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Arkansas, Miss. St. edge rushers stand out at pro days
While the hype revolves around the quarterbacks (like every year), the strongest position in the 2015 NFL Draft is pass rusher. Two of the best from the Southeastern Conference showed off their size and athleticism during popular Pro Pay workouts on Wednesday.
Representatives from 30 NFL teams at Arkansas watched Second Team All-SEC defensive end Trey Flowers shave approximately a tenth of a second off of the 4.93 time he ran in the 40-yard dash at the Scouting Combine last month. Flowers worked out as a defensive end and as a linebacker.
The 6-foot-2, 266-pounder is a good athlete for his compact frame but showed some stiffness when flipping his hips in linebacker drills and shows only normal (rather than explosive) acceleration. He’s a savvy, physical pass rusher who could play a Pernell McPhee-like role in a 3-4 scheme or operate as a traditional defensive end in a 4-3 alignment.
Flowers was one of four Razorbacks invited to the Combine, but the only one currently ranked among NFLDraftScout.com’s top 100 prospects. Linebacker Martrell Spaight was timed in the mid 4.7s after his official time in Indianapolis was 4.88. Defensive lineman Darius Philon came in at 4.82 seconds.
The most important workout in Fayetteville, though, came from former quarterback turned tight end AJ Derby, who wasn’t unable to participate at the Combine. He was clocked in the low 4.7s and showed crisp routes and secure hands during his positional drills.
There were 16 players who participated in the workout, including former Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson, who threw passes.
Meanwhile, in Starkville, Miss., linebacker Benardrick McKinney and defensive end Preston Smith elected to stand on their solid Combine performances and elected only to participate in positional drills.
Not surprisingly, each excelled, demonstrating the length and range that led to both prospects earning top 100 projections on NFLDraftScout.com’s board.
Of the two, the 6-5, 271-pound Smith had the slightly more impressive workout, according to a league scout on hand. Smith showed impressive agility and strength throughout the defensive line drills and showed some body control when changing directions while dropping and even catching passes.
The 6-4, 246-pound McKinney showed “light feet and quick, heavy hands” during pass rush drills – traits that have scouts from 3-4 and 4-3 teams intrigued.
The scout estimated that every team in the league was represented.
(Rob Rang is a Senior Analyst for www.NFLDraftScout.com, a property of The Sports Xchange distributed in partnership with CBSSports.com).
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