Everyone knows that the scouting combine is basically ‘the underwear Olympics’. It’s a bunch of football players doing a bunch of stuff that matters in the weight room, on the track, and nowhere else. However, that doesn’t mean that the combine is useless. It doesn’t tell us who is going to be a star and who will be a bust; the only thing that really does that is the interviews and the tape, but it can show potential. The real value of the combine often comes for two groups of players: either guys who were virtual no names who blow it up, or guys who were on the verge of being ‘elite’ prospects who show measurables that when combined with their tape make GM’s salivate. The top end of this year’s draft is full of some real monsters along the defensive line, and pass rushers in particular. No guy in the combine did more to improve his stock in my opinion than Vic Beasley the DE/OLB out of Clemson. He was a top 15 prospect coming into the combine who many thought would be a situational rush guy to start who had mid-tier to upper-middle talent… then the combine happened.
What makes him such a great prospect for the Saints?
First of all he would give us someone who teams genuinely had to game plan around, a player that gets circled on the white board and is a priority at all times… they don’t have that right now. As bad as the teams secondary was last year, if they had possessed something even resembling a consistent pass rush it would have been a lot better. What’s more Beasley has room to put on some more weight (he already added some for the combine) which will allow him to play the run as well as the pass. There are never any guarantees on a prospect, but Beasley projects to be able to become a stud who is a true 3 down player.
Before we get into any of his combine results I want to take a look at the most important part of a prospects evaluaiton… the tape. If there is one area where Beasley sets him apart from the other pass rushers in this class it is on tape. Beasley has the ability to come out of nowhere and completely take a game over. Some could watch his tape and see those bursts and think he ‘disappears’ throughout the game. I disagree, he is pretty consistently good and then can have bursts where he is spectacular, that is the ideal in a pass rusher. Nobody (outside of maybe Watt) in the league is a destructive force on every down, but imagine if the Saints had a guy who got a pressure on one out of every 4 rushes, a sack a game (or close to it) and could do it at anytime with absolutely no warning. Imagine ATL is driving down the field, its 2 and 5, and we are all starting to glare at the TV…then suddenly Ryan is sacked, stripped, and you see number 3 running the other way with the ball. If Beasley is drafted in by the Saints this becomes an incredibly likely scenario. Beasley also has an excellent reputation as a hard worker (his sack numbers and production rising every year attest to that) as well as being a disciplined and focused person. Beasley isn’t known as a hardcore party guy…the guy likes to play the piano. As the son of a classically trained Pianist (and the victim of his 2am practice sessions all throughout high school lol), I can personally attest to the dedication and focus it takes to master that instrument. I don’t know Beasley personally nor have i seen him play, however the mere fact that he takes his personal time to dedicate himself to an art form every bit as challenging as Football says a great deal about him. If the young core for this team is Brandin Cooks, Kenny Stills, Cameron Jordan, and Vic Beasley…the organization looks very good going forward.
What did the combine show us?
All of that I could have told you before the combine took place, but what the combine did for Beasley was demonstrate that he isn’t just a really solid prospect, but an incredible athlete who could truly evolve into something special. The biggest statement I can make in Beasley’s favor is Mark Ingram. What?! What on earth does the Saints leading rusher have to do with a 2015 draft prospect? They ran the same 40, that’s what. Mark Ingram who just had the best year of his career ran the same 40 yard dash as a man who is more than 30 pounds heavier than him and plays on the line. What that tells you is that Beasley has tremendous athleticism as he ran a 4.53 40 as a lineman. He has the speed to pursue backs, has tremendous burst, great bend, a number of moves, and most importantly…room to grow. His combine numbers showed us that there is still untapped potential in this young man’s body, and he could very well continue to develop into a complete monster.
Here is a link to a highlight reel for Beasley for you to sink your teeth into…my advice: turn to 1:26 in the video and imagine him chasing Cam… nuff said?
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