Long ‘freakishly athletic’ at NFL Combine
Yesterday, NFL scouts confirmed what UVA football fans have known for the last four years: Chris Long is a rare physical specimen. At his performance at the NFL Scouting Combine yesterday, where scouts attempt to objectively measure prospects’ athletic abilities, Long put on a show that led NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock to tell die-hard pigskin fans watching at home “This is a freakishly athletic kid.”
Officially, Long entered the Combine standing 6′ 4″ and weighing 272 pounds (15 12 lbs. less than his official playing weight for the Cavaliers). He turned in a 40-yard dash time of 4.75 seconds, a 34″ vertical leap (third best among all defensive linemen), a 10′ 4″ broad jump (second among all defensive linemen), and ran a 20-yard shuttle run in 4.21 seconds (best among all defensive linemen).
In terms of athletic performance, it’s the last impression Long will leave with the NFL until the draft on April 26, when he is projected to be one of the first– if not the first– player chosen overall. Expert consensus is that Long will be a top-10 pick. If that’s the case, here are the teams for whom Long may be suiting up in the fall:
1. Miami Dolphins
2. St. Louis Rams
3. Atlanta Falcons
4. Oakland Raiders
5. Kansas City Chiefs
6. New York Jets
7. New England Patriots
8. Baltimore Ravens
9. Cincinnati Bengals
10. New Orleans Saints
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