So, remember a few weeks back when anonymous scouts were griping to local media scribes about Anthony Davis not working out at his pro day, and the NFL Draft community responded by dropping Davis down on his mock drafts? As it turns out, maybe he was just trying to scare off Al Davis and the Raiders with a subpar workout. April Fools! Now if only Devin McCourty's tweets about visiting the Dallas Cowboys were a joke.
Anthony worked out for 11 teams on Tuesday in Edison (since the practice bubble is down), including the Giants and Jets. AD's agent Sonny Shah said that Blaze and Haslam were there too. Aaron Wilson usually has good sources (including in this case, an endorsement from Ray Rice), and said that it was a strong workout. Same for Gil Brandt at NFL.com. Right now Davis is visiting the Niners in California, and just came back from a visit to Buffalo.
After the workout, it was a little curious to see this quote in an article from (Jets beatwriter) Dave Hutchinson in the Ledger.
Rutgers left tackle Anthony Davis played a game of role reversal today. Exchanging his helmet and pads for a stopwatch and note pad, he boldly proclaimed he’s the best tackle in the upcoming NFL Draft — and it’s not even close.
"I’m not just saying it because it’s me, I watch film, too," Davis told The Star-Ledger. "If I felt it was somebody else, I would say it was him. But just watching the film, I think it’s like hands-down that I’m the best tackle in the country. I don’t think I’m wrong for saying it because I truly believe it."
There is a good case that Anthony very well is the best tackle in the draft. Trent Williams was so bad last year that he was benched and eventually moved to center. Suddenly he's considered a top 10 pick because of a great Combine. Bryan Bulaga is solid, but there's worry about whether he can play LT, and he missed a few games in 2009. Furthermore, it's probably true that Anthony Davis is the most talented tackle in the draft. There's no question that he is capable of being an elite pass protector.
That's not the end of it though. Credit to SNY's The Jets Blog for finding this comment on Anthony's Facebook wall. Davis slams Hutchinson for writing that he came to camp 25 lbs overweight, when it was actually 4 lbs. I can understand the frustration when it seems like everybody is piling on, but Hutchinson was hardly the first person to repeat that claim, so that does seem odd in a way. I checked the archives, and what I found from last fall...doesn't agree with either of them, although Davis is closer to the truth.
After only five days of Rutgers practices, Davis says he's gone from 325 pounds to his goal weight of 315.
This heat is about a 0.7 on the Inman scale, so I don't think this comment is going to get much traction on the blogosphere. Probably wasn't the best idea though.