The focus of the annual NFL scouting combine usually remains on the players that improve their overall draft stock the most with strong performances in front of NFL scouts and executives. However, there is also the other side of the equation to consider as well with several players negatively impacting their overall draft stock with poor performances at the final stop before the NFL Draft. Here is a look at the five biggest losers from this year’s NFL scouting combine.
Noah Spence, Eastern Kentucky Colonels
Defensive End
Spence’s NFL Draft stock took a dramatic hit when he tested positive for Ecstasy twice and was kicked off Ohio State’s football team. He certainly didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to improve his stock at the scouting combine either. Spence ran a sluggish 4.80 40-yard dash and didn’t show the explosiveness and agility that scouts expected he would in the other drills. It also didn’t help that Spence rubbed a number of scouts and executives the wrong way with a casual attitude about what happened to him with the Buckeyes. The scouting combine is an excellent chance for prospects to really improve their draft stock, but Spence clearly failed to take advantage of the opportunity at the NFL scouting combine.
Jaylon Smith, Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Linebacker
Injuries were a big part of this year’s combine with a number of players that were hurt last year getting the opportunity to show that they had fully recovered. UCLA’s Myles Jack didn’t compete in all of the drills, but he excelled in the drills that he did participate in and passed his physical with no concerns. That wasn’t the case for Smith, who suffered a brutal knee injury in the Fiesta Bowl. NFL doctors talked about the possibility that he could miss his entire rookie season due to a torn ACL and LCL along with the possibility he suffered permanent nerve damage. Smith is a gifted player with sound character, but he has gone from being a potential top-five pick to falling out of the first round entirely.
Cardale Jones, Ohio State Buckeyes
Quarterback
Jones didn’t help his NFL Draft stock at Ohio State last season or at this year’s scouting combine. Jones pulled his hamstring running the 40-yard dash and was unable to work out or throw throughout the week. Jones will have his Pro Day to show off his arm strength, but the combine was clearly another missed opportunity at the NFL scouting combine for a passer whose stock continues to drop.
Joey Bosa, Ohio State Buckeyes
Defensive End
There was a lot of talk about Bosa’s potential to be the top pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, but that has changed following a terrible combine performance. Bosa didn’t show the explosiveness that he had been praised for in the weeks leading up to the combine and he fell short of expectations in a number of other areas as well including his weight, as he showed up at just 269 pounds. Bosa posted a poor 4.86 40-yard time and his 24 bench press reps were lower than expected as well. The former Buckeyes’ defensive end performed at a very high level in college, but he seems like a very ordinary athlete and suddenly there are legitimate concerns about whether he should even be a top-10 pick.
Laquon Treadwell, Mississippi Rebels
Wide Receiver
Treadwell has graded out as a first round pick in a number of mock drafts, but a poor combine performance certainly didn’t help his stock. Treadwell declined to run the 40-yard dash and his 33-inch vertical leap wasn’t very impressive at all. He still has the size at 6’2’’ and 210 pounds as well as solid hands, but the fact that he wasn’t willing to run the 40 was a concern and it certainly didn’t help his position. There will be several teams looking for a wide receiver in the opening round and Treadwell still has some strong upside, but he definitely ranks among the losers from this year’s combine as a player that likely isn’t considered a top-15 pick anymore at this point.
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