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Showing posts from March, 2025

Gilmore's Still Got More

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   Stephon Gilmore's career looked like it was coming to an end back in 2021. After winning the Super Bowl with the Patriots in 2018 and then winning Defensive Player of the Year in 2019, he finished 2020 with a quadriceps injury and opened the 2021 season on the Physically Unable to Perform list. By October of that year, the 31 year old defensive back was traded to the Carolina Panthers for a sixth round draft pick (which was later used to draft Kayshon Boutte).    Cornerback careers are notorious for coming to sudden ends at a certain age, especially after lower body injuries. The speed that is essential to their position doesn't always fully return, and without the ability to keep up with younger receivers, their drop off is usually pretty steep. Most players in Gilmore's position would quietly fade out of the league within a year or two of that injury and subsequent trade.   Instead, Gilmore beat the odds. He recovered from his quad injury and in t...
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The Curious Case of the Combine Arm Length

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          Something strange is happening with prospect measurements this year, particularly when it comes to arm length for offensive linemen. Offensive tackles face the most scrutiny when it comes to physical measurements because of their crucial role in protecting quarterbacks. NFL teams generally prefer their tackles to have an arm length of at least 34 inches, with 33 inch arms being good enough to get by. It is almost unheard of for a long-term NFL starter at tackle to have arms shorter than 33 inches long. However, multiple offensive linemen who have been measured twice during the pre-draft process have seen significant discrepancies between their numbers, larger than what has been observed in previous years.      At this year’s NFL Combine, scouts were eager to get official measurements on some of the top offensive line prospects, but the results raised more questions than answers. Many of the most desired tackles came in with shorter-...
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2025 NFL Combine Recap - Quarterbacks

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  The 2025 NFL Scouting Combine officially came to and end on March 2nd. Among the 15 quarterbacks in attendance, 13 prospects participated in the throwing drills, and 3 of them also participated in the usual circuit of general athleticism drills. Here is a recap of everything we saw from the quarterback prospects at the 2025 NFL Combine: As expected, Cam Ward did not participate in any drills at the Combine. For his measurements there were no major surprises, though his official height of 6 foot 1 and 5/8 inches and his hand size of 9 inches were both a bit smaller than expected. Otherwise, it was a quiet weekend for the man projected to be the first quarterback drafted this year. Shedeur Sanders did not participate in any drills either, but he made headlines with some of his interview answers. He responded to reports asking why NFL teams should draft him with confident answers that referenced his winning record at Colorado, his desire to change a team's culture, and having the sa...
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