2014 NFL Draft: Scouting Combine Winners and Losers at Linebacker
Jonathan Daniel
We take a look at the results of this weekend's Scouting Combine and hand out awards to the winners and losers at the linebacker position.
While it's never prudent to draft a player solely based on one fitness test, there are advantages to performing well in front of NFL scouts and at least getting your name on a team's radar. An unknown running back or wide receiver who runs a 4.3 forty-yard dash would likely get a training camp invite or a defensive lineman who benches 225 pounds 45 times can go from a late-round pick to an early-round reach.
On the flip slide, there is more potential for an apparent first-round pick to lose value than there is for them to gain value at the world's most publicly scrutinized fitness test. The Packers seem likely to spend the majority of their draft picks on defensive players after another sub-par season on that side of the ball.
One unit of interest is the linebacker corps. The Packers can ill afford another injury-plagued season with undrafted free agents playing meaningful playing time late in the season. I expect the Packers to draft at least one inside linebacker and possibly sign a free agent as well. It's quite possible that an undrafted free agent from this year's draft class could be training camp invite as well, so an above-average test result could vault someone onto the Packers draft board.
With that in mind, Let's take a look at the winners and losers from this year's combine testing at the linebacker position, with special emphasis on the inside linebacker candidates.
Winners
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Jordan Tripp (Montana)
Tripp is a relatively unknown talent out of Montana, but may have put himself on many team's radars with his combine performance. He was measured in at 6-foot-3 and 234 pounds, ran a 4.67 40, recorded 22 reps on the bench press, a 37.5 vertical leap, 6.89-second 3-cone drill, and the fastest 20-yard shuttle time of 3.96 seconds.