Following is a recap of some of the news that came out of the NFL Scouting Combine on Saturday.
Cam Newton addressed his past briefly at the beginning of his press conference on Saturday, explaining the statement he made last week that he was an "entertainer and icon" was for promotional reasons only. Other than that, however, Newton was all about looking forward.
The Auburn quarterback's 13-minute talk with the media on Saturday featured plenty of questions about Newton's legal issues while he was at the University of Florida, the controversy surrounding his father last fall over his collegiate eligibility and even his run to the national championship with the Tigers. But outside of a few sentences at the start, each of Newton's answers was framed as a look toward his coming workouts, the draft and his pro career.
"What I did in the past is in the past. My sole focus is to perform at this year's Combine, I'm not going to entertain anything that happened in the past," Newton said when asked about the rumors he stole laptops and was expelled from Florida. "I'm all about the future. I'm just trying to prepare today to make my future the best that it can be."
Much of that preparation has taken place in San Diego, where Newton has worked out with QB coach George Whitfield since declaring for the draft in mid-January. The QB says he knows the knocks against him from his time in college, and even used the third person to explain how he's improving his game.
"I'm going to continue working on my craft and that's to become the best quarterback possible during this transition," Newton said. "Obviously, everybody knows that Cam has been in a spread offense and I've been trying to work as much as possible in being fluid coming from under center with the three-step, the five-step and even the seven-step drop. Me and George have been working day and night, in the film room, on the chalkboard or on the field throwing routes."
Unlike Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett, who cited his own statistics in an attempt to prove he is a top prospect, Newton's numbers speak for themselves. Last season at Auburn, the quarterback combined for 4,327 yards and 50 touchdowns running and throwing, helping the Tigers finish with a 14-0 record. It is that dual-threat ability that has teams salivating over the 6-5, 248-pound monster, despite all the controversy surrounding his past.
His rare combination of arm strength and foot speed is also the reason Newton is participating fully at the Combine. While some other top signalcallers are waiting for their pro day to throw, Newton said he will do every drill over the next few days, as well as showcasing his skills on Auburn's campus on March 8.
"This whole path to where I am right now has been a whirlwind to say the least, but at the same time, this is what I signed up for," Newton said. "I wanted to come out here and compete, because that's what I feel like I wanted to do. To have fun competing."
From the first question to the last in his extremely well-attended interview session with the national media Saturday afternoon at the NFL Scouting Combine, Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett certainly didn't do anything to improve his steadily sinking stock in the upcoming draft.
Mallett consistently offered "no comment" responses to the queries that just kept coming regarding recent widespread reports of drug allegations and character issues that allegedly have raised a huge red flag in the NFL scouting community. He made Bears QB Jay Cutler look like Tim Tebow in comparison.
As was the case with Cutler's widely criticized exit from the NFC championship game, Mallett's refusal to face the music in a professional fashion set off a Twitter firestorm, with numerous critics instantly blasting him like there was no tomorrow.
It was a performance that had to make fellow QB Cam Newton, who faced the media not long after Mallett spoke, feel instantly more comfortable about how he would be received.
"I've got the interviews with the teams, and they will know what they need to know, and I will leave it at that," said Mallett, whose pro-caliber arm strength was greatly overshadowed by his weak effort in front of the media masses.
Not that it mattered much to his interrogators, Mallett did offer responses to other types of questions.
He mentioned how much he benefited from playing under Bobby Petrino at Arkansas, particularly in terms of learning defensive trends.
He talked about how much he hoped to emulate the likes of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning as far as controlling the line of scrimmage and varying cadences to keep opposing defenses off balance.
But when he said he thought he was a "great person," and did not flinch with a follow-up remark about just laughing off allegations he could not control, the rolling eyes in the audience were hard to ignore.
His answer to a question about how he felt about critics who questioned his accuracy and decision making was equally lame.
"Seven-thousand-plus yards and 60 touchdowns in the last two seasons. That's how I respond to that," he said bluntly.
Mallett kept on firing away with scattershot braggadocio that few people were buying, like his response to a question on what sets him apart from the other quarterbacks at the Combine.
"I can't speak on their mental games, but that's my strength, knowing defenses and recognizing what they will do on certain downs and distances," he said.
Mallett did offer an acceptable answer when asked about how much playing in the SEC has helped him.
"There are a lot of great players in the SEC," Mallett said. "The speed of the game is so great and there is a lot of complexity, with big changes from week to week. We had to make halftime adjustments all the time.
His response to a question about the benefits of his 6-foot-6 size was equally plausible: "It allows me to see down the field and kind of feel things coming," he said. "I will move around in the pocket and find the open guy."
But Mallett's refusal to elaborate on the pressing issues that everybody in the media was so understandably clamoring for left a sour taste that figures to last a long time.
