Joe Haden Did Himself a Service

Joe Haden choked! Tricked off the dope. He cost himself millions of dollars! He’s no longer the top CB in this year’s draft class.

Okay? Are you done? Chill out people. Yeah, Joe Haden’s 4.57 and 4.60 40s at the combine earlier this week are far from top flight cornerback. But it’s not the end of the world for Mr. Haden. He’s still going to get drafted in the first round, and he’s still going to be the first CB selected and get selected very high. Haden showed he had the courage to even run at the combine, he did well after his disappointing 40, and he has a chance to redeem himself.

If I was a scout or a GM, the first thing I’d commend Haden for doing is actually running in the combine. He was a sure fire top 10 pick going into the combine. You could say he had more to lose running than not running. Haden showed his competitive fire by running the 40 and doing all of the DB drills. Another top flight cornerback, Syd’Quan Thompson of the University of California, did not run the 40. Thompson participated in all the other drills at the combine except for the 40. Haden had more to lose than Thompson and participated in all the drills.

The best thing Haden did was run the 40 at the combine because he didn’t perform well, and now has a chance to redeem himself at his Pro Day on March 17th. Players always run better at their Pro Days than their the combine anyway. I still don’t understand why, but I guess players are more comfortable on their home turf. Like I said, I still don’t get it, but oh well. I watched Haden run and his form looked terrible. Deion Sanders noted the same and said that the stance was terrible, and sure enough, Haden got off to a poor start both times.

“Haden is probably a 4.4-40 guy; his form was just terrible.”

It’s crazy because Haden only played QB, WR, and FS in high school. He never played CB until he got to Florida, and he started as freshman which is remarkable. A cornerback has to have the intangible ability of a short memory. You’re going to get beat, you have to have the mental toughness to forget about it, stay confident and keep playing. Haden displayed that short memory at the combine. According to experts, Haden costs himself 6-7 draft picks which estimates to about $10 million dollars. You think Haden didn’t know his draft status was effected by those extremely subpar 40s. Hell yeah he knew it, but did it phase him, nope not one bit. Haden went out and killed the rest of his workouts. Last time I checked, if you’re a CB you don’t start at the same line was the WR and run a 40. You back pedal, you jam, you read and react, etc. I don’t want to say that 40 isn’t important, because it is, two tenths of a second can separate a first round stud from a nobody. Two-tenths of a second also equals five to ten plus yards of separation between a CB and WR running his route. Haden crushed his drills and showed his ability to break on the ball, showed fluid hips, and change of direction. Haden is good to go in my book.

Too much emphasis is placed on the 40. It is a very important tool, but is often the most overrated at the combine. Jacoby Ford ran the fastest 40 of anyone at the combine this year. The word on him is that his speed doesn’t translate on the field because he takes too long to get in and out of his breaks. In a best of 7 one on one drill with Haden and Ford, I’d take Haden all day long. Yes, Ford is faster, but Ford would have to elude Haden’s jams at the line before he could even reach full speed. There’s more to being a WR than being able to run a fly route. And to be honest, Haden’s hips are smoother than most of the WR in this year’s drafts. Like I said, Haden is good. He showed me everything I needed to see to draft him in the top 10. Courage to run the 40 tells me he’s not scared of the “moment”. His awful stance showed me that if he corrects than he can easily be a 4.4 40 guy. And the fact that he still competed well after his awful 40 showed me he’s a gritty competitor with a short memory. Last thing, a workout means nothing if you don’t have the game film. For all those doubters out there, go look at Haden’s game film in the SEC for the past three years and tell me he’s not a top flight corner.

That’s all I got,

Ricky Writer