NFL Combine 2012: Vontaze Burfict Proves He Has No Business Going in 1st Round

It seems like just yesterday that we were talking about Vontaze Burfict as a potential Top 5 pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.

Then came the 2011 season, which was not kind to Burfict. He underperformed and ultimately was benched by then-Arizona State head coach Dennis Erickson. Since the 2011 season ended, scouts have been picking apart Burfict's game bit by bit, and they haven't liked what they've found.

Burfict had a chance to rescue his dwindling draft stock in Indianapolis at the NFL Scouting Combine. But lo and behold, he went and made things worse.

It was absolutely imperative for Burfict to give off a good impression in speaking to the media and various NFL teams, and he did not. He failed to address the character concerns that hang over his head like dark clouds, and it's easy to see why once you read the things he had to say.

Kent Somers of The Arizona Republic has a collection of the best of the best. He takes care to point out that Burfict hurt himself with nearly every answer he gave.

For example, Burfict blamed his surplus of personal-foul penalties in 2011 not on his reckless play, but on the officials.

"I just love to hit," he said. "I hate to lose."

As for the locker-room fight he had with a teammate, Burfict said he has learned from it, but he did so while at the same time saying that he shouldn't be viewed as a bad guy.

"We had an argument, and we brought it into the locker room," said Burfict. "We started chattering about it, he started rough-housing me. He pushed me, and my first instinct was to swing, and everyone thinks I'm the bad guy because my first instinct was to swing on the guy."

No, Vontaze. People think you're the bad guy because you actually swung. There's a difference.

As for Burfict's poor performance in 2011, he put the responsibility for that partially on Arizona State's coaching staff.

"I could've played better," he said. "That's what hurt me at times. The coaches kind of messed me up. I didn't know if I would start a game or be benched. It hurt me, but I tried to fight through it."

Even if this is true, Burfict should have known better than to blame his coaches for his poor 2011 season. He should have known how that was going to sound, and that it wouldn't help his reputation as a loose cannon.

All of this could have been forgiven if Burfict had performed well out on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium, but he didn't do that, either.

Per Pro Football Talk, Burfict did not perform well in the 40-yard dash, running it at unofficial times of 4.93 seconds and 5.10 seconds. That doesn't look good, especially not next to fellow middle linebackers Luke Kuechly and Mychal Kendricks. Kuechly ran in the 4.5-second range, and Kendricks broke the 4.5-second mark.

There's obviously more to playing linebacker than simple straight-line speed, but Burfict's performance in the 40-yard dash was too bad to ignore. He failed to show any kind of explosiveness.

So, Burfict really doesn't have a leg to stand on at this point. Instead of proving to NFL people that he's an above-average athlete who has learned from his mistakes, Burfict basically proved that he's merely an average athlete who is incapable of admitting that he made mistakes.

This doesn't mean there's not a home for Burfict in the NFL, but it does mean that he's not worth a first-round investment. He no longer has the look and feel of a difference maker. He has the feel of a project player who needs a lot of work.

Players like that have no business going in the first round of the draft.