So you had a bad day at the Combine…

Remember when former Cardinals all-Pro and current Ravens wideout Anquan Boldin had a bad day at the 2003 Combine?… For some inexplicable reason, Boldin screwed up his 40-yard dash, posting only a 4.7 time…(at Florida State, he had posted hand-held times as low as 4.35). Suddenly, Boldin’s draft value plummets…and he falls to the second round after being projected in the high end of Round 1. That “bad day” at the Combine cost Boldin a lot of bonus money…but it turned out very nicely for the Arizona Cardinals, as Boldin fell all the way down to the 54th pick, where the Cards snatched him.

Boldin went on to become the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2003.  He’s been selected to 3 Pro Bowls since then, and has amassed over 600 receptions and 7,000 yards in receiving.  Boldin’s still doing it for the Ravens, where he’s in the second year of a 4-year contract worth $28 million with $10 million guaranteed.

Anquan Boldin…my personal “patron saint” of bad days at the Combine…

I was thinking of the Boldin “bad day” experience of 2003’s Combine, and trying to relate it to how the Eagles might benefit in 2011 from a player who’s currently “out of reach” perhaps having a bad day due to a similar anomaly…and falling to the Eagles in a later round.

I actually joked to Dave Stoessel over at Eagles Addict that I hoped Gabe Carimi, the big talented offensive tackle who’s projected to go in the first round, has a bad day at the Combine a la Boldin’s… because that may be the only way Carimi falls into my greedy little Eagle talons.

But I realize, there’s a dilemma for a scout, head coach or GM who has the guts to trust their own total scouting data and film study on a prospect, and not be swayed by a “bad day” … because if you spend a pick on the guy, and he turns out to be a bust, the fans and the media will forever throw that “bad day” in your grill.

The “bad day” phenomenon haunts quarterback prospects the most, I suppose…it explains why so many disdain the “throwing drills”… they’d rather throw for the scouts in their own controlled environment at their college “Pro Day” event back home.

“Bad days” can happen in a variety of other ways besides running times and throwing drills. Physical measurement sessions can devastate a player’s potential draft position. This is the session where they throw out all your inflated college stats of height, weight, arm size, etc., and get your real measurements with laser-like accuracy. Suddenly the so-called power back at 6-0, 230 turns out to be 5-10, 218… that’s a “bad day” moment.

“Bad days” will happen in the medical exams and in the interviews.  As Qadry Ismail (former NFL wideout known as “The Missile”) explained it on his Sports Line show on WBAL-AM last night, his bad day occurred when the Combine physicians spotted a small nodule on his left shoulder, and traced it back to a shoulder separation in college. That began another round of X-rays and probing, so that the doctors could determine whether Qadry had suffered a “Grade 1” or a “Grade 2” separation. Just the process of having that question examined lowered The Missile’s draft  value, in his opinion.

Interviews can go bad, too. According to Ismail and Russ Lande of the Sporting News network, who appeared on the show with Qadry, the “canned answer” which most of the kids prepare for their interviews gets blown up in front of their eyes.  Apparently these interviews are tag team events, where scouts (like Lande used to be) get to listen in with the coaches, and jump on the “canned answer” every time from a variety of directions. The trick is to try to fluster the prospect, and get him off balance, then observe how he recovers…or not.  The interview is akin to an adversarial deposition of the prospect…but with multiple deposers! And if the kid has any blotches or history of trouble on his “permanent record” from high school or college, he’d better come totally clean about it in the interview…since the NFL teams and scouts have already done a complete background check on him anyway. Any sustained attempt to bluff or fudge will result in a “bad day” for the prospect, as word will quickly circulate through the Combine, and draft stocks plunge.

So here’s hoping for a few of the Top 50 prospects to have a “bad day”… The Eagles draft very well in later rounds.  It’s one of the great strengths of the Reid era, in my studied opinion. As local writer Leo Pizzini reminds me, the Eagles stole some nice talent in the 7th round last year. The Birds also clean up very nicely on prospects who fall completely through the draft. Leo cites some guys who fell off their respective boards and panned out well, such as Jason Peters, Jamaal Jackson, Quintin Mikell, and recently Austin Howard, to name a few…

So have a bad day…better yet, MAKE it a bad day!