NFL Scouting Combine gives BYU's Fred Warner another shot to move up in the draft

Can Fred Warner's NFL Scouting Combine showing hoist him up NFL draft boards? (Rick Bowmer, AP Photo)

This weekend former BYU Cougars linebacker Fred Warner will participate in the annual NFL Scouting Combine. It is the next opportunity for Warner to impress NFL scouts, executives, and coaches. Last month, he took advantage of the opportunities he had as a participant in the Resse's Senior Bowl.

After the Senior Bowl, everyone was praising Warner. He clearly made the most of that opportunity. Only 326 draft entrants were invited to the NFL Scouting Combine. In other words, Warner will be on display with the best of the best. With a great showing, Warner can separate himself from the pack, and move up each team's "big board."

Just how much could Warner improve his NFL Draft stock with a great combine? Blue Cougar Football wanted to know the answer to that, so it polled site visitors and Twitter followers this week to see what they thought. The official results are below.

Official Results
10% 1-5 spots
25% 6-15 spots
20% 16-31 spots
45% 1 round or more

The total number of votes cast was much fewer than previous polls, and Twitter had more than five times the number of responses. The table at the bottom of the page breaks down the results from each site. Each voting location had different outcomes, however, due to the much higher volume of votes on Twitter, it skewed the results to the larger range of improvement.

Warner has a future in the NFL. That isn't a blue goggle perspective. To say the results of the combine will move him up in the draft at least one round, however, requires looking through some blue tinted glass. There are a couple of reasons for that.

First, Warner is already getting some mention as a potential second round pick after the Senior Bowl, and in at least one recent mock draft. With the bump in his stock last month, there is less upward movement possible for Warner to make at this point in time. My understanding is the team interviews at the combine are much more intense than those Warner had at the Senior Bowl. Maybe, if he nails the interviews, Warner can come out of Indianapolis with a full round improvement or better in his draft stock.

Second, the combine results tend to hurt more than they help. The results that seem to stick are those where a player didn't do very many reps on bench press, or come in slower than expected in the 40. That is the big reason why most top quarterback prospects don't throw at the combine.

Very few players have bolted up the draft boards because of what they did at the combine. Daniel Sorensen absolutely dominated the 2014 NFL Draft Combine. He had the best time in the 20-yard shuttle for safeties, as well as a top 15 40 time and broad jump, a top 12 bench press, and the all-time best times in the three-cone drill and 60-yard shuttle. Both records still stand today. Where did that get Danny boy? Nowhere. On top of the combine showing, there was talk about him being a possible late round pick because of his value as a special teams player. Sorensen ended up being an undrafted free agent.

This leads me to believe that NFL executives rely much more heavily on game film than the combine results.

Third, Warner is from BYU. While more Cougars have been drafted lately, and are having more success in the NFL, there still isn't a high demand for BYU players. Teams aren't reaching to draft Cougars, like they do for SEC and Big 12 players. Teams know that in the second, and even third, round, there is a good chance that an elite BYU football player will still be available when they pick in the next round. Case in point, Austin Collie, Dennis Pitta, and Jamaal Williams were all drafted in the fourth round. All three are arguably the best in BYU history at their positions.

Kyle Van Noy and Ezekiel Ansah are outliers.

Therefore, if Warner has a Sorensen-esque combine, I think he won't improve more than 6-15 spots. It is exciting to hear people mention second round for Warner, but history shows third round is probably the best case scenario.

Thank you to everyone who voted. A breakdown of the votes from each polling source is below. Please vote in this week's poll: Who will be the number one QB at the end of spring practice?

BCF	Vote Breakdown	Twitter
17% (1)	1-5 spots	9% (3)
66% (4)	6-15 spots	18% (6)
17% (1)	16-31 spots	21% (7)
0% (0)	1 round or more	52% (18)
100% (6)	Total	100% (34)

The Editor appreciates all feedback. He can be reached via email at bluecougarfootball@gmail.com