Mayo and Box, as we know, many of these prospects work out for months at various Performance facilities prepping for the Combine -- some don't bother. In addition, some are athletic to begin with, while some are just good football players. The better athletes usually produce the most impressive numbers, and coupled with the amount of hours spent preparing for each drill, are able to improve considerably upon those numbers.
At the CB position, the target test result for the 3-cone is a 7.00, the target result for the shuttle is a 4.00, the target result for the vertical is 36", and the target result for the bench reps is 15. Alphonso Smith did not meet the target test results for these four categories, yet hands down has the best ball skills of any CB.
At the Combine, there are athletes, and there are football players. I guess the goal for the Pats is to find the football players who are athletic enough to play their respective positions. At least this is my hope.
I would agree with you that we want athletic football players, not workout warriors to play football. The last thing I would want to suggest is that we put too much stock in these numbers.
I do think the numbers are interesting (I didn't post the thread, I'm just responding to it), however, and are worth keeping in mind. Some thoughts that come to mind:
1. In many cases - especially with the CBs - there was not much correlation between 40 time and 3-cone shuttle time. For example, Malcolm Jenkins and Coye Francies ran slower-than-expected 40s but very fast 3-cones. Some CBs who may drop based on poor 40 times might still be high on the Pats' board based on good 3-cone times (among other factors).
2. Some have suggested in other threads that the Pats put particular emphasis on the 3-cone is evaluating CB prospects, and that Wheatley's fast 3-cone time last year was one of the factors that put him higher on the Pats' board than most expected. If that is the case, then Alphonso Smith and DJ Moore (prototypical Pats CBs in many ways) did not follow this trend. It remains to be seen how much this weighs in the Pats' evaluation of them.
3. Some players were surprisingly good athletes as well. Barwin is obvious, but Louis Delmas for example, who came into the combine as a "football player" with an aggressive playing style but without particular high expectations for putting up top numbers, did quite well in the agility and speed areas and showed excellent athleticism. This might be something to consider if deciding between him and another S candidate. Darius Butler was another surprisingly good athlete. If the Pats end up deciding between Butler and Alphonso Smith or DJ Moore at CB, it may be one factor to consider among many others.
4. If the 3-cone is a good indication, then Everett Brown, Michael Johnson, Aaron Maybin and Paul Kruger showed poor agility and lateral foot speed to handle the 3-4 OLB position. They seemed much more like DEs than OLBs in this particular test. It has been noted in other threads that Vernon Gholston performed similarly to this group of prospects last year in the 3-cone, and he certainly showed at least a slow ability to adapt to 3-4 OLB; whether what this test measured was a factor in that can be debated. In contrast Connor Barwin clearly showed that he has the agility of the top LBs (Matthews, Cushing and Laurinaitis). Whether this translates on to the field is another matter.
5. Again, if the 3-cone is a good indication, then Larry English and Clint Sintim showed that they might ultimately be better of as SILBs (where some have projected them based on their playing style and abilities) than outside, where burst, quickness, lateral agility and quick feet are more critical.
Again, these are not absolutes, just thoughts to be considered within the bigger scheme of things.
