The NFL combine is an opportunity for players who may otherwise not get a ton of publicity to show off their length and athleticism. Often times, like in the case of DK Metcalf last year, it helps a player burst onto the national scene – raising their draft stock and their future earnings considerably.
In the case of others, however, it can completely derail a once-promising career, and has been known to do enough damage that someone previously expected to get drafted in the first few rounds falls out of the draft picture entirely.
That is looking like the case for former University of Washington tackle Trey Adams – who was at one point considered among the best young tackles in all of college football. However, a pair of very serious injuries sapped a lot of his athleticism, which was extremely apparent in his sluggish performance at the NFL combine.
Adams ran a 5.6 in the 40-yard dash, along with a 24.5 inch vertical leap and a 7-foot-8 broad jump – all which were the worst marks among offensive linemen.
While Adams remained healthy in 2019, it’s clear his previous injury history is still impacting him, and has likely rendered him damaged goods by most NFL scouts.
However – Adams still possesses good strength and quickness getting into his pass sets, and could still develop into a capable starter at tackle, or at least a high-quality backup.
The Seahawks, like every other team, probably shouldn’t use a draft pick on a player with his checkered injury history and dwindling athleticism.
However, taking a chance on a homegrown kid as an undrafted free agent, at least to see if there’s hope for that athleticism to return with another injury-free season, seems like a worthwhile gamble for a team in need of reinforcements up front.
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