Winners and Losers from Day 5 of the combine

Written by Christian Lysek

Myles Garrett

The linebackers and defensive line took the field yesterday, and it was quite a show. This years strong edge rushing class impressed, while the weak defensive tackle class did not. Here were the winners and losers from yesterdays action.

Winners:

Myles Garrett, EDGE, Texas A&M: He locked up the number one pick with a 41'' vert, a 4.64 40, 33 bench press reps, and 128'' broad jump. If the Browns don't take Garrett, God doesn't want them to win.
Solomon Thomas, EDGE, Stanford: He ran a 4.70 in the 40 yard dash, the same time as Tim Williams, who weighs 245. Thomas weighs 270. He is explosive and a top ten lock.
Carl Lawson, EDGE, Auburn: I knew Lawson would would be strong (35 bench press reps), but I didn't know he would run 4.67 and dominate the cone and lower body drills. He had a great combine and might be a top 25 pick.
Trey Hendrickson, EDGE, FAU: He has been my sleeper EDGE rusher all year long, and he crushed the combine. He ran a blazing 4.64 at 266 lbs and had top marks in the cone and lower body drills. He could be a top 100 pick.
Haason Reddick, LB, Temple: Haason Reddick ran a 4.52 40, had 24 bench press reps, a 36.5 inch vert, 133 inch brad jump, a 7.01 3-cone, and a 4.37 short shuttle. I don't care if he is a "tweener," he is a freak athlete who I will let my defensive coordinator get creative with using.
Jordan Willis, EDGE, Kansas St: Willis ran just slower than Reddick with a 4.53. He also had a 39'' vert, 125 inch broad jump, 6.85 3-cone, 4.28 short shuttle. Those are explosive numbers that are important because he didn't look explosive at all sometimes in college. Teams are going to have to investigate more to find out what kind of player they are getting, but in this instance, that isn't a bad thing.
T.J. Watt, LB, Wisconsin: The younger brother of J.J. had a dominant day. He ran a 4.7 40 yard dash at 252 lbs, placed 1st in the cone drills and broad jump and second in the vertical jump. He has the upside teams look for in a 3-4 EDGE rusher.
Raekwon McMillan, LB, Ohio State: McMillan had a good combine, and what made it so good was that he answered his questions about his speed. For a linebacker his size, a 4.61 is a damn good time.
Tarell Basham, EDGE, Ohio: At almost 269 lbs, he ran a 4.7 40 yard and posted explosive measurables in every other event. He is now in the top 100 pick discussion.

Losers:

Jonathan Allen, DL, Alabama: Allen didn't have a bad day (5.0 40, 29'' vert, 108'' broad, 7.49 3-cone, 4.89, short shuttle), but he failed to stand out. In a class packed with winners like those listed above, his performance combined with his shoulder injury could drop him down boards.
Davon Godchaux, DL, LSU: Davon Godchaux had a bad day. He ran a 5.27 40 and pulled a hamstring, neither of which helped his stock.
Jarron Jones, DL, Notre Dame: Jones is a monstorous man, but he performed bad at the combine. He ran a 5.33 40 and only jumped 20.5'' inches in the air. On top of that, he looked slow in positional drills.
Tim Williams, LB, Alabama: Not only did he admit to failing multiple drug tests at Alabama. He was merely mediocre during drills. He was not explosive or fast for only being 245 lbs.
Ben Boulware and every linebacker like him: They did other drills but answered zero questions on whether they are fast enough to play on Sundays. They lost even more ground in the draft process.

All statistics taken from FanRag combine tracker.