Day One of workouts at the NFL Combine consisted of the bench press for offensive lineman and tight ends. Some men dropped jaws, others dropped on big boards. Whether or not the Combine should mean as much as it does is debatable, but teams certainly value it and poor performances will cost you. Let’s take a peek at who may be losing money:
For offensive lineman, benching under 25 reps is a tad concerning, especially when a decent percentage of other performers are repping 26-plus times, some even into the high 30’s and low 40’s. Here is a list of the 14 offensive lineman that did not do 25 or more reps in the 225 pound bench press drill:
Joel Bitonio (22)
Conor Boffeli (21)
Justin Britt (23)
Dakota Dozier (23)
Gabe Ikard (22)
Ja’Wuan James (22)
Cyrus Kouandjio (21)
Charles Leno (21)
Marcus Martin (23)
Jake Matthews (24)
Matt Patchan (23)
James Stone (22)
Travis Swanson (20)
David Yankey (22)
Now, just because they made the list does not mean that they have lost much. Players such as Jake Matthews and David Yankey do not win with strength, thus the test is not as big of a deal for them. Although, players such as Cyrus Kouandjio and Dakota Dozier, who thrive on their strength, disappointed in the workout. What does that mean to teams? To some, it may mean that they will slip down the board because their on tape strength may be misleading. To other teams, it is the exact opposite. They may believe that the workout is misleading and simply trust their tape evaluation.
Even though it is the bigger names who have their poor performances slandered in the media, it is the smaller school players that have lost the most. To some of the lesser mentioned players, like Dozier and Matt Patchan, an impressive performance could sky rocket their stock. Reversely, a poor performance such as this could keep them from being drafted at all.
Just as a number of offensive lineman disappointed in the bench press workout, so did a handful of tight ends. For tight ends, the concerning range is anything under 20 reps. Here are the five tight ends who failed to reach 20 reps:
Nic Jacobs (15)
Colt Lyerla (15)
Jordan Najvar (18)
Richard Rogers (16)
The two highly touted names here are Colt Lyerla and Richard Rogers. Although, neither are really true in-line blocking tight ends. Both are primarily receiving threats, making the mediocre performance less of an issue.
For those who disappointed during the bench press workout, it is crucial for them to blow up one or multiple of the other drills in the upcoming days. If not, they may find themselves lower on draft boards or, in the case of the lesser prospects, off boards completely.