Foster downplays combine ejection
INDIANAPOLIS — If linebacker Reuben Foster is worried he hurt his draft stock by getting kicked out of the NFL’s scouting combine, he isn’t showing it.
The former University of Alabama star posted a live video on Instagram on Saturday, but he demurred when fans asked about him being sent home allegedly for getting into a heated confrontation with a hospital worker over his long wait time.
“Y’all, stop asking me what happened, for real,” Foster said on the video, according to AL.com. “Nothing happened.”
Then, Foster, a potential top10 pick, deflected questions to his Crimson Tide teammates who were with him at the combine.
“Talk to Tim” Foster said in reference to Tim Williams, a defensive end who was at the Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital at the same time. “Talk to Ryan (Anderson). Talk to Dalvin (Tomlinson). Them boys know. They were there.”
Williams said he was in a different group and couldn’t say exactly what happened.
“We were all waiting for our names to be called. He was with the linebackers and I was with all of the D-line,” Williams said. “I was in a different room.”
Pass rusher Ryan Anderson could only say there was quite a logjam of prospects at the hospital, so much so that he missed a scheduled interview with the Miami Dolphins on Friday night.
“That was frustrating to me,” Anderson said. “But you have to do what you have to do. That’s all part of this process.”
Defensive tackle Jonathan Allen, another former Alabama star, shed no light on the incident with Foster, either.
“I just found out today,” he said. “It’s very surprising, disappointing. But hey, it happens.”
In his video chat, Foster also addressed the recent surgery on his right rotator cuff that took him out of physical drills at the combine. He said he’d be out of the sling in a week.
“Everything ain’t perfect,” Foster said. “I’m good. I just have to think. I just had to sit back and relax and think about what I really want.”
The surgery was going to prevent Foster from any on-field drills in Indianapolis anyway, but teams wanted to get the medical reports on him and have a chance to interview him.
NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock said he didn’t think the incident would hurt Foster’s stock, however.
“Unless it becomes more than what we’ve heard, I don’t think it’s really going to impact him,” Mayock said.
Williams said he didn’t think Foster should fret over falling in the draft, either.
“He’s going to have his opportunity to tell his story. Every man’s got his opportunity say his piece,” Williams said. “He’s going to have questions he has to answer, so I can’t answer that for him because I really don’t know what happened.”
Record for Ross
Washington receiver John Ross III ran the 40-yard dash in an NFL combine record-setting 4.22 seconds Saturday. He completed the feat on his first attempt, breaking Chris Johnson’s record of 4.24 seconds set in 2008.
But while Ross was winding down, he appeared to hurt his left leg. The NFL Network reported Ross wouldn’t do any more drills during the workout because of sore calves.
Ross told the league’s television network he felt good but “got tight at the end.”