"I feel like I have confidence in myself," Mallett said. "I know there are some people that don't like it, I but I can't do anything about it."
Which is really too bad, in addition to being more than a little sad.
In Alabama's game against South Carolina on Oct. 9, WR Julio Jones fractured a bone in his hand. The next week, he played through the pain, but caught only one pass for eight yards.
The next week, he had a slightly better outcome: he grabbed 12 passes for a school-record 221 yards against Tennessee. It is that toughness that has NFL scouts looking at Jones as a top-15 pick in this year's draft.
Much of Jones' Saturday news conference at the NFL Scouting Combine focused on his blocking ability, not the normal topic of conversation for a receiver. But then again, Jones isn't your typical receiver: when asked who he models his game after, the first name out of his mouth was Ravens MLB Ray Lewis.
"I love how (Lewis) plays, Hines Ward as well, the way he blocks, the way he is committed on every play," Jones said. "I have a defensive mentality, I'm not scared to hit, I'm a physical guy, and I look for that. I like to hit defensive players because they're not used to getting hit, they're used to hitting offensive players and getting them out of their comfort zone, so when I hit them I try to get them out of their comfort zone."
For Jones, who checked in at the Combine at 6-2, 220 pounds, takes pride in his blocking ability because he views it as a way to help out his teammates.
"I'm not a selfish player," Jones said. "I go out there and block. I know just like the running back, he has got to sit in there for protection when I go out there for a deep pass. I want the ball, too, when I go out, so I know he's going to block for me and he's going to handle his responsibilities, so I try to do the same."
Inevitably, Jones was asked to compare himself to fellow SEC star A.J. Green, and offer his opinion on who is the better receiver. However, Jones refused to make any predictions about Green, who is training for the draft at the same facility that Jones is, and whom Jones considers a friend.
"A.J. Green is a great receiver, and there's a whole bunch of other guys that are great as well," Jones said. "I can't say I'm better than (A.J.), I can't say he's better than me."
In addition to his physical style of play, Jones also had to battle through multiple injuries during the season, not just the broken hand. But Jones refused to make any excuses.
"A lot of guys have injuries," Jones said. "Unfortunately I had probably more than everybody else, but I didn't quit, I didn't stop, it didn't hold me back, I didn't miss any practice, or nothing like that. I finished my season."
Humblest Tiger Bowers in tight race for draft's No. 1 spot
By the time the NFL draft rolls around on April 28, the number of prospects who could be taken No. 1 overall is likely to be whittled down to a few. Da'Quan Bowers certainly will be one of them.
"It's definitely a goal," Bowers said of being the first player chosen this year. "I don't think anybody here doesn't have the goal to be the No. 1 pick."
The Clemson defensive end was speaking of his fellow players at the NFL Scouting Combine, where he addressed the media Saturday. In particular, he discussed the two guys most likely to be competing with him for the top spot.
"You couldn't go wrong with Cam Newton or Nick Fairley," said Bowers of Auburn's quarterback and defensive tackle, respectively. "Both of those guys are tremendous players."
But unlike the duo from the 2010 BCS champions, the 6-3, 280-pound Bowers will not bring a lofty ego to an NFL franchise looking to find a major building block for the future. That's just one of the reasons he believes he deserves to be the first player off the board.
"I think I can bring a lot of good things to the team," he said. "You can get a pass-rushing defensive end, a humble guy, a guy with great character, a guy who is going to work hard, a guy that is going to go about things the right way and a guy who is willing to compete with anyone anywhere."
Although an offseason knee scope to repair a meniscus tear will force Bowers, PFW's No. 1-ranked prospect overall and the winner of the 2010 Nagurski Award as the nation's best defensive player, to skip all events at the Combine, he says will be at full strength to work out at Clemson's pro day on March 10. It will be then that he will try to prove to teams that he can be the second coming of Julius Peppers, the player with whom he compared his skills Saturday.
Just as Peppers excels coming off the edge, Bowers does the same, as is evidenced by his nation-leading 15½ sacks this past season. He explained why that's one of his strengths.
"Because I watch a lot of film and am very fast and very powerful," he said. "I study offensive tackles a lot, I try to study tendencies. I try to look at their feet to notice things - if they are going to pass or they are going to run - just being a student of the game."
After he stood out in only one of his three seasons at Clemson, there are still doubts about whether Bowers has what it takes to be a superstar in the pros. But if he can shine at his pro day the way he did during 2010, he very well could rise above the other Tigers to become a Panther in two months.
Moch hopes his rare speed raises eyebrows at Combine
Right off the bat, it was hard to get a good read on Dontay Moch.
