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Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Michael Johnson at the combine
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Before I forget, please remember that Wednesday, the blog will be moving to a new home on the website.
As expected, defensive end Michael Johnson put on a show at the combine in his workouts. Johnson had the fifth-best 40-yard dash time among defensive linemen (4.75 seconds), the third-best vertical jump (38.5 inches), tied for best broad jump (10’8”, which was only bettered by three players at the combine, receivers who leapt 10’9”) and third in the 20-yard shuttle (4.37 seconds).
What may prove more important for Johnson at the combine is the interviews he did with coaches, scouts and general managers. You likely read that he got shredded by the NFL Network’s Mike Mayock in a story reported by Falcons beat writer D. Orlando Ledbetter.
I imagine teams were curious to see how he responded to being challenged like that. I won’t say I know Michael well, but having spoken with him on a number of occasions, I’m going to guess he did well enough. He comes across as someone who cares about the game, wants to do well and is a team-first guy.
My sense of this is, you can’t control other people’s opinions of you. For Johnson, 31 teams could well share Mayock’s opinion, but if the 32nd disagrees, then he’ll likely be a first-round pick. And if Johnson falls into the second round, there are worse fates. He’ll have all the motivation he needs to prove that Mayock and, more importantly, the teams who passed on him, were wrong. And he’ll have ample opportunity to recoup the money he lost by going in the second rather than the first when he becomes a free agent.
Anyway, I want to solicit your help. Larry is going to talk to Morgan Burnett Tuesday to continue our series of Q&A’s that we’ve done thus far with Roddy Jones and Kyle Jackson. If you have a question that you’d like Larry to ask, please list it below. This is no guarantee that your question will be asked, but obviously, I’m sure he’ll try to get to as many as he can.
Hint: “Do you think Georgia will go 0-12 next year, or 1-11?” and questions of that ilk probably will get left in the bin.
Ask away.
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