Laval’s Auclair garnering plenty of pro interest
The calculated gamble Antony Auclair took on himself is paying immediate dividends.
The Laval Rouge et Or tight end performed admirably at his pro day Monday in Quebec City despite a hamstring injury. Afterward, Auclair said he’d been invited to visit with five NFL teams leading up to next month’s draft in Philadelphia.
Auclair’s agent Sasha Ghavami said Tuesday eight teams now want to meet with his client. Ghavami, who negotiated Canadian offensive lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif’s five-year, US$41.25-million contract extension this offseason with the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, added he wouldn’t be surprised if that number swelled to double digits.
“It was kind of unorthodox to do it that way (compete despite injury) but it worked out for the best,” Ghavami said. “The scouts were all very happy with how he did and were really impressed with his toughness.
“One thing that kind of opened my eyes came Saturday when a team asked Antony in an interview if he’d ever been hurt. Antony has been lucky in that he’s never really been injured in football so he’s never had to battle that adversity per se in his career. I think (Monday) was a good test of that.”
Auclair hurt himself while training less than two weeks ago. Ghavami said the 17 NFL scouts and one Canadian Football League representative who attended Monday’s workout were informed of that development prior to the session.
While doctors indicated the threat of Auclair further aggravating the injury was low - and even if he did, he’d likely only need six weeks to fully recover – having Auclair run through drills when not completely healthy was still a gamble. That’s because many pro scouts put a lot of stock in combine results as part of their pre-draft evaluation of college prospects.
Despite the injury, the sixfoot-six, 256-pound Auclair posted a 33.5-inch vertical jump and nine-foot, nine-inch broad jump – both solid indicators of explosion and lower-body strength. The 23-year-old native of Notre-Dame-des-Pins, Que., also registered a personal-best 22 reps in the 225-pound bench press and a respectable 40-yard dash time of 4.82 seconds.
But in a time when healthy players skip bowl games to protect their draft stock or choose not to test because of physical ailments, Auclair’s actions spoke volumes. His decision not only showed perseverance and toughness but also character and dependability, important intangibles sought after by football personnel because they’re qualities that can’t be taught or coached.
“Scouts told me the same thing,” Ghavami said. “They were like, ‘You did the best thing in the world to let him run because even if he posted a 4.9 (in the 40), this showed toughness, this showed character.’
“And that’s going to go in the report and go back to staff meetings. While some people will say, ”Well, yeah, he didn’t run fast,’ the scouts will say, ‘Yeah, but he was hurt and you should’ve seen him. He still ran, he still went out.’“