MAYFIELD TURNING HEADS AT NFL COMBINE
INDIANAPOLIS — While Penn State running back Saquon Barkley dazzled the NFL scouting combine Friday with his athleticism in drills to more than cement himself at the best player in the 2018 NFL draft, brash and bold Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield stole the show as he continued to stump for top billing.
The Cleveland Browns have the No. 1 pick in the draft and Mayfield says he should be the clear choice.
“I think if anyone’s gonna turn them around, it’s me. They’re close,” Mayfield said. “They have right pieces. They just need a quarterback.”
But Mayfield wasn’t done with declarations on his mission to not only overcome Barkley, who ran a blistering 4.41 seconds in the 40-yard dash to go along with 29 reps on the bench press and a 41-inch vertical leap, but also USC quarterback Sam Darnold, UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen and Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen, who are all rated higher on boards because they fit the build of the prototypical NFL quarterback more so than the undersized 2017 Heisman Trophy winner.
Mayfield measured in at 6-feet, | inches tall. In the past 15 drafts, the only quarterback shorter than 6-foot-1 to be drafted in the first round was former Texas A&M Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel (5-foot-11, }) in 2014, per NFL research.
“Height doesn’t matter,” Mayfield said. “If you have something to say about that, I have three years of tape you can watch ... I’m the most accurate quarterback in this draft by far.”
Lamar Jackson plans to play quarterback in the NFL
INDIANAPOLIS — Former Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson let the NFL know that he has just one position.
“I’m a quarterback,” Jackson said Friday at the NFL scouting combine.
Former NFL executive Bill Polian caused an uproar in football circles when he said that Jackson would make a great wide receiver.
“No teams have asked me to play wide receiver,” Jackson said. “I don’t know where it comes from. I’m strictly a quarterback.”
Jackson played three seasons at Louisville under former Falcons coach Bobby Petrino. He selected the school because Petrino ran a pro-style offense, and he had a chance to start as a freshman.
The speedy Jackson, who will not run the 40yard dash at the combine, rushed for 1,571 yards as a sophomore and 1,601 as a junior. The knock on Jackson is that he is not an accurate passer.
He completed 619 of 1,086 passes (57.0 percent) for 9,043 yards, 69 touchdowns and 27 interceptions.
He won the Heisman Trophy after his sophomore season.
“We ran the (Ron) Erhardt system,” Jackson said. “Coach would probably call it from the sideline, and I would have to relay it to the line. My receivers had to look to the sideline to know what protection (was called). Simple stuff like that.”
Former Ohio State quarterbacks Terrelle Pryor and Braxton Miller converted to wide receiver in the NFL. Pryor is with the Redskins, and Miller plays for the Texans. Jackson has no plans to play wide receiver.