Jalen Carter Among Notable Non-Participants at this Week’s NFL Scouting Combine (and Other NFL Bullets)
Good morning and happy Monday to those who observe. I know I certainly don’t. I do not like Mondays, especially rainy and gloomy Mondays like today (and the last four months of them). But Spring Training baseball is happening, and I have a couple of tee times booked this week. So I guess we’re making our way out of the gloom and doom of the Midwest winter. We’ve also got the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis this week, but some stars like Georgia’s Jalen Carter will be limited participants.
- Agents Drew Rosenhaus and Ryan Matha have told teams that Georgia defensive lineman Jalen Carter will not work out in Indianapolis this week. Instead, he will meet with teams and take a physical, but he won’t do any drills until Georgia’s Pro Day workout on March 15.
- Edge rusher Tyree Wilson will also essentially be a non-participant in physical drills this week. Wilson fractured his foot while playing for Texas Tech in November and is still recovering from that injury. Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that he will participate in the bench press but will hold off on other work until the school’s Pro Day workout.
- Similarly, Alabama quarterback Bryce Young will not throw this week at the combine. Instead, Young will wait until Alabama’s Pro Day like Jalen Carter.
- However, Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud will throw at this week’s NFL Scouting Combine. As will Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson and Kentucky quarterback Will Levis. Young sitting out and the other three projected first-round quarterbacks participating will surely ramp up the debate on whether Young is indeed the sure-fire top QB in the class.
- Before we transition from the combine stuff; never forget 😂:
- Seahawks’ associate head coach and defensive assistant Sean Desai is in Philadelphia for a second interview for the Eagles’ defensive coordinator position. Desai previously interviewed for the position virtually. The Vic Fangio disciple was the Bears’ defensive coordinator in 2021 before heading to Seattle after Matt Nagy was fired.
- Desai has been a frequent name in the defensive coordinator conversation this offseason but still hasn’t landed a job despite being strongly recommended by Fangio.
- There was no shortage of complaints about roughing-the-passer penalties this season in the NFL. The good news is that the NFL competition committee is discussing one team’s proposal to make that penalty reviewable. Still, let’s be serious that it isn’t happening.
- NFL Network’s Judy Battista reported the motion and discussion but pointed out that there was little appetite for it in the room, to begin with. Battista later tweeted that out of the 80 roughing the passer penalties from last season that the Competition Committee has reviewed, they found only three to be questionable.
- Three? Lol. The number three (3) … What a joke. The NFL is about protecting the quarterback, and they won’t review these calls. Remember, the Commissioner and the league work to serve the owners’ interests. The owners cut massive checks to quarterbacks. So, no one is seriously considering scaling back the protections for quarterbacks. The league would rather deal with periodic criticism arising from phantom roughing calls than risk not having starting quarterbacks available to play in high-profile games.
- Gus Bradley will get another year as the Colts’ defensive coordinator. According to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, New Colts’ head coach Shane Steichen will retain Bradley.
- Bradley will now enter his second season as the Colts’ defensive coordinator, a title he has also held with the Raiders, Chargers and Seahawks. He was head coach of the Jaguars from 2013 to 2016.
- This was a funny story from the weekend. Former linebacker Blake Martinez has hit it big in selling Pokemon cards post-retirement from the NFL. Martinez made $5 million in seven months of buying and selling the popular trading cards.
- Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam are now a part of the NBA world. The Browns owners purchased Marc Lasry’s portion of the Milwaukee Bucks to the Haslam’s for $3.5 billion.
- Well, yeah, no sh—. We’ve only been saying this for two months.
- Tab has you covered on the latest non-Patrick Kane (and Patrick Kane) Blackhawks’ trade happenings:
