NFL Combine 2017: What to Watch for on Saturday

With quarterbacks, receivers and tight ends working out, front-seven defenders meeting the media and defensive backs getting their measurements taken, Saturday might be the most interesting day at the 2017 NFL Scouting Combine. 

Chances are we'll meet several future stars on both sides of the ball Saturday in Indianapolis, and the event's most celebrated record could be in danger. 

Here's a look at what to watch for on the fifth day of seven at Lucas Oil Stadium, Indiana.

The Quarterbacks Take the Field

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At this stage, there's no clear-cut leader of the pack at the quarterback position. That dynamic could make for a high-stakes Saturday in Indy, with North Carolina's Mitchell Trubisky, Notre Dame's DeShone Kizer, Clemson's Deshaun Watson and Texas Tech's Patrick Mahomes all jockeying for position under center. 

We'll see all four of those potential first-round picks out there for on-field workouts Saturday, along with supposed "second-tier" signal-callers Davis Webb (California), Brad Kaaya (Miami) and Nathan Peterman (Pittsburgh). 

There's been plenty of buzz attached to those top four names.

Trubisky is already arguably a combine winner after being measured 6'2" ⅛ inches tall amid concerns about his height, and Cleveland.com's Mary Kay Cabot reported this week that the Browns will strongly consider taking him first overall.

"Obviously, he's a tremendous player," Browns head coach Hue Jackson said, per Cabot. "There's a lot of good players in this draft. It's just so early for us to determine exactly where we are. All those things will be discussed and thrown around as we continue to move forward."

The 6'4", 233-pound Kizer appears to have all of the physical tools general managers want, and it seems the San Francisco 49ers—who hold the No. 2 overall selection—have developed a crush. 

"He blew the doors off of it," new 49ers GM John Lynch said of Kizer's combine interview, per USA Today's Lorenzo Reyes. "He’s an impressive young man. His film is impressive, too.”

Watson is the biggest name of the group—a reigning national champion who sat out the Senior Bowl but is expected to compete fully on Saturday. Just as there are questions about Trubisky's experience and Kizer's mechanics, there are questions about Watson's footwork and accuracy.

His response to that, per ESPN.com's Jeff Legwold? "Winning solves everything. You can't take that away from anybody."

Mahomes' stock has been rising all winter. He's a confident, dual-threat quarterback with a howitzer. Can he be relied upon at the next level? Can be be tamed? Those are questions he'll need to answer over the next seven weeks, starting this weekend. 

"I definitely think I could be (the best QB in this year's class)" said Mahomes, according to Nathan Zegura of ClevelandBrowns.com. "I have the talent to be. So it’s going to be all on who works the hardest off the field from the film work, in your practice, exactly how you want it. That will determine who is the best guy.”

Webb is 6'5", Kaaya 6'4". The former shines on tape but might be a system quarterback, the latter is an experienced, pro-style pocket passer with technical questions. Peterman is also there physically but has to answer questions about his technique. 

It's a flawed class, but there's a lot of room for these prospects—and many others—to move up and down, starting Saturday. 

So Do Their Targets

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And it won't just be about the wide receivers, because Bleacher Report's Matt Miller calls this the most talented tight end class he's ever seen. 

That group is led by projected first-rounders O.J. Howard (Alabama) and David Njoku (Miami), both of whom Miller calls "legitimate plug-and-play weapons with excellent blocking, receiving and run-after-catch talent." 

Both are ridiculous athletes, so it'll feel as though they'll essentially be going head-to-head on Saturday, with plenty of contract cash potentially on the line. Howard already edged out his rival in the bench press, but Njoku thinks he'll break the broad jump record. 

Beyond that you've got Mississippi's Evan Engram (234 pounds with 4.6 speed), South Alabama's Gerald Everett (might also dip below 4.6), Virginia Tech's Bucky Hodges (three strong seasons under his belt with the Hokies), Clemson's Jordan Leggett (6'6" with speed and athleticism) and Ashland's Adam Shaheen (a small-school product, and by far the biggest tight end competing at 6'6", 278 pounds). 

In many other years, any of those guys would have had a chance to be viewed as the best tight end in the class. But this is a special year.

And while the wide receiver class might not be as top-heavy as in years past, Clemson's Mike Williams and Western Michigan's Corey Davis certainly appear to be first-round picks. Saturday could decide which of those two enters the heart of draft season on top, but Williams—who looks to be the complete package at 6'4", 218 pounds—has an edge with Davis nursing an ankle injury. 

Davis won't compete in on-field drills, while Williams is sitting out the 40. 

Chris Johnson's Record in Peril?

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With Davis absent, the receiver with the best chance to challenge Williams might be Washington's John Ross, who just might be the fastest player in this year's draft.

The 5'11", 188-pounder isn't just a speed demon—he caught 81 passes and scored 17 touchdowns last season, and he has strong enough hands and enough size to hold it down as more than just a home run hitter—but the football world will be watching very closely when he takes his mark for the 40-yard dash. 

