2017 NFL Combine: Best Overall Performance by Position
By Zach Bigalke
We got our last chance to see some college stars in action before the Draft. Who raised his draft stock most at each position with a strong NFL Combine?
Every year before the NFL Draft, the best draft-eligible players in college football convene at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis for the NFL Combine. The event provides the opportunity for these pro hopefuls to show off their athleticism against the other top contenders at their position.
Sometimes the NFL Combine merely serves as validation, as players already anticipated to go high in the draft manage to outperform their expectations. Other times, we are treated with a pleasant surprise by a player that was largely unheralded heading into the event. However it goes, we are always in for a treat.
Now that this year’s NFL Combine is in the rearview mirror, click ahead to see our picks for the top performers at each position.
The prevailing thought in college football is that all the best defensive ends and defensive tackles end up at SEC or ACC schools. But while those programs usually have the best depth on the defensive line, they don’t always boast the most athletically gifted individual. Solomon Thomas used his time in Indianapolis to showcase why he was selected as last year’s Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, outshining 57 other linemen.
Thomas opened up his NFL Combine by finishing 11th in the 40-yard dash, posting a 4.69 time in the drill. It was the only time he finished outside the top 10. His 30 bench press reps were good enough to finish fourth, and he finished fifth in both the vertical leap (35.0 inches) and the broad jump (126 inches). When it came to the shuttles and cone drills, Thomas was once again among the 10 best performers at his position.
The showing in Indianapolis will almost certainly make NFL teams take a longer look at Thomas in the middle rounds, even with concerns about his size and where he fits best at the pro level. Others who also bolstered their draft stock on the defensive line were Kansas State’s Jordan Willis, Derek Rivers of Youngstown State, and Temple’s Haason Reddick.