With the traditional powwow in Indianapolis sideswiped by COVID-19, all NFL eyes were on individual college football teams’ pro days this year as the lone setting for prospects to partake in the typical NFL combine testing.
Their collective brow ought to have raised at one result from Notre Dame’s March 31 de facto combine.
Cornerback Nick McCloud, rarely if ever discussed among the Irish’s top draft prospects this year, blazed a 4.37 40-yard dash seemingly out of nowhere. His 2020 season at Notre Dame and four prior ones at North Carolina State didn’t give off the impression he was slow, but no one saw this.
“I would never have guessed that based on his tape,” said Mike Renner, Pro Football Focus’ lead NFL draft analyst.
If McCloud wanted to insert himself further into draftable discussion, impressing at pro day was his best shot. A 4.37 40 would have tied for the fourth-fastest time of any player at last year’s combine. If nothing else, it will earn his tape another look from scouts who watch with that straight-line speed in mind.
But will it be enough to sway NFL scouts and decision-makers to the point where they’re willing spend a pick on him? That may still be a reach.
“Just running a 4.37 doesn’t get you drafted if you had undrafted tape, which is the area I put him in, but it gets you an invite to a camp,” Renner said, “It for sure does that. Gets you a UDFA call. It stood out to me as well.”
Going purely off percentages, McCloud has positioned himself better. There were 42 players who ran a 4.37 or better at the combine from 2015-20. All but six were drafted.
The thing is, though, all six were defensive backs who had good but not elite college careers and game tape that teams deemed below draftable standards. That still held serve even when paired with impressive speed at a position where being fast is important. Javelin Guidry, a cornerback from Utah who ran a 4.29 at last year’s combine, was not drafted.
It’s not a coincidence the six exceptions play the same position, Renner said, because defensive back — and particularly cornerback — has the largest collection of top-end speed.
“Coming into college, if you have a guy who’s fast, chances are you’re putting him at cornerback,” Renner said. “Maybe he doesn’t have the best ball skills or is not the best receiver, you’re flipping that guy to cornerback because makeup speed is more important there than it is if you can’t catch on the offensive side. It self-selects for guys who can run.”
McCloud’s case to land an undrafted free agent deal and a look in an NFL training camp should be strong, though, if he isn’t taken next weekend. All six sub-4.37 40 undrafted players signed as UDFAs with a spot in training camp. None had to settle for a rookie minicamp invite.
Two of them have stuck in the league. Former Auburn cornerback Jonathan Jones went undrafted in 2016 despite his 4.33 40 and is now a starter for the New England Patriots. Ex-Alabama cornerback Tony Brown, undrafted with a 4.35 40 in 2018, has turned into a rotation player in the Cincinnati Bengals’ secondary.
McCloud, at 6-0 and 193 pounds, doesn’t have size concerns that were a factor in Guidry’s and Jones’ slides. He’s experienced, with 31 career starts. He’s a former team captain at North Carolina State. All of that, though, was part of the pre-pro day evaluation on him that led draft analysts to peg him as an undrafted free agent.
All told, scouts will trust the tape. McCloud did what he could to make them review it again.
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