10 post-combine thoughts about prospects and the Detroit Lions after a week in Indianapolis
Indianapolis —The NFL scouting combine can be a bear.
On the first official day of access last Tuesday, I had an hour-long, one-on-one interview in the morning for a future story, Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes held media sessions in the early afternoon and coordinators Drew Petzing and Kelvin Sheppard met with local reporters a few hours later.
All of that was sandwiched between two news items — the announcement that the Lions will play a game in Germany next season and left tackle Taylor Decker will hold off on retirement and return for an 11th season.
Before we even talked to a single prospect in this year’s draft class, the fuel tank was admittedly running low.
Returning Saturday night and taking Sunday to recharge the batteries, I started piecing together some thoughts from the event Monday morning. Of course, that was interrupted by the Lions trading running back David Montgomery and releasing Graham Glasgow.
All that to say, we’re getting to these a little later than expected. But better late than never, right? Here are 10 things that stuck out to me from the four days of listening in on and talking to a few dozen prospects from the upcoming draft.
● Certain prospects have an aura about them that immediately grabs you. Penn State offensive lineman Vega Ioane falls into this category.
Ioane spoke in a calm, steady voice through the duration of his media session, but there was an intensity in his eyes as he talked about flipping the switch between the lines on game day.
I asked Ioane if he only had one play from his catalog of more than 2,300 reps at Penn State, which one epitomizes how he would define himself as a player. With lightning-quick recall, he brought up his 45th snap against Northwestern, where he drove his man-to-man assignment 15 yards down the field and “dumped him.”
It was also easy to appreciate Ioane’s intrinsic motivation to get his weight under control. Tipping the scales at 345 pounds, without being asked by anyone at Penn State, he started taking his diet and conditioning more seriously, dropping 20 pounds in the process.