NFL Combine Results 2011: Looking at Mighty Defensive End Robert Quinn

There may not be too many people who are aware of exactly what happened with former North Carolina Tar Heels defensive end Robert Quinn. 

His problems first began when he was a senior in high school and was diagnosed with a brain tumor.  Luckily for Quinn, the tumor was benign, and he has suffered no ill effects from the tumor or the surgery.

This may actually end up being a hang-up for some coaches and general managers though, for fear that Quinn's health could take a turn for the worse (and for fear that it could end up like a similar situation the Minnesota Vikings had with former defensive end Kenechi Udeze), so they may not want to invest a lot of money in him. Still, if Quinn and the doctors say he's not going to have any problems, then teams are going to look at him as a first-rounder, and take him somewhere in that round.  

Quinn made it to college and ended up being suspended after he was found guilty of taking more than $5,000 in benefits from an agent. He has stated many times over he is sorry for the decision he made and realized it was a wrong choice.  

So, will scouts, head coaches and general managers shy away from Quinn, a player that is considered my many experts as a first round pick and the second best defensive end (behind Clemson's Da'Quan Bowers) in the 2011 NFL Draft?

Quinn ended up running a 4.68 40, which was a little slower than some expected, but still good for a man his size; at the combine he measured 6'4" and 264 pounds. Quinn also posted included a 32.25-inch arm length and a 10-inch hand length. His vertical jump measured 34 inches, his three-cone drill time was 7.13 seconds and his broad jump ended up being 9'8".

Overall, Quinn's combine performance wasn't bad by any means, but it wasn't quite what some experts had expected—although they weren't that far off. He appeared a little rusty in some of the position-specific drills, and for a guy who's been out of football for a while, that's probably something to be expected.

But with all that time off, you would have thought he could have been a little better because of all of the practice time he has had to prepare for the event.

Quinn still comes out of the combine as the second-rated defensive end in the eyes of most people evaluating the NFL draft, and as long as he continues to work out well and prove to those teams interested in him that he's over those issues that plagued him before, then he's ready to become a productive NFL player.

So which team would be willing to take a shot at Quinn?

Right now he's rated as a top 10 pick, and there are several teams in that top 10 that might be willing to take him. Interest could come from any team within the top 10, but he won't go before Bowers.  Assuming the Bills or the Bengals take Bowers (even Denver could show some interest), Quinn could most likely go to the Cleveland Browns or the Tennessee Titans.