Sanders arrives at NFL combine with low mileage and high hopes
INDIANAPOLIS – Miles Sanders could have taken the path of least resistance once he discovered a freak named Saquon Barkley was ahead of him on the Penn State depth chart.
That was never a consideration, however.
“I like competition,” the running back said Thursday at the NFL Scouting Combine. “I’m not afraid of competition at all. I thought it was going to be a 1-2 punch. It didn’t work out. I still ended up learning a lot. I worked 10 times harder.”
He stayed at Penn State.
The payoff is finally coming, some three seasons after Sanders’ college career began with 25 carries as a freshman. The next year, he was handed the ball 31 times.
Finally, with Barkley having graduated to the New York Giants, Sanders was the top back in 2018 and made the most of it. He carried 220 times for 1,274 yards and nine touchdowns. He also caught 24 passes on his way to 1,413 yards from scrimmage.
Far from a finished product, he nevertheless is determined to show anyone who’s interested that he’s a lot further along than many think after coming out a year early.
He’s embraced the combine and everything that goes along with it.
Sanders is just as enthusiastic about the interview process as he is about running the 40-yard dash, working through the three-cone drill or bench-pressing 225 pounds as many times he can.
For the record, he did the latter 20 times, a healthy number for his position group.
The on-field testing and more interviews will come Friday.
His goal?
“Just be me,” he said. “I want to show them my speed, my ability to catch when I run through drills. In my meetings with coaches, I want to show them that I really know football.”
What will be most important for Sanders at the combine, assuming he nails the interviews like he believes he will, is showing his pass-catching ability.
He didn’t get a whole lot of chances at Penn State, so there are question marks there.
What will be most important for Sanders once he does land with a pro team — the third round of the NFL Draft seems like a reasonable hope for him — is showing better ball security than he displayed in college.
Because that’s a skill that can be acquired and/or significantly refined even as a pro player, Sanders can really help himself if he controls what he can control here in Indianapolis.
That he essentially sat for two seasons behind Barkley can work to his advantage in more ways than just revealing his healthy patience.
It can reveal a healthy body with relatively little wear and tear.
Said Sanders with a smile: “I don’t have a lot of hits on my body.”
Not that he doesn’t want them.
On Thursday, he was asked about his meeting with the Philadelphia Eagles.
“They asked me if I’m an every-down back or a rotationtype back,” he said, “and I think I’m an every-down back that can get the job done, be that Saquon Barkley, be that Ezekiel Elliott, be that Todd Gurley type of back.”
Sanders also wants to be a college graduate because it’s a promise he made to his mother and intends to keep — after getting settled in with his pro team.
What Sanders believes he brings to the table is quite an extensive and intriguing package that was on display throughout the 2018 season.
“I showed my ability to break tackles,” he said. “That’s what Saquon did really well. I showed I can catch the ball smoothly, blocking, not making mental errors and protecting the quarterback.”
For those who think he may not be able to do all that at the next level, he has a rebuttal.
“I love being the underdog,” he said. “I like people not thinking I can do something. That makes me work even harder.”
By the time he leaves Indianapolis, Sanders can go a long way toward convincing teams he’s worthy of a middle-round pick or possibly higher.
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