Alabama Football: Crimson Tide Winners and Losers from 2015 NFL Combine
Alabama’s NFL draft hopefuls have crossed another hurdle in their path to play at the highest level of football.
Eleven former Crimson Tide players went to Indianapolis this weekend to work out for NFL scouts and coaches at the NFL combine.
For a full list of results, you can head over to our Alabama combine tracker here.
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But what do these results mean for some of these players? Who helped and who hurt themselves?
Let’s take a look at some winners and losers. All results and rankings come from NFL.com’s combine database.
Loser: Christion Jones
A bad year for Jones on the field only got worse on Saturday.
Jones’ 40-yard dash time of 4.63 seconds put him at No. 34 out of 39 receivers who ran the drill. He only beat players such as Division II Harding’s Donatella Luckett and Michigan’s Devin Funchess, who could end up playing tight end in the NFL.
Forty-yard dash times on their own shouldn’t be used to judge a prospect’s ability at the next level. But it’s troubling for the 5’10”, 182-pound Jones, who made his mark in college as a slot guy and a return man. Speed was supposed to be his asset, and he didn’t even put up an average score.
That led many to ask questions such as this, from Football Perspective’s Chase Stuart:
Indeed, this performance was near-unthinkable a year ago. Jones had 349 receiving yards in 2013 playing in a deep rotation and returned three punts and a kick back for a touchdown, including one of each in the season opener against Virginia Tech. He was a second-team AP All-SEC selection and tied for the first team on the coaches ballot.
After a disappointing season that saw a drop in receiving production and major struggles in the return game, this wasn’t the combine performance he needed.
Winner: DeAndrew White
Where one former Alabama receiver saw his draft stock fall in Indianapolis, another one did a lot to put some doubts to rest.
The big question for White coming into the weekend was how his speed would be affected by a major knee surgery he underwent during the 2012 season. Measuring in at 5’11”, 183 pounds, the former track star needed to show that his speed could still be an asset for him.
Consider those questions answered.
White ran a blazing 4.44, tied for No. 13 among the wide receivers alongside names such as Louisville's DeVonte Parker and Arizona State’s Jaelen Strong.
White likely won’t be a superstar in the NFL like his counterpart, Amari Cooper. But he has potential to carve out a long career as a reliable No. 2 or 3 wide receiver. His speed will make him more valuable for a team looking for a slot or return guy in the mid to late rounds.
Loser: Non-participants
Linebacker Trey DePriest and offensive guard Arie Kouandjio watched from the sidelines as their fellow former teammates ran the 40-yard dash, did the vertical jump and took part in the other measurables.
Kouandjio only went through offensive line drills and didn’t participate in media interviews, while DePriest didn’t do any on-field work at all after a postseason surgery for a torn meniscus, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
Kouandjio did, though, get some good reviews from a former player he faced this season.
The pair are already projected mid- to late-round projections and could have helped themselves with big showings in front of scouts who may not have been paying them close attention in games loaded with other high-end talent.
Still, it’s not a death knell, either. They’ll get a chance to work out at Alabama’s pro day. An official date hasn’t been announced, but it is typically just before the start of spring practice, which begins on March 23 this year.
Winner: Alabama’s studs
Amari Cooper and Landon Collins solidified their status as future first-round picks with very strong showings at the combine.
Cooper turned in a 4.42 40-yard dash, a great time that backed up the speed he showed on the field.
And while West Virginia’s Kevin White—who is Cooper’s competition for first wide receiver off the board—slightly edged him with an official 4.36, a video of their runs synced up shows that Cooper may have actually run faster than White. Nothing like a good combine conspiracy.
Cooper also earned NFL.com’s “top performer” honors for his times in the three-cone drill and 20-yard shuttle.
Collins, meanwhile, ran the fifth-best 40 time of any safety at 4.53. It’s especially impressive considering he weighed in at 228 pounds and is a strong safety. That speed will show teams that he has the speed to run sideline to sideline, in addition to playing close to the line.
And Alabama didn’t waste any time touting Collins’ outing to potential recruits.
Marc Torrence is the Alabama lead writer for Bleacher Report. All quotes and reporting were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Follow on Twitter @marctorrence.
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