, it's hard to bomb worse than Andre Smith did last year. Smith left early without telling anyone, and later struggled at his pro day, and still went #8 overall to the Bengals. While things weren't that bad, conditioning remains a concern. It's not the end of the world, but Anthony will get another chance in a few weeks at the bubble. He's working out and not shying away from the spotlight, which is something that you can't say for every draft prospect.
A.D. can only slide so far, because it only takes one team to fantasize about having a left tackle of the future for the next decade. At his Combine presser, former NFL GM Charlie Casserly said that he's talked to half of the teams in the NFL about their draft boards. Casserly briefly assessed Davis when he was going over the linemen class, really emphasizing the intrigue and consternation. That's the story from Mike Mayock too, where he's awed by Anthony's potential in pass protection, but worried about inconsistency and "immaturity".
Mr. Davis is a mystery wrapped in 320 pounds of brute force. If anyone has the cipher handy, there are probably 32 NFL teams that would be lining up for that solution. Four days later, and no one's feeling like they learned a thing about the man. Which is, pretty much exactly the impression from watching him play for the past three years. No one knows a damn thing.
Brief aside, because this has been an annoyance: LSU's Trindon Holliday claimed to run a 4.21 in training for the Combine, but was electronically timed yesterday as "only" running a 4.34 (which is still incredibly fast, but less so considering his lack of physical stature). I pick on Holliday of course because he and Dexter McCluster seemed to be the only prospects in Indianapolis with a similar body type to Tim Brown. No one can doubt McCluster's credentials, but Holliday secured an invite to the event despite barely seeing action in his four year career outside of the return game (where, to be fair, he did excel). It's not to say that Holliday doesn't deserve an invite, but Brown certainly does. He definitely would be there if he was bigger, but that was no handicap to Holliday.
LSU fans blame their coaching staff for misusing Holliday, but I think it's outrageous that he received an invite, and Brown, who was a far more productive player, did not. That will happen, when a total dog like Sam Young gets to attend because of his Notre Dame degree, and Kevin Haslam does not. (I'm not a big Haslam fan, and don't agree with a lot of the assessment in that article, but the point still stands). Mike Teel was a far better pro prospect than Chase Daniel and Graham Harrell. George Johnson is definitely a draftable prospect too (in my opinion, he's better than Westerman). It's a shame, because all three have the potential to shine in workouts. They'll have to wait for now, with Devin McCourty the only other Scarlet Knight in Indianapolis this year.