That's because Adidas is again offering a big reward to anybody who can break Chris Johnson's nine-year-old combine 40 record of 4.24 seconds. In fact, this year it is willing to give away land.

"Adidas is offering an island to any prospect who breaks the 4.24-second time clocked at the combine by Chris Johnson in 2008, as long as he does it in the company's 2017 Adizero 5-Star 40 cleats and agrees to endorse the company's shoes for the entire 2017-18 season," wrote ESPN.com's Darren Rovell on Tuesday.

Rovell added that players can instead opt for $1 million in cash. In the age of the rookie wage scale, that's a pretty sweet deal. 

According to Christian Caple of the News Tribune, Ross ran a hand-timed 4.25-second 40-yard dash despite coming off a major knee injury last offseason. So the kid has a shot.

"I'm going to try," said Ross in regard to breaking Johnson's record, per Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times. "I don't want to say too much, [that] I'm just everything. But I'm definitely going to try. I'm definitely going to go for it."

Ross thinks he can run it under 4.3 seconds, according to Rob Phillips of DallasCowboys.com. But even if he doesn't come through, if the record's going to be broken in 2017, it'll likely happen Saturday. That's because the next-fastest guy in this class might be another wide receiver in FSU's Kermit Whitfield, who was a Florida state champion in the 100 and 200 meters as a high school senior.

When asked how his college teammate would fare in the event Saturday, former Seminoles running back Dalvin Cook simply had this to say, per Sports Illustrated's Chris Burke: "He's gonna get his island."

Meet Taywan Taylor

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So, Williams and Davis are the big-name receivers, although we might not see much of either. And Ross and Whitfield are the top two speed guys. You'll also want to keep an eye on highly touted "second-tier" receiver prospects like Cooper Kupp (Eastern Washington), JuJu Smith-Schuster (USC), Curtis Samuel (Ohio State), Zay Jones (East Carolina) and KD Cannon (Baylor).

But then there's Taywan Taylor. 

The Western Kentucky product has seen his stock skyrocket this winter, mainly because he was flying under the radar until recently. That's somewhat understandable considering he was a 2-star recruit out of high school before spending four years in Conference USA, per Scout.com. But the numbers are off the charts. During his final two seasons with the Hilltoppers, Taylor caught 184 passes for 3,197 yards and 34 touchdowns. 

And before you suggest those numbers are inflated by the strength of his opponents, consider that he caught nine passes for 121 yards against Alabama in his senior season.

That has a lot of folks thinking the 5'11", 203-pounder could become a hell of an NFL slot receiver. And you can expect that number to grow on Saturday, because Taylor posted an 11'5" broad jump, a 39.5" vertical and a 4.33 in the 40-yard dash during spring testing, according to Bruce Feldman of FoxSports.com.

So when they turn the lights out Saturday evening at Lucas Oil Stadium, Williams might still be the draft's top-rated receiver, and Ross or Whitfield might be the draft's fastest wideout, but don't be surprised if Taylor—who could at least dominate the vertical and broad jump—wins the day. 

The Big Boys Hit the Bench

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The bench press is an entirely new spectacle at this year's combine, with fans now now able to watch from just a few feet away.

And Saturday might be the best day for that as well, because the defensive linemen and linebackers get their turn. 

Not only does the combine bench press record belong to a defensive lineman (defensive tackle Stephen Paea, who registered 49 225-pound reps in 2011), but six other players have put up more than 43 reps since the turn of the century, and five of those guys were D-linemen, according to Pro Football Reference. 

Guards Christian Westerman (Arizona State) and Connor McGovern (Missouri) were the only participants to record more than 32 reps last year, with 34 and 33, respectively, and another guard—Utah's Isaac Asiata—topped the field with 35 reps on Friday. 

But on Saturday we'll have a chance to see several very strong defensive linemen put on bench-pressing shows.

Key names to keep in mind: USC defensive tackle Stevie Tu'ikolovatu, UCLA defensive tackle Eddie Vanderdoes, Youngstown State edge-rusher Derek Rivers and some guy named Myles Garrett. 

Speaking of...

First Looks at Myles Garrett and Jabrill Peppers

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Garrett—a unanimous All-American edge-rusher from Texas A&M—has basically become a consensus top pick in mock drafts. We'll see him in "action" at the bench press Saturday, and he'll also meet the media for the first time in Indy. 

Meanwhile, we'll get our first of several looks at one of this year's most intriguing prospects when the linebacker group performs the bench press and meets the media. That's because Michigan product Jabrill Peppers—a hybrid defender who came to the Wolverines as a cornerback before transitioning to safety and eventually gaining significant reps inside the box at linebacker—is participating in the combine as both a linebacker and a defensive back. 

It makes sense, because a lot of talent evaluators will want to view Peppers in both roles, with many hoping he can become an even better version of Mark Barron or Deone Bucannon. And some may want to know that he can excel squarely in one position or the other. 

He'll get his first full look as a linebacker on Sunday and will perform with safeties and corners on Monday. But before that, Peppers will have a chance to talk about it all on Saturday.