Brooks Reed is earning potential second-round consideration.
Photo by Mark Evans, TucsonCitizen.com
Former Arizona Wildcats defensive end Brooks Reed, coming off impressive workouts at the Senior Bowl in January, earned more positive reviews at the NFL Combine on Monday.
He told me in an interview a couple of weeks ago that his goal was to “show them I can run fast at 260.”
Well, he checked in at 6-2 1/2 and 263 pounds … and he ran fast.
Reed ran a 4.68-second 40-yard dash Monday, which was tied for third among defensive ends. Lacking ideal size for the position, he also is being looked at as a pass-rushing outside linebacker, so that 40 time was critical to how scouts project him.
Chad Reuter of NFLDraftScout.com wrote this for CBSSports.com after Monday’s workouts:
Brooks Reed (Arizona) has gotten a lot of comparisons to NFL Defensive Player of the Year Clay Matthews over the past few weeks. He’s not quite as athletic as Matthews, but Reed’s respectable 4.67 40, ability to change direction fluidity, and quickness in turn-the-corner drills make him a legitimate second-round pick as a 3-4 rush linebacker.
Let’s say Reed, a Sabino High graduate, continues to do well in postseason workouts and he becomes a second-round pick. That would mean that Arizona will have produced at least a second-round pick in five consecutive drafts, which be the longest such streak in school history.
Here’s how it breaks down:
2007 — RB Chris Henry (second round, 50th overall)
2008 — CB Antoine Cason (first round, 27th overall)
2009 — OT Eben Britton (second round, 39th overall)
2010 — TE Rob Gronkowski (second round, 42nd overall)
2011 — Reed?
Arizona’s other draft possibilities include DE Ricky Elmore, DE D’Aundre Reed, OT Adam Grant and C Colin Baxter, although none is as highly rated as Brooks Reed.
On an historical note, Arizona produced five second-round picks or better in the four-year span from 1989 to 1992.
Those picks were: C Joe Tofflemire (second round, 1989), LB Chris Singleton and DE Anthony Smith (both first round, 1990), CB Darryll Lewis (second round, 1991) and OT John Fina (second round, 1992).