Winner – Willie Gay Jr.
Every Combine there is a player who tests so well, you cannot wait to dive into his film and see what you and others were missing. Mississippi State linebacker Willie Gay Jr. is one such player. Gay missed time during his junior year as a result of NCAA violations regarding an academic tutor, and he also got into an “altercation” with starting quarterback Garrett Shrader according to NFL.com.
Perhaps that is why no one saw his Saturday night performance coming.
Gay posted one of the best workouts among linebackers, along with Simmons. He ran a blazing 4.46 40-yard dash, second to only Simmons among linebackers. His 21 reps on the bench press (we’re going to discuss that in a moment) tied him for fifth among linebackers. His vertical leap of 39.5” was second-best among LBs, his broad jump of 11’4” was tops at the position, and his three-cone time of 7.08 was also near the top among linebackers.
Players with red flags such as Gay need strong combine showings to demonstrate that they might be worth the character risk. When a player like this tests as well as Gay did on Saturday night, teams might be more willing to take a chance on them later in the round. Conversely, poor testing combined with character flags is often a death knell for a prospect’s chances. Gay had a huge opportunity Saturday and made the most of it, and if he did well during his interview sessions, he will have left Indianapolis in a much better position.
Loser – A.J. Epenesa
If you were expecting Epenesa, the Iowa defensive lineman, to come into Indianapolis and look the part of a prototype NFL EDGE defender, you were likely disappointed by his testing results.
If you consider Epenesa as more of a 3-4 defensive end, and thus perhaps more of a defensive lineman? You might have been satisfied with what you saw.
Consider the work done by Kent Lee Platte, who you can find on Twitter at @MathBomb. Using his Relative Athletic Scoring system, which evaluates the players based on their size, testing results and position, Epenesa’s RAS score of 4.30 was near the bottom of all the EDGE defenders in Indianapolis.
But if you compare him with defensive linemen, he would post not a 4.30, but a 9.08, which would be near the top.
Epenesa projects more as a 5-technique defender in the NFL,a defensive end in a three-man front who will rely more on power than burst and explosiveness off the edge. Teams that are looking for that kind of player are probably double-checking what they saw on film, and not overthinking his testing results. But if you were hoping for a bendy edge rusher, you came away disappointed.