REACTION to MARVIN HARRISON JR. skipping PRO DAY | Inside Coverage | Yahoo Sports

Yahoo Sports’ Jason Fitz, Charles Robinson, and Jori Epstein give their reaction to NFL prospect Marvin Harrison Jr. skipping Pro Day.

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#marvinharrisonjr #nfldraft #nfl

So you guys have mentioned that there’s so little to gain from a prod day in so many ways which is significant because Marvin Harrison Jr who some are saying is one of if not the best wide receiver ever seen different position different position but Marvin Harrison Jr has

Elected not to work he’s not going to participate in prod day at all for Ohio State so remember he didn’t participate the combine he’s not participating now with the Ohio State prod day see Rob is this a big deal I’m going to get everybody’s going to be pissed we’re not

Allowed to say this anymore everybody can do whatever they want and you know Screw the system and how it’s set up and just watch the tape and that should be enough I don’t agree with that okay I think you can you can pick and choose

Like okay if you don’t want to do at the combine that’s fine but you got to do it at your pro day like what you’re not doing in one spot I think it’s productive for you to do it in another maybe you don’t have to do everything

But to do nothing okay and and I think here’s my issue with this now Marvin Harrison Jr is not run 40 he hasn’t done a vert he hasn’t done a three cone he hasn’t run a gauntlet he hasn’t and everyone’s going to say well just look

At the film just look at the film that’s fine I understand that a film is a massive component but I still think it’s important for some of the drill work to be done for the analytics of it we all talk about how analytics is important I

Think that you want to give them a data set that they can then sit down and go huh okay she’s in the 98th percentile in this no player at this position has ever been less than x at the 98th percentile given the rest of his package given his

Tape and all these different things so yeah I mean I think it’s a red flag and I think it’s a red flag considering that maybe he’s got a guarantee right you you think maybe the agents’s already been told by the Cardinals or whoever you’re going you’re not going below us you’re

Locked in don’t do anything you’re we’re taking you okay Malik neighbors is going to run right as far as I know he’s going to go during the LSU workout and he’s going to run going to do the agility drills and stuff Malik neighbors is a really damn good player and there are

People in the Personnel Community who believe Malik neighbors is actually a better Prospect than Marvin Harrison JR we’ve just been waiting on Marvin Harrison Jr for so long and become so infatuated with him for all these you know reasons he goes on the field and he

Plays at a star you know level for years um that’s understandable but that doesn’t mean there’s not competition in the class maybe he doesn’t care about that we’ll see how this all turns out okay and if he comes into the league and he’s a star and he’s an all pro player

Whatever nobody’s gonna care but I can tell you this if he comes in and hey all of a sudden you’re realizing maybe he does run a 4640 and it shows up a little more in the NFL level where people are everybody he’s running with is faster

Than the guys he was playing against in the Big 10 um maybe he’s you know not as clean a catcher as everybody thinks maybe there’s just certain things that start to pop out on the NF a level people are going to look back at this process and they’re going to go that’s

Why we got to have even the most polished players we got to have them going through the process so that we can see them up close and start to add that to the rest of the data set that’s that’s my only problem with it again if

He Stars No One’s Gonna Give A but if he doesn’t this is going to get picked apart the fact that he literally did nothing for nobody and and I know nobody cares about this either I don’t know what the last time was he talked to any reporters either right no one’s asked

Them any questions like I care I care about that we care about that probably fans don’t care um but I also think that’s an important part of the process as well because his dad’s a Hall of Famer also had a track record of not wanting to speak to the media um or or

Just bristling I’m curious if if that is also what his profil is going to be like at The Next Level C do you think that if somehow Marvin Harrison Jr isn’t the first receiving off the board that it’s for sure neighbors or does romad dun

Have a chance to I was talking again to Scout and about asking him something I had heard and I’m like hey I heard Rome was doing this and this and this and sunny each teams do you know and he said I don’t know about that in particular

But it sounds like Rome always doing everything extra which when I hear that kind of sounds the opposite of what we’re saying Marvin’s doing right now do you think it’s like three-way is it really one way or is like are they 2 a and 2 B I think Marvin and Malik to me

When I I’ve T and we’re starting to do all these calls for the alw team I think they’re considered on on that top tier of wide receivers and like adun is very very close but not quite on their level now I don’t know if that will change

Over time I can tell you that when we were at the combine probably the one and we didn’t obviously we didn’t get a chance to talk to Marvin Harrison but um adun was so impressive like I mean just the his Charisma the thoughtfulness he had when he answered questions there times where

He even challenged like reporters like not not in like a combative way but just sort of like hey I’m I’m interacting I’m paying attention here I’m using my brain and and you know not just reading in my mind off a script uh that my agent

Taught me um I thought he was great and and I thought you know this is a guy who’s going to end up sitting in these meeting rooms and it’ll be that that gravitational experience where people will get sucked in and they’ll get closer to him sitting in that chair

Asking him questions because that’s just kind of the Charisma that he brings to the table so um but in terms of the athletic profile um I think neighbors just showcased so much last year at LSU and and it wasn’t just last year he’s got um a deep resume

Like Marvin Harrison Jr does um they’re just I think they’re seen as such prolific players and they played at and particularly LSU you played highlevel defenses in the SEC constantly um yeah there are a lot of weapons at LSU uh you know Brian Thomas is another guy that’s

Probably going to go in the first round in terms of a wide receiver but um you know neighbors was matched up against the best corners in the country and was was a prolific player so I do think they’re close I do not think I would be shocked if neighbors were to somehow get