Widely projected as an outside linebacker - he's ranked seventh at the position in the Pro Football Weekly 2011 Draft Media Guide - the Nevada product stood on the podium in his Combine interview early Saturday afternoon with the national media wearing a "DL" jersey.
It seems like a real stretch to imagine Moch as a potential defensive end at the pro level. But he did line up as a defensive end much of the time at Nevada and said the NFL teams that have talked to him think he could possibly play off the edge up front - provided he gains enough weight.
But outside linebacker figures to be a much more likely position at the pro level for Moch, who possesses one quality that he hopes will open lots of eyes in his Combine workouts Monday: his rare speed.
Moch has cranked out consistent 40-times in the range of 4.3-4.4 seconds and was an accomplished track star in high school in Arizona.
Moch, who weighed only 204 pounds his freshman year, tipped the scales at 245 pounds in his Combine weigh-in and acknowledged the obvious questions that have popped up regarding his poundage.
"Gaining weight will not affect my speed at all," Moch said confidently. "It will just give me more power. My speed isn't just straight-line, although that's what primarily allows me to get to the passer. l can also change direction real well."
Moch averaged eight-plus sacks his last three years at Nevada. "I consider myself a hybrid Terrell Suggs," he said. "I've been mimicking his game since high school."
Moch also estimates that he covered opposing wide receivers probably 20-30 percent of the time at Nevada. When asked to provide an example of his coverage ability, he quickly brought up one game against Boise State, when he deftly broke up a pass intended for highly regarded WR Titus Young.
"I was lined up in a 4-3 and dropped back on a flat route," Moch said. "Titus came right around the corner, and I was there to break up the pass."
Moch was asked why the word "raw" has been used so frequently to describe him - a legitimate query considering that he displayed lots of flashes at Nevada but never totally dominated relatively inferior competition.
"I do a lot of things that seem impossible, and I guess a lot of people just see me as raw because of that," Moch said. "I just want people to see all the things I can do out there on the field, no matter what the situation, and how I can just go full force."
On a lighter note (no pun intended), Moch was asked if he was faster than teammate Colin Kaepernick, one of the higher-rated quarterbacks in this year's draft.
"You can check that out in the next couple of days," Moch said with a big smile. "He (Kaepernick) is a great runner. I'm not going to say anything bad about my boy."
When Scott Pioli arrived in Kansas City in 2009, there were plenty of things wrong with the Chiefs. But there was something in particular that both he and head coach Todd Haley singled out as they attempted to turn the franchise around.
"We needed to upgrade our team speed, because I know when we first got there, it was certainly the slowest football team that I had been a part of - not just on offense, not just on defense, but with special teams as well, because there's always that trickle-down effect," the team's general manager said on Saturday at the NFL Scouting Combine.
"If you're constantly moving slower than the other team, it's gonna be a problem. So adding speed was important."
So what did Pioli do in 2010, his second draft in K.C.? Infuse his roster with speed, and plenty of it.
In the second round, the Chiefs selected Dexter McCluster and Javier Arenas, two SEC standouts who weren't necessarily projected to be great pros on offense and defense, respectively. However, both can fly, and that was more important to Pioli than their shortcomings in other areas.
With the rookie pair giving the Chiefs a significant special-teams boost as the primary return men, the club completed a monumental turnaround, going from 4-12 to 10-6 and AFC West champions.
As Pioli likely looks to add even more speed come this April, especially at wideout, he also must deal with the team's transition to a new offensive coordinator, former O-line coach Bill Muir. The departure of former coordinator Charlie Weis after one season to take the same position at Florida was not something the GM saw coming.
"I don't think you enter any relationship thinking it's going to be a short-term relationship," Pioli said of the Weis situation. "You adjust to it as you have to adjust.
"... I watched Bill (Belichick) do an amazing job in New England when he knew with success there were going to be changes and people leaving that organization. If you have a good developmental program throughout your organization, whether it's coaching or scouting, when people leave you just have to be prepared for the next person."
Despite Muir being promoted, speculation has been rampant that Haley will be the one calling plays in 2011, as he did in '09. While the head coach wouldn't confirm that during his podium time at the Combine, Pioli seemed to have no reservations about Haley possibly being the play-caller.
"Teams have done it with head coaches," he said. "I've been a part of it where coaches have been play-callers on offense or defense. What matters is whether you get it right."
Dareus thinks versatility can distance him from other D-linemen
Growing up watching Warren Sapp on television inspired a young Marcell Dareus to pick up the game of football. That, and his tremendous size as a youngster. Now entering the NFL draft, Dareus already has drawn comparisons to Sapp, with his disruptive style at the three-technique position. However, Dareus said Saturday that he believes his versatility is his greatest strength, as he attempts to separate himself in a crowded and talented defensive line class.
Dareus, who played multiple positions in head coach Nick Saban's pro-style defense at Alabama, said that he is comfortable playing at any number of spots at the next level.
"I feel real comfortable at the three-technique, inside," Dareus said. "I'm pretty good at either position. Tilt, 2i, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9 - it don't matter."
Dareus also pointed to his knowledge of pro-style defenses as another potential selling point to NFL teams.
"At 'Bama we played a little 4-man, 3-man," Dareus said. "I think playing with coach Saban and playing in the defense we played in, I'm ready for the league. We did all the plays that NFL teams would do and a lot of things that came with it. A lot of stunts, a lot of things we had to learn, a lot of coverages and calls and things like that."
Dareus, who registered 11 career sacks with the Crimson Tide, was peppered with questions asking for a comparison to the other top-ranked defensive tackle from the state of Alabama, Auburn's Nick Fairley.
"I have nothing against Fairley. He went out there and played his butt of this year," Dareus said. "He looked like a great competitor. He made the plays and did it himself, and no can take that from him."
However, Dareus emphasized his versatility as a potential advantage over Fairley, as well as the other defensive tackles in this year's draft class.
"Nick Fairley had a great year this year," Dareus said. "Everybody did pretty good. I probably didn't do the best I can, but I think I'm the most versatile defensive lineman here."
Fairley has taken some heat for a few cheap shots, and some already have labeled him a dirty player. Dareus, on the other hand, has no intentions of garnering such descriptions as a player.
"I would describe myself as a nice guy. Everybody I tackled I pretty much help them up, and then say I'm coming at you the next play," Dareus said. "I'm a nice guy, but at the same time I like to have fun with the game."
As a student at the University of Texas, Sam Acho studied marketing. When he's done with his football career, he wants to develop a company that helps athletes get in contact with companies who'd like to sponsor them.
This week at the NFL Scouting Combine, Acho is doing a different type of marketing: for himself. The former Longhorn is doing everything he can to let the 32 teams in attendance know that he can play both outside linebacker in a 3-4 and defensive end in a 4-3.
"I'll play whatever the team drafts me to play," Acho said on Saturday. "I've been working on my drops and I'm comfortable playing either position."
Acho performed well the past two years in Austin, recording 19 sacks and seven forced fumbles combined in his junior and senior seasons. His elite play coincided with the departure of Brian Orakpo, a fellow Longhorn who was a force as an end in college but has emerged as a premier pass-rushing outside 'backer during his first two seasons with the Redskins. The two overlapped for two years, and Acho said has been a close observer of Orakpo's for a long time, beginning when they played together.
"I think the biggest thing I learned from playing with Orakpo is he was already one of the best athletes on the field but he always just had full effort. He never quit on any plays," Acho said. "You see a lot of guys who are phenomenal athletes but they don't try their best all the time. Orakpo's a guy who gave 100 percent effort all the time and that's probably the biggest lesson I've learned from him."
Since his graduation from UT in December, Acho - who weighed in at the Combine at 6-1 5/8, 262 pounds - has been working at Ignition Athletics in Florida with the conversion to linebacker on his mind. Drills improving his sideline-to-sideline speed and ability to drop back into pass coverage have been his top priorities, and although Acho said there has been a bit of an adjustment, he's confident he can play either position effectively.
"I think the toughest part will be seeing the game from a different perspective; I'm so used to seeing the game as a defensive end," he explained. "It'll be a little bit different seeing it as an outside linebacker, probably playing a little bit slower with my hand up. I think it'll be a little different but I think I'll be able to make the transition pretty smoothly."
USC OT Tyron Smith has decided to not participate in workouts with the other offensive linemen on Saturday at the NFL Scouting Combine because he's still recovering from a knee injury.
Smith, one of the top OT prospects in April's draft, has gone through all of the off-field Combine activities, including meeting with multiple teams, and took part in the bench press Friday, putting up 29 reps.
He was advised by his trainers to hold off on going through a full workout until USC's pro day on March 30.
The Panthers don't know what direction they are heading at No. 1, but the Broncos are whittling down their list of candidates at No. 2.
Sources say the Broncos met with Clemson DE Da'Quan Bowers, who is a candidate to go with the first pick, and his representatives Friday night at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Meetings with top prospects are frequent here, but the Broncos appear to be showing strong interest early in Bowers.
Bowers would fit John Fox's 4-3 defense. The team ran a 3-4 the past few seasons and has a few ill-fitting parts. Fox always has favored building from the line out, and Bowers would be a good early building block.
Another hallmark of Fox's teams is a strong run game, and the Broncos appear to be showing interest in veteran FB Mike Karney, formerly of the Rams, who would aid a strong running back (like Denver's Knowshon Moreno) as a key lead blocker.
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