Himself to wide receiver one over Harrison the fact that they’re close is part of why this is an important conversation also two things that that you said see see Rob that I think are important here one you’re right fans aren’t going to care that he’s not talking to the media unless he doesn’t

Work out like if a successful player fans don’t care about anything if for some reason Marvin Harrison Jr isn’t great then fans are going to look at all of this and say well why didn’t you tell us why wasn’t a red flag so that’s that’s a damned if you do damned if you

Don’t situation I do think there’s an important push back that I would give to the world that says he can do whatever he wants you’re right in a player empowerment world if he doesn’t want to work out he has that right if a GM or a scout from a team isn’t comfortable with

That they have that right also to say man you’re great and I think your film’s great but I just want to be able to see these things that I’m used to seeing and I don’t I don’t think you know that that that’s asking too much understanding

That if a team decides to pass on him simply because they’re not comfortable not having had these things just as he has the right to not work out I think that does give a team the right should they look at him and say hey I you know

What I think you’re great but you didn’t want to do these things and that makes me uncomfortable so for that reason there’s another wide receiver here almost as good or as good I’m going to go with something I feel more comfortable with this he will be the

Rare player I will bet you it won’t matter you know we’ll say all this and I know I’m like you know everything that I’ve just said it makes it sound like you know I’m just he’s so good it’s it’s not going to matter unless he’s not still a great player on the NFL

Level that’s when I think it but going into the process one like one general manager I talked to was like I don’t care like he’s like we we don’t set it up great for him anyway um he kind of ran through the process at the combine

And you know he’s like and then another GM and I thought it was astute he’s like been staring at the guy forever he can only go down like at this point like he there is an element of overexposure that can happen with him that he’s so perfect

We start to look for anything that’s not perfect and like one of the things he said is he say runs a 4 five right we watch him on tape he’s running away from guys like that four five is fast he plays he’s running football fast so that

4 five translates to being super fast on the football field but we looked at all these wide receivers then you know Xavier he runs a 421 and then you got all these guys running 4 threes low four threes you know mid four threes and then say Marvin gets out there and he runs

Like a 452 are we gonna be like oh my gosh like man that’s just in this group wow he now now look at the wide receiver speed group he’s near the bottom that’s not great you know so like pukaa right what did pukaa run like a 462 at the

Combines like I think you R like the four low four sixes know I mean there were other things too that obviously cause him to drop in the draft but he was perfect in The Gauntlet probably should have paid closer attention to that than we ultimately did and he was super fast

While being perfect in The Gauntlet h no it’s such a good question I’m I’m working on some reporting right now about gatin 40 what do we actually think is the best predictor of game play speed and I I think what’s interesting is how a scout tell me like it depends

What you’re looking for like are you looking for the guy to be the straight line take the top off the defense or are you looking for him to make that contested catch and so I kind of liked that Nuance of it’s not that the 40s outdated it’s just who are you trying to

Look at it for the one thing I do wonder is I think you make really good points about why Marvin Harrison Jr has more to lose than to gain by running the 40 and doing other drills but I do think going back to what you were saying about the

Data it’s interesting because a lot of teams will use some of these measurements as their starting point for Player Development and saying like hey because we have this Benchmark and because we understand what worked for players who had similar measurements here’s how we go so if you’re those

Teams do you want I get you can’t make him do it before you draft him but do you want him to show up and do a gauntlet drill and do some of these things just so you have an understanding of what’s the what he most needs to work

On or what’s going to be the best use of his time in OTAs and training camp what if you always want to have the full profile workout profile of all the elite players right like I would want to have that I would want to know what what I

Love Marvin haris Harrison you know Jr as a professional athlete he’s an amazing player let me look at his athletic profile and now that’s a benchmark maybe for some other players that I’m comparing to or I’m trying to make a decision down the line five six 10 years from now between two wide

Receivers and one of them Compares really favorably to Marvin Harrison Jr’s athletic profile and the tape and the other doesn’t you know and but the tape’s great but the athletic profile maybe that helps you to make a decision between those two I just think it’s I don’t know it’s it’s just

Frustrating to me it’s a to me it’s a it’s a there is an element of it being a job interview and not everybody is Matt Damon and you can just walk in or well what will hunting right you’re now everybody’s Will Hunting and can just

Walk in and do the math and say screw you you’re gonna offer me the job no matter what I I don’t even think Marvin you know falls into into that category and also I mean come on there were a lot of great players still went through the process right

It’s it’s bothers and you know Jane Daniels just deciding at the combine I’m not I’m not going to even show up to weights and measures I’m like dude you’re not even gonna let people figure out how tall you are yet or how much you really weigh right now or you know I mean

Like and on that note again do I think cayb Williams is going to go number one yes do I think he’s probably gonna have a great NFL career I do think so but when he didn’t do all the medical evaluations at the combine I had a top

Personnel guy at a team uh who’s drafting in the second half of the first round tell me like look like look at this Trey Lance situation like if something happens like that where he doesn’t pan out and we don’t have the Baseline medical from a few years ago

How do you then feel as comfortable going to get him like if you want that second chance of your like yeah there is there is some degree a lot of this is outdated it’s also the way the system works and there can be consequences if things don’t pan

Out but you’ve got a couple guys who are at the top and who are in a good enough place now that it’s not going to impact when they get drafted it just might impact what happens in years three four or five